Council for Responsible Genetics

I saw this over at Garden Girl's forum from another member there. The site is dedicated to a safe seed program where seed distributors can sign up saying that they are selling seeds that, to their knowledge, are not genetically modified.

It shows distributors not already taking the pledge how they, too, can pledge that their seeds are genetically safe.

It also has a list of seed distributors that have already taken the pledge for your seed shopping needs.

All in all, a definite 10 on the Greener Meter scale.

http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/Help/TakeAction.aspx

Really Cool Vegetable Database

Ever get the feeling that you just pick the wrong varieties? You try 4 different ones, they all suck but your neighbor seems to sniff out the goodies when you're stuck with stunted, half-dead plants that won't sustain themselves much less a family.

Welp, here is something to help you out. The University of Saskatchewan has this program where they are putting all the varities to the test and man, is it handy. I've been digging in there on and off and have found that several varieities I wanted to try probably wouldn't be too good of an idea for me to try without a back up.

The really awesome thing about this after I had time to really sit down and look is that it gives you a recommended list of stuff to grow based on their trials. Very handy indeed.

So, have a look at this thing and let me know what you think about it.

Sustainable Living

They are just springing up everywhere, the little Victory Garden now renamed by most people the Freedom Garden. From the White House to lovely backyards. But is it enough? A little vegetable garden will certainly help Americans get back to eating healthy and help everyone world wide lift some of the burden that is the food demand. But can a good tasty salad, some beans, peas and corn be enough?

Some say not.

There are many folks looking for alternative ways to sustain themselves without having to move out of their urban setting and more now than ever, they are looking not only for the garden, but for the meat supply. To know what is in it, what it was fed, how it was treated are becoming very important to folks these days. This is inevitably a follow up to such stories concerning antibiotics, hormonal treatments and lousy husbandry that has been drifting in and out of the news for the past several years.

A list of things to consider for urban and non-urban settings alike:

Chickens (urban and non-urban)
Quail (urban and non-urban)
Rabbit (urban and non-urban)
Goats (urban and non-urban)
Bees (non-urban and in specific circumstances urban)
Shrimp (urban and non-urban)
Fish (urban and non-urban)

When I say urban, I don't mean the 10 acres sitting on the edge of town, I'm talking about sub-divisions and residential areas that have small plots of land. Yes, you can have acreage in town, I know because I lived on 3 in Knoxville. But not everyone will have this land readily available. Hence bees being in specific circumstances. I don't think it would fly too well if someone in a 75 house subdivision with lot sizes of 10 by 40 for a back yard decided to start up a bee hive. Definitely not.

There are laws to consider. Licenses in some states, cities, counties. Neighbors to annoy. But once all that is worked out and you have decided what it is you can do, what is stopping you?

And it isn't just meat anymore:

Cheese
Yogurt and other dairy staples
Grain growing and milling
Cosmetics
Candles
Mead and alcohol and here
Vinegar
Orchards

It doesn't really stop there either. Homemade wind generators and solar power are also becoming more popular due to the high costs associated with buying packages and having them professionally installed. And for those lucky enough to be near water, there is water generation to consider.

So depending on what you can do will depend on how many other things you can accomplish. For example: If you keep bees you have honey to make mead, you can potentially make vinegar from the alcohol from the mead, you can make candles from the wax, cosmetics from the wax and honey and have honey to use as a sweetener in lieu of sugar. The bees will in turn pollinate your vegetable and grain crops and orchard. Grains, vegetables and fruits mean food for you, food for beef, chicken, pork, game. Meat from any of these, eggs from chickens and quail, dairy from the cows and goats. You can see where all this is going.

A nice little package that is, no? While it does cost upfront to get started in land (providing you aren't paying for it already), supplies and labor, it pays off in the future. Once established, its maintained, and less work is involved. Less work, not no work but still less work all around. There are many testaments to this. Blogs are numerous that show examples of this type of urban sustainable living. Some of them are a little outside of town, some are smack dab in the middle.

One thing I learned growing up is the ability for a community to trade. Ok, so you can't have bees on your back 40 and you can have noisy chickens and there is just not enough room for goats. Gotcha. That doesn't stop you from making friends with a local bee keeper or farmer. Trade is good. Farmers markets are a priceless resource for such things. I was part of a small farmers market in Knoxville selling homemade soaps. I traded for potted herbs, fresh baked breads, other homemade soaps, fresh vegetables, locally produced honey, locally made salsas, jelly, jam, preserves. I still have contact with some of these folks, even if I don't get to make the homemade soap for the market anymore and I get discounts from these people for trading with them in the past for their locally produced wares and when I have something to trade, they know about it.

