GARDENING... any good gardeners out there??
Its that time of the year again.. I think this year that having a good producing garden is a must. I have 2 large greenhouses, one with a hydroponics set up. My parents and I are getting ready to set up the greenhouses and also plant a garden outside. We are going to can everything this fall. this article shows why it is necessary to plant your own garden this year. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090220/D96FI4R85.html
I was hoping we could set up a thread to be able to get some good advice from you professional gardeners.. Here in Colorado, we are able to plant in the April time frame. Any advice from you pros would be greatly appreciated. I have a 200 acre farm where we raise black angus cattle. This year will be the first we are going to put in a small garden. So fire away! tell me your favorite foods to plant. Variety is what I am looking for!
Also.. is there anyone here who uses a greenhouse.. Have you had any experience growing food during the winter months using a greenhouse?
Google Master Gardener
The best source of gardening info for your local situation (climate, pests, plants that thrive, and quirky local issues) just Google "Master Gardener" and the name of your state or major city.
For example, I searched on:
"Master Gardener" Denver
Also, I strongly suggest using the advice in the book "Square Foot Gardener" by Mel Bartholomew.
Mel really knows how to cut through the BS and simplify things -- after all, if you simplify things you're more likely to stick to it, expend less effort and actually enjoy it!
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
Compost!
You can speed the composting process along by taking some of the manure otherwise destined for your rotting manure pile, and mixing it in with your food compost heap. It should help heat that pile up and get it cooked quickly, mix in 60% brown material, such as hay, coconut husks, paper, etc, with your 40% green material...fruit peelings, vegetable peelings, eggshells, etc. No meat or bakery products. Keep piling that up with some cow patties, and you should have a ton of quickly usable compost while your main manure pile rots.
I also recommend checking out square foot gardening, as well as other intensive methods, french intensive, no till, edible forests, etc. I have raised beds that I'm going to empty, double dig underneath, and then replace the top mixture...I should never have to till them again.
I had great success with carrots, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, beans, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc....don't forget container gardening either, earth boxes, drilled rubbermaid containers, etc.
Love it, and envious that you have the ranch aspect that I so wish I could have!
Oh, and check out companion planting, to maximize your success and minimize pest problems! Earthworms are awesome as well, encourage them in every part of your garden, especially in your double dug beds...they'll keep revitalizing your soil, and keep it tilled up and perfect for your growing needs.
The Retrocon
Hope for America, Ron Paul for President in 2008!
The Retrocon
Hope for America, Ron Paul for President in 2008!
How to Convert an
How to Convert an Inorganic
Fertilizer Recommendation to an Organic One
Using blood meal, bone meal, K-mag
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/C853.htm
"You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning." --Andrew Jackson,
1828
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
-Sam Adams
From my Dad...
I'm no professional gardener, but my dad has had a garden every year for as long as I can remember. Having helped him quite a bit I've picked up a few things.
For stuff best eaten fresh like lettuce and spinach planting several small batches is nice. Once the first batch is harvested you can replant. This is good to do with sweetcorn if you plan on eating it fresh ie. the day you pick it. As soon as you pick it it begins to lose its natural sugars.
Squash are awesome! A couple of zucchini and yellow squash plants will produce like nobody's business. Winter varieties like spaghetti, butternut, and acorn squash are pretty self sufficient and when stored in a basement or root cellar will last most if not all winter.
Okra produce extremely well in relation to the space they take because it grows straight up. A single row on the edge of the garden is all it takes. Just be sure to wear long sleeves and gloves when you pick it.
The night before the first frost pick all the green tomatoes off your plants. By keeping them in his basement my dad usually has "fresh" ripe tomatoes into early november.
You can get some varieties of cucumbers to grow on a trellis or fence. they take up less garden space, and are easier to pick.
Potatoes (sweet, white, red) have a great shelf life. To grow you only need one eye on a piece of potato. A bag of seed potatoes can go along way if you cut them up like this. Once they get started use a hoe to pull the dirt up on top of your row. This makes them easier to dig when ready. As a general rule the distance you put between your potato plants determines how big they will get. I'm sure there is a point where more space doesn't give any bigger potatoes but I don't know where it is exactly. Yes, the green parts of the potato have a poisonous compound in it, but you'd have to eat an insane amount for it to cause any problems.
