It’s a rainy Saturday morning, so that means gathering up every available 5 gallon bucket, pail, and even a plastic garbage can or two in the hopes of collecting the coveted premium –  rain water.

Although our well water tastes great, it does have about 350 parts per million of mineral content. This tends to give the water a slight alkalinity. For the most part it hadn’t seemed to hinder growth, but we were amazed at the difference that filtered or rain water made with our indoor plants.

In addition to rain water, we’ve been using a Berkey filter for the times when there is no rain. We also add a balanced liquid supplement varying between more nitrogen based, and adding potash & phosphorous as well.

At the moment inside, we have Black Krim & Yellow Pear tomatoes started, lettuce, Aji peppers, Peruvian Kiowa, Turmeric, Cilantro, and tobacco.

In the garden, we have three kinds of lettuce, cilantro, asparagus (soon!,) and I hope to start peas, spinach, and arugula this weekend.

We have a lot of seeds, and my darling spouse is always complaining that I buy too many seeds, but if we had to live off the garden, they would be a Godsend.

Yesterday, the Yucca food bank had big bags of spinach, so today it will be pureed and frozen for later use. Spinach is excellent and makes a great part of many ranch meals.

Here’s some pictures of last Falls’ indoor Yellow Pear tomatoes: