Planting a garden? Better hurry up.

[Gerry]

I am already seeing evidence feed seed supply dwindling and another run on of a different kind - tillers.

With the price of all produce and dairy products climbing and the current job market, more and more people are turning to home gardening.

Already many of the popular seed varieties at the local markets and suppliers are gone.

And all garden shops (even Lowes and Home Depot) report brisk sales of tillers. Late last summer there was not a tiller available anywhere. Looks like that demand vs. supply is going to make these scarce already this year.

If you are going to garden, here are a few tips:

Plan early and plan the space you are going to use. You would be surprise how much some plants take up. So read and study the variety.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Nearly every local garden supply store has someone who loves to offer tips.

Lack of space does not mean no garden. Lacking space means you need to modify and plan a little differently. Raised bed or container garden are options. Growing bush varieties instead of more invasive running plants is best.

Stick local. Know what varieties work best and grow best in your zone and climate. Many places will have a local agricultural dept or agent. Usually they have handouts for what to plant and when to plant in your area.

One Crop or Two. You can extend the growing season to one, two, or three crops per year! Right now we have leaf lettuce, broccoli and strawberries coming in. They are great cool season crops. Then we will plant our summer stuff. In the fall, we can plant another late crop of leaf lettuce that will last up to the first snowfall.

We'll be harvesting more than enough fruit and vegetables for us, our families, and our neighborhood. We share what we grow with our neighbors who share what they grow. That way we have a good mix and no one duplicates the other's crops.

If you know farming and agriculture, now more than ever there is a need for your skills and knowledge. I have a neighbor who goes around plows/turns everyone's garden. I'll come behind him with my tiller for those that want a home vegetable garden. It is a 50" wide tiller and will turn soil 9 inches deep if inclined properly. The end result is a fine bed of soil that make planting a home garden a breeze.

You can save money, cut your grocery bills, and have the best tasting meals ever.

 

[stock_post]

I am from a farmers family - so, I planted more than 60% of the space and is waiting for seeds for some and need to buy plans for some.

We kind of grow traditional stuff.

You are correct - the grocery bill is high now a days..
Taste of the vegetables you grow are much better than the ones you buy
take them from pant to the pan - no freezing or refrigerating.
Fresh taste is good we enjoyed the garden last two years.

Has better optimized the space this time.

Sure you have to work - save time making trips to the Jim.
Breath fresh air and workout while you get the best tasting food.

I am in Texas - we get veritable until November, all plants die in December.

 

[fatter]

Just to add pears, mulberries, rasberries,blackberries,and grapes dont require near the effort to get fruit as apples, peaches and plums and several other fruits that require constant spraying and trimming

 

[Gerry]

Just to add pears, mulberries, rasberries,blackberries,and grapes dont require near the effort to get fruit as apples, peaches and plums and several other fruits that require constant spraying and trimming

I agree. The pear trees we had unfortunately had to be cut down due to age and decay. Well over 100 years old (house was built in 1840's). Sorry to lose them, they were beautiful and fed a lot of critters including large groups of deer in the fall. Their last year they were still very very productive cause branches to split or simply fall off from all the weight of fruit.

We are trying to rescue some exceptionally old cherry trees but I don't think we'll have any luck.

We have a couple of apple trees that we planted that I will take up. Cedar Rust ruins the fruit, even though we thought these were resistant to that.

I have strawberries (2 varieties going), Blueberries (4 varieties), Grapes (3 varieties), and raspberry (3 varieties). As a matter of fact got 25 plants enroute now. These will go into our cottage garden.

We have American Black Walnut Trees (some estimated to be over 200 years old) still productive, Mulberries (but dying out), and American Persimmon - all were here long before we came. The mulberrry trees (actually massive bushes) are just looking bad.

Herbs are also part of our garden.

 

[HomerJ]

Doc, nice post. i've been thinking a lot about it this year. in addition to the garden i'm thinking of raising chickens for eggs. i'm reading up on it now. any experience with this?

 

[Gerry]

Doc, nice post. i've been thinking a lot about it this year. in addition to the garden i'm thinking of raising chickens for eggs. i'm reading up on it now. any experience with this?

No, personally I have not raised chickens. My wife's family has.

There was one former co-worker who was big into this.

I will try to find out what breed he raised for eggs. I know exactly what they look like but can not remember their name. Reddish Brown color feathers. Nothing fancy for egg laying. He did have a few fancy show birds and roosters. Seems like the word Rock was in their name. They were a type of Bantam, if I recall.

