This is a GREAT series that might be of interest to those of you who home school or who want to learn more about any of these particular topics - and through this week only the 10 CD set is only $99.
I just received an email about this through my home school group - this list of CDs was on my wishlist for my anniversary and I just ordered them!
Thought I'd share the sale info for anyone else who might be interested.
Link:
http://franklinsprings.com/allfilms/...st-ladies.html
Series includes:
The Art of Bread Making
The Art of Candle Making
The Art of Soap Making
The Art of Canning
The Art of Gardening
The Art of Herbs
The Art of Cooking
The Art of Dairy
The Art of Sewing
The Art of Quilting
You can also buy the series in individual CDs or in smaller sets.
For more info about the series, you can see a YouTube video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPMl2jyMM5E
------------------------------------------
Join the APN Forum at www.AmericanPreppersNetwork.net
Visit the Tennessee Forum at www.TennesseePreppersNetwork.net
Showing posts with label vegetable gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetable gardening. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sweet Potato Starts
I ordered our Sweet Potato starts last week and should be receiving them toward the end of the month. I took the recommendation from a friend who ordered hers from Steele Plant Company last year - a company right here in Tennessee. She had great success and said the company was a pleasure to do business with.This year I decided to give them a try, as a few of my friends have said they had much better success with sweet potatoes in their tire gardens than they did with regular potatoes.
I decided to order 3 dozen starts - a dozen of 3 different varieties. We're going to try the Georgia Jets, the Bunch Porto Ricos and the Nancy Halls. The price was $24.49 for the 36 plants. They have several Pricing Specials that you'll want to review. My order will also come with a 16 page booklet with 4 pages of growing information and 12 pages of recipes. They also have a nice little Growing Tips section on their website.
The company will ship the starts to you when it is ideal planting time in your location. So, if sweet potatoes are on your gardening list for the year, you might want to give Steele Plant Company a look to see if they have something you are looking for!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Micro Greenhouse Idea
Ultra Micro Greenhouse
This was just an experiment and it worked great for me. I took a plastic juice jug which I have plenty of and made a Ultra Mirco Greenhouse. I just cut the jug in two, placed some compost inside and planted my seeds. Add a little water and put the top half back on, be sure to replace the lid this also it helps to keep the heat and the water inside. I only watered them when I first planted them and that's it. Seeds sprouted in just a few days. Set them in the window sill so they can get some sun and watch them grow. After your sprouts get a few inches high move them into a larger container.
This is a great idea to get a jump start on your Victory Garden. Raising food is a must for any long term survival situation or self sufficent life.
I used what I had on hand at the time which must be practiced in these situations.
for more great articles visit: prepperbook.blogspot.com
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Fall Garden Planning
Have you planned your fall garden yet? Even if your summer garden is still going strong, it's time to get your fall garden plans set. And if you missed out on summer gardening this year - you still have time to get in some plants for fall!
You can search the archives of this blog to see some examples of tire gardening and some great vegetable gardening tips that will allow you to get a fall garden going quickly.
Remember, to plan your fall planting schedule, you need to know the plant hardiness zone that you are in. Here in West TN - we are pretty much in zone 7. I can look this up here on an interactive map: Interactive USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map and it will tell me what zone I'm in. Then I visit Victory Seed to find when we usually get our first frost in the fall and when we plan for our frost-free date in the spring. So here in West TN, our typical first frost in the fall is around October 27th; last frost in the spring is around April 8th.
Here are the plants that do well as fall crops and information on when they need to go into the ground:
Broccoli: can start as seeds indoors or outdoors 16 weeks before frost; transplants go outdoors 10 weeks before frost; harvest 4 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting at 16 and 14 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 16 weeks.
Cabbage: can start as seeds indoors or outdoors 16 weeks before frost; transplant go outdoors 10 weeks before frost; harvest 4 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting at 18 and 16 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 16 weeks.
Cauliflower: can start as seeds indoors or outdoors 14 weeks before frost; transplant go outdoors 8 weeks before frost; harvest 2 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting at 16 and 14 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 14 weeks.
