Innovating in the Garden

The garden bed that wraps around my front porch is a work in progress. A couple of years ago I used pine straw bales to act as a windbreak between the ground and the bottom of the fascia boards. That helped keep the floors in the house a bit warmer through the winter.

But it's been a few years, and the pine straw bales and mulch need replenishing. The problem was that I was also trying to plant herbs and strawberries under the blueberries. The herbs caught on great. The strawberries not so great. So my brain was trying to figure out how I could do my normal very deep mulching and still leave areas for strawberries to go in. Because I really do mulch deep, as in 12" of mulch because it really helps keep weeds under control. I finally came up with a practical, and practically free, solution. Right now every time I have an empty soda or vinegar bottle, I cut the center section out. Both top and bottom come off and go in recycling. The center section is saved. I even did it with a gallon water jug or two.

Today I took them out and started the mulching. I spaced those sections far enough apart for strawberries to be fine and then mulched in between. It means my mulch layer is only about 9" but I can live with that. Once mulching is done, I'll fill the containers with cheap topsoil. Well, know me, garden soil and compost. As for mulching around the herbs, well, I saved the vinegar containers for that since they are a bit wider. And that worked well. And for mulching around the blueberries? That will be sections from 4 or 5 gallon water bottles or large plant pots, whichever is at hand when I need it.

And as I was doing that today, I realized that one section of the front bed really is too shady for strawberries. And the mint that I planted in the curve will make a nice visual split there. So I think that section will be ginger plants.

An Italian Pantry

 I have a tendency to keep a large, full pantry. It has grown and shrunk over the years but I try to keep it as full as possible. It was a surprise to discover, when I was first out on my own, that many people don't keep a large, full pantry. I was told it was an Italian thing and that kind of stuck in my brain. Nowadays, it's just a sanity thing.
A few friends have been trying to figure out how to build up their food pantry and have asked for ideas. All I can tell you is the way I learned to do it. It's a journey though, not a shopping list, because everyone is different. So I'll do multiple posts that you can follow to create a large, full pantry that fits your family's needs, regardless of diet restrictions.
The first step sounds easy but you will discover it is not. For step on, find 7 to 14 recipes that your family likes to eat. The more you have, the more variety will be available for those times when getting to the store is difficult or money is tight. So try for 14. 
Give yourself a variety of easy to fix and more difficult to fix meals. That will keep you going for those nights when you can barely function at dinner time, and the ones where you have time and energy.
For now, don't worry about whether the ingredients are canned or frozen. But for these recipes, avoid fresh ingredients or find substitutes for them. The reason for the is because the ingredients for these recipes need to be something that can sit on the shelves or in the freezer for a while.
Three examples from my household - chicken and rice, and shepherd's pie, and our version of tacos. Unless it's been a really long, bad stretch there are ingredients for all of those in my house. We prefer the tacos with fresh lettuce, but if there's none in the fridge or growing, well it just becomes yummy nachos.
So off you go. Find those recipes. Print them out or write them down. If you are finding new ones to add, take the time to make them and be sure the family likes them. Because the last thing you want to have happen when you are tired and nothing else is available is to find out that the recipe isn't something you're family will eat. Oh, and btw, slow cooker favorites qualify for those recipes as well.