It didn't cost me anything but my own initiative, sweat, and time. I was already at the market for my own reasons, building the network was a bonus. Everything depends on how much time you want to put into this sort of life. It is a life style change. I dare say that once you start eating french fries from your own potatoes, it would be difficult to go back to fast food. There is nothing in the world like fresh beef.

Growing up, I moved from small town to big city and the transition was difficult. Everything tasted like plastic, fresh foods didn't seem to have the same textures, colors, flavors or even aromas that I knew. My husband is the grandson of a butcher so when we decided to buy a side of beef, the savings were a huge factor, but afterwards, we wouldn't have cared if we'd paid thousands of dollars. There is just no contest.

How to get established:

First, give up on the idea of perfect looking vegetables. You want uniformed vegetables, go to the grocery store. They throw out enough odd looking food because it isn't desirable. Your garden is not a commercial grower. Your garden is a place of out of the norm shades of the rainbow, of dimpled tomatoes, crooked potatoes, pointy ears of corn. Food is misshaped, so what? You're likely to be cutting it into chunks and tossing it into something anyway, what does it matter what its exact shape was when it came out of the garden?

Second, mother nature giveth and she also taketh away. You will have losses. There will be bad years. There are going to be times where you seems as if nothing you've done amounts to a hill of beans. Literally. But this happens. Blight wiped out the American Chestnut trees to almost near extinction. The chestnuts we see now are Asian. Disease is threatening the main type of banana you see at the store today, we'll switch to another kind that is resistant to the disease. Disease is threatening our citrus, again, we'll stitch to a disease resistant kind. Large scale, these things are utterly devastating, it is a economic disturbance, etc. In the home garden, it means you get to find another tasty variety to grow that is resistant to whatever happens to be plaguing you. Do not see it as failure. See it as a learning experience that enables you to try something new that will dazzle the family, neighbors and friends at the dinner table.

You start small. In my mind there are musts. Rain barrels. Compost. Good soil. Start there and then work into the garden. A lot of beginners make the mistake of jumping in both feet and then are unable to continue when several disasters hit in rapid succession or all at once. The small ecosystem that is being established takes time. I was reading on one of the forums I enjoy and a new gardener was just freaking out. She'd started her garden that year, she had numerous plantings and had no experience with any of them. She was over run by pests and disease and she was losing heart. It is difficult to establish a proper area all at once. Start with a few items you wish to grow first - after you can maintain them with your rain barrels and ideally be able to supplement with your compost (not a requirement, but still handy). Think amendments, too, comfrey in the compost, comfrey tea, manure in the compost (you know from your chickens and cows), manure tea, kelp in the compost, kelp extract. Blood and bone meal.

After you've got some beneficial insects attracted to your garden with a few items, expand it. The beneficial insects will keep returning and will aid in balancing the destructive ones. Will you have pest problems? Yep, you surely will, if not, why do we have all the insecticides that we have on the market? Will there be disease problems? Absolutely. But it is easier to handle a couple of problems at a time instead of ten and it is all about the balance. The first time you plant something new, you might get lucky and never have a problem with that item, but that won't happen every time you plant something new or even things you've planted for five years in a row. Red wigglers, lady bugs, bees are all beneficial creatures for the garden and you can buy them online to be delivered. While bees take more effort, the worms and lady bugs are released and go to work.

As for adding critters. You can establish them first or second. If first, you'll have a feed bill. If second and you've decided to plant what they will eat and handle it yourself, it might take you a while to get there. Feed is getting more expensive, so consider what it is that your critter of choice will eat and then grow it in the first or second batch of gardening you do so if you plan to not have a feed bill, you're not blind sided by blight, mold, fungus, or insects the first year and end up with an expense you were not expecting. There are numerous sites that have recipes for home made feeds for all sorts of farm animals and game for proper nutrition. If you have enough area, let them forage for themselves. Most of the animals we eat have been around for a long time, they didn't always have us hanging out to feed them either and yet they survived.

Everything is a circle. Your garden feeds you and your critters, your critters will help clean up the garden when its done and help you to fertilize and aerate so you can garden again. The benefits of these things are that you can make your own foods and store them so that you are not depending on a hormonally grown, genetically altered, chemically treated system. The more you do, the better off you are. If you are unable to do as much, you can benefit from a network of trading. Its time and patience and most of all it's a choice.

The Worm Guy

The worm guy! Eco friendly worm usage for an island where the landfill is closed and the refuse has to be taken off island. A definite 10 on the greener meter!

Update: Instead of working 6 days a week, I'm going to work the next 21 days straight so I can have my weekends free at the end of Feb so I'm more strained for time. Stay with me, I'm still here, just a little over worked.

Apriums

I found it interesting that they mixed apricots and plums making Apriums and Pluots.
Pluots have majority plum parentage and Apriums have majority apricot parentage and are most stable. Pluots and apriums should be ripened at room temperature and then refrigerated. Pluots can be ripened in a brown paper bag at room temperature.

Approximately 20 varieties of pluots have been developed and bred by Zaiger Genetics. Each variety contains a different percentage of plum and apricot parentage. These varieties vary in size, skin color, and flesh color. The skin can be solid, striped, or speckled and skin colors range from yellow-green to black. Pluot flesh ranges from white to red in color.

Pluot varieties include:
Candy Stripe: medium, pink-yellow striped, with very sweet and juicy flesh.
Cherry: small, bright red skin with white flesh.
Dapple Dandy: large sweet with pale green to yellow, red-spotted skin, red or pink juicy flesh. Flavorella: round, medium-sized, golden-yellow, with sweet and juicy flesh.
Flavor Heart: very large, black with a heart shape, and yellow flesh.
Flavor King: very sweet, medium or large, with red-purple skin and red flesh.
Flavorosa: very sweet or tart, medium-sized, flat round dark-purple fruit with red flesh.
Flavor Prince: large round and purple, with red flesh
Flavor Rich: medium-sweet, large black round fruit with orange flesh.
Flavor Supreme: medium or large, greenish purple skin, juicy red flesh.
Flavor Queen: large light-green to yellow, very juicy
Red Ray: medium, bright red with dense, sweet orange flesh.

Quick Grow

What can you grown in less than 60 days in your garden?

After my last post I got curious and started looking around at the various varieties and their maturity times. What can you grow in less than 60 days in your garden? There is actually quite a bit. I never really paid attention to the times before, sure, I kept records, but it was on a calender that said planted on this date and harvest on this date. I didn't really stop to really look at the numbers.

Less than 30

Cress, Curled

Lettuce, Freckles Romaine

30 to 40

Amaranth, Garent Red

Mustard Green, Tendergreen

Onion, White Lisbon

Orach, Red

Radish, Bartender Red mammoth

Radish, Brightest Breakfast

Radish, Cherry Belle

Radish, Comet

Radish, Crimson Giant

Radish, Early Scarlet Globe

Radish, Easter Egg

Radish, French Breakfast

Radish, German Giant

Radish, Hailstone

Radish, Long Scarlet Cinncinati

Radish, Pink Summercicle

Radish, Plumb Purple

Radish, Watermelon

Radish, White Beauty Radish

Radish, White Icicle

Spinach, Strawberry

Turnip, Shogoin

40 to 50

Arugula

Bean, Bush Snap, Blue Lake Bush

Bean, Bush Snap, Bountiful

Bean, Bush Snap, Cherokee Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Contender

Broccoli Raab, Early Fall Rapini

Carrot, Little Finger

Cucumber, Armenian

Endive, Tres Fine

Lettuce, Amish Deer Tongue

Lettuce, Australian Yellow Leaf

Lettuce, Baby Oakleaf

Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson

Lettuce, Boston Red

Lettuce, Bunte Forellenschuss

Lettuce, Flame

Lettuce, Iceberg

Lettuce, Lolita

Lettuce, Marveille de 4 Seasons

Lettuce, Oak Leaf

Lettuce, Prize Head

Lettuce, Red Deer Tongue

Lettuce, Salad Bowl

Lettuce, Slobolt

Lettuce, Speckled

Lettuce, Tanog

Lettuce, Tennis Ball

Mache (Corn Salad)

Mustard Green, Green Wave

Mustard Green, Southern Giant Curled

Mustard, Tatsoi

Pea, English, Alaska

Pea, English, British Wonder

Radish, Early Wonder

Radish, Japanese Minowase

Spinach, American

Spinach, Bloomsdale Long Standing

Spinach, Bloomsdale Savoy

Spinach, Monnopa

Spinach, Red Malabar

Spinach, Strawberry

Spinach, Viroflay

Squash, Summer, Bennings Green Tint Scallop

Squash, Summer, Black Zucchini

Tomato, SubArctic Plenty

Tomato, Sweetie

Tomato, Tiny Tim

Turnip, Golden Ball

Turnip, White Egg

Zucchini, Grey

Zucchini, Round

50 to 60

Bean, Bush Snap, Brittle Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Dragon's Tongue Bush Snap