That's about all I can come up w/ right now but if you have any questions I'll pass along any info I have.
One last tip from my great grandpa...
Be sure to wrap your potato pieces in newspaper before you plant them...
It keeps the dirt out of their eyes. lol
We raise black angus cattle
We raise black angus cattle also. We compost hay and manure from around the hay feeder and the show calf pen. Pile it up and let it sit for a year or two and then put 5 or 6 inches on the garden each sping and till it in good. You would not believe how productive our garden is.
thank you..... we are going
thank you..... we are going to scoop up the stuff in our corral... should be some fertilizer there. I know there is lots of it!
"When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."
-Thomas Jefferson
I am more concerned about the return of my money than the return on my money. --Mark Twain
“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” (Prov. 22:3; 27:12 KJV)
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for pests
human hair is supposed to keep away deer and rabbits, chestnuts and crab apples for spiders including black widow, coffee grinds for ants, diluted dr. bronners soap for aphids, moth balls for snakes, and im looking at some herbs for beetles. I'll update as soon as I get a list.
Updated:
Here's a link to deter pests, companion planting (what plants grow well next to which) etc.
http://www.sheridannurseries.com/GardenSite/subGARDENTIP25ma...
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Last year was my fist time
Tomatoes(4 diferent kinds) comming out of my ears through october green peppers and jalepenos did nothing until we gave up and the weeds grew over and then after frost when we were going to plow under we found hiding in the weeds the most beautiful tasty peppers ever. Squash and Zuccini were easy and plentifull. Melons did great(the one animals didn't get first)nothing from carrot seeds mixed pepper seeds, bush beans bareley grew but not enough to eat. Butter beans started then went nowhere. Something got all my pumkins in 2 nights.Lettuce was great had several kinds.I got a really late start on most things so I'm hopeful to do much better this year and will start seeds indoors this time and try more varieties. Finding out more about plants that are good to grow near each other that benefit each other. Want to try the 3 sisters plan. Plan also to grow berries. Bueberry bushes. rasberries,blackberries, strawberies and some other interesting things I've run across on some neat sites. I like Park seeds site at least for information and variety. They have organic and hybreds. I think I might be getting carried away. many things I plan to plant in different areas of the property. I have been mostly visualizing and trying to have a good well thought out plan. I love mellons and berries. Need to find out some good way of freezing or storing melons. Even if it's making popsicles. Weed control without chemicals and low cost is a big issue also. Insect were'nt much of a promblem last year except on me.But I have seen a bit of info on that. It's having melons over the winter I'm most interested in. Melons seem to do well for me. Squash a zuccini come in fast and furious so I need to find good ways to save those too We bought a freezer and generator. If things go well and I'm not working I hope to sell some produce. Will probably help some neighbors if they are in need also. Hope I'm not biting of more than I can chew. Another problem I have is my garden area is too large to fence. We have electric fence around most of it for the horses. I'm thinking we could add a low strand and it may keep the coons and rabbits out?
I was never able to get my
I was never able to get my green peppers to produce in the summer until last year. We discovered that they like a lot of fertalizer and water.
rhizobial bacteria
is supposed to help beans tremendously. I'm going to add that when they grow in the ground.
+...Pray for Your Enemies and Moral Courage for Righteous Leaders, so that Justice Will Be Delivered to the Innocent...+
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Consider Perennial Food Plants
I would recommend planting fruits that come back every year. Things like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, horseradish, grapes, asparagus, hops, fruit trees, nut trees, etc. Some of these take a few years to produce so plant what you can afford this year. Nut trees don't seem to be as popular as the other fruits but I would highly recommend them as a good souce of easily stored and highly nutritious food, firewood, shade, and valuable timber. The National Arbor Day Foundation www.arborday.org has great deals on all kinds of trees. Membership is, I think, $10 a year and includes free trees. This year I got 10 blue spruce trees that I am growing as Christmas trees.