Huge light brown eggs. Wife loved them for baking and cooking. And there was a distinctly better taste to them.

Not sure where you live, but you need to be prepared to deal with racoons, possums, and foxes (as well as dogs in general). Hawks can also pose a problem. In many states, it is illegal to shoot birds of prey so please abide by this law. Even if it was not a law, I would not do it. They are beautiful birds and very needed for vermin and rodents.

 

[fatter]

Doc, nice post. i've been thinking a lot about it this year. in addition to the garden i'm thinking of raising chickens for eggs. i'm reading up on it now. any experience with this?

Chickens were a wash for me if you add up the cost of shed which i built feed and hassles It is a lot easier to buy eggs at the store. I suppose since i live in upstate ny it was less profitable than warmer climates because unless you have a heated barn my chickens didnt lay in the winter, also you have to figure cost of buying chicks quiete a few roosters always mixed in even though you order hens, a percentage of chicks die from crows feet etc. predators, neighbors dogs etc. But if you are doing it to give kids a sense of accomplishment and resposibility then it might be ok. I am through
walking through the snow every morning to break the ice out of the water trough and feed them. It was nice in the summer like I said. Also the more animals you have less travel they have to be fed every day. My chickens never laid for more than a few years so we had a lot of chicken soup Maybe others have had a better experience than me. Our most prifitable meat was pork only because i cant still buy 100 pounds of cracked corn for 10 bucks at the local farm.
On gardening keep it simple I work in lowes garden center right now tomatoe plants are selling for 3.48 each, 3.48 can buy a lot of tomatoes in season.
Its not that hard to rig up a feww pots from your recycable containers and plant from seed yourself. I even see people buying sqaush plants to transplant
You can pretty much grow sqaush from seed in the worst of gardens My favorite is butternut but a few packages of seeds can grow a good amount of food just dont go overboard with accessories
Just my 2 cents

 

[draggar]

Taste of the vegetables you grow are much better than the ones you buy

This is the gospel according to stock post. Amen.

I fully agree, if it wasn't for the mouse issue I'd have one huge set of tomato vines. They were big, juicy, plump, and wonderful - even the cherry tomatoes. I may get an AeroGarden just to grow cherry tomatoes.

Basil does extremely well here - too well if you ask me.

Right now I'm growing peppers (jalapeno, bell, and sweet banana) and I have a HUGE stock of scallions.

We also have chickens - bantams, but still chickens and we're getting about a dozen eggs a week (about enough to make a good sized omlette). I cooked up about 25 of the eggs this weekend for egg salad and it was great.

As for space, I live in a townhome, the only "yard" we have is a patio but I have planters for my plants. Once I get the rodent issue taken care of you can rest assured that I will be back to growing tomatoes.

Doc, nice post. i've been thinking a lot about it this year. in addition to the garden i'm thinking of raising chickens for eggs. i'm reading up on it now. any experience with this?

This can work OK if you do it right.

An enclosed rabbit hutch is about $200 and will be good enough - I'd also recommend getting something for indoors during very bad weather (winter, severe storms, etc..). "bad" weather is dependent on where you live - here in south Florida while we don't have a winter, we have hurricanes.

Go to a local 4H club or state fair, usually kids will sell you egg-layers for a few bucks. We know a breeder and paid maybe $50 for all 3 (over the course of years).

Food - get scratch (at your local feed store) and we usually feed our chickens table scraps (chopped up) and cat food. Works pretty well.

Bantam eggs are small - roughly 2.5-3 eggs would be one extra large egg.

 

[fatter]

No, personally I have not raised chickens. My wife's family has.

There was one former co-worker who was big into this.

I will try to find out what breed he raised for eggs. I know exactly what they look like but can not remember their name. Reddish Brown color feathers. Nothing fancy for egg laying. He did have a few fancy show birds and roosters. Seems like the word Rock was in their name. They were a type of Bantam, if I recall.

Huge light brown eggs. Wife loved them for baking and cooking. And there was a distinctly better taste to them.

Not sure where you live, but you need to be prepared to deal with racoons, possums, and foxes (as well as dogs in general). Hawks can also pose a problem. In many states, it is illegal to shoot birds of prey so please abide by this law. Even if it was not a law, I would not do it. They are beautiful birds and very needed for vermin and rodents.

