Question of the day sent in by Svarga Loka
Time for a gardening update.
How is your garden doing? Are you trying anything different this year? Any setbacks?
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It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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I live in NE Florida. We started learning to grow for ourselves 3 years ago. There is a steep learning curve and a lot of physical effort required. We have already tried several types of growing; in the soil, in buckets, raised beds, Huge culture, all with varying degrees of success.
We learned that it is virtually impossible to grow much in the summer; too many bugs, too much heat. We have only a few crops that can tolerate the above summer conditions, such as Okra and few others. For you northerner’s it’s like trying to grow in the winter.
For us, a local guy on YT “David the Good” has shown what grows with the least effort and best results. These are foods that will keep you alive although not by a long shot, the diversity we find in the grocery store. You have to forget anything approaching that diversity. Yeah, I can plant yams and they grow well without input (fertilizer, effort, etc) but a diet of yams for 4 months of the year isn’t very exciting. Oh well, that’s our reality with only a few other plants able to thrive.
In the spring, fall and winter months many things do well again, with varying degrees of effort and success.
To be concise, learn what grows well in the season you’re in. Don’t fight mother nature on that. It’s too expensive and too much wasted energy. Go with the flow of your specific location. Example, we had some kale and Swiss chard that was looking awesome in late Apr and early May. In mid May, in 2 days the caterpillars skeletonized the plants-WTF?! I couldn’t believe how rapid the destruction was. Take advantage of what grows and learn to can food and dehydrate it for later.
For any not yet growing…get on it. It’s harder than the douche bag Cuomo said, “plant some seeds and up grows the corn”-yeah, rrrrright. Or, if growing food isn’t your thing you’ll need to exchange some service you can provide.
Maybe picking baby greens and they keep growing.? Pick them before the the bugs feast. Or gently remove the bugs; I have hand removed the bugs and made the process as less cumbersome as possible in my own way. Or can you incorporate netting in a visual garden (pleasing) way? With flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. An amount of plants that deter?
WH – I saw your comment from last night on the other article on Harari (the entity). My comment was directed at the entity in the video, not at you. I’m not sure how my comment ended up under your post (my fault 100%). I apologize and hopefully you can forgive me 🙂 I blame it on the 5 hours of hard labor my husband and I spent on our property building our “shed” in the high heat.
RE: garden. Getting compost pile started at the property, hopefully ready for some fall planting.
Apology not needed. All is good.
Appreciate it.
Wild horses,
Just too many bugs to remove them. The aphids on our milkweeds were in the thousands in 2 days.
We could use Sevin dust which works pretty well but then think about killing the beneficial bugs, lizards and birds that eat them…Plus, the amount of heat and plants just don’t grow with a few exceptions.
We tried “netting” our blueberries but birds can bypass that plus, some get caught up in it, snakes too.
After 2 years we understand why the local farmer’s market closes for the summer.
Gotta go with the flow and do more canning in the other months.
I appreciate your thoughts.
Same issues here in coastal GA. Cutworms, armyworms, and flea beetles are the worst. My wife thinks I’m crazy for my nightly bug murder patrol.
You’re right okra and sweet potatoes are the natural fit given the heat and moisture. And many here treat the fall/winter as the growing season for what would be spring/summer crops in the north. I had success with peas and mustard greens this past fall.
I’m also doing tomatoes (San Marzanos) and peppers – they love the heat too.
Anon,
Other summer considerations are Everglades tomatoes. They’re small but will grow well. David the Good’s daughter sells these seeds on her Etsy site(sold out). Another is an indigenous pumpkin I can’t recall offhand.
Our cayenne peppers are kicking ass and even the green peppers are doing OK. Our bananas are hanging in there but unless watered daily…not so much.
Our Elderberrys are doing very well and the bamboo is undeterred as is the lemongrass and Moringa.
As you can see we can grow some things but these aren’t enough to thrive on.
I’m thread jacking here, but I’ve been wanting to lay this out for a while. Gardening is great. But almost impossible to feed yourself with a garden. Calories spent versus calories gained almost never works out. My advice to anyone right now would be become expert on fishing in your area. You can do it anywhere and you can bring home protein and calories every time. Accumulate the tackle that you need. Learn the ins and outs. Practice practice practice. Until you’re bringing home fish every time. It might be the skill that saves your family if things get really sketchy.