I grow 3 acres of blueberries as a pick-your-own operation. We prune them every year in the fall. Normally we burn the prunings as we go. Last year I piled them up in a field to estimate how much firewood could be provided. There was about 10 full cords of wood. This should be enough to heat my house for a whole winter.
I'm growing fruit trees and bushes
I've spent the last few years planting fruit trees in my back yard. I have dwarf apples, pears, nectarines, a multi-variety pluot (plum crossed with apricot) and 1 cherry. These trees require some care; some training, pruning and a certain amount of spraying at key times. I'm trying to stay organic. I used a mycorrhizal-fungi root dip at planting time. Of these trees, the cherry requires the least care.
Easier to Grow and will tolerates some shade:
I also have blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, gooseberries, currants, alpine strawberries, lignonberries, saskatoons and a dwarf mulberry tree. Haven't really had problems with bugs or disease, only with critters stealing the fruit.
Tried growing a 'Northern Prize" walnut tree 2 years ago. They're supposed to stay relatively small, but it died after I used a sulfur-spray on it to prevent fungal problems. Found out later you shouldn't use sulfur on a walnut. I've read walnuts are good for about 2 years after harvest.
Most of my plants are still quite young. No apples yet, but expect a few pears and some nectarines this year. Just ordered a book on perennial vegetables. Also growing some herbs and looking into herbs as medicine. If you are looking for less-common plants or seeds, there's a good chance that I know where you can get it.
NJ
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"How can we justify to the unemployed and underemployed in the United States the incredible cost of maintaining a global empire?" - Dr. Ron Paul
Isn't having your own garden
Isn't having your own garden illegal yet?
Think for yourself, question authority
lol no kidding! "When
lol no kidding!
"When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny."
-Thomas Jefferson
I am more concerned about the return of my money than the return on my money. --Mark Twain
“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” (Prov. 22:3; 27:12 KJV)
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elevation, water
What is your elevation, and how much rain?
http://FlipFlopRomney.blogspot.com
I planted my first garden in many years last year.
Based on my results I plan to skip the:
lettuce (too short-lived)
spinach (stunted, straggly)
beans (only got one plant in two plantings, even after soaking them for the second planting)
garlic (sprouted, leafed out, then mysteriously died)
less parsley (too prolific, couldn't use it all)
and green onion sets (too small and fragile, not worth the space)
Instead I will put in loads more:
peppers and tomatoes (I eat a lot of salsa)
carrots (my soil is perfect, light and sandy)
winter squash (this time with screen cages I can put over each fruit to keep birds from pecking them and squirrels from gnawing them. Last year's were scarred from these assaults.)
and one more zuchinni
Things that will remain the same:
beets
rhubarb chard
I'd love to grow onions but am worried that they may suffer the same fate as the garlic.
BTW, I'm in southern New Hampshire.
New Hampshire and Ecuador
Did you container plant them or direct ground?
Some plants are really picky about their pH and what type of fertilizer, how much sun, how much water etc. I'm going to have to do lots more research when it comes time to plant in ground, so I don't kill any off. I've had a few die in the past few months, but I learned the type of soil I was using was killing them too, or stunted growth.
+...Pray for Your Enemies and Moral Courage for Righteous Leaders, so that Justice Will Be Delivered to the Innocent...+
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I haven't done any soil tests.
I poured bagfuls of dolomitic lime onto my tomato rows and they seemed to love it. I suspected nematodes went after the garlic, maybe the beans, but I have no evidence.
New Hampshire and Ecuador
onions
I don't know what zone your in, but maybe try walking onions. Here in southern zone 6, they sort of naturalize. Very prolific, I've been digging & eating onions all winter!
Depends on the map maker.
It's either 5 or 6, or 5b in one case:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thriftyfun.co...
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.landscapingid...
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.growquest.com...
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://extension.missour...
I grew walking onions across the river from here so they would probably do OK climate-wise.
