Is a Digital Kitchen Scale an Essential Garden Tool? I Think So - Plus Five More Worthwhile Kitchen Investments for Gardeners

I've raved about my Oxo 11-pound digital kitchen scale before and no doubt will again. It's worth every penny of the $49.99 I paid for mine three years ago from amazon.com, but now they often have it for even less. (April 2011 update: it's currently just $42.34.)

Basil from the kitchen garden on 9/4/10

Realization of the day:

I literally cannot remember life before my kitchen scale. I often use it several times a day.

If you read the question in this post and your immediate answer was no, I kindly suggest you do these two things and then come back:

1. Go to three different places and buy a bunch of Swiss chard or kale—or even parsley or cilantro—at each one. Are they anywhere near the same size? Didn't think so.

2. Ask three people to measure out two cups of basil leaves for you, then lay the piles side by side and compare them.

Another interesting experiment, though it isn't relevant to my yes, you really do need a kitchen scale argument, is to buy a lemon at three different places and compare the sizes. Zest and juice them if you want, too. Yeah, whoa. Huge difference probably, huh? And how many recipes simply call for 'the zest of one lemon,' or 'the juice of one lemon?' That kind of drives me nuts.

But back to the scale. Once you have one in your kitchen, it's amazing how many things you'll probably find yourself weighing while cooking and baking. They're also are great for weighing postage, especially since you need to know the weight of a package if you want to print out a mailing label online and avoid waiting in line at the post office.

Garden Journal 9/23/10: Busy, Busy and Another Raised Bed Seeded for Fall

The bumblebees and I both love sedum autumn joy, which darkens in color as the season progresses.

Realization of the Day:

Okay, so it's probably going to take me months, rather than weeks, to get through that ambitious list I recently shared of upcoming blog post topics. But you knew that already, didn't you?

Garden Journal 9/14/10: How To Grow Asian (Oriental) Greens for Fall by Direct Seeding

Asian greens ready to be thinned and eaten on 10-10-06

Realization of the Day:

I don't think the little thrill over seeing tiny seeds sprout up out of the soil will ever go away. At least I hope it won't.

Realization #2:

I've grown a lot of fall vegetables over the years that I've completely forgotten about. Thank goodness I did remember to take pictures of them—or at least of some of them.

Okay, so summer is finally winding down, and gardeners everywhere are busy packing away their garden tools, preparing their beds for winter, and already thinking about next spring. If it's been a good year in your garden, you're also hopefully still picking delicious, vine-ripened bounty.

But what you should also be doing is starting a few fall crops. And this isn't as daunting—or exhausting—as it sounds.

Garden Journal 9/9/10: Dealing with a Doodlebug, I'm on Twitter (sort of), and What's Coming Up

My favorite kind of garden pest: cute, cuddly, and prefers meat over vegetables.

Realization of the Day:

I started tweeting but forgot to tell you.

Since I'm always behind replying to e-mail and comments (thanks for your patience!), not to mention garden blogging in general, tweeting isn't such a good idea for me. But for the last several months I've been announcing each new blog post on Twitter—mostly on time, though sometimes I still forget to do it. You'll find In My Kitchen Garden on Twitter here, and Farmgirl Fare here.

This summer has seen record number of In My Kitchen Garden visitors (welcome, new readers!), and I couldn't be happier. It seems gardens—and gardeners—are sprouting up everywhere, and about 20,000 inquisitive growers are finding their way here each month. Between that and our recent slight drop in temperatures (at last) I'm so inspired, both in the garden and on this garden blog.

My new goal is to write shorter posts, and post a lot more often. Summer may be winding down, but there's still all sorts of stuff going on in the garden, and always so much to share. Before we know it, the seed catalogs will be arriving! These are some of the things I'm planning to write about in the coming weeks:

Garden Journal 8/18/10: Tomato Season Has Arrived and the First Harvest is In!

Yep, that's it. Pretty though, isn't it?

Realization of the Day:

One of the nicest things about gardening is that the littlest surprises can often mean so very much.

A month or so ago, I changed my blog header to a photo that more accurately reflects the season: tomatoes! But ever since then I've felt like a guilty impostor. Oh, those are my tomatoes up there alright—I just picked them back in 2008 (at the end of October!). And while pretty much everyone equates the summer vegetable garden with ripe tomatoes, I don't actually have any growing in my garden this year. Or so I thought.

Garden Journal 8/15/10: How To and, More Importantly, Hot Not To Store Fresh Basil

Realization of the Day:

It's a lot easier to write off a garden disaster as a learning experience when it doesn't involve your entire crop.

The photo above illustrates one of the best ways to store fresh basil: in a fragrant little kitchen tabletop bouquet. Sweet looking, nice smelling, and obviously some very happy fresh cut herbs.

That's how I did things last year, when I had so much green and purple basil growing in the garden it kept bursting into bloom faster than I could use it up. This year I had a learning experience—with my one measly plant, which is why this post isn't called something chirpy like Hip Hip Hooray! It's Pesto Time Again! as was originally intended before the harvest.

Garden Journal 7/27/10: Harvesting Really Late Planted Garlic

Growing Garlic: Not Bad, Not Bad

Realization of the Day:

I'm a lot more excited about growing garlic after digging up this year's crop.

I'm doing a little back dating here, so that the garden journal date above accurately reflects the day I actually harvested my garlic, as opposed to the day—two weeks later—I'm finally getting around to writing about it. It would only be cheating if it were the other way around, right?

Last year I promised myself I would never again plant my garlic in February, which is about four or five months later than it should go into the ground here in southern Missouri. And this year I kept that promise—I planted my garlic in March instead.

Garden Journal 7/23/10: Why I Haven't Set Foot in My Garden in Over Two Weeks

Harmless little snake in the greenhouse, September 2007

Realization of the Day:

It's time for a new game plan. Actually more like an extended half-time period but without all the outrageous festivities.

Back in early spring, I was doing an energy work session over the phone with a friend of mine, and as I started listing all the things I was so behind with—including my totally neglected garden—she said, "What would happen if you didn't have a garden this year?"

The thought was so inconceivable I literally had no response.

But now I know. Life goes on—just with fewer vegetables.

Garden Journal 6/20/10: How To Transplant Sweet Pepper Seedlings, the Extended Version

Off to Browner Pastures!

Realization of the Day:

The most important thing you need to do in the garden is get your seeds and plants in the ground. Otherwise nothing else matters.

As obvious as it sounds, it's amazing how often I forget this simple fact, missing out on growing so many things each year because I'm focusing too much on all the prep work I need/want to do and not enough on the actual planting. Lettuce season in southern Missouri has come and gone, yet despite always telling people how easy it is to grow lettuce from seed, I don't have a single leaf to show for it this spring—and you know how much I love lettuce.

Your seedlings don't care if the soil isn't perfectly amended, or the pathways around your raised beds are full of weeds, or it's not the absolute ideal day for transplanting according to the lunar calendar. They just want to be put in the ground. And yesterday morning—after worming 30 lambs and before it got quite all the way up to the 103 degree heat index predicted for the day—some of the poor suffering seedlings I bought over a month ago finally were.

How To Easily Attract Butterflies & Pollinators to Your Kitchen Garden: Garden Journal 6/17/10

Just plant some echinacea!

Realization of the Day:

There's a winged frenzy going on out in my flowerbed.

More below. . .

Kitchen Garden How To: The Best Way to Store Fresh Parsley (and Other Herbs like Basil)

In a Kitchen Counter Bouquet!

Realization of the Day:

I often take parsley for granted, but if there isn't any growing in the garden I really miss it. It's just so versatile—and tasty. I love it in this Confetti Egg Salad Recipe I recently wrote about on Farmgirl Fare.

Like so many things, the very best place to store your parsley is out in the garden, still attached to the plant. But it won't stay out there indefinitely, maintaining its ready-to-pick state until you're actually ready to pick it. (Why do I always forget this basic rule of growing things?)

Do It Yourself Kitchen Garden Inspiration: Build an Amish Cold Frame

Realization of the Day:

In all my years of gardening, I've never used a cold frame—and I love cold frames.

Several Amish families moved to this area two years ago, and in my opinion we're all the luckier for it. The Amish neighbors I've met so far have all been very friendly, and they've already brought much to our rural community. There are three basket makers and a furniture maker. The rough cut siding on our new sheep barn came from the Amish sawmill down the road.

More below. . .

My Favorite Heirloom Carrots (so far) to Grow from Seed: Parisienne

A Handful of Freshly Harvested Baby Carrots on July 11th, 2009

Realization of the Day:

I never shared the final results of last year's carrot growing adventures (which I wrote about here and here)—mostly because they were so disappointing.

The short version (because I'll probably never get around to posting the long version) is I've decided that, for me, growing carrots from seed isn't worth the effort—at least right now. I did learn a lot about growing them, though.

Perennial Herbs in Pots and Another Reason to Grow Your Own Greek Oregano: Garden Journal 4/13/10

Newly sprouted Greek oregano is always a welcome spring sight.

Realization of the Day:

It's time to move this sun loving herb out of the greenhouse and back onto its cement pedestal in the garden where it lives most of the year.

Even before I was much of an herb eater, I grew my own—and dreamed of planting a gorgeous, formal herb garden (a dream that still sort of lives but will probably never see the sun). I don't know why, but there's just something about the words herb garden. Romantic, maybe? I do know that the first thing many beginning gardeners grow is herbs.

Using Sheep Manure as an Organic Fertilizer in the Garden (and What's Keeping Me from Working in Mine)

Audrey's twins, ten days old.

This is what's keeping me from the garden—all the cuteness down at the sheep barn!

Realization of the Day:

I haven't put anything into the ground yet, including the $39 worth of mail-ordered onion and leek plants that arrived a week and a half ago.

Lambing season is in full swing here on the farm, with two sets of twins and a big spotted girl arriving in just the past two days. All planting woes aside, the good news is that, besides being surrounded by adorable bouncing babies, I'm building up my organic fertilizer empire!

Garden Journal 3/11/10: Growing Onions from Purchased Plants - Ordering and Planning

1015Y Texas SuperSweet onions harvested last June.

Realization of the Day:
Despite numerous failures and disappointments in the garden over the years, when it comes to buying seeds and plants I'm still a consummate optimist. I also have no self control. This can be a dangerous combination—and pricey, too.

Last spring was the first time I grew onions from purchased plants rather than onion sets, and despite the fact that many of them bloomed way too early (which means I ended up with some fairly small onions) I enjoyed some delicious success—and still ended up with bigger onions than I've ever grown from sets. (The flowering was most likely due to some wet and wacky spring weather, and I'm hoping to cover this problem in a future post). I wrote a little about last year's onion growing here and here.

For experiment's sake, in late February of 2009 I ordered a total of 10 bunches (approximately 60 plants per bunch) of 9 different varieties of onions (along with hundreds of leek plants—which was a whole other growing adventure I've been meaning to write about) from Dixondale Farms in Texas, the oldest and largest onion farm in the U.S.

I'm running a little later with my ordering and planting this year, but according to Dixondale's shipping schedule, March 9th was their suggested ship date for my area. I also ordered fewer plants and fewer varieties, sticking to the ones that did the best for me last year.

More below. . .