Gardening 2024

[Chiefsmom]

Yeah, tag doesn't say auto flowering.  meh.  I'm just letting her grow.

We've been getting lots of rain, so haven't had to water, so that's nice.  I need to go out this weekend and put in some radish and lettuce seeds.  The last radishes I pulled a week ago were hot!
Oh, has anyone else heard of frying up radishes?
I never had, but a guy here at work said they were really good, and it takes the heat from them.

I'm going to have to try it.

[Chiefsmom]

Well, its been a minute!

Been busy!  Been out in the fields, harvesting wild medicinal herbs like wild bergmont, self heal, red clover, ect.   Have a lot either drying, or jarred up.  Also have some infused oils and tinctures started with the herbs.

Garden is still doing great!  Actually put up 6 1/2 quart bags of peas (frozen) over the long weekend.
My calendula that I started from seed is about 6 inches high.  Can't wait for them to start blooming.
Just noticed this morning, my Echinacea plants are flowering, so I'll have to pick those flowers soon.

So much coming ready!  I'm guessing it will be like that from now until late fall.

[Waterglass]

Thought we could talk about gardening of all forms here.
Some of you know, I do a big garden every year.  I can everything.  I love it all.

So, I am trying a few new things this year and have already found one major problem.  I have most all my seed stuff in, and some of it, like the peas, are already sprouting.
My carrots, I make the rows mounded.  Had the seeds in.  Then 2 of my "newer" chickens, decided those mounds looked like fun, and completely destroyed half of both rows.  I have a 3 foot fence up, and absolutely NONE of my older chickens have ever done this.  I don't know if Isa browns are just jerks, or its just these ladies.
So, I ordered a bunch of cheap pinwheels to tie to the fence.  That is tonight's job, I'm hoping it scares them.

Most all of my seeds started in the house are nice sized plants, ready to go in the garden.
Pumpkins, cukes, watermelon, tomatoes.
I am doing more leafy items like spinich, lettuce and kale this year.  
The last few years, I have been researching plant medicine as well, and have expanded my herb garden, and will need a row in the big garden as well.

Love it or hate it, I am also growing cannabis again.  Started 6 from feminized seeds ordered online.  4 Sativa and 2 Indica.  All are ready for the ground but 1 that I am nursing along.  Love making my own tincture.

One thing I've learned over the years, is that when canning, it is easier to grow a whole lot one year, than growing a little of everything every year.  Like my corn.  I won't be growing it this year.  Don't need to.   Grew 1/3 of the garden with it last year, and got 60 pints.  2 years worth for us.  
Plus it is good for the ground, to change up what your planting in it and where.

With the cost of everything, including food being so high, thought it might be a good idea to share what we know, and help anyone who would like to grow, but may not know how.
You don't need a lot of land.  Containers work great on a deck or sunny window.  And my goodness!  The difference in the taste of a homegrown tomato, compared to store bought?  Amazing.

So, gardeners, of whatever plants, share your knowledge.  What are you growing this year?  New to it?  Ask and see if we can help!

So two nights ago we had "world class" peaches and marzano tomatoes. Then "bambi" came along and wiped all out overnight.Bambi is so skilled she can eat the tomatoes off the vine while leaving the stem intact so as to not kill the plant not break anything. Last year she attacked a Dogwood tree and tore the branches from the trunk. 

So now I will do as the farmers do. Nuke em with the following: Plantskydd Approved by the EPA for edible consumtion

 https://www.plantskydd.com/plantskydd-de...nd%20more.

[Chiefsmom]

I'm sorry about your deer problem.   Since they don't want to jump my fence, they have decided to eat my moonflowers!!!! Every time I find a blossom starting, it is gone the next morning!   Bloodmeal is supposed to work to keep them away too.

I put up 7 pints of beets yesterday.  Not too bad, since I didn't even have a whole row come up.
I've been noticing that with the seeds I bought this year.  Yield has not been very good at all from the packets I bought.  Even the calendula flowers.  Did a whole row, and I only had 8 plants come up.

Japanese beetles a a huge problem this year.  Never saw so many!  Chickens are doing what they can!

[argentus]

I envy you Chiefsmom.   You have this very rare substance called............ soil.   Oh Lordy, wouldn't it be swell.  Still, we have a rare substances to you, or at least I think so called......   cocopeat and seaweed meal.   Newsflash:   Cukes don't care for blazing hot/sandy loam/ salt environment, HOWEVER, change one variable, and make the soil rich with seaweed meal and make it retain water with cocopeat, and Voilà!  It Lives!!  It's a-LIVE!!  

Ok, so this year's projects are twofold:   Water Spinach, and Chayote aka Cho-cho.   Water spinach is fairly easy to grow, except it is super-invasive, so much be contained somehow.   It is illegal to grow in much of the U.S. because it just takes over.   Tasty stuff though, and will keep a few people alive.   

Chayote is in the gourd family, but tastes like a squash.   It can be eaten raw, and is cucumberish, or fried, mashed, and I like making fritters out of them.   Traditional use is in soup as a tasty filler.   Once established, one plant can feed a family.   Well.......... not feed them if that's all they're eating, but as a side dish it really delivers.   