Carrots: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 11 weeks before first frost; harvest 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting planting at 16, 14 and 12 weeks to increase your harvest. Time to maturity is about 10 weeks.
Peas: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 10 weeks before first frost; harvest at first frost to 4 weeks after. You could stagger your planting at 12 and 10 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 10 weeks.
Beets: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 8 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 2 weeks after. You could stagger your planting at 10 and 8 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 8 weeks.
Lettuce: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 8 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 4 weeks after. You could stagger your planting each week to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about7 weeks.
Spinach: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 8 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 4 weeks after. You could stagger your planting each week to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 7 weeks.
Radishes: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 4 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 2 weeks after. You could stagger your planting at 8 and 6 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 4 weeks.
So, for example, if I want to plant peas in my area and I know my first fall frost could be around October 27th, I can back out 10 weeks and know that I need to have seeds in the ground by August 25th. I'm really too late for broccoli and cabbage, but I'm going to plant it anyway in an area that I can cover to keep warm for a couple of extra weeks if I need to.
I'll post pictures next week as we spend time clearing out some of our summer veggies that are finished producing and start planting our fall seeds. Also, I'll give you an update on the progress our little hog-a-tiller has made clearing two new gardening beds for us!
You can search the archives of this blog to see some examples of tire gardening and some great vegetable gardening tips that will allow you to get a fall garden going quickly.
Remember, to plan your fall planting schedule, you need to know the plant hardiness zone that you are in. Here in West TN - we are pretty much in zone 7. I can look this up here on an interactive map: Interactive USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map and it will tell me what zone I'm in. Then I visit Victory Seed to find when we usually get our first frost in the fall and when we plan for our frost-free date in the spring. So here in West TN, our typical first frost in the fall is around October 27th; last frost in the spring is around April 8th.
Here are the plants that do well as fall crops and information on when they need to go into the ground:
Broccoli: can start as seeds indoors or outdoors 16 weeks before frost; transplants go outdoors 10 weeks before frost; harvest 4 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting at 16 and 14 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 16 weeks.
Cabbage: can start as seeds indoors or outdoors 16 weeks before frost; transplant go outdoors 10 weeks before frost; harvest 4 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting at 18 and 16 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 16 weeks.
Cauliflower: can start as seeds indoors or outdoors 14 weeks before frost; transplant go outdoors 8 weeks before frost; harvest 2 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting at 16 and 14 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 14 weeks.
Carrots: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 11 weeks before first frost; harvest 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after first frost. You could stagger your planting planting at 16, 14 and 12 weeks to increase your harvest. Time to maturity is about 10 weeks.
Peas: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 10 weeks before first frost; harvest at first frost to 4 weeks after. You could stagger your planting at 12 and 10 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 10 weeks.
Beets: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 8 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 2 weeks after. You could stagger your planting at 10 and 8 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 8 weeks.
Lettuce: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 8 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 4 weeks after. You could stagger your planting each week to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about7 weeks.
Spinach: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 8 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 4 weeks after. You could stagger your planting each week to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 7 weeks.
Radishes: plant as seeds directly outdoors about 4 weeks before first frost; harvest at frost to 2 weeks after. You could stagger your planting at 8 and 6 weeks to increase your harvest time. Time to maturity is about 4 weeks.
So, for example, if I want to plant peas in my area and I know my first fall frost could be around October 27th, I can back out 10 weeks and know that I need to have seeds in the ground by August 25th. I'm really too late for broccoli and cabbage, but I'm going to plant it anyway in an area that I can cover to keep warm for a couple of extra weeks if I need to.
I'll post pictures next week as we spend time clearing out some of our summer veggies that are finished producing and start planting our fall seeds. Also, I'll give you an update on the progress our little hog-a-tiller has made clearing two new gardening beds for us!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Canning Time!
Whew, this is turning out to be a very busy week! I've been canning every day!
Our Asian pear tree set a ton of fruit this year; while the fruit isn't as large as last year, it is more abundant. I've picked approximately 1/2 of the tree which yielded 55 pounds of pears! I'll pick the rest of the tree in the next week.
So far, I've processed about about half of the harvest. I've made 8 pints of pear butter and 8 pints of pear pickles. I have another batch of pear pickles to put up tomorrow, which will yield another 8 pints.
This leaves about 1/2 the pears I picked still left to process - most of those will be pear butter. The pears I pick next week will be brandied pears, pears in syrup and possibly some pear mincemeat.
I also purchased 33 pounds of mixed yellow squash, zucchini and cucumbers from a friend who has a large garden, and today I worked to turn that into hot pickled veggies. I added some banana peppers and sweet peppers from our garden, some cauliflower and carrots I got at the store, some jalapeno peppers, garlic, onion - yum. I made 17 quarts of this today and it is still being processed as I type this evening.
Pictures will post soon, I've taken them but haven't had a spare minute to upload them.
More soon!
Our Asian pear tree set a ton of fruit this year; while the fruit isn't as large as last year, it is more abundant. I've picked approximately 1/2 of the tree which yielded 55 pounds of pears! I'll pick the rest of the tree in the next week.
So far, I've processed about about half of the harvest. I've made 8 pints of pear butter and 8 pints of pear pickles. I have another batch of pear pickles to put up tomorrow, which will yield another 8 pints.
This leaves about 1/2 the pears I picked still left to process - most of those will be pear butter. The pears I pick next week will be brandied pears, pears in syrup and possibly some pear mincemeat.
I also purchased 33 pounds of mixed yellow squash, zucchini and cucumbers from a friend who has a large garden, and today I worked to turn that into hot pickled veggies. I added some banana peppers and sweet peppers from our garden, some cauliflower and carrots I got at the store, some jalapeno peppers, garlic, onion - yum. I made 17 quarts of this today and it is still being processed as I type this evening.
Pictures will post soon, I've taken them but haven't had a spare minute to upload them.
More soon!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tire Garden Update
Our garden is still chugging along this year - we've had some interesting weather once again, lots of rain and some cool temperatures in May that we don't usually have, then straight into those 90-100 degree days with little in the way of rain or even afternoon showers.
Our pepper plants are doing very well in the tires - I have one banana pepper plant that I'm harvesting 6-8 peppers from just about every day. One of our green bell pepper planst is really setting nice fruit - I've harvested one pepper and there are 4 others on the way. We have several pepper plants and they are all doing well. Here's a photo of one of our Banana Pepper plants:
Our tomato plants are going great - the plants are as tall as our 6-foot privacy fence and are full of nice green tomatoes. I'm watering them consistently just about every day in this heat, so hopefully the plants will stick with me and not bolt from the heat.
We finished harvesting all of our greens and carrots a while ago. We have now planted mustard greens and some swiss chard in their place. These photos were taken at the end of June, this swiss chard is much taller now and just about ready to harvest this week.
We planted some bush black bean seeds for the first time this year - I'm anxious to see how these perform. So far they are doing great - they actually were sprouted up through the soil within 3 days of planting the seeds! And we've also recently planted some bush green beans, okra and a new round of pepper plants.
Our potatoes in tires have been a good experiment this year. We started with 6 tires of potatoes. After reading and research online, we learned that you can continue adding layers of tires and dirt as the potato foliage comes through and it will force the potatoes to continue setting more fruit - the hope is to get a very large yield by forcing the potatoes up and up through the dirt.
Well, our potatoes started to die off at about the 3rd tire and had to be harvested. We got about a dozen or so potatoes from each tire - we've harvested 3 of them so far. Here's a photo of the harvest from one plant - not too shabby:
Well, it turns out after looking into this a little further that there are only certain varieties of potatoes that do well when grown in tower conditions, that will continue to set fruit as they head to the top of the soil. Other potato varieties only set fruit in the bottom 6 inches of the soil, no matter how much dirt you put on top.
Turns out that the red and white potatoes that we planted (just regular old red and white potatoes from the grocery store that had sprouted) are the kind that set fruit in the bottom 6 inches no matter what.
Here's a great link to a blog in Seattle that chronicled his potato tower growing efforts. Even though we're not in the same growing zone here in TN - there is good information that you could use from this detailed info: Sinfonian's Square Foot Garden - Build As You Go Potato Bins.