Fishing is something I’ll never forget how to do. I still like the garden too.
Planting in CO before the 20th is a fools errand.
Start some things inside, but right now, almost everything
is just getting started. We had a freeze and a snowstorm
less than a week ago.
That was crazy. I have never seen a storm like that that late in Denver.
It went from 90 to snowing in 15 hours.
Broke a bunch of my trees.
One of the nastiest storms I ever saw in Denver
was on May 20th about 12 years ago.
85 degrees at 3pm and a howling blizzard at 4.
temperature dropped 60 degrees in 15 minutes.
My worst blizzard was in March 2003, got stuck at work for 48 hrs. For MY BD!!!!!!! In 2008 I had to move to France to care for mother who didn’t want to live with me in CO.
Here on the Olympic Peninsula it’s still cloudy and raining. We have ventured a few seedlings out but man they look anemic. What grows here are potatoes, beets and fookin’ berries.
Well..
-Half the tomato plants got scorched. Probably just go to the greenhouse and get more
-Waited a little too long to transfer pole beans, which is okay I started more direct from seed in garden
-Peppers, Cucumbers, corn, potatoes, carrots, …all growing good
-Pumpkins and melons growing like weeds
-Garlic patch is tall
-Greenhouse is full of flowers now
Our little apple orchard bloomed better than I ever saw. Expecting a good crop of apples. Same with the blueberry bushes. Had to save a couple of my cherry trees they started out slow. Raspberry rows are growing good. Started strawberries this year they are getting huge.
Don’t get me started on the fucking weeds
Probably forgetting something…
I’ve been gardening for over 50 years and each year I try to do something different. Also, over the years, I’ve had a ‘canning’ garden where I’d grow stuff to can and can enough to last for 3-5 years, so that the next year I’d grow something different to can that will last for 3-5 years. Over the years I’ve built up a pretty deep pantry of garden produce, plus soups and stews.
This year I’ve gone back to basics, with heavy emphasis on potatoes and onions. I’ll probably can a lot of the potatoes at the end of the season. I’ve also planted tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, Spanish onions and bell peppers.
For new, I’m trying to grow Lion’s Mane mushrooms indoors, and trying the Kratky method of hydroponics for outside stuff; specifically celery, lettuce, leeks, scallions and a couple of Napa cabbages. Kratky should allow me to grow things without all the weeding, but being hydroponic, it may lack flavor. We’ll see.
Same with potatoes n onions, went big with them this season.
Interesting. I’ve seen some of those in the wild and am confident enough in my new hobby of foraging mushrooms I will harvest any Lion’s Mane going forward. Hard to misidentify a Lion’s Mane. It’s all the others I’m taking my time and hoping to attend a mushroom identification class with people that know what they are doing. Plenty of pictures, books, internet info but a class is a must I think before consuming wild mushrooms. God willing opportunity I’ll get there.
Doing all right. Had a late spring, cold fronts going through repeatedly. Another two days ago, was at work when it got real dark, then a 50 mph wind going sideways with sleet and hail, and lightning. Looked like it snowed. I was afraid the garden was flattened but got only heavy rain where I live. Got shelling beans, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, strawberries, onions, sweet potatoes, and culinary and medicinal herbs. Just ordered an edible ginger I’ll be growing too.
I’m growing a lot of tubers, especially potatoes. They keep well which is really important considering our situation. I’m also trying a new technique for growing crops called Straw Bale Gardening this year. You actually plant crops in conditioned bales of straw. It has great potential advantages. You can put them anywhere even on pavement so as to provide maximum sunshine and convenience. Because the bales are exposed to the sun you get 3 extra weeks of growth, important considering I live in northern New England. Three big plusses for this old boy: Very little bending, no weeding (straw is inert), and never on my (after-market) knees. The one negative it requires constant watering. If anyone has tried this please let me know how it performed. Here’s a link:
I ordered tubers three weeks ago, would like to try potatoes and onions if they ever show up.
I get mine from: https://www.mainepotatolady.com/
The hay bale thing comes from Ruth Stout. She was a hoot. She’d literally throw stuff under a bale and walk away. Talk about low input gardening.
Two years ago, I bought a grow light and tried to grow tomatoes from seeds. Worked for a few weeks, and then the cats ate all of the seedlings. To my surprise, I had about 4 tomato plants come up in the raised beds all by themselves. It was like God said to me: “Don’t worry about it, I got this.”
