The
Gardening Corner:
Each Spring
I add a couple bags of composted steer manure to each of my growboxes/raised
beds. You can also mix in your compost
from last year if you have any. Mix well
before planting. Peas can be planted in
USDA Zone 6 about St. Patrick’s Day.
Calculate now when you should start any plants from seed if you are
going to do that. Average last frost
date for northern Utah is May 15th.
You will need to know your area’s last frost date to calculate when to
plant everything. A great Gardening book that I use is “Week-by-Week Vegetable
Gardener’s Handbook” by Ron Kujawski. Everything that you do in your garden by
this book is scheduled according to your last frost date where you live. It is packed full of helpful information.
I am trying
to organize a gardening class to have in April.
If you would like to share what you do for your garden and are willing
to let a group of us come visit your yard please let me know right away. Hand-outs will be given at the class.
Food Storage Recipe: Homemade Creamy Potato Soup
Ingredients
Fresh or
dehydrated potatoes, diced
½ stick of
butter or butter powder
Fresh or
dehydrated onions, diced 1 bay
leaf
1 can cream
of mushroom soup (case lot sale) salt and pepper
1 can of
corn (case lot sale)
milk or powdered milk
Potato
pearls (optional) (LDS home storage
centers) cooked and crumbled
bacon (opt)
Shredded
cheese (optional) (on sale and frozen)
If using
fresh potatoes, wash and dice them.
Leaving the peel on ads more vitamins.
Put in soup pot and cover with a little water. Boil until they are nearly soft. Then add the chopped onions, corn with the
juice, mushroom soup, butter, seasonings and a lot more water and some
milk. To save fresh milk or to use up
some powdered milk, wisk in about 2 cups of dry powdered milk. This is the basic potato soup recipe I grew
up with.
If you want
a thicker soup and are not too worried about the calories, add in 2-3 cups of
potato pearls and the cheese and bacon.
This is so delicious and it tastes even better the next day.
Rainwater Harvesting
We live in a
very large desert. We have not had
enough snow or rain in the last several years to fill our reservoirs. One way to be able to water your trees and
gardens if there were severe water restrictions would be to collect and use
rainwater from your roof. You can easily
collect hundreds of gallons of water in barrels from just one storm. All you need is a collection barrel of your
choice at the bottom of one or more downspouts.
We started with just one barrel to learn how to install it and now have
3. Eventually we would like to have one
for each downspout or even daisy-chain several together. It is very important to have a fine screen to
cover the opening of the barrel to keep out bugs and debris. This water is NOT recommended for drinking,
but should be used for plants outside.
To get an
estimate of how many gallons of water you can collect, calculate .5 gallon per
square foot of roof top, per inch of rain.
For ease of use have each barrel raised up off the ground by at least 1
foot. We used large castle-wall cinder
blocks to set the barrels on. By doing
this you can hook up a hose to the spout at the bottom, use a bucket if desired
and you will have better water pressure.
There are
many types of rain barrels on the market.
They come in a wide range of styles, colors, sizes and shapes. Some even
have a flat back. Many people re-use
plastic barrels that were made for storing water or soda products. Ours are out in the open and we paid more for
some that blend into the style and color of our home. The best time of year to set up your system
would be in the Spring, so you can catch water from Spring storms and have it
saved for the summer when it does not rain as often. There are many websites devoted to rainwater
harvesting with ideas, how-to instructions and barrels and pumps for sale. We have used products and info from www.cleanairgardening.com and I have seen some of these barrels locally at Home
Depot in the gardening department. For
decorating old water/soda barrels there are tips at www.aquabarrel.com and www.inmyownbackyard.com
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