Bean, Bush Snap, Fin de Bagnol

Bean, Bush Snap, Golden Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Old Dutch Half Runner

Bean, Bush Snap, Pencil Pod Black Wax

Bean, Bush Snap, Provider

Bean, Bush Snap, Royal Burgandy

Bean, Bush Snap, Royalty Purple Pod

Bean, Bush Snap, Tenderette

Bean, Bush Snap, Tendergreen Improved

Bean, Bush Snap, Top Crop

Bean, Pole Snap, Sunset Runner

Beets, Bull's Blood

Beets, Crosby's Egyptian

Beets, Cylindra

Beets, Detroit Dark Red

Beets, Early Blood Turnip

Beets, Letherman's Green Top

Beets, Ruby Queen

Broccoli Raab, Spring Rapini

Broccoli, Atlantic

Broccoli, Calabrese

Broccoli, De Cicco

Broccoli, Waltham

Cabbage, Pak Choi

Carrot, Amsterdam Minicor

Carrot, Bambino

Carrot, Parisian

Catalogna

Cauliflower, Early Snowball

Chard, Flamingo Swiss

Chard, Fordhook Giant

Chard, Large White Ribbed

Chard, Lucullus

Chard, Oriole

Chard, Pink

Chard, Rainbow

Chard, Rhubarb

Chard, Ruby Red

Collards, Morris Heading

Cowpea, Knuckle Purple Hull

Cucumber, Boothby's Blond

Cucumber, Boston Pickling Improved

Cucumber, Delikatesse

Cucumber, Double Yield

Cucumber, Homemade Pickles

Cucumber, Japanese Climbing

Cucumber, Miniature White

Cucumber, Muncher

Cucumber, National Pickling

Cucumber, Parisian Pickling

Cucumber, Rhinish Pickle

Cucumber, Russian

Cucumber, White Wonder

Eggplant, Little Spooky

Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled

Kale, Lacinto

Kale, Russian Red

Kale, Winter Red

Lettuce, Forellenschuss

Lettuce, Grandpa Admire's

Lettuce, Kagraner Summer

Lettuce, Little Gem

Lettuce, Lollo Rossa

Lettuce, Prize Head

Lettuce, Red Coral

Lettuce, Red Leprechaun

Lettuce, Rossimo

Lettuce, Rouge d' Hiver Romaine

Lettuce, Rubin

Lettuce, Salad bowl

Lettuce, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead

Okra, Clemson Spineless

Okra, Cowhorn

Okra, Perkins Mammoth

Okra, Red Burgandy

Okra, Star of David

Pea, Amish Snap

Pea, English, Laxton's Progress

Pea, English, Sparkle

Pea, Snow, Dwarf Gray Sugar

Pea, Snow, Oregon Sugar Pod

Pea, Sugar Sprint

Pepper, Bull Nose

Pepper, Hungarian Hot Wax

Pepper, Mini Brown Bell

Pepper, Mini Red Bell

Pepper, Mini Yellow Bell

Pepper, Sweet Chocolate

Pepper, Tequila Sunrise

Radish, Black Spanish

Radish, China Rose

Spinach, Giant Thick Leafed

Spinach, New Zealand

Squash, Summer, Black Beauty

Squash, Summer, Caserta

Squash, Summer, Early Prolific Straightneck

Squash, Summer, Golden Scallop

Squash, Summer, Italian Vegetable Marrow

Squash, Summer, Yellow Crookneck

Tomato, Bloody Butcher

Tomato, First Pick

Tomato, Manitoba

Tomato, Matt's Wild Cherry

Tomato, Oregon Spring

Tomato, Silvery Fir Tree

Tomato, Stupice

Turnip, Purple Top White Globe

Turnip, Seven Top

Zucchini, Dark Green

Zucchini, Golden

Most other edibles take anywhere from 60 to 100+ days. All of it well worth the wait, but for those that are a little impatient, here is a nice list of things to grow that will be ready to harvest in two months or less.