This year, the same thing happened to the seedlings. Darn cats, they must think that in the absence of any catnip, they are happy to consume the less potent stuff.
But then, about 15-20 tomato plants grew in the raised beds. I think God is telling me now: “You just don’t get it, girl, do you?”
I am also growing German Butterball potatoes in buckets for the first time this year. Wish me luck.
As far as kale goes, it grew fine, at first. Let’s just say, the wild bunnies around here are being fed a very healthy and abundant organic diet on our suburban homestead.
I like to repurpose all sorts of stuff into trellises. Was happy to find a shoe rack and a baby gate last weekend at the town dump for free, so they will help contain some of the beans and cucumbers this year.
I kinda forgot about eggplants. I love eggplants. I might just put some seeds directly into the ground and see if it works. Not much to lose I guess, but I worry that it is too late for our zone.
The two pear trees have plenty of fruits on them. In the past few years, the birds got more than us, so I will try to put some sort of netting over it this year.
Electric fence, Strands at various heights… baby bunny, ground hog/big bunny/cat/little dog, big dog/little deer, and adult deer levels. Installing orange snow fence as a visual deterrent FIRST over the insulator stand-offs on the ‘T’ posts before adding wire, very effective, no leaping deer issues since adopting. small zip ties complete the installation for a ‘flap free’ tidy look.
2nd year of snow fencing, Light Bulb moment of placing ‘solid’ strip of an old 3 tab shingle under bottom wire, ‘tab’ pieces handy for around posts, filling gaps. No more shredding of snow fence with the weedeater. T Post spacing 10′, Corner bracing if run is long due to sag over time. Even with ‘weedburner’ fence charger, just leaves 2 strips of unsightly weeds either side.
6”x6” X 5’x10’ Road Mesh makes exceptional Trellis/Tomato Cage material. Best Price from a ‘Real’ Lumberyard/Concrete supplier. Available in bulk rolls but fairly dangerous to work with due to ’Spring’. Concrete form pins, Length contingent on the hardness of your subsoil, make great ‘mounts’ for 3/4” EMT cut in half, 10’ length standard. Slides right over but fairly snug for the purpose. If ya don’t have a Big Hilti layin’ around with a ground rod driver adaptor, Don’t beat the heads of the form pins up, conduit won’t fit. If the ground is that hard, you’re probably gardening in the wrong place anyhow. Even Fabricated an adapter to drive the ’T’ posts, always drill a pilot hole first. Pull it all every yr. anyhow, much easier to plow/rototill. Use to work VERY Hard. ‘nother benefit of getting married. i suppose.
Have played with vertical and sloping configurations over the years. Cukes seem most prolific on a slight (15-20°) angle, and they hang free for easy snipping. Pole beans/Lima beans/Peas don’t seem to care.
Depending on what tooling you have at your disposal, exceptional tomato cages can be fabricated from same. Buy a whole sheet for the price of ONE decent store bought cage. Made both triangular and square cages, Triangular to save money/material, square is best IMHO. Using a 4.5” inch right angle grinder with the guard removed, you can install a 6’ x .045 abrasive wheel, cut almost any metal, and flesh too. Don’t worry, in my youth i learned that even being partially slowed by heavy welding gloves it will STILL cut ya, but the wound is generally self cauterizing.
MAKE SURE that you use the auxillary handle installed in the top threaded port, at right angles/perpendicular to the plane of the wheel for a secure grip.
Saw horses and a 4’ x8’ sheet of plywood make a secure elevated work surface, Can’t Beat the collapsible synthetic ones. Buy the most expensive ones you can find at HD or L, steer clear of HF for these. A selection of ’squeeze to size’ clamps to secure your work is essential when working alone. ‘Hang over’ Close to the line of cut very helpful.
Cut the entire length of one long side as close as possible to the intersecting weld. The < 6” projections will become your ’Step in’/’push in’ feet. Count 4 whole squares, and then cut as close as possible to that 5’ vertical support. Small piece left over each panel that is handy for the boss to ‘Train’ her various yard plants and flowers on.
Piece of flat bar, 1”-1.25” wide, 1/8”-3/16” thick, ‘bout 8”-10” long, with a small hole slightly bigger than the mesh gauge drilled approx. 3/16”-1/4” from the end will form ‘Perfect loops that will hook the individual panels together, Three of the 4 sides can be crimped fairly tight, but not so tight that they can’t rotate axially. 4th side loop is a judgement call based on “experience”…Same way you acquire “Wisdom”. Not as much foresight as Solomon, *SEE Whizwheel; self-cauterizing.
