|
Post by feather on Apr 10, 2020 23:11:15 GMT
MeandTK, oh you are going to be 11 rows of potatoes sore tomorrow. How much potatoes do you usually grow each year?
|
|
|
Post by MeandTK on Apr 11, 2020 1:22:45 GMT
feather, It varies. This year we planted 95lbs. Seldom do we plant less than 50lbs
|
|
|
Post by feather on Apr 11, 2020 1:26:37 GMT
feather , It varies. This year we planted 95lbs. Seldom do we plant less than 50lbs Wow, that's a lot. I hope it's a spectacular year.
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on Apr 11, 2020 4:26:47 GMT
Anybody ever garden in cardboard boxes? Yes I have done it several times. The only big issue is if you have a heavy rain month (or even 3 weeks in a row) the boxes start to fall apart However, then you still have nice mounded soil and cardboard under and around it so a small home-made Raised Bed!
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on Apr 11, 2020 4:27:36 GMT
We are getting 3"-6" of snow on Sunday to Monday but then hope to put the taters in.
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 11, 2020 16:34:14 GMT
Over at the tater patch the rows are 110 feet long. 11 rows of taters. Today we planted 3 rows of peas and 4 of beans by them. Then we hilled up all 11 rowsof taters. My shoulders will probably be sore tomorrow. If you hear a loud noise, it’ll probably be me groaning as I get out of bed in the morning. A tired dog is a good dog. I think that applies to humans as well.
|
|
|
Post by MeandTK on Apr 11, 2020 20:29:10 GMT
|
|
|
Post by midtnmama on Apr 13, 2020 13:54:04 GMT
I wanted to share what I did last year that was a hit: In weedy areas of my large yard, I planted pumpkins. They were very low maintenance as long as I also planted a marking stick so I knew where to water amongst the vines. I weed eated very hard, planted a group of pumpkins, covered the surrounding ground with cardboard to keep down the weeds.
When they were harvested, I cut in strips and roasted, and later, roasted on an open fire (lots of pruning going on). Chucked them in quart zip lock bags). When I defrost, I quickly am able to rub off the skins and mash with a little cinnamon. We have eaten them all fall and
I eat without oil to help reduce my cholesterol, so no oil was used in making these--which means you get pure nutrition and none of the calories or fat.
Pumpkin is very nutritous, very easy to grow and helped kill the weeds in areas that this year, I plant to grow other things like beans.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Apr 13, 2020 14:14:41 GMT
I've been putting baked sweet potatoes and squash in my whole wheat bread. It seems like the WW bread without it is bland and missing some moisture. It gives it a little color, some sweetness, some weight and moisture.
I added diced sweet potatoes to my last chili recipe, a nice improvement.
Our weather is cold and windy with nights below freezing for a while. We're getting two cherry trees which will finally be delivered today. Those will go in the ground even with the cold conditions. We're still a month and a half away from planting tender plants--the tomatoes and peppers which are in trays in the house for now. We can put in lettuces and kale under the cover frame, and potatoes can go in, planted deep, under some hills, on a warmer day but soon.
My delicata squash and sweet dumpling seeds are not germinating, so I'm going to look for those. The gardens are tilled.
|
|
|
Post by midtnmama on Apr 13, 2020 17:21:10 GMT
I was hoping that we could share the ways we know to garden that are little or no cost. Things that would be helpful to someone without a tiller, and very little $$ to buy compost, soil, plants. RE: Growing in a box: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMW2zz6Rh8o
|
|
|
Post by solargeek on Apr 13, 2020 21:16:20 GMT
I was hoping that we could share the ways we know to garden that are little or no cost. Things that would be helpful to someone without a tiller, and very little $$ to buy compost, soil, plants. RE: Growing in a box: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMW2zz6Rh8oThere is another tmention on this 'garden in a box' and I have tried it at least 7-8 times. Each time, even with lining the box with a plastic zillion gallon garbage bag (with drainage holes only in the bottom) THE RAINS just collapsed the boxes before the crops came. Just an FYI
|
|
|
Post by mogal on Apr 13, 2020 21:55:36 GMT
I got a lot of large nursery pots from some new neighbors who redid the landscaping when they bought a house near us. I've also grown crops in the large (20 gal) plastic tubs that originally contained protein supplement for cattle. Those require a hole or two to be drilled in the bottom or low on the sides.
