Cheap Gardening: What to Plant and When

Are you ready to get your hands dirty for the best tasting produce you've ever had? I sure am. I've been craving old-fashioned tomatoes, berries, cucumbers, peppers, and lots and lots of basil for a few months now.

I have written in the past about getting cheap planters and soil and how to find seeds for cheap or even free, now it's time to figure out when to plant your seeds and what is best for your area.

First, you'll want to figure out what zone you're in. Here's a nice map that allows you to search by your zip code. I am lucky enough to live in Southern California, where we have less "bad weather" even though we complain if it drizzles or drops below 60 degrees. Spoiled people problems.

Next, you can look at charts (or the back of your seed packet if you already have some) to figure out the best time to plant for your zone. Here's a nice basic chart, another that let's you search by zone, or you can get a lil fancy and sign up for this one and order seeds at the same time. If you want to grow anything unusual or heirloom I suggest you just obtain seeds on your own. If you're looking to be more modern, there's even this plant app for $2.

The Texas Handroll: A Party in Your Mouth

It's finally Friday (!!) so I'm going to stick with Vanessa's classy party theme here, ya'll.

New York City's Hill Country Chicken in the Flatiron area is an atomic little heaven of rich Southern fare: fried chicken, biscuits, and homemade pies with names like Whiskey Buttermilk and even an apple pie with a cheddar crust (note to self: need to try this). I've ended up here in the past because I love food but also because of it's proximity to an awesome antiques garage and flea market right down the street. This is dangerous stuff. Rummaging for finds (like this) and then settling down for a hot cafeteria-style lunch at HCC is a pretty decadent and perfect day for a girl like me.

One of my favorite things to get is also probably the weirdest on the menu: The Texas Handroll. Just don't sound right, does it? The Texas Handroll is like if Waylon Jennings had went to Japan and returned with a tasty illegitimate love child. It's wrong but so right. It's fried chicken strips (or deep fried avocado if you go with the vegetarian version) with a mound of coleslaw, sweet red pepper jelly, and sliced almonds all wrapped in a flour tortilla like a sushi handroll. Cute right? This thing is a delicious party in your mouth - a slightly disorienting party where you forget who you are and where you were going. Cool, hot, crispy, creamy, crunchy - there are a lot of textures and sensations going on here and it pretty much rules.

This week, craving one and getting bored with usual dinner options, I decided to experiment with making a healthier version at home using some of my favorite foods and and go-to tricks. Here is how it went down.

Easy and (Mad) Men Approved Hors D'oeuvres

Food from the 1960's gets a bad rap because, well, for the most part, it's just bad. We're talking overly wrought recipes made with bland, over processed ingredients (canned cocktail weenies, anyone?), strange combinations of foods that aren't popular anymore for a reason, and an ungodly ubiquitous little something called an aspic (shudder). So when I pondered what I wanted to to do for Mad Men week on this here blog (besides go out for a mid-week martini lunch), I was just a little cautious when I cracked open my vintage (copyright 1963) Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks. Despite exhaustingly hauling these books with my book collection move after move (sorry mom and dad and everyone else who has ever helped me move), I've never had a desire to make even one of the recipes. I figured it was time to give them another chance. As I remembered, lots of unsavory usual suspects were there: Limas and Franks, Surprise Meat Slices, Tomato Soup Dressing, and Baked Prune Whip - these are all very real recipes. On her good days, these are the dinners that pre-divorce Betty Draper was setting out for Don. Scary stuff, right?

Cheap Gardening: Planters and Soil

If you need a bunch of pots or just have a large area of ground to fill with rich soil... the cost can add up very quickly. Let's explore some ways to get what you need for cheap!

Planters:

Be creative! Check garage sales and thrift stores for not only regular planters, but anything that can be used as a planter! Just make sure you can drill holes on the bottom of the container for better drainage. If you don't care about the way the planter looks you can even use jars, jugs, and just about anything else laying around the house! Just keep in mind, plastic or metal containers will not "breathe" as well as pottery or wood, and some plants will need a decent sized pot to grow in.

Cheap Gardening: Seeds and Plants

Hey, ya'll. It's time (at least for us Californians) to start thinking about planting gardens! Anyone can do it, even those who don't have a yard, and it's completely rewarding! I prefer plants of the edible kind, so I'm going to mostly cover information on those, but flowers are amazing, too!

For those of us who have planted gardens before, you know it can get kind of pricey to buy all things needed unless you just happen to have a perfect spot in the ground ready to go. My house is surrounded by a wood deck - it's nice, but there's not much ground we were able to use for plants, which meant buying a lot of containers and a ton of soil. Of course we also had to buy trees and other expensive rare plants because it can be a bit of an obsession. Let's just say I don't really want to think about how much money has been spent over the past year or two. In the process I have picked up some tips on how to get things done for cheap and even free.

Today we will start with plants and seeds.