If ya let the future loops project over the edge of the plywood ‘bout an inch, and clamp a straight 2×4 flush with said edge, you can get nice ‘crisp’ loops formed. The last side loops should be tight enough that you sorta have to ’Snap’ them in place, But don’t pinch those completely shut. That way, you can un-snap them at the end of the season and ‘unfold’ the assy. to ‘Flat’. Much less bulk to store, generally hang them in the bldg. First batch Crimped all loops ‘permanently’. Made a big section of the yard look like the deck of a ship featured on ‘Deadliest Catch’©. Gave ‘em away.
Thought about doing the DIY electrolysis to clean the metal and then paint, material comes pretty rusty even if you buy it from a ‘Home Store’. First yr. was a rush job because the wife is lazy, “working 2 jobs” nary an excuse far as i was concerned. NOT like she had to Fish and Hunt Mushrooms, now is it? Produce suffered no visible effects, Why bother? Some are on their 10th season.
Uh Oh! hear the light of my life stirring…works 6 days a week and this is her monthly weekday off.
Gotta find her a part-time, one day a month job, Obviously.
Been trying my hand at gardening here in SE OK for years and surely would have starved had the shops closed. It is a LOT harder than I expected to feed a family. This year I am working MUCH harder at it and have many plants in old feed tubs I have been buying when available. The clay here is so bad that using feed tubs is one way of controlling the soil. Having more success than in previous years, with Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Tomatoes, Zucchini, Beans, Acorn Squash and Butternuts. This year I planted way more potatoes. Started Dehydrating which is something I should have done 10 years ago. Working hard in my orchard as well and plan on dehydrating and canning as much as I can.
Glad I have some chickens after reading about all these accidental fires and the Avian flu going around this year. I keep a few beehives for pollination and despite these I am troubled by seeing fewer pollinators this year – not sure where they have all gone.
My wife and I moved back to middle Georgia a couple years ago to help take care of her aging parents. They have a boatload of physical problems and couldn’t devote much time to take care of their 60 acres of land. On top of that, her father has always been a low level hoarder who has spent decades bringing home various items that “might be useful”. About 80% of those items are not useful at all and we’ve spent a heap of time and effort trying to clean up the property. One thing he had laying around that actually proved useful was dozens of 55 gallon food grade plastic barrels that he got for free years ago. We cleaned them up, cut most of them in half, drilled some drainage holes, and filled them with dirt. They have worked out great for growing tomatoes, peppers, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and okra. All of those are going strong at the moment in those containers. We also have a couple of other small gardens with rows of squash, watermelons, canteloupes, peas, corn, and sunflowers. We got a few inches of rain last week so everything has really started looking good now. Hopefully we can avoid pests and fungus problems this year. Last year we had a tough time with both of them.
MTD,
Look into air pruning, especially in the tubs.
I have tubs that I drilled holes into, to drain excess water so root problems are less. I drilled multiple holes to both air prune and allow only about 1-2 inches of water at the bottom.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/containers/what-is-an-air-pot.htm
Yes, my garden is doing well and very differently this year. I’ve gardened avidly for decades, but this year it is resting under heavy mulch of leaves and straw. I figure I’ll need the garden much more next year so a year of rest is in order. I’m giving extra attention to the perennials–apples, pears, peaches, asian pears, hazelnuts, blueberries, grapes, elderberries, asparagus, and bees. Doing lots of overdue pruning, weeding, fertilizing, and fencing of same. Then there is lots of propagating and grafting to make plants for relatives and neighbors. We are dehydrating, making pemmican, and studying our local base of wild edibles including mushrooms. Chainsaw has been busy taking out some of the ever-encroaching trees and limbs. I’m understanding that the year of rest for the garden doesn’t mean a year of rest for me.
Mushrooms?
“Kept in the Dark and Fed lots of S***” is an oldie ‘mongst shroomers. Hilarious personally.
Searching online for”Adam Haritan” will return many results. ‘Kid’ is amazing to say the least. ‘Tons’ of ‘free’ stuff/videos on utube.
AFTER much coin on books, stumbled across him. My nemesis ‘let’ me sign up for his online mushroom class. NEVER thought i would get married again, for the second time, after all those yrs., but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Not cheap comparatively speaking.
