March
Garden Projects: Amend your garden soil with
manure. If you live in the city you can
buy it in bags from hardware stores for very cheap. Empty composters into the garden as well. Mix
well before planting. Plant peas about
St. Patrick’s Day in zone 6. By the end
of the month you can usually plant hardy cold weather vegetables such as
broccoli and kohlrabi. If you use row
covers to protect from frost, you can start to plant lettuce and radishes.
Sprouting
Seeds:
Sprouting
various seeds is a fast and easy source of nutrition. Sprouts pack a lot of nutrition in a very
tiny package and you can eat them in just a few days. Sprouts can be used as a replacement for
vegetable if you have none. All you need
for basic supplies are seeds, a container with a lid for some ventilation and a
source of clean water to rinse them off a couple times a day.
There are
several different options for containers for sprouting. The old fashioned way is just a quart jar and
a cover of cheese cloth. Now you can buy a plastic “sprouting jar lid”. You lay the jar on its side in a sunny
spot. There are also sprouting trays
that are square or round. If you have multiple trays you can grow different
varieties of sprouts at the same time.
Seeds that
are commonly sprouted; alfalfa, mung
beans, other beans, peas, lentils, and wheat.
Use sprouts
fresh on a sandwich, use in salads, as a soup topping, add to vegetables in a
stir-fry dish, and use in an omelette.
To buy bulk sprouting seeds check out Azure Standard Supply in Oregon, USA. www.azurestandard.com They can ship about anywhere inside the continental United States. To see how you can make your own bulk seed sprouting mix, check out www.youtube.com and search for a video by Healthy Preparedness. She has posted a video titled "Sprouting Mix-Save Money!"
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| You can grow a few sprouts at a time in just a Mason jar covered with cheese cloth or use a plastic sprouting lid. |
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| Shown: The Victorio Brand Seed Sprouting "Kitchen Garden" kit. |
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| A round seed sprouting container with 4 tiers. You could grow 4 different kinds of sprouts at one time in this one. |
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| A sample of just one sprouting book for beginners. |
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| A seed sprouting chart from www.rawforbeauty.com |