Rhode island reds probably, we raised them also because there was good amount of meat to them. The easiest were bantoms although they lay small eggs they have big families every year so you can sell the chicks, just beware they are fighters and even though small there spurs can catch you just right and they are always looking for a fight

 

[Gerry]

On gardening keep it simple I work in lowes garden center right now tomatoe plants are selling for 3.48 each, 3.48 can buy a lot of tomatoes in season.
Its not that hard to rig up a feww pots from your recycable containers and plant from seed yourself. I even see people buying sqaush plants to transplant
You can pretty much grow sqaush from seed in the worst of gardens My favorite is butternut but a few packages of seeds can grow a good amount of food just dont go overboard with accessories
Just my 2 cents

That is steep for tomato plants. Smaller containers work just as well if not started from seed.

Tons of people grow tomatoes around here so we stick with ones we really really like as in Roma and German Johnson. Problem with the Roma is most come in at the same time. So be prepared to make a lot of Pasta sauce!

And ditto on the squash. Same with pumpkin - easy to grow from seed. Sugar pumpkin is awesome for pies, rather small for Jack O Lanterns but doable.

And butternut is our favorite. Southerners don't typically like this. They eat a variety that is sliced and fried. Mercy! And last year we grew and enjoyed the Spaghetti squash. We'll pass on it this year as it is difficult to tell when ripe.

 

[fatter]

That is steep for tomato plants. Smaller containers work just as well if not started from seed.

Tons of people grow tomatoes around here so we stick with ones we really really like as in Roma and German Johnson. Problem with the Roma is most come in at the same time. So be prepared to make a lot of Pasta sauce!

And ditto on the squash. Same with pumpkin - easy to grow from seed. Sugar pumpkin is awesome for pies, rather small for Jack O Lanterns but doable.

And butternut is our favorite. Southerners don't typically like this. They eat a variety that is sliced and fried. Mercy! And last year we grew and enjoyed the Spaghetti squash. We'll pass on it this year as it is difficult to tell when ripe.

what I like about butternut and winter sqaush is they store well in the basements and last almost the whole winter, its easy to raise a few hundred pounds of sqaush with no work involved

 

[Gerry]

what I like about butternut and winter sqaush is they store well in the basements and last almost the whole winter, its easy to raise a few hundred pounds of sqaush with no work involved

NO doubt. There is nothing like fresh produce on the table when snow is on the ground. One of my wife's grandfather's favorite sayings. We used to can years ago and will take that trait back up once I get a restoration project or two finished.

One thing I miss here in the south is a sustained cold spell. When I first planted my blueberries that was not a problem. Now the winters are so mild that they do not have the time to stay in a dormant state for long.

The real danger is when our mild winters cause everything to bloom early only to be killed by a frost or freeze. That is one reason I don't like messing with fruit trees.

If you have a lot of land, you are in a good place to snatch up plants for cheap. My local Lowes and Home Depot (I know, that is treason) often times are willing to give potted trees and plants away to make room for all the Christmas stuff.

I once planted 4 acres paremeter in Sugar Maples given to me from Lowes. These were not your little one gallon pots! These suckers were huge!!! I forget how many but figure a square comprising four acres and trees planted every 25 feet apart on the parameter.

We also buy live White Pine, Frazer Fir, or Colorado Blue spruce for Christmas trees and then plant them.

We now have gorgeous 20+ year old Christmas trees that are beautiful specimens in our yard.

 

[draggar]

I love butternut squash but it doesn't do too well here.

 

[nicedomains]

Good thread Doc

We are expanding our garden this year by about 70%. We are looking forward to not buying produce like carrots, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn, herbs, zucchini squash, radishes, rhubarb, beets, spinach, etc...... A wonderful feeling to provide your family with fresh produce right from the garden!

 

[draggar]

I was just one click away from ordering an AeroGarden 200 with two seed kits.

 

[Gerry]

Good thread Doc

We are expanding our garden this year by about 70%. We are looking forward to not buying produce like carrots, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn, herbs, zucchini squash, radishes, rhubarb, beets, spinach, etc...... A wonderful feeling to provide your family with fresh produce right from the garden!

Cool!

We have turned our large garden (about one acre) over to me neighbor. He lost his potato patch with the sale of a nearby property. Honestly - I had no idea of the taste difference in a home grown Kennebec vs. a store bought. The taste was incredible.

My wife and I are going smaller with a garden. But all the berry crops will be a chore to keep up with. I have 25 bare root Caroline Raspberry plants enroute at this moment.

I already have two 100 foot rows of them planted. They have been neglected and not sure if I can recover them. Difficulty in determining them from the native wild blackberry.

I read a study on a trial plot of one acre of Caroline. After all was said and done, their trial plot cost about 30K to plant, manage, tend, and harvest but it produced a profit of 88K. That was several years ago. Plus, they had one employee. The study included everything from water cost to the small plastic containers purchased. Very precise study from (I think Ohio State).

A couple of neighbors and we have discussed a road side stand. Not that we need the money to survive but we always have so much - potatoes, squash, Blue Lake, Half Runner, and Eagle green beans, Silver and Golden Queen Corn, about 5 varieties of tomatoes, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, collared greens, cabbage, about three varieties of grapes, green red and yellow sweet peppers, cucumbers, pie pumpkins, and what ever else - sometime cantelope. Plus, one of my neighbors grows nothing but watermelons on one 5 acres bottom land. One year he planted 5 varities, had over 4000 watermelons and wholesaled them for 2 dollars each. One store bought them all.

So developing your own little coop among neighbors is cool. Everyone gets to plant what ever they want that the other is not planting. Usually this is larger more space crops. And all of us have a smaller personal garden close to the house to pick what ever and when ever we want.

Its work, but not too tough and ends up being fun.

I love butternut squash but it doesn't do too well here.

Click away!

Florida is a tough environment.

I remember on one visit there speaking with one person who managed a huge acreage farm of nothing but strawberries and onions. The onions were planted in rows between the strawberries.

Both were super delicious used fresh.

Considering anything you buy in the store was picked days ago and allowed to ripen en route, most have no taste.

Eat fresh picked stawberries and you'll know what I mean. Same with a vine ripened cantelope. Every thing else will taste bland.

 

[draggar]

Eat fresh picked stawberries and you'll know what I mean. Same with a vine ripened cantelope. Every thing else will taste bland.

STOP MAKING ME HUNGRY!!!

You are right, though, I just can't justify the $230 for the AeroGarden 200 and two seed packets (salad and tomatoes). I need to find a way to grow lettuce w/o mice eating it.

I've contacted my local ferret rescue to see if I can make donations to buy poop from them. (Ferret poop, that is).

 

[fatter]

STOP MAKING ME HUNGRY!!!

You are right, though, I just can't justify the $230 for the AeroGarden 200 and two seed packets (salad and tomatoes). I need to find a way to grow lettuce w/o mice eating it.

I've contacted my local ferret rescue to see if I can make donations to buy poop from them. (Ferret poop, that is).

agrred on aero garden a better alternative for people who dont have room but have a balcony is lowes sells an upside down tomatoe basket that can be hung on the patio for 9.95 I beleive there are plum and cherry tomatoes available, we have only sold about 10 of the areo gardens but a ton of the portable greenhouses for 34 dollars

 

[Gerry]

STOP MAKING ME HUNGRY!!!

You are right, though, I just can't justify the $230 for the AeroGarden 200 and two seed packets (salad and tomatoes). I need to find a way to grow lettuce w/o mice eating it.

I've contacted my local ferret rescue to see if I can make donations to buy poop from them. (Ferret poop, that is).

Right now we are growing romain lettuce in a whiskey barrel half. You can try growing in containers or raised beds.

Have you tried coyote urine? (I think we discussed that in another thread)

 

[draggar]

agrred on aero garden a better alternative for people who dont have room but have a balcony is lowes sells an upside down tomatoe basket that can be hung on the patio for 9.95 I beleive there are plum and cherry tomatoes available, we have only sold about 10 of the areo gardens but a ton of the portable greenhouses for 34 dollars

I had one of those but there are some issues
1) It needs to be planted VERY high. The planter itself is about 3' high so you need that plus room for tomatores
2) They're heavy so they need very strong supports.

I've seen portable greenhouses for $60 - PM me a link to the ones you sell?

Right now we are growing romain lettuce in a whiskey barrel half. You can try growing in containers or raised beds.

Have you tried coyote urine? (I think we discussed that in another thread)

I used this stuff "shake away" it's crystallized fox, badger etc.. urine. It worked great for about 2 months - then stopped working. Ferret poop is the best way to go. I'm back in contact with the local ferret rescue.