‘Local’, Had i seen him afield at the State Park featured in many of his videos i might have noticed the ‘Gauges’? in his ears and laughed out loud at him. The Latin rolls outta him like poetry, and based on further research, i was amazed to discover his heavy/death metal past. Mentioned the fact when i…
…Emailed him 3 yrs. ago claiming poverty, so poor i couldn’t afford to pay attention. Never heard back personally, but the next enrollment cycle, did receive an email alert announcing a $50-$75 fee reduction, can’t really remember.
Started out hunting morels 25 yrs.? !!! ago with a knowledgable buddy. Good Lord, the time does fly. Laughing to myself remembering… Who knew that mushroom hunting could become a contact sport?
Best 2yr. vacation of my life in Richmond Va. a decade+ ago. Spent a fair amount of time afield walking my little sisters ‘kid’. Found a plethora of mushrooms that i had only seen in books. Was going to audit a Mycology class at the local ‘Mass Shooting’ institution of higher learning, scheduling conflicts. Offered to pay cash to attend the occasional field trip but was summarily rejected.
Until i emailed a few pics of my ‘finds’. Several nice Hericium specimens, and a spectacular ‘Basal Rosette’ variant of a ‘Chicken of the Woods’, tape measure showing 34+”. Used that in their Class Calendar, which i received a few months later…chagrined at the time before the foray, had to provide full contact info for ‘liability reasons’ before being permitted to attend the field trip. Silver Lining.
“well, I guess I can make an exception…”. To his credit, he declined the $ proffered at the designated spot/time.
Like a kid in a candy store, i was quite vocal with each discovery. “Old Man of the Woods”, “Milky Indigos”(Green eggs and ham, with those) etc. I would be the first to admit that the professor really knew his locale, definitely a ‘Target Rich’ Site.
Think He and i both noticed at about the same time that i had collected quite the entourage. Approaching alone, he asked if there was a particular ‘shroom i hadn’t found yet.
https://www.mushroomexpert.com/cantharellus_cinnabarinus.html
i exclaimed.
Probably my vivid imagination, but he set off with a look of grim determination….20 min. or so later, we heard his triumphant Rebel Yell…Hastening to the sound, there he was cresting a small Crickbank, muddy and disheveled, forearms and one cheek slightly bleeding from the briars.
Grinning from ear to ear he held up the prize, pristine samples, in a paper bag. Gave them all to me, but the one prime stereotypical one. Emailed me a vivid pic of the spore print the next day.
Shook his hand and thanked him profusely, told him it meant much to me. HE responded…”You READ too much”
Ever the smart aleck, I responded…’I can see why we got rid of this part of the state’, and we both laughed like kamelas.
read somewhere that the fields should lay fallow every 7 yrs.
I live in north central Florida and there are endless herds of the King’s deer that eat everything we plant for food in a garden; it is a felony to shoot one of the King’s deer even though they eat all your essential food on your own land. Every morning I find fresh deer tracks even around the 55 gallon drums I have planted with food, with fence wire around them , eaten on, and they are just 4 feet from my house with the porch lights on. I harvest fruit from just over a hundred trees but anything the deer can reach gets eaten, and they break down limbs to get higher fruit. My cows have horns and can defend their calves from coyotes but I suppose our wildlife deer predation problems are similar to ranchers problems wherever the King’s protected wolves and big cats exist. The many multiple layered problems caused by liberals cannot be solved until they are removed from power; please vote all democrats and RINOs out of office 8Nov2022. Thank you. PS: TPTB are setting up 40 million left coasters for a total disaster because the last 5 turbines of Hoover dam will stop within a year and the remaining water will soon be gone leaving their cities dry and their homes worthless, when they need money to move east. It’s already happening to some small towns in the south west. This drought caused by the Eddy Minimum was foreseen by real climate scientist by 2000 AD but TPTB purposely pushed the CO2 Global Warming lie (and did nothing) to assure the maximum destruction of the population. I doubt there was 10 cents worth of truth for the Useless Idiots in Al Gore’s hit movie.
Suggestion, a watch dog. Mine stops at the property line, mostly. Although there is a big buck that chases him about a bit during the rut. He kills rodents as well.
Once the “realignment” gets going deer will be scarce as hen’s teeth.
Does not eat my plants although he might fertilize everywhere.