2008 - Year of the Potato

Until I stumbled across it, I didn't know that 2008 was the UN's year of the potato. It raises awareness on just how much we depend and grow this unique tuber on a global scale. Giving statistics on growth, it shows that Europe and Asia produce a staggering amount of potatoes on a yearly basis!

The site gives detailed information on the potato plant and how it grows, nutritional facts, biodiversity, economy and pricing. All in all, a very clever way to get information about the potato out there to the world. The site is in several different languages to help break down the barriers. No doubt that their attempt to educate is really making a difference. I applaud the UN for their efforts.

The thing I find most interesting:

" Diversity conserved in trust

The International Potato Centre in Peru maintains the world’s largest bank of
potato germplasm, including some 1 500 samples of about 100 wild species
collected in eight Latin American countries, and 3 800 traditional Andean
cultivated potatoes. The collection is maintained and managed under the
terms of an agreement with the Governing Body of the International Treaty
on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and, like all collections
eligible for funding from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, is available to plant
breeders worldwide upon request."

Incidentally, 2009 is International Year of Astronomy.

The White House Organic Farm Project

There is something inherently wrong with there not being a garden in every yard of America, and these guys intend on seeing it through to start at the top of the food chain, so to speak, and get that garden ball rolling at the First House. The White House Organic Farm Project is petition urging Obama and his band of not so merry men to go Organic. Grow it on the White House lawn, grow it by having children and disable people tend it, and to distribute it schools and the hungry.

What isn't there to like? Even if they don't do the entire thing in its original form, perhaps it will spark enough light to show that it is important for a garden to be on the lawn of the First House.

This introduces the bus that isn't really a bus. The Who Farm Mobile complete with an explanatory video. Seeing is believing. This bus boasts a worm bin and fresh foods such as kale, collards, chard and some herbs.

Easy Hydroponic Seed Starting Factory

Patti Moreno's newest video. A hydroponic set up for seedlings.

Seed the Day and Rue It At The Same Time

Dagoba, you know how I love Dagoba, is doing Seed the Day. You send them a pic with you and your favorite bar of their chocolate and they will send you a packet of seeds. You can't beat that. Details on their website. The offer actually ends at the end of the month so get moving!

On a more dramatic front, Obama nominates Tom Vilsack as the Secretary of Agriculture. I'm not usually a hugely emotional person when it comes to politics. I'm not usually a hugely political person, period. But what a downward swing this is. Vilsack lobbies for Monsanto *shutter*, the makers of Roundup (which has been shown to be damaging over long term use if I'm not mistaken) and supports things like not putting labels on milk declaring them rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) free because they know that the public would rather not drink the stuff and they know that we're willing to pay whatever it takes to protect our health. Better that we just don't know about that. This would be devastating to companies like Monsanto who are major researchers for these types of hormones and other things too.

With such disastrous chemicals as Agent Orange riding on their coat tails, Monsanto has a long history of covering things up. They recently paid out a staggering $700 million for not cleaning up their mess from back in the 70's to a town in Alabama. They are also in deep with foreign court systems for basically lying about the type of seed they brought into the country for farmers to plant. Not nice business at all.

Then there is my favorite. The "terminator" seed. What did you say? You're asking if this is a seed dressed up like Arnold Swartzenager from the Terminator movie, complete with shot gun, cool glasses and clad in black leather? Nay, I say! If only. This technology produces sterile seeds, my friends. That's right. Commercial farmers would be forced to purchase seed over and over from Monsanto because the seeds that the plants would produce would be non-viable.

Did anyone actually stop to think about this on a global scale? A bunch of morons go into a lab, decide to figure out how to make all seeds sterile so that big companies can decide the fate of the world's food. And in the mean time while commercial farmers are forced to abide by this, who gets completely screwed in the end? Well lets see, uh the WORLD maybe? Cross pollination with these plants would devastate natural forests and fields. It would complete shut down the home gardener. Grow your own only to find out next year that half the seeds you saved are sterile.

And where would everyone have to go to get viable seeds? Hmm? You got it. Monsanto. Even though they say they have no interest in further research on the sterile seed, I still find it terrifying that they purchased the company that came up with the concept in 2007.

Idiots. All of them, complete morons. Once you let it all out into the world, things change. The earth is not a laboratory and life finds a way, strangely enough. I, personally, like things just how they are. I enjoy the fresh foods of my labor and certainly don't need some big company coming in and screwing up the planet more than it already is by letting loose to the world plants that produce sterile seeds. It is just unthinkable.

