Our first harvest: Lettuce!

Not enough for a salad but enough for sandwiches and they really were yummy!

Do Not Mail - Going green by getting rid of your junk mail

The average person receives about 41 pounds of junk mail every year. While most of us recycle the junk we get, there is a better way of getting rid of the mail before we get it - simply having them not send it at all.

I have discovered that there are many different ways you can go about this. Some make you pay others do not. I prefer free which in these examples may not completely be the case.

www.donotmail.org has you sign a petition to create a national registry for the do not mail campaign. In the meantime you can use their tool to create a pre-printed pdf that you can print, stamp and send to many of the companies that are responsible for filling your mailbox with junk. It's not completely paper-less but that's why you sign the petition - so there will be an online registry one day.

DMAChoice.org is the Direct Marketing Association's website which can help you get rid of even more junk. Once you register you can chose what Catalogs, Magazine Offers, and Other Mail offers you receive. You can stop them all or pick and choose the ones you want.

It's a step in the right direction for many of us 'recyclers'. Now you'll have more time to toil in the garden instead of sorting through the junk.

Veggie of the Day: Radish (Raphanus Sativus)

Believe it or not, it wasn't till about two months ago that I had eaten a radish. (there is of course a high likelihood I've eaten them before but just not been aware of it or taken the time to taste them) Anyway, surprisingly, really liked them.

So partly because I liked them, and more because I really wanted a photo of me pulling a huge bunch of big round radishes out of the ground (definitely going to be posting that photo when it happens) I decided to throw some Radishes in the garden.

One of the first veggies we planted to sprout were the radishes. Here are some factoids about those pretty red roots.

Type: Cherry Belle Spring Radish
Brand of Seed: Botanical Interests Organic Certified
When to Plant: Plant during cool periods of spring and fall
Days to Emerge: 5-10
Time till Harvest: 24 days
Other notes: Good for Container gardening, Full Sun/Part Shade, Water when dry, plant near carrots
Our Experience: We planted 3-5 seeds in holes 1/2 inch deep at 1 inch apart. As the radishes have sprouted at least 2-4 of the seeds in each hole were successful. Once the second set of radish leaves appear it will be time to thin the radishes by pulling out the root of the weaklings, cutting the greens at the soil line, or digging all seedlings out and replanting individually (though this risk shocking your seedlings). At two weeks, today was the first time we saw the second set of leaves. Will tackle thinning tomorrow.