[Food] Production – Gardening, General

strider3700

Yep I noticed that I got about 80% of my transplanted stuff this year but the direct seeded have been horrible. 1 carrot out of 4 3ft rows, 0 parsnips out of 4 3ft rows, maybe 1 cucumber (it's hard to tell if it's one or not at the tiny stage it's in now) The rest vanished overnight after hitting 1/2" I blame slugs. 1 of 6 plantings for lettuce have tiny seedlings and they're a month late now that we're into cooking hot summer.

I did notice that my direct planted into my homemade earthbox worked pretty good. 1/2 the spinach came up, all of the onions from seed came up and the radish loved it. With the new greenhouse I'll be starting everything in trays and transplanting. I'll have to look into how to make soil blocks I guess
_________________
shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts

rexxz · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 27, 2006 Posts: 29

This is one of my main issues... gardening I mean. I eventually will want to set one up in the immediate future. But I know nothing about it! not a single thing, really. What are some good books that can teach me how to set one up in no time, a source that can really be helpful! Also I don't know where to get seeds, or anything.

rwwff

Before you go buy books, visit your local library, they have more gardening books than you could shake a stick at.

Gardening is very climate specific; particularly about what times you plant what. Some plants need lots of warmth, some will urp on you if they get to hot. Starting in July might be a difficult time to plant something, but you could have some success by starting seeds indoors. I used those little plastic bathroom cups, and plant out in the garden after they've gotten a head start, someone suggested a week or so after they come up.

John Jeavon's "How to Grow More Vegetables.." would be a good book to check out.

mommy22 · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 264

Gardening is one of those things that really just takes practice, I think, because there are so many variables (soil in your area, bugs in your area, climate,etc...) s, give yourself a few years to learn what works in your area. Last year, for example, I tried broccali raab, and it came up and I was just ready to pick, and these green caterpillers came out of nowhere and ate every stalk! AAAARGHH! I talked to some local experienced gardeners in our area, and she suggested brussel sprouts, as she's had great success with them after having a similar experience with the raab. We'll see how my sprouts do this year, and then I'll know for next year what to plant in that catagory.
There was a PO meeting in Cleveland that I attended the other day, and someone made a flip comment about how easy it is to grow veg and put up foods. I suggseted that is wasn't so easy, and that he should try it some time. He rethought and said that it might not be so easy as it looks.
One other person at this meeting suggested that we who can and preserve and grow what we can, should get an energy tax credit for the amount of fuel we are not using to transport food to our homes. I thought that was a great idea!

Blake · Coal Joined: Aug 22, 2005 Posts: 7

strider3700

A quick question about fertilizers. Does regular non organic fertilizer damage the soil structure at all?

My growth this year is crap and I'll be doing a lot to the soil this winter to prep for next summer. I've started using a fertilizer to see if I can get any decent results from this years crops.

I know that pesticides and herbicides kill way more then intended and are therefore bad but does fertilizer actually hurt?

I'm also aware that It's not a permanent solution
_________________
shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 844

delete

rwwff

Blake · Coal Joined: Aug 22, 2005 Posts: 7

Pops

Pops

I should add that for peppers, tomatoes, cukes, etc. I use a small blocker to start seeds on a propagation mat and then pot them in 6-packs to reach transplant size. That way I can get many more seeds germinated at one time.

I was wondering about the larger blockers that are made to receive the little blocks…
_________________
Make a plan and work it:

ca2devri · Coal Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 17

Pops

Thanks Chris, I haven’t spoken with anyone who has used them - Coleman is where I first read about them too.

The little one is also what I have, couldn’t justify the $100 on something I hadn’t tried.

How do you go about moving the plants? I used some sheet vinyl (like they sell here for dairy barn walls etc) cut into squares about 12” on a side that sit ok on my chicken wire benches to start, and like I said plant them out in 6-packs to grow. I’m not sure about how to move the bigger blocks outside without damage.

I tried the Florida Weave as you call it last year for the first time as I had many more plants than cages – I have always used homemade field-wire cages. It worked OK but I didn’t use the twine that degrades quickly and it was a mess to clean up in the fall.

A neighbor out here whos folks had a truck garden business in the way-back, showed me how to place T-posts every ten feet or so, run smooth fence wire over the tops (anchored to the ground at each end) and then run twine over the wire, down to the base of the plant then back up and over the wire to the next plant. You prune the tomatoes to two main stems and wrap the twine a couple times around each stem.

That worked pretty well on everything but the Brandywines - whose picture should be in the dictionary under Indeterminate! They are in cages this year!
_________________
Make a plan and work it:

rwwff

A sustainable substitute for tomatoe cages that folks couild think about if they were so inclined: teepees of 8-10ft, thumb+ sized bamboo. Chinese use them to run pollbeans and the like. On the other hand, i'm a heretic, I don't pot tomatos, I don't stake tomatos, and I don't cage tomatos. I usually just throw a mess of tomatos seeds at an area, rake, then thin what comes up. They always seem to produce more tomatos that I want to eat. If I were to try canning tomato sauce, I might have to do something, but as it is now, its cheaper to buy a can of tomato sauce than it is to buy the canning jar. Crying or Very sad

I haven't really investigated growing bamboo yet, so more than that I do not know, but I sure am curious after having seen them.

Pops

I used to make stakes from mulberry branches – those trees grow like weeds – pigs love the fruit and it makes passable wine if one was to be hard up.

The only thing to be careful of when sticking them in the ground green is they take root very easily. In fact I already have several Ive rooted from the 2 I bought out here

I made a big teepee for the kids to play in once from mulberry branches – thick ones for the uprights and thin ones woven around it horizontally every 2’ or so, I planted potato vine around it (the flower kind). I suppose one could just as easily make tomato cages the same way.
_________________
Make a plan and work it: