Growing Food

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Year 2000 Preparation Archive : One Thread

Growing Food

Square foot gardening for groups
We've been setting up a square foot garden (4-foot squares) from info from the highly recommended book of the same name. This is a great way to apportion land when several families share garden space.

For all gardeners: GardenWeb update
The following is a subscription e-mail from GardenWeb. I love this site--excellent information, forums answer all questions, no spam, e-mails infrequent. Note the last item--camping forum!

What's up with my lettuce
What is this? None of my books mention this. Is it likeverticillium wilt for lettuce? Will the rest of my crop sucomb to this? These were full heads that had not been cut yet. I water when nec. from below near the stem but in the root zone.

Non-Toxic Pest Control from A to Z
Good site! Low tech sustainable (mostly) ways to do Y2k bug remediation around the house and garden. Stumbled on this while looking for info on diatomaceous earth. These tips looks good, I hope it's not all redundant for seasoned gardeners.

Cash or garden?
We've started planting the garden and I'm not sure how big to make it. If it is modest I can keep working two jobs, if large I can keep one, if massive I'd have to leave both jobs.

Organic Gardening
Here's a good site for organic gardeners...especially those in Texas. One of the best gardens I ever saw was created by a guy who all but worshiped Howard Garrett.

Fresh starch in your Y2K diet
Jerusalem artichokes, Helianthus tuberosus, are also known as sunchokes. A member of the sunflower family, they are native to many parts of North America and were introduced to white settlers by Native Americans. The edible part of the plant is the tuber

Seed-starting
But what to start your seeds in? NOT dirt from your garden! You might get lucky and grow something in regular garden soil but, generally, there's too much that can go wrong.

Looking for nonhydrid seeds?
I'm not associated with Fedco (or Johnny's Selected Seeds, in Albion, Maine, another excellent source), but I do admire their work, their seed variety, and their ethics

seeds, Courtesy of Gary North
Here is a list of seed companies that sell non-hybrid seeds. These seeds produce plants whose seeds can be planted successfully.

Preserving seeds
Having a heat wave? If so, we hope you're keeping your garden seed packets cool! Leftover (or newly ordered) seeds will germinate MUCH better next year if you keep them COOL AND DRY

Attn: Seed savers, good news...
I planted some old hybrid tomato seeds (Homestead) that Ihad from the 1994 season that I didn't get around to planting as a test for gernination rates. The good news is that I am getting very good germination

Heresy;hybrids vs non-hybrid vegetable seed
As a gardener with 20 years experience in cold country conditions,I want to put in my 2 cents about seeds.

The basics of square-foot gardening
If spare time is limited but you still want to grow your own vegetables, try a square-foot garden. This isn't a garden measuring a single square foot. It's one where the vegetables are planted in high-yielding blocks instead of farm-style rows.

Landscape your way to healthy eating...Edible Landscapes, You can also use this thread a for plethora of gardening links
You can landscape your property to provide food in what is also ornamental plants and trees. Below is a link to one web site:

Better companion planting (nothing to do with your Significant Other)
I wonder if any more research has been done and other antipathetic plants have been discovered? If something you planted didn't do at all well, plant it in a different place [with different plants around it] and see if there's an improvement.
Potato towers.
The video said to plant a potato in the ground and when it started to grow, put a tire around it and keep filling the tire with dirt to keep the plant growing upwards.

Gardening Problems
We live in South Texas and I started my gardening skills this spring. My plan was to grow enough veggies to help us get through this thing. I'm finding out that IF there is no water during this time period, my garden is NOT going to make it.

Hassle-free sprouting
Dick came up with a self-watering system that can be built with a little perseverance.

**use Sprouts to replace loss of access to fresh veggies
What may be an absolutly essential part of your families food preparedness should be an ample supply of seeds for sprouting beside seeds for planting.

Need Immediate Answer to Sprouting Question.....anybody on who can help? .
Need to know if oxygen absorbers in stored pails of grain take away ability to sprout? Have 15 minutes to come up with answer. Thanks. Blessings...Mercy

"Farmers face threat from new pest--Y2K bug"
``In one way or another, year 2000 computer problems threaten almost all of the supplies and services essential for agricultural production,'' FAO said.

About lovage
[I've grown this very useful, easily cultivated herb for a while and it adds a rich, complex flavour to soups, stews and casseroles-OG]

When is it ripe?
Tomatoes: ". . . A tomato's sugar and acid content (the primary components of its flavor) decrease if you let the fruit hang on the vine after it reaches the red stage.

Recycling those empty #10 cans
the cans are perfect for putting around tomatoes and other plants to protect them from birds and cutworms.

Tilling a garden
I am presently preparing my garden spot. The spot that I have chosen has never been opened up. Should I remove the grass sod before tilling or should I just go ahead and till it in?

Gardening: Don't forget the calorie crops
Are you planning/digging your garden? Don't forget to include potatoes (very high in protein) beans for drying, wheat, hull-less oats,

Herbal insecticide
Allegedly good for deterring aphids and Japanese beetles, not so hot on cabbage moths and worms.

Fertilizer problems? Foods to grow in lean soil, flowers too
Because Y2K may disrupt the supply of fertilizer, natural and chemical, you might want to consider the following for not-so-rich soils

Which tomato plants to grow for taste?
Results of a 26-tomato taste test were published in the Dec 1999 Organic Gardening

Bamboo shoots--grow in house as Chinese do
If (and it's a big if) you have any space left over afterstoring supplies, you might want to try growing bamboo in the house.

Growing peanuts--even up north
Protein count of peanuts--39% (soybeans 39%). Author grew successfully in "heavy, rocky Ozark clay." Grow wonderfully in humusy soil.

Grow trouble-free Indian (wild) potatoes
Native Americans reportedly helped the Pilgrims survive their first winters by teaching them how to gather and cook the nutritious Apios tubers

Talk about your Spring Gardens, or preparations...
So let's talk about our spring garden preparations, ..or the pre-preparations. I'm in S. California and have just cleared the main garden.

Growing Food in the Shade
you can get a fairly good idea how much shade (or how little direct sunlight) a crop will tolerate by the type of vegetable it produces.

Has anybody built a solar gardening pod?
Solar Gardening by Leandre Poisson. We're just finishing up the pod and look forward to some extended (winter) gardening.

What about growing tobacco?
Saw an ad in a rural newspaper today for tobacco seeds. The light bulb went off and I thought that sounds like a profitable post y2k crop.

Year 2000 Preparation Archive


Choose the category you are interested in and press Enter. The link will appear in a new page. Close window to return.

Category



-- Brian (imager@home.com), May 25, 1999

Moderation questions? read the FAQ