Rusty stock water tanks tubs from top load washers 5 gal buckets with split bottoms old wheel barrows kiddie wading pool salvage bathtubs use imagination
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 14, 2020 0:09:02 GMT
Wander on over to Deep South Homestead on YouTube. Danny has an interesting cattle tub set up...He's rugged up a PVC drip irrigation system over the tubs, connected to a garden hose.
|
|
|
Post by feather on Apr 14, 2020 3:34:33 GMT
My neighbors to my west don't have a garden, just lots of lawn. We give them plants in spring, tomatoes, onions, and they plant them right in their flower beds.
Saving seeds is not very hard, but it doesn't always work. Read up on it, the internet has loads of information on seed saving. Tomatoes and peppers are the easiest.
Tomatoes--squeeze out the seeds and the water in them, into a cup or glass. Leave that ferment for 4 days. Then strain that and wash them, and dry them on parchment/wax paper. Once dry, put them in a plastic bag and label for type and year.
Peppers--take out the seeds of a very ripe pepper, dry on a plate, put it in a plastic bag, labeled for type and year.
Some people freeze the seeds, some people don't. I've done it both ways and I think mine were better when I froze them over winter. Even if they don't need to be frozen, learn what stratification means in seeds.
Before spring comes, you can take 10 seeds and test them to see if they will germinate, then you'll know if they are good or not.
|
|
|
Post by mogal on Apr 14, 2020 11:13:50 GMT
Wander on over to Deep South Homestead on YouTube. Danny has an interesting cattle tub set up...He's rugged up a PVC drip irrigation system over the tubs, connected to a garden hose. Jolly, would you post the link to the particular episode with Danny's irrigation system please? I tried unsuccessfully to find it last night. Thanks. When I need a dose of southern speech, I listen to one of their programs.
|
|
|
Post by mogal on Apr 14, 2020 11:15:42 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 14, 2020 13:01:26 GMT
Wander on over to Deep South Homestead on YouTube. Danny has an interesting cattle tub set up...He's rugged up a PVC drip irrigation system over the tubs, connected to a garden hose. Jolly, would you post the link to the particular episode with Danny's irrigation system please? I tried unsuccessfully to find it last night. Thanks. When I need a dose of southern speech, I listen to one of their programs. You can get the idea from this video: BTW, don't know if you can grow them where you are, but butterpeas are mighty good.
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 14, 2020 13:09:24 GMT
Wander on over to Deep South Homestead on YouTube. Danny has an interesting cattle tub set up...He's rugged up a PVC drip irrigation system over the tubs, connected to a garden hose. Jolly, would you post the link to the particular episode with Danny's irrigation system please? I tried unsuccessfully to find it last night. Thanks. When I need a dose of southern speech, I listen to one of their programs. Donald lived about 30 miles from me. I did not know him personally, but people who did said he and his wife were good people. They both died within just a few months a little while back. His channel is another one with some good practical tips. Check out his channel for how he watered tomatoes... m.youtube.com/user/webcajun
|
|
|
Post by bowdonkey on Apr 14, 2020 14:09:20 GMT
There are a load of great gardening channels on utube. Probably my favorite is "Maritime Gardening". Mainly because his growing climate is similar to mine. He does everything under mulch, ala Ruth Stout. Everything organic, about everything in the garden is recycled. No greenhouse, all direct seeding. He doesn't own a tiller. He has about the eaiest, laziest system there is. And in a zone 3 as near as I can tell. I'll be revisiting the mulch method because of him. He has every pest I do and seems to deal with it. I'll give it go again. If you're looking for cheap and easy, check him out.
