Sweet Potato Homestead

I’m a little more rusty when it comes to seed starting than I thought. I’ve been meaning to write this post for weeks now but every time I checked my little grow corner I had nothing but problems.

While I was using a timer for the grow lights, the heat mats were constantly on and sabotaged my watering efforts. I thoroughly cooked most of my first sow seeds and they’ve been moved to the cold basement to wait until spring. I’ll probably just recycling the potting soil outside and if some seeds manage to come up where their dirt was planted, that’s fine with me. The few that did survive, thyme and rosemary, got moved to the kitchen window on a mini heat mat and are still alive.

Monday I cleaned out the graveyard and sowed and re-sowed new and previous seeds. Pretty much all the herbs: Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Mint, Oregano were planted again. The flowers and supporting plants: Comfrey, Lavender, Calendula, Lemon Balm were also included. I know a lot of these I will probably direct sow in a month or so but I really don’t think I can have too many of these helpful guys~

Moving on to proper calorie crops, here’s what was planted:

• Amaranth (3 varieties: Red Garnet, Pygmys Torch, Golden Giants)
• Small Gourd Mix
• Butternut Squash (Honeynut)
• Cucumber (Spacemaster)
• Broccoli (Purple Sprouting)
• Tomato (Spoon, from Baker Creek as a freebee when I ordered a bunch. This lil guy is t i n y and I hope he does well~)
• Strawberry (Heirloom Pineapple)
• Lettuce (Merveille Des Quatre, Merlot, Mirlo OG MTO Butterhead, Red Cross)
• Chard: (Fordhook Giant, Vulcan, Orange Oriole, Bright Yellow)

Looking back on my notes and what was in the 1st sow, I think I’ll be adding more Amish Paste tomatoes to a 3rd sow since I’m really obsessed with making my own red sauce and using my own tomatoes really made a difference.

Check back later this week with a seedling update cause some of these babies can’t grow fast enough~

This weather this past week has be unbelievably gorgeous and while it’s not meant to last because this is New England, so many new growths have been popping up around the property.

little green leaves

Our gravel driveway is pretty unforgiving in terms of soil health and favorable conditions but it hasn’t stopped a lot of wild plants from taking root. Wild strawberries and their jagged leaves have started spreading out in the gravel pathways around the house, eagerly eating up all the sunlight they can. It’ll be no time before Potato is secretly snacking on their sweet little berries~

No stranger to inhospitable conditions, dandelions have also begun to unsheathe their pokey leaves. I look forward to their sunny yellow heads and the few bees that use them as rest stops in our barren driveway.

reintroducing birds

While we aren’t completely barren when it comes to wildlife on our property, we don’t have a lot to offer the local birds in terms of diverse food sources, water sources and shelter near sources. We’ve observed plenty of hawks and even three turkey vultures but little birds pay us no mind.

Until this year! I’m taking this a little more serious as I was able to observe how things grew in and while we got a few pollinators to help get plants going, very few birds stopped by. I was able to see a hummingbird or two visit my after thought of a catnip plant so that was encouraging~

So far, I’ve gone all out in the suet and loose birdseed. I’ve set up a suet feeder in the back and front yards since both areas were pretty vacant of life last year. Along side stationary feeders, I’ve been scattering the seed across the driveway and towards areas I’ll be adding plants to this year and future years. To encourage more hummingbirds this year, I’ll probably add a space or two for sugar feeders and watch them go nuts~

new additions to 2023 field guide

With my increased cannabis use and courting of the local bird population, I’ve already got a few new entries for my property wide field guide (see my previous post here~). Like last year, I’m using the Seek app to help identify and catalog my findings

birds

• Chipping Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Canada Goose

That last entry was technically on the neighbors property down the road since they have a cute pond but they fly over our house so I’ll count them in my sightings.

plants

• Sensitive Fern

insects

• Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
• Winter Firefly
• Morrison’s Sallow

Once spring and early summer start properly up here in middle Maine, I’ll be constantly updating my field guide with new entries and refilling old entries from last year. Take a step outside and see what’s around you~