Get some vegetable netting to hang around your crops. It won’t keep in livestock or keep it out, but deer put their nose in it and back away. The critters love munching on the violets in our shaded tree area, they love them and they grow back quickly. I declared war on deer years ago, just because there are so many now. Thinning the herd makes a healthier herd in the long run!
I’ve not had issues with deer in the garden although white tails are way too many. Too many does every year. I keep a couple of game cameras over the garden areas. Some years ago when I first planted water melons I was one day away from harvest and suddenly my melons were gone. This was a small plot with ten nice Crimson Sweet melons in 25 pound range. Turns out the coyotes were dragging the melons off and eating them in surrounding woods and pastures. I’ve fenced most of the garden areas with goat wire fence and have not lost melons since. Deer could jump a 4′ fence but so far no evidence of that on the cameras.
There is a man a couple miles away that is using a propane cannon to ward off deer in a large purple hull pea patch. I never knew about the cannons. It goes boom about every 15 minutes. Not sure it’s working for him because around here during the deer season the does don’t seem extremely alarmed by gun shots.
Just planted after the new moon. 6 raised beds. Asparagus is producing nicely. Fruit trees budded. South Central Maine.
Road is still posted, waiting delivery of 3 more beds.
Greenhouse might be repurposed to firewood drying.
The chicken tractor with 4 hens is chugging along, could not buy pullets earlier so the chicks are still growing.
Up here in the land of ice and snow, Anchorage, AK, we had a very sunny, but cool spring, almost no rain. I got the potatoes in right after the snow was gone, and they are doing awesome. Most of the vegetable seeds came up and are doing fine. I cover them with plastic as the season up here is quite short. Carrots take the longest and they came up very well in my big patch. My two smaller patches are having trouble and I replanted them. Peas, beans, beets, radishes, lettuce, kale, bak choi, and seedling of cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are doing fine. We are having a heat wave, and we might hit 80 this week. So, things are ready to explode. My two apple trees, and the little cherry tree are blooming right now. Should be a good apple season.
All the standards veggies are in and most doing well…got behind on my weeding but catching up…have had some wonderful rain, massive success with Groundhog Daikon Radishes…10 to 15 inches long. My wife pickles them with onions and I usually eat one a day in snack bites. The chickens go crazy for the large tops.
https://www.outsidepride.com/seed/cover-crop/daikon-radish-seed.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIutiH4K2K-AIV08fICh1P5w1WEAQYAyABEgKYOPD_BwE
I went super heavy with three different types of Sweet Potatoes in hills…and a line of them along a south facing tree line…they blend into the tree line and are invisible. If all come in will have about 200. Besides loving them for flavor, and them having the highest calorie count of any veggie, if you wrap them in newspaper, store them in loosely closed cardboard boxes, and put an apple in each box in the bottom in the center (I have four apple trees) the decomposing gas from the apple will stop the Sweet potatoes from budding…if stored in a cool place (had a root cellar built under my house) they will last 8 to 9 months.
Planted Artic Kiwi on the 8 foot chain link fence on the south side of my largest garden using it as a trellis…
Waiting for the Jap Beatles…first two weeks in June my gardens/orchard/arbors can look like Pearl Harbor on 12/7/49.
Dang, that Zero has Rocket Pods on it!!!
Aprreciate the heads up on the apple in w the taters, ill give it a go this harvest. Only my third year on taters, still learning to mound properly for max production.
Mark,
I’ve read that wrapping the taters in newspaper (individually) also helps extend life and stops budding.
I have a freezer with local, grass-fed beef in it. Don’t need no garden. I do buy some fresh fruit, dried fruit, raw honey, raw milk, coffee, and some goodies. All those veggies for sale? They are not fit for humans to eat. Check out the Carnivore Code by Saladino.
Here in western Washington, the sun has gone missing and we are having record low temperatures and lots of wet days. Another Ice Age is coming. Where I live the glaciers were once one mile high.
Fighting off the whiteflies and aphids on my tomatoes and kava beans. Other than that, all is well. Tried to grow a few snap peas this year for the first time. Damn birds ate most of the peas. Then the plants started to die. After some research, I learned that pea plants don’t like added nitrogen since they produce their own. I guess the steer manure I added to the soil didn’t help matters. So I planted some snow peas in another spot. No added nitrogen. Doing very well. Lettuce is doing fantastic – but I expect it to bolt as the temps increase. On the very hot days I put a sun umbrella above them and the snow peas. I hope that will delay the bolting. Never had much luck with the so-called ‘heat tolerant’ lettuce. Don’t think there is such a thing for peas. Happy growing.
Yes. Peas and beans need no fertilizer. Just lots of sun and water.
Garden is doing GREAT!
— The rocks I didn’t find when tilling are popping up everywhere, it’s going to be a bumper crop this year.
— Radishes are flowering nicely, no radishes, but they wouldn’t fit in the vase anyway.
— About 1 in 6 Lima Beans sprouted, dug around to re-plant and found the missing ones were growing down
instead of up.
— About 2 in 10 Green Beans sprouted, dug around to re-plant and the originals had just packed up and left.
— Last 4 ft on 3 rows of corn decided to leave with the Green Beans, not a single one sprouted there.
— Squash & Zucchini trying to out-bloom each other, not producing but the flowers are pretty.
We have the same rock problem here in KY. Check with your local Extension Office about a field spray treatment. /sarc off
Not as well as usual, planted at the usual time then it got down in the 30’s again and murdered everything that was not direct seeded outdoors. Weather is about a month behind normal. Hoping for three good months, might not even get that.
90 years ago during the great depression gardens saved many asses. As a whole Americans don’t know shit about gardening. We will be in deep trouble when SHTF and it is coming soon. Good luck TBPers.
The Sweet Corn Patch is looking better after a rough start. I planted Bodacious Hybrid.
Well,though a small one me garden doing well,watered and weeded today,plants getting there!
SEMO garden doing great, still eating canned veggies from years past, frozen blanched veggies taste great. We feed ourselves well with our own wits. Squirrel season has just started and bass are legal in the creek, venison is the ultimate red meat, not starving here. You have to work at it, wild berries are there for the taking along with mushrooms. Nutrition is there, the average American is too far removed from nature to survive a disruption in the food supply. I pray for our republic, but I know that trouble is ahead, it will be an education for those not prepared. Don’t ever give up your firearms!
You should see the size of my zucchini!! Yuge!
Last Sunday’s NJ Shit Ledger had a very long article on something called “hugelkultur”. Read the whole thing (new to me) …it was excellent. Apparently it’s relatively cheap and easy to build, maintenance is a snap, requires virtually no irrigation, and lasts for many years.
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I looked at the same vids couple months ago when hugelkultur was mentioned here. I’ve a couple of piles of trees that were never burned full of rotted oak. Gonna give those areas a try with some purple trunip seed.
Zone 9b central Florida out of the ground and growing Katuk, Mexican tree spinach , yuca, peaches, yard long beans, Seminole pumpkins, Jamaican sorrel, cranberry hibiscus, moringa, Texas fig, black eyed peas, Loquat, bananas, pineapples, sweet potato, okra, black tea, bay, tomatoes, celery, garlic, onions, longevity spinach, Florida radish, tiger pumpkin, avocado, turmeric, peppermint, collards, rosemary, sweet peppers, chilies, and spear mint. No bug problems since I started using cinnamon powder. Landscaping with perennials for a camouflaged food forest along with a more traditional garden. Manure gets any worst I can just eat my yard. My second year growing, and I have to say learning to grow my own food has been a blast. Watching the bees come in for the tomato blooms, or the birds that come from all over to pick at the bugs, or the bear I had to chase out of my garlic. Fun.
Bob,
Seminole pumpkins! I couldn’t remember their name.
when our bananas produce they are the best I’ve ever tasted.
Our pineapples get to about softball size and that’s all but they are also delicious.
The figs also taste great but low production. The radishes kicked ass but how many can you eat?
I’m west of St. Augustine so, very similar conditions. You got me thinking I need to increase the size of what I’m doing. Thanks for the inspiration. I’d like to do avocados, mangos but I’ll be gone before they ever mature enough plus, they aren’t too cold tolerant and I’m afraid a cold snap will wipe them out. I planted some royal palms for shits and giggles but expect them to be wiped out when the real cold hits the area.
Our ginger are doing well. Try some.
How are you using the cinnamon??
Planted the last three rows of corn and two more rows of beans yesterday, that should do it for the next month or so.
Soft rains expected for the next 24 hours- perfect.
Garden looks orderly, nice rank and file look to it, we’ll see how long that lasts.