|
|
|
Post by midtnmama on Apr 14, 2020 15:51:33 GMT
Jolly , I wonder if butter peas are what they call Cream zipper peas in AL--my very favorite. Speaking of legumes called peas, can these be eaten as whole pods when small? I have also not had success planting in boxes as they have fallen apart and exposed the roots. But I posted it here because it was asked about. Just found a bag of potatoes with eyes in the back of the pantry so I plan to plant in feed bags (had already planned that but put the ones I had in the garden. Unfortunately, the frost has killed my potatoes that came up. Which surprised me because we normally can plant as early as late Feb here and the cold doesn't usually affect them. In the south, we have to plan for the heat. I'll put the okra next to the kale to shade it a bit in the worst of the summer. Some people here just give up in the hottest part of the summer, but I'm a glutton for punishment. Every day, I pot up cuttings from the tomato plants I kept indoors all winter. Not buying any this year. Nope! I use recycled tall drink cups so that the cuttings can make roots all along the way. Fill with dirt, water, drill a hole with a branch, stick the cutting in it after taking off all leaves but two. Thanks, bowdonkey , I will check that out. Another channel I have been liking is Epic Gardening. Here is one about five crops you can grow under a month. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEt_120VEAM
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 14, 2020 16:54:08 GMT
Jolly , I wonder if butter peas are what they call Cream zipper peas in AL--my very favorite. Speaking of legumes called peas, can these be eaten as whole pods when small? I have also not had success planting in boxes as they have fallen apart and exposed the roots. But I posted it here because it was asked about. Just found a bag of potatoes with eyes in the back of the pantry so I plan to plant in feed bags (had already planned that but put the ones I had in the garden. Unfortunately, the frost has killed my potatoes that came up. Which surprised me because we normally can plant as early as late Feb here and the cold doesn't usually affect them. In the south, we have to plan for the heat. I'll put the okra next to the kale to shade it a bit in the worst of the summer. Some people here just give up in the hottest part of the summer, but I'm a glutton for punishment. Every day, I pot up cuttings from the tomato plants I kept indoors all winter. Not buying any this year. Nope! I use recycled tall drink cups so that the cuttings can make roots all along the way. Fill with dirt, water, drill a hole with a branch, stick the cutting in it after taking off all leaves but two. Thanks, bowdonkey , I will check that out. Another channel I have been liking is Epic Gardening. Here is one about five crops you can grow under a month. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEt_120VEAM Butterpeas are not zipper peas. Look at the still of Danny's video...It's a small bean, kinda like a butterbean, but with a smoother taste, if that makes any sense at all. The pods are not edible...We wouldn't even feed them to the hogs or the cows, because of the pod points. I haven't planted them in years, but if you have the space (they don't produce as much for me as regular Jackson Wonders) the taste is very good.
|
|
|
Post by mogal on Apr 14, 2020 17:30:15 GMT
Purple hull peas are definitely in the garden plan this year again. Served with sliced tomatoes, hot cornbread and a glass of iced sweet tea? Holy cow, it's southern nirvana!
|
|
|
Post by sunbee on Apr 14, 2020 20:58:16 GMT
We're seasonally so far behind y'all, I'm sitting here being jealous. My starts are going to be popping up in the seed trays soon. Can't plant outside before Memorial Day, and even then usually have to cover. Praying the fruit trees hold up on blooming a few more weeks. We got into the low twenties the last few nights, so they should be good and cold and patient for a while still. Last year we got hit with a frost on just the wrong day in bloom and harvested a total of one (1) apple from all apple trees! (The apricot, I mean, it's expected to bloom to early. We get those maybe twice a decade. The apples, though, that was unusual.)
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 15, 2020 1:11:42 GMT
Purple hull peas are definitely in the garden plan this year again. Served with sliced tomatoes, hot cornbread and a glass of iced sweet tea? Holy cow, it's southern nirvana! Do not forget bread&butter pickles for them peas, or we'll revoke your Southern card!
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 15, 2020 1:15:28 GMT
Speaking of purple bull peas, the eternal conundrum... Do you plant Top Pick for the ease of picking almost all the peas at the top of the plant, or plant the old-time purple hulls for harder picking, but bigger yields? BTW, I do like my Dixie Lee peas... www.victoryseeds.com/cowpea_dixielee.html
|
|
|
Post by mogal on Apr 15, 2020 1:46:58 GMT
Jolly, I've been saving my own PHP seed so long, I'd need to go way back to look up the real varietal name. Will see if I can find it.
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 15, 2020 13:42:50 GMT
If you're getting older like me, and you haven't planted the top pick variety, give them a try. The yield is less than the old time PH, but most of the peas make in the tops. I don't have to bend and stoop as much.
|
|
|
Post by midtnmama on Apr 15, 2020 18:30:58 GMT
Jolly, What kind of a fence do you grow them on? I grow mine on a hoop. Happy to see that my store bought, old fava bean seeds are germinating. Will plant those this week. Found two lost bags of soil! feather, Mother Earth had a great article about a woman who grew most of her vegetables amongst her flower garden in the front yard.
|
|
|
Post by Jolly on Apr 15, 2020 18:56:06 GMT
Jolly , What kind of a fence do you grow them on? I grow mine on a hoop. Happy to see that my store bought, old fava bean seeds are germinating. Will plant those this week. Found two lost bags of soil! feather , Mother Earth had a great article about a woman who grew most of her vegetables amongst her flower garden in the front yard. I don't grow field peas on anything. I do grow my sugar peas (different plant) in the winter and let those run on cattle panels.
|
|
|
Post by mogal on Apr 16, 2020 2:23:18 GMT
Jolly, I've been saving my own PHP seed so long, I'd need to go way back to look up the real varietal name. Will see if I can find it. Hey, Jolly, the tag just says pink eye purple hull peas, nothing about the top pick. They taste good so I'll deal with it. I don't bend too well either.
|
|