The potatoes we did harvest were delicious, even though we didn't get a large enough harvest to hold over through the winter as we were hoping. We will be planting a succession crop of potatoes in the next several weeks that we'll harvest just before frost this fall.
Our garden is not anywhere near the size that I really want - I'd like to double the size for next spring. The difficulty here is the dirt is just so hard and not at all fertile. It takes bringing in a lot of rich, composted soil to get good gardening dirt from the start - which is expensive. We also don't have a tiller at the moment, so getting the dirt ready is a major task to undertake.
Hubby decided to find a "natural" way to get our ground started for next spring - he invested in what he is fondly calling our "hog-a-tiller". Yep, you guessed it - he came home a few weeks ago with a 10 week old pot-bellied piglet - children named her Wilma. We've made a 16x16 foot pen out of hog panels for her in the backyard over one of the spaces where we want to garden. She's happily rooting around and loosening the soil for us - I'll post more on this soon!
Did you plant your veggie garden this year? How is it growing? How is your harvest?
Our pepper plants are doing very well in the tires - I have one banana pepper plant that I'm harvesting 6-8 peppers from just about every day. One of our green bell pepper planst is really setting nice fruit - I've harvested one pepper and there are 4 others on the way. We have several pepper plants and they are all doing well. Here's a photo of one of our Banana Pepper plants:
Our tomato plants are going great - the plants are as tall as our 6-foot privacy fence and are full of nice green tomatoes. I'm watering them consistently just about every day in this heat, so hopefully the plants will stick with me and not bolt from the heat.
We finished harvesting all of our greens and carrots a while ago. We have now planted mustard greens and some swiss chard in their place. These photos were taken at the end of June, this swiss chard is much taller now and just about ready to harvest this week.
We planted some bush black bean seeds for the first time this year - I'm anxious to see how these perform. So far they are doing great - they actually were sprouted up through the soil within 3 days of planting the seeds! And we've also recently planted some bush green beans, okra and a new round of pepper plants.
Our potatoes in tires have been a good experiment this year. We started with 6 tires of potatoes. After reading and research online, we learned that you can continue adding layers of tires and dirt as the potato foliage comes through and it will force the potatoes to continue setting more fruit - the hope is to get a very large yield by forcing the potatoes up and up through the dirt.
Well, our potatoes started to die off at about the 3rd tire and had to be harvested. We got about a dozen or so potatoes from each tire - we've harvested 3 of them so far. Here's a photo of the harvest from one plant - not too shabby:
Well, it turns out after looking into this a little further that there are only certain varieties of potatoes that do well when grown in tower conditions, that will continue to set fruit as they head to the top of the soil. Other potato varieties only set fruit in the bottom 6 inches of the soil, no matter how much dirt you put on top.
Turns out that the red and white potatoes that we planted (just regular old red and white potatoes from the grocery store that had sprouted) are the kind that set fruit in the bottom 6 inches no matter what.
Here's a great link to a blog in Seattle that chronicled his potato tower growing efforts. Even though we're not in the same growing zone here in TN - there is good information that you could use from this detailed info: Sinfonian's Square Foot Garden - Build As You Go Potato Bins.
The potatoes we did harvest were delicious, even though we didn't get a large enough harvest to hold over through the winter as we were hoping. We will be planting a succession crop of potatoes in the next several weeks that we'll harvest just before frost this fall.
Our garden is not anywhere near the size that I really want - I'd like to double the size for next spring. The difficulty here is the dirt is just so hard and not at all fertile. It takes bringing in a lot of rich, composted soil to get good gardening dirt from the start - which is expensive. We also don't have a tiller at the moment, so getting the dirt ready is a major task to undertake.
Hubby decided to find a "natural" way to get our ground started for next spring - he invested in what he is fondly calling our "hog-a-tiller". Yep, you guessed it - he came home a few weeks ago with a 10 week old pot-bellied piglet - children named her Wilma. We've made a 16x16 foot pen out of hog panels for her in the backyard over one of the spaces where we want to garden. She's happily rooting around and loosening the soil for us - I'll post more on this soon!
Did you plant your veggie garden this year? How is it growing? How is your harvest?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Tire Garden: Day 42
Here's a long over-due update on our home tire garden, now on Day 42.
