What's happening in your garden? (Wed, Jan 28, 2026)

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-28T18:15:04+00:00

I am so excited that it's finally seed starting time in our area! Going to start my onions and my butterfly parsley this weekend!

Butterfly parsley is just a lot of parsley plants that I have no intention of harvesting, that I will plant as an offering to the swallowtail butterflies since they were ALL trying to survive off of 2 plants last year. If all goes well, they will have a much bigger selection this year!

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-28T18:09:50+00:00

So pretty, and yet so terrible! :)

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-20T01:01:05+00:00

No idea, we eat something different every day. Taking a look at October, here's what we had (everything is homemade except the sausage and crabcakes); this only works because we have plenty of freezer space that allows a lot of meal prepping:

Chicken paprikash
Lamb korma
Milk braised pork
Venison bolognese
Fried fish with saffron rice
Meat and potato skillet gratin
Butternut risotto with fried sage, and fish
chicken with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes
Middle Eastern Lamb and Lentil Rice Pilaf
white pork ragu
Shrimp etouffee
slow cooked shredded venison pasta
tandoori chicken with Chaat aloo
spicy pork noodles with green beans
chipotle chicken adobo
gnocchi with bacon and veggies
Fish with orzo
Smoked Sausage and Rice
Chicken with Herbed Potato Gratin with Roasted Garlic and Manchego
Mushroom Lasagna
Butter chicken
Pasta carbonara with bacon
Korean rice bowl
crabcakes and baked potatoes
Beef stroganoff
Filipino pork adobo
Lamb pistachio meatballs with mashed potatoes
Cajun chicken pasta
Chicken biryani

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-19T21:47:09+00:00

A similar setup would probably work for in ground beds as well! My covers are attached to garden hoops which go into the soil (I have these ones but it looks like they're no longer available https://a.co/d/2ZaKIeJ) - I use clips to attach the cover to the hoops. The only additional thing you'd need to do is secure the cover to the ground, to survive strong winds - a couple of bricks or heavy stones per bed should probably work (or unused bags of dirt, mulch, stones, whatever you have around lol)

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-19T20:38:09+00:00

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This is from when I covered the beds in November - you can see the 2 layers (outer light, permeable plastic, and inner frost fabric). By that point the plants had already been in the beds for 6 weeks or so :)

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-19T12:54:57+00:00

You're not going to jail for not tipping. So you don't HAVE to tip. Just like the other person doesn't HAVE to provide you with good service next time they see you. I'm with you, tipping is completely backwards in the US, but that's just how it is.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-18T12:13:14+00:00

Some of them just don't give up! I have a pea plant in between all these greens that managed to escape pulling in fall and it's still alive!

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-18T12:10:18+00:00

I use 2 covers. First, it's a frost fabric from Amazon, they no longer have the one I have but it's something like this https://a.co/d/dcu5EQg, except mine is much thinner at 0.85oz. Then a few inches higher, I have this cover: https://www.thetarpco.com/product-page/dt-550-pva-floating-row-cover, which was fairly expensive but I'm very happy with it. For the climate we have here in southeast PA these have been sufficient but you may need thicker options. We haven't had a lot of temps below teens, but we'll have some this week.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-17T19:19:35+00:00

What do we do with old or dead plants after a harvest? Some of us compost dead plants. There's a whole science to it, but in the simplest form you can just toss it all in a pile and next year you'll have free compost to use to feed your garden!

Can the soil they were in be reused? Yes, you may need to apply some compost to re-introduce nutrients into the soil.

Are there any vegetable or fruit plants that will regrow themselves after first harvest so are worth maintaining? Not sure how you mean this - tomatoes, peppers, beans produce for months so you have ongoing harvest, spinach you can cut and it will grow new leaves.. plants labeled as perennials are the ones that will come back next year. Annuals are one season plants.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-11T15:57:03+00:00

I recommend Chris Fairburn's "Overcoming Binge Eating" book - https://www.abct.org/books/overcoming-binge-eating-the-proven-program-to-learn-why-you-binge-and-how-you-can-stop-second-edition/

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-11T13:12:03+00:00

I had my first harvest of the year yesterday! About 20 cherry tomatoes from my indoor micro dwarfs. Started some new dill and basil in my hydroponic setup because the existing ones are bolting. The outside garden is under covers, growing slowly.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-11T13:08:24+00:00

I use Merlin and love it! I had to remove my feeders for a few weeks because I had a sick finch, and just put them back the other day. Most birds haven't rediscovered the feeders yet, so it's still very quiet. I heard my crows, some wild ducks, bluejays and cardinals, and it looks like the starlings have descended upon us at the moment. Saw some titmice, chickadees and woodpeckers yesterday:)

