Is it Spring Yet?

I'm going to start off by saying I think Phil the ground hog is a Big Fat LIAR!  Or maybe we are just ignorant for trusting a furry animal to tell us when spring will start??  Technically the first day of Spring is still a few weeks away...March 20th... but I have just been cold to the bone this winter and have been able to warm up!  Tomorrow we are expecting SNOWQUESTRATION (Who comes up with this stuff??)!!! BRRR So the local TV News station has come up with a "BREAD-O-METER". You know because everyone runs out and gets bread, water, milk, and gas as soon as the first sign of a snowflake!

http://www.wusa9.com/

Although we are wearing our jammies inside out and backwards tonight in hopes of our one and only good snow this year we are ready for some fun and sun outside!!  I have already started getting ready for the gardening this year!  Ok...not too much!  I have tried one of my pinterest ideas and it worked! Did you know you can regrow Celery and Romaine lettuce as well as a few other veggies from their ends?  I'm going to try a few more now that I know this works!! Last year we were working on a pineapple and it was working and then...I forgot to dig it up and put it in a pot before winter. I haven't checked on it but it's probably dead.  We may get lucky though and it may come back strong- too optimistic?

The original post "5 Foods You Can Grow From Leftovers" was found here at Gardenswag

     Celery                                   Romain Lettuce

It's only been about 4-5 days and we already have little leaf shoots!  I put toothpicks the little bottoms and set them in glass cups with water about a centimeter up the bottom. You want to make sure they have clean water so I've changed out the water out every other day to avoid mildewy water.  They've been on my counter in the kitchen which really doesn't get much if any sunlight so I'm surprised we even have any leaves!  

Next I would like to try Ginger, Green Onions and Garlic!

I think our garden needs a little TLC first! I haven't even been out to our Community Garden yet...only ran past while trying to avoid eye contact.

Our little garden looks so sad right now...hopefully
in a few months it will be full of veggies!

One thing that IS doing well is our compost!  I'm a little surprised since it's winter that our compost is breaking things down so well but I didn't put too much in this winter in fears that it would just freeze.  It has been pretty mild though.  I did buy a new juicer which breaks down the veggies and fruits into itty bitty pulp which is great for the compost and I think will make our garden very happy this year!

This is one of our compost bins. 

We have two compost bins.  Nothing fancy just some bins that used to be used for recycling but I found took up too much room.  I poked some holes at the bottom for air circulation and drainage.  Add some soil, dead leaves (they could both use some more), leftover veggie and fruit scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, shredded newspaper, and the boys like to toss in some earthworms!  DO NOT ADD: meat, bread, fats or oils, old charcoal, pesticides, plastics or anything else you wouldn't want to touch your food!  Compost piles should not smell or attract pests or animals...ours doesn't!  They shouldn't be overly wet if they are too wet you need to add some more dry material like dried leaves or newspaper.  I never need to add water to mine it pulls it from the ground/rain water that gets in through the sides. I leave the lids on all the time and stir the pile when we add new material.  When it is warm out the compost will break down faster.  When your ready just add it into your soil.  I like to work one bin at a time only adding scraps to one bin while the other one is "ready".  That way you don't have big chunks of fruit and veggies in your garden attracts pests.

I hope that even if you don't like to garden you at least try something small like growing some celery or romaine lettuce from your scraps! Not only is it fun, especially if you have kiddos, but it will save you a couple bucks too!

Happy Gardening! 

Jess