I've been very pleased with our efforts so far. We did our initial planting the weekend of March 7-8, 2009. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, and Day 13 by clicking on the links.
Just this week, I've started gathering mesclun and radishes for eating:
Mesclun blend:
Radishes:
We succession planted the mesclun and spinach so it wouldn't all come in the same week, so we should have some nice greens to eat for the next few weeks until the weather starts to stay too hot. You can see from the photos above that the radishes look great, and the greens are growing nicely.
This photo shows the entire bed of greens: in all the tires are spinach, mesclun, romaine and bib lettuce. In the center of the tires at the top is radishes, middle is green onions just starting to peek through and at the bottom is more beets.
This other set of beets didn't produce quite as well as I had hoped, but we do have few coming up. I hope the beets planted in my mesclun bed will produce better for me.
You can see in the photos below that my dear little 3 year old helper put quite a few carrot seeds in her tire - these will have to be thinned out some.
Of the six tires we planted in peas, 3 tires did not produce; I had older seeds and was using them in hopes they were still good, but apparently they aren't. Not to worry, I'll be planting swiss chard in those tires this week instead.
The other 3 tires of peas are doing very well.
Here are the 6 tires of potatoes. I need to add more dirt on top of the potatoes and another tire, to make them deeper. I'm out of good dirt and will be getting some this week so I can get this task accomplished.
In the next couple of weeks we'll be starting our tomatoes and peppers - this year we are going to do some of our tomatoes as hanging tomatoes - I'll be sure to post and provide photos of that as we go along.
Are you gardening yet?
I've been very pleased with our efforts so far. We did our initial planting the weekend of March 7-8, 2009. You can read about Day 1, Day 2, and Day 13 by clicking on the links.
Just this week, I've started gathering mesclun and radishes for eating:
Mesclun blend:
Radishes:
We succession planted the mesclun and spinach so it wouldn't all come in the same week, so we should have some nice greens to eat for the next few weeks until the weather starts to stay too hot. You can see from the photos above that the radishes look great, and the greens are growing nicely.
This photo shows the entire bed of greens: in all the tires are spinach, mesclun, romaine and bib lettuce. In the center of the tires at the top is radishes, middle is green onions just starting to peek through and at the bottom is more beets.
This other set of beets didn't produce quite as well as I had hoped, but we do have few coming up. I hope the beets planted in my mesclun bed will produce better for me.
You can see in the photos below that my dear little 3 year old helper put quite a few carrot seeds in her tire - these will have to be thinned out some.
Of the six tires we planted in peas, 3 tires did not produce; I had older seeds and was using them in hopes they were still good, but apparently they aren't. Not to worry, I'll be planting swiss chard in those tires this week instead.
The other 3 tires of peas are doing very well.
Here are the 6 tires of potatoes. I need to add more dirt on top of the potatoes and another tire, to make them deeper. I'm out of good dirt and will be getting some this week so I can get this task accomplished.
In the next couple of weeks we'll be starting our tomatoes and peppers - this year we are going to do some of our tomatoes as hanging tomatoes - I'll be sure to post and provide photos of that as we go along.
Are you gardening yet?
Monday, April 13, 2009
Community Gardening
Interested in getting a community garden started in your area? It might be as simple as approaching a local church to get your idea going.
What started as an idea I expressed in passing to one of our church pastors has now turned into a successful adventure - at least so far!
In about 4 weeks, we've signed up 32 families to participate in the first ever community garden at our church. The church has provided the ground and the lumber for us to make our square foot gardening frames. A church member has stepped up and offered to provide all of the seeds and vegetables that our families will need to plant their garden plots. Another church member donated an 18-wheeler full of compost to improve the soil. Many other church members have volunteered their time helping me design the space, for tilling the ground, moving in the compost with a backhoe and we all met this past Friday to build our garden frames.
Each family participating will have (2) 4x8 garden plots that they will plant and can keep their harvest. All participating families will also help tend a 20 foot x 40 foot "community" plot for the church; the church receives all the harvest from this plot to give to families in need at our church our community.
At our first class meeting, the families gave me the list of veggies they most wanted to plant. Since most of the families participating are very new to gardening, I then took that information and helped them by plotting out what would be best planted where in their square foot garden sections.
Each family now has a planting plan for their garden section that they'll use when we meet again as a group on April 25th for our very first planting day.
If you have a dream or desire to teach others to garden, but don't have the space for a large community garden - the key might just be as close as your local church - you never know until you ask!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Spring Freeze - Again!
Okay everyone, get ready for another spring freeze this year! Here in West Tennessee, it was a balmy 73 degrees today. Forecast for tomorrow is rain, high in the 70s, with temps dropping drastically in the afternoon and evening - rain possibly changing to snow after midnight. Can you believe it?? No accumulation expected, but a low in the upper 20s is forecast for Monday night into Tuesday morning.
We seem to have one of these every year - at least this one is a bit earlier than the past two years, when we had a freeze near the frost-free date of April 15th.
If you have any garden veggies already out - get ready to protect them! We use old sheets, towels, old blankets, tarps, whatever we need to get everything covered from the elements. If you have any ideas that work well for you, let us know!
We seem to have one of these every year - at least this one is a bit earlier than the past two years, when we had a freeze near the frost-free date of April 15th.
If you have any garden veggies already out - get ready to protect them! We use old sheets, towels, old blankets, tarps, whatever we need to get everything covered from the elements. If you have any ideas that work well for you, let us know!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Tire Garden Update - Day 13
We've worked more on our tire garden since I last updated about our initial efforts to get it all in place. We've added additional tires, planted additional veggies and I've had to make some temporary "walls" to keep my Great Pyrenees from digging up the single-height tires.If you missed the introductions, you can read how we got everything started here: Tire Gardening-Day One and Tire Gardening-Day Two.
We basically have 5 total rows of tires at this point. To refresh:
Along one side of our fence, about a foot out from the fence, we have a row of 6 single-height tires that are currently planted with snow peas and sweet peas. Behind this row we will be putting up a chicken-wire fence so the peas (and later the green beans and cucumbers) can climb. All of the peas were planted on 08 Mar 2009.
The next row out from this is a row of 6 double-height tires that have potatoes planted in them. These were planted on 12 Mar 2009.There is about a 3 foot aisle, then another row of 6 double-height tires. Currently 3 of these are planted: one with radishes, one with beets and one with carrots. The radishes are going gangbusters and the green tops are already over an inch tall. The carrots and beets are just starting to peek out. All of these items were planted on 08 Mar 2009. Photo below is of the radishes that were planted 08 Mar 2009.
When the radishes, carrots and beets are all exhausted sometime around Memorial Day, this is the row where some of our tomatoes and sweet peppers will go in.To the side of these three rows, we have a oval row of single-height tires for all of our assorted greens. Six tires were planted on 08 Mar 2009 - 2 of mesclun blend, 2 of spinach, 1 of bibb lettuce and 1 of romaine lettuce. They are all growing well, with the mesclun leading the way.
This week on 18 Mar 2009 we put in another 6 tires of the same blends so the planting is staggered and when our first row runs out, we'll have another row ready right behind them. We'll continue this staggered planting back and forth until it is too warm for these greens, and we'll then put in mustard greens, swiss chard and the like.
For this oval row, we laid weed mat and left about a 2-foot space in the center of the oval. We filled this with dirt as well and divided it into 3 sections. In one section we planted more radishes, another section of beets and a section of green onions. These were all planted on 18 Mar 2009 In this photo you can see my "wall of tires" meant to keep my curious dogs out! In this photo, the greens planted on 08 Mar 2009 are on the left; the radishes, onions and beets are in the center; and the greens planted on 18 Mar 2009 are on the right. The straw is just to keep the tiny seeds from getting disturbed during watering or rain until they get a good start.
We have another section of ground on the other side of our yard from last year's square foot garden and this is where our hot peppers will go sometime after our last freeze date (approximately 15 April 2009).
In addition, we are also going to do our hanging tomatoes this year - we have an old swingset frame that we're going to use to hang our buckets on. Click the link to watch a YouTube video and find out more about hanging tomatoes - it is a very unique idea that would work for a lot of you gardeners out there! Hanging Tomatoes.
