Indoor Edibles for the North

The air outside is cooling and I've heard of gardeners observing morning frosts in other parts of the province. My, oh my! Of course, this is good for my little purple violas, which are enjoying the wetter, cooler weather.

Reblooming Campanula carpatica (Carpathian bellflower)

Violas and two kinds of Heuchera (Coral bells)

I am still waiting for mutant micro mini tomato plant seeds, but in the meantime I've started some more greens and herbs in the basement. This is the perfect solution for the gardener itch in the off-season. I dream of serving fabulous meals adorned by the frilly Lolla Rossa Italian red lettuce and tender watercress floating over an artistic splash of balsamic vinegar and virgin olive oil. "Where did you get such lovely greens?", my guests will ask. Oh, the sweet bliss of fresh greens in a place where fresh red peppers cost $10 each in the winter! Think that's bad? I've heard of watermelons going for $40 in the fly-in communities north of us.

I really like these two little propagating trays with domes. There are adjustable openings on the top for ventilation. I put the heating mat under them to aid germination. The shop light heights are easily adjustable and I set them as low as possible, to maximize growth of the seedlings. Thanks to resident-lawnmower-man, the bottom two-thirds of each pot is filled with worm compost.

Patio containers with little watering can ornament given to me by my mom, quite a few years ago.

RLM usually has nothing to do with the worms, but when I wanted to throw the contents of an entire worm box outside on the flowerbed, he protested. "What? You're wasting perfectly good worms? What if my sister wants some?" I had left that box to completely compost, leaving only worms and worm castings. I rationalized that there were plenty of worms in the second box to repopulate the first box. Conclusion of the story: RLM saved all the worms, his sister definitely did NOT want some, the compost went to good use, the box is back in active use.