New Hampshire and Ecuador
I have a small greenhouse
I've been using it for a couple of months now, it works great. But I live in the Southwest and mine is really small i can wrap a blanket around it for those nights it got below 27 degrees. Make sure you have adequate ventilation enough vents or a fan (or you'll get fungus, when it gets warm), portable safe heather for those cold days. Get some big pots maybe about 12inches wide for the larger plants like squash, tomatoes, cucumbers etc.
My research allowed me to start the following plants; mung beans (for sprouting, good protein and they are growing very well), amaranth (seeds are good for fiber and protein), sesame seeds (again for protein), garbanzo beans (protein, fiber and sprouting), aztec half runner (protein, fiber also can be eaten raw or soup), cress, chicory,chives, kale, purslane, greens (a good combination for calcium, vitamin c and vitamin d), sweet and habanero pepper (supposed to be good for shrinking tumors if eaten regularly, oregano (good for fighting bacterial infections) epazote (good for treating intestinal worms), elencapame (good for respiratory infections), orange tomatoes (good source of beta carotene), carrots, cucumber, tobacco (good for trading and healthier than store bought cigarettes), parch corn (good for eating like nuts, need to put them on the stove to slightly roast them), delicata squash, leeks, magnolias (natural pest deterrent and some varieties are edible flowers). I'm looking to grow some sage and lavendar as another form of pesticide. And lots more tobacco.
I posted this yesterday as a good seed starter
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/rapid-rooter.html
Or you can use a good soiless mix like sphagum peat moss, perlite, vermiculite mixture. Make sure your seeds get enough water, sun and warmth. I wouldn't put these outside as the cold can kill some of them quickly. Also don't invest in any expensive lights if you can't afford it, a 40watt bright white can work well, just make sure it covers enough of your seed area and is near a warm area. Don't keep them near a window if it still gets cold in your area. I've also had success using fish emulsion fertilizer on my squash and beans.
My beans and squash I started over a couple of months ago, will be ready to go into my lasagna garden (no tilling style soil preparation) You can look up how to construct a lasagna garden online, there are many good sites.
I've done alot of my gardening research online, as i had very little knowledge before this all started. But know I feel that my gardening is going really well. Anybody really can learn how to grow their own food, and farm organically.
+...Pray for Your Enemies and Moral Courage for Righteous Leaders, so that Justice Will Be Delivered to the Innocent...+
+...Pray for Your Enemies and Moral Courage for Righteous Leaders, so that Justice Will Be Delivered to the Innocent...+
High caloric and nutritional content
any type of legume you can grown there, tubor and from there staples like tomato, corn, onion, etc....only pick the most nutritional greens, otherwise the cost benefit is less.
Oh, man
I am GREEN with envy right now. LOL Wish I could help you but I have a dried out withered thumb when it comes to gardening. Good luck, I bookmarked this to enjoy later. A bump for survival.
Prepare & Share the Message of Freedom through Positive-Peaceful-Activism.
Almost time to start
Almost time to start preparing for your grub and fly control.
Nematodes for grubs, flees, termites, ants, etc. and Gnat-sized parasitic wasps for flys.
Good resource here:
http://www.arbico-organics.com/organic-pest-control-benefici...
"You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning." --Andrew Jackson,
1828
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
-Sam Adams
Some planting dates for
Some planting dates for you:
Early above ground crops, ie., Brocolli, Kale. Califlower, Brussel sprouts, Collard greens, etc.
Feburary 22, 25, 26 March 1-3, 6, 7,26, 29, 30.
Root Crop planting ie. Onions, Garlic, Radishes, Potatoes, Leeks, etc. is over for Feburary, starts again in March 13 tru 17, 21, 22, 25
Plant by the Farmers Almanac, you;ll be glad you did.
"You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning." --Andrew Jackson,
1828
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
-Sam Adams
new moon
is wednesday. Last chance today to plant root crops!
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/home_garden/gardening
And check this out
verticalfarm.com
Interesting site that might help feed the masses.
beephree
more good info
http://www.permaculture.org.au/
Enjoy!
beephree
Robert Norris from UC Davis has some good videos worth watching
Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wZes0AnFKA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYAO5R9_Lsw&feature=channel
Good man with solid knowledge about growing food.
beephree