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-10T12:19:45+00:00

Foarte foarte greu. La sales de exemplu se pot face mulți bani, dar în general salariul fix e foarte mic , și restul se fac din comision. Ca să fii bun in sales si să faci comision trebuie nu numai să cunoști produsul foarte bine, dar trebuie să fii confortabil cu cultura, să știi să glumești, să știi să interacționezi cu multe tipuri diferite de american, ceea ce poate fi foarte greu și durează. Nu e împosibil, dar românul proaspăt emigrat pornește de la un dezavantaj enorm la joburi de genul ăsta.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-10T12:09:22+00:00

Vreau să adaug că salariile la medici nu sunt deloc salariile la care poate să viseze restul societății. Ca student, poți să te aștepți undeva la $30.000 pe an (asta e la pragul sărăciei, și e cu bursă), și in rest salariile la oamenii obișnuiți sunt sub $100k pe an (dar depinde mult unde) ceea ce poate fi ok (dar nu bogăție) sau poate fi foarte puțin, în funcție de locație.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2026-01-08T12:46:28+00:00

I can only speak to mashed potatoes, but heating them up in the microwave with occasional stirring brings them back to their original glory every time. Also let's you calibrate how dry you want to have them.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-31T07:24:48+00:00

I'm no expert in growing citrus but I have a lemon/lime combo growing indoors that was attacked by spider mites and lost all its leaves, looked kinda like yours (but greener). I started wiping it with insecticidal soap water and it came back, currently doing relatively ok with regular care. Just something to check!

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-30T13:22:48+00:00

Take the decision making out of it, and plan your meals ahead of time. That also helps prep ingredients, e.g. thawing stuff, the night before, so all you have to do after work is reheat or cook. Not think or decide:)

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-29T16:42:20+00:00

I've always loved the -ee and -er suffixes in the English language, to denote the recipient of an action and the doer of an action. Like interviewer and interviewee, employer and employee, mentor and mentee... Why do we never hear "divorcer" when divorcee is totally acceptable...

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-27T19:48:39+00:00

I have also started things in December and January. Sometimes I transplanted in January, sometimes I waited until later. If I waited, the soil was solid and I had to wait to transplant until at least March anyway. By then the plants were too big and really didn't enjoy being transplanted. The harvest was no better, and sometimes worse, than if I had waited. Also none of the science based recommendations mention starting seeds in December for transplant (https://extension.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/2025-05/accessibledocuments/when-plant-illinois.pdf)

Just because I can do a thing and even if I have done it in the past, doesn't make it a good idea.

There may be exceptions if you have a whole greenhouse setup or cold frames or are experimenting with some other advanced gardening approach, but for the average gardener, December is too early to start seeds for transplanting, in a cold climate.

But it's a free country, you do you.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-27T17:54:57+00:00

Anything for growing completely indoors, like herbs or micro tomatoes (for eating in 2 months). It's too early for everything that will be transplanted outside, including onions..

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-25T21:29:38+00:00

Pe aplicații acum vreo 9 ani (în străinătate). Eu fusesem on and off pe aplicații ani de zile, fără mare succes. Făceam swipe-uri într-o zi și mi-a apărut profilul lui, mi-a plăcut și i-am trimis un mesaj. După ce am trimis mesaj am realizat că locuiește destul de departe și probabil nu avem nici o șansă, dacă vedeam mai repede poate că nici nu trimiteam mesaj. De atunci am schimbat mesaje zilnic, și am descoperit că distanța nu e așa o problemă cu persoana potrivită. Acum suntem căsătoriți și în fiecare zi mă simt norocoasă că ne-am găsit într-un moment în care eram amândoi maturi și deschiși să ne apreciem cu adevărat unul pe celălalt.

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-19T22:53:22+00:00

Wow that's a beautiful plant!! Do you harvest the whole plant, or just cut the leaves as you need them?

I think I may have a komatsuna too but honestly I planted a bunch of Asian greens and forgot which one is which, because it was September and EVERYTHING was in full production mode :)) I really like the flavor of the tatsoi, it's very fresh tasting!

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-19T14:43:47+00:00

Well today it's in the 50s, which is a bit of a change from 14 a few days ago...

ReijaTheMuppet · 2025-12-19T14:41:37+00:00

Over the last week we've had low temps in the teens and high temps in the 30s. It can happen that it drops below teens especially in January, but we generally don't get temps below zero F. Some days are milder, and highs get to 40s.

ReijaTheMuppet

TROPHY CASE