Since those of us down here in the Caribbean see the same things you all do -- that is to say everything going to crap at an alarming rate, we are determined to grow landfood --  breadfruit, sweet potato, tomato, cukes, pumpkin,  chayote, etc., and harvest mobile MREs (feral chickens) and harvest seafood (fish, spiny lobster in season, conch in season, whelks (Turban snail), etc.). 

I envy you also all the berries.   Berries take a hell of a lot more work than most people realize.   Not just letting a bush grow and the picking it.   Strawberries, especially (which, I guess aren't technically berries, but who's counting?)

[Chiefsmom]

I envy you Chiefsmom.   You have this very rare substance called............ soil.   Oh Lordy, wouldn't it be swell.  Still, we have a rare substances to you, or at least I think so called......   cocopeat and seaweed meal.   Newsflash:   Cukes don't care for blazing hot/sandy loam/ salt environment, HOWEVER, change one variable, and make the soil rich with seaweed meal and make it retain water with cocopeat, and Voilà!  It Lives!!  It's a-LIVE!!  

Ok, so this year's projects are twofold:   Water Spinach, and Chayote aka Cho-cho.   Water spinach is fairly easy to grow, except it is super-invasive, so much be contained somehow.   It is illegal to grow in much of the U.S. because it just takes over.   Tasty stuff though, and will keep a few people alive.   

Chayote is in the gourd family, but tastes like a squash.   It can be eaten raw, and is cucumberish, or fried, mashed, and I like making fritters out of them.   Traditional use is in soup as a tasty filler.   Once established, one plant can feed a family.   Well.......... not feed them if that's all they're eating, but as a side dish it really delivers.   

Since those of us down here in the Caribbean see the same things you all do -- that is to say everything going to crap at an alarming rate, we are determined to grow landfood --  breadfruit, sweet potato, tomato, cukes, pumpkin,  chayote, etc., and harvest mobile MREs (feral chickens) and harvest seafood (fish, spiny lobster in season, conch in season, whelks (Turban snail), etc.). 

I envy you also all the berries.   Berries take a hell of a lot more work than most people realize.   Not just letting a bush grow and the picking it.   Strawberries, especially (which, I guess aren't technically berries, but who's counting?)

LOL  Loved "Mobile MRE's"
Sorry it's been so long.  Busy little bee.
I will say black caps (black raspberries are exactly that, let it grow and tons of berries.  No work.  In fact, the wild ones seemed to prefer you leave them alone.   But all the domestic ones, yeah, pampered babies.  LOL
You have a lot of seafood available?  That I could live on.  Not the snails.  Not sure I could do it.
Yeah, Sand isn't good for much up here.  Except blueberries.  Can you raise them down there?

So, on to a lesson I learned, thanks to some of you here.  NO MORE AUTOFLOWERING SEEDS!!!  At least for me, for outdoor growing, which is all I do with Marijuana.  
This is why:   My Hindu Kush:

[Image: https://denyignorance.com/uploader/images/Hindu.jpg]
 About 1 foot tall.   Very Very dense, but disappointing!

[Chiefsmom]

Ugg!  So, my a lot of my carrots had black rot in the middle of them.  I've never had that before.  Only ended up with 4) pint and 1/2 jars worth.  That was disappointing.

I've been studying and making plant medicine, so I have all kinds of stuff "Infusing and extracting" in the cabinet.  Made hubby drive me to Indiana so I could get the good (190) proof grain alcohol.   
I'm really excited about the elderberry and blueberry extracts.   And I am infusing some olive oil with chickweed for eczema.  I'm desperate for something to work, and it is supposed to be the best plant for it.   I did not realize how small chickweed was!  I'm going to have to grow my own next year, if it works.

Basically all I have left in the garden is the marijuana.  We have a while yet (hopefully) before the first frost.  We do need rain though.  Everything is very dry.

[l0st]

I'd love to grow some veggies, but I have a black thumb. I even managed to kill mums and marigolds. If I managed to grow some, I wouldn't mind having tomatoes, cukes, green peppers, jalapenos, carrots, potatoes, onions, & zucchini, maybe even some green beans.

I bought some seeds for herbs figuring I would start there, but found out they need full sun and my property is heavily shaded. Is there any veg that grows in the shade? I kinda doubt it.

[Chiefsmom]

Haven't really looked into shade veggies.  But as far as the herbs go, do you have any sunny spots you could put them in pots?  Even inside?
Actually you could do that with a tomato plant as well.

[l0st]

Haven't really looked into shade veggies.  But as far as the herbs go, do you have any sunny spots you could put them in pots?  Even inside?
Actually you could do that with a tomato plant as well.

The only spot that gets direct sun is on the north side of the property, and only after noon. There is an area near my AC unit with a pre-existing garden bed that is currently overgrown with elephant ears. I'll have to get rid of the elephant ears (nearly impossible - they just grow back no matter what you do) and also redirect the drain from the AC unit as it currently floods that garden bed. I did think about putting them there.

A better spot would be to turn the middle of that yard area into a proper garden. I have to get rid of a huge tree stump first. I had to cut down a giant probably 200+ year old tree that died. The stump is several feet wide... like nearly 5 feet wide. Then we'll need to get all the roots out....

You think they will grow inside the house in pots? I do have some window sills. I might consider adding some flower boxes below the windows as well.