On another great gardening note, our church this year is letting me lead a Community Garden, which is very exciting. We have about a 50 foot x 50 foot space that was set aside this week. I'm working this weekend to sketch out individual food plots as well as a church plot and putting together my plan for ordering seeds. The thought is to let families that want to learn how to garden or who don't have room for a garden where they live to have a 8 ft x 8 ft or 10 ft x 10 ft space that they can cultivate - in turn everyone will also cultivate a larger church plot in the same area. Families will keep the harvest from their own food plots and the church plot harvest will go to those in need at our church or will be distributed as the church decides. This is an exciting project that I'm eager to get started.
How are your gardening plans shaping up this year???
Friday, March 13, 2009
Home Canning Basics
We've been home canning on an annual basis for well over ten years now - I usually put up about a dozen cases of jars each summer. I remember learning how to can with my grandmother when I was a little girl.
If you are working hard this year on your first garden, you have probably at some point thought about ways to preserve your delicious fruits and veggies so you can enjoy them all year long.
Don't worry, home canning is really not very difficult and it is very rewarding to open that delicious jar of peach preserves or corn relish during the winter months to savor a taste of the summer garden again.
To get started, I recommend that you get a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Preserving - I have several different editions - and have never had a recipe fail.
The book goes through the basics of home canning equipment and terminology, discusses high and low acid food preserving, freezing and dehydrating. If you can only purchase one book to learn how to can, this is the one I'd recommend.
Most of the equipment you need for home canning can be picked up at fairly reasonable prices, but don't wait until the last minute or you might not get everything you need.
The search for canning jars is to a home canner what searching for fabric is to a quilter! I search garage sales, thrift stores, Freecycle and Craigslist for canning jars. They are getting difficult to find at these places in my area though.
When I have to buy new jars, I first check Big Lots or Fred's, as they have the best prices I've found in my area on new jars. I leave the big box stores and grocery stores for last, as they tend to be the most expensive places to purchase jars.
If you want a hands-on class in home canning, check with your local extension office to see if they offer one.
Whatever you do, don't let the fear of the unknown keep you from trying your hand a preserving your harvest - you'll be glad you took the step!
If you are working hard this year on your first garden, you have probably at some point thought about ways to preserve your delicious fruits and veggies so you can enjoy them all year long.
Don't worry, home canning is really not very difficult and it is very rewarding to open that delicious jar of peach preserves or corn relish during the winter months to savor a taste of the summer garden again.
To get started, I recommend that you get a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Preserving - I have several different editions - and have never had a recipe fail.
The book goes through the basics of home canning equipment and terminology, discusses high and low acid food preserving, freezing and dehydrating. If you can only purchase one book to learn how to can, this is the one I'd recommend.
Most of the equipment you need for home canning can be picked up at fairly reasonable prices, but don't wait until the last minute or you might not get everything you need.
The search for canning jars is to a home canner what searching for fabric is to a quilter! I search garage sales, thrift stores, Freecycle and Craigslist for canning jars. They are getting difficult to find at these places in my area though.
When I have to buy new jars, I first check Big Lots or Fred's, as they have the best prices I've found in my area on new jars. I leave the big box stores and grocery stores for last, as they tend to be the most expensive places to purchase jars.
If you want a hands-on class in home canning, check with your local extension office to see if they offer one.
Whatever you do, don't let the fear of the unknown keep you from trying your hand a preserving your harvest - you'll be glad you took the step!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Tire Garden: Day Two
Today we worked more on our tire garden, putting in our second row of double-depth tires and another single row.
Now we are out of tires and dirt - we will have to get more of each this coming week so we can make our next double row and two more single rows.
When we finished our rows today, we put in some of our first seeds like this:
Row 1: Back row near fence in single depth tires has 3 tires of snow peas and 3 tires of sweet green peas. We still have to put up the chicken wire just behind these tires so the peas that need to climb will have a place to go.
Row 2: This first row of double depth tires beside the peas will get our potato starts the middle of this coming week.
Next we left space for a walkway, then:
Row 3: Right now this row has 3 double depth tires - we'll be adding 3-4 more to this row this week. In the 3 that we filled with dirt today, we planted one full of carrots, one full of radishes and one full of beets.