This is what Tom Vilsack supports. This is the future that he could potentially bring forth. It isn't just the growth hormones, its is much bigger than that. The GM corn that actually causes damage to the liver and kidneys. It's the audacity they show by trying to patient the birth of pigs because they have a specific instrument they use to artificially inseminate. The patients on specific varieties and the law suites they filed against farmers for selling seed they grew. It's Terminator, Agent Orange, DDT, Roundup.

For shame Tom Vilsack. For shame Monsanto. For shame Obama for even thinking that this guy would have the minds and hearts of the American people on his agenda.

Sound your voice! Make you're voice heard. Take action!

Say "No!" to GMO's. Say "No!" to the lack of labeling on our foods. Say "No!" to the cover ups and the lies. Say "No!" to Tom Vilsack and to Monsanto. And for the love of all things sacred, say "No!" to the Terminator seeds. They may be saying that they aren't pursuing research, but look at their track record and make the decision for yourself.

Heirloom Vegetable Archive

I just love this site. Jeff has a massive directory with pictures of the cut fruit, whole fruits and leaves of each of tomato, garlic and peppers. Very handy information with seed parentage for some.

Winter Gardening

This is not something that is limited to the boxes in the backyard with cold frames and hoop houses. I've rambled about this before. Hydroponic, aeroponic and bubbleponic systems in a warm room will keep producing those tomatoes and depending on the space that can be given to such a project a host of other foods that you just don't want to be without. But it isn't even a system of water it can just be a flower pot growing root crops with a grow light.

Considering I have a family of four, an inside winter garden is a good idea not only because it will cut down on the food bill, but because it will also keep down on cabin fever. We have something to keep us busy during a period of rest for the earth outside.

We have our fresh herbs in the kitchen window. If it is one thing my children know better than anything is the difference between all the herbs in the window. They do most of the picking for me when I'm cooking and they make sure to give them a good rinse before we start cooking them, too. We're actually not doing it this year because we're moving in 6 months and my son was horrified when I told him we weren't going to plant more basil.

Another one on our list of food to grow indoors would be potatoes because we love our potatoes and a good tall slender bin or flower pot for potatoes can be easily grown in a window seal or with grow lights in soil not even necessarily getting into the water systems. It's easy because potatoes don't have to have temps above 75 to grow. Most prefer 60 to 65 which is easily attained in the home. Flo tubes could help with lighting if a window isn't getting enough sun and those are cheap, cheap, cheap.

Drop some soil and then a seed potato or two in the bin and cover with soil to the top. The potato plant will seek out the light (if you remember your science experiments from the 8th grade you'll remember the potato in a maze finding its way to the light). I've seen some seriously complicated potato bins, mostly for outside growth, but I've not seen anyone do just a tall slender planter of them in the house before but for once and I swear I thought that the woman who did it must have been in my head. She keeps hers on her deck and hers worked just fine and so have mine inside. You get a mess of potatoes that last about a week or so and then you can start again. Get two or three of those alternating and you've got yourself potatoes all year round with better flavor and without chemicals.

Little pots of lettuce or an entire hydroponic system. Patti Moreno definitely has the right idea, she has a fish tank fertilizing and watering her lettuce which is growing in bins of perlite under flo tubes. An easy and inexpensive set up.

Strawberries are a favorite, especially since the little hydroponic systems came out and a variety of strawberries fit for the little system. Grow some on the counter in the kitchen with one of those like this guy, who has set up his hallways to grow lettuce and strawberries.

There are plenty of dwarf varieties out there that can withstand a good cold snap, but for those that don't, they can become the plants that get brought in for the winter. Banana is getting hugely popular for growing indoors and others as well. A lot of these can be bought mail order depending on where you live.

There are just a ton of things you can grow indoors. Late winter and spring aren't the only times of the year that food can be sprouted and grown. With enough time, space, and patience our old favorites can be grown indoors within reason.

A couple of places and products of interest:

Universal Garden - this is a really cool system consisting of large covered buckets for the reservoirs and adjustable amount of pots to use for the system starting with 4.

Specials for all sorts of great equipment.

LED Grow lights.

Ease the Water Consumption

Water absorbing crystals.  A biodegradable cornstarch crystal that is tiny spec when dry and the size of a dime when wet.  These things absorb water when it is plentiful and give it back to soil.  Good for container gardening and water hog plants that you want to plant in a little water environment or an area with water restrictions.  You can find these little gems at your local garden center and if not there, amazon sells 'em.