Starting Your Seeds Indoors – Building a Trellis in the Garden – What to do with Lard
Oh yes I feel the garden calling my name even though we just got another layer of snow with…more coming….again. Yes that photo is from this morning! Here in zone 4b we still got a bit to go.
When I do get outside (which I admit is not as much as I should) I walk around the gardens, well I trudge around the outside of my gardens in my boots sinking into the snow I dream of the days I’ll be sweating and working my butt off with my hands in the soil, growing things. All the things.
But first- we need to start seeds!
Last year I recorded some videos on my setup. It’s fairly simple but highly effective. It’s worked very well for me for about a decade. Here’s the playlist
What you’ll need
1. Heirloom seeds (don’t mess with the genetically modified one’s, it’s just gross)
2. Seed Heat Mat
3. Seeds Trays & Dome Cover
4. Spray Bottle
5. Good Soil – I use Dairy Doo Seed Starter
6. Lights
To Find Out How I start My seeds Click HERE for my FREE Seed Starting Guide!
Building a Trellis in the Garden
Growing vertically is such a great way to maximize space but it does so much more than that. It looks cool first off- it can be quite a show piece especially when growing purple podded pole beans. My bean trellis is a show stopper and it’s becoming famous in my local area. How cool is that? Plus these purple podded pole beans I’ve been seed saving for many many years!
Laura’s Garden & Trellis Systems
Hog Panels & rebar Video HERE
These hog panels are bent over in a dome shape and held in place by 3 foot rebar sections that are placed into the ground. Two on the outside and 1 on the inside. The space in between the dome is approx. 5 feet. Plant beans on each side of the hog panels (inside & out) You could also use cattle panels, however the spacing in between in much larger, I prefer the hog panels.
Peas growing up a hog panel with cilantro in between.
You can also use pallets for the peas to grow up on.
Hog panels can also be used in the trellis/ arch system for Cucumbers. You could also cut the hog panels into sections (approx. 3 feet) for Cucumbers and Tomatoes.
Lard- Oh what to do with Lard?
Are you able to aquire lard from a fried or a local butcher? If so, good for you! We love lard around here, we saute with it all the time. We also use it to make delicious sourdough pie crusts for both sweet & meat pies. I also make soap with it. I do not buy any soap from the stores anymore because we love our Lard soap. And no, I do not smell like bacon…although that’s not exactly a bad thing.
Want to learn to render Lard, click HERE.
Interested in Making Lard Soap, click HERE.
Make my sourdough pie crust HERE
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