Side Row 1: This is a row of six single depth tires. In those today we planted one of bibb lettuce, two of mesclun blend, one of romaine lettuce, and two of spinach. See the bricks in the spaces between the tires in this picture? We had these extra bricks lying around, so we decided to fill behind them with dirt and between the tires we will plant marigold, nasturtium and other flowering plants. The picture doesn't show it, but we actually put the bricks 2 high so there is plenty of dirt.
Side Row 2: This row is pending and will go in behind Row 1 when we get more tires and will be used for succession planting of the things we have in Row 1.
Then we'll do another single row in the next week or so for me to put in some various herbs.
Also today we got our tomato and pepper seeds started indoors so they'll be ready to transplant in mid-late April after our last frost.
Another neat thing about the tire gardening - I took a Sharpie marker and wrote directly on the tire what I planted and the date. In addition, I always keep a journal with a layout of the beds, what we planted, how we will succession plant and rotate, any weather notes I need to make, any notes about natural bug treatments or fertilizing, etc.
How are your garden plans coming along? Share those ideas with us!
Now we are out of tires and dirt - we will have to get more of each this coming week so we can make our next double row and two more single rows.
When we finished our rows today, we put in some of our first seeds like this:
Row 1: Back row near fence in single depth tires has 3 tires of snow peas and 3 tires of sweet green peas. We still have to put up the chicken wire just behind these tires so the peas that need to climb will have a place to go.
Row 2: This first row of double depth tires beside the peas will get our potato starts the middle of this coming week.
Next we left space for a walkway, then:
Row 3: Right now this row has 3 double depth tires - we'll be adding 3-4 more to this row this week. In the 3 that we filled with dirt today, we planted one full of carrots, one full of radishes and one full of beets.
Side Row 1: This is a row of six single depth tires. In those today we planted one of bibb lettuce, two of mesclun blend, one of romaine lettuce, and two of spinach. See the bricks in the spaces between the tires in this picture? We had these extra bricks lying around, so we decided to fill behind them with dirt and between the tires we will plant marigold, nasturtium and other flowering plants. The picture doesn't show it, but we actually put the bricks 2 high so there is plenty of dirt.
Side Row 2: This row is pending and will go in behind Row 1 when we get more tires and will be used for succession planting of the things we have in Row 1.
Then we'll do another single row in the next week or so for me to put in some various herbs.
Also today we got our tomato and pepper seeds started indoors so they'll be ready to transplant in mid-late April after our last frost.
Another neat thing about the tire gardening - I took a Sharpie marker and wrote directly on the tire what I planted and the date. In addition, I always keep a journal with a layout of the beds, what we planted, how we will succession plant and rotate, any weather notes I need to make, any notes about natural bug treatments or fertilizing, etc.
How are your garden plans coming along? Share those ideas with us!
Tire Garden: Day One
Saturday we started putting in our tire garden. It is taking shape very nicely and I'm excited about getting started with our planting.
We started by getting tires. Most tire-change stores will gladly give you as many used tires as you care to take away with you. The stores have to pay to have the tires disposed of and they'd be just as happy for you to carry them away for them. We are fortunate that there is a little neighborhood tire change store a few blocks from our house, which made it pretty easy for us to get a few truck loads.
Hubby then went to pick up our first truckload full of fabulously mulched soil. Now, we are fortunate again here because our midwife, who has 400 acres in the next county, also has a deal with her little city that they dump all of the leaves at a certain spot on her property and have for years and years. This has become a terrific mulch yard and she has allowed us to come get whatever we need. Great, huh?
If you don't have a nifty midwife with a ton of land in your neck of the woods, you can either use your own soil and compost that you've put together, or you can try to find a nursery or similar business in your area that sells mulch and soil by the truck load.
Next we decided where in our backyard we wanted to put our tire garden and how we wanted to arrange it. We've decided to have about 4 rows of 7-8 tires each down one side of our yard set off from the fence a bit.
We left about a foot of space off the fence line, as I didn't want the tires right up against the wooden fence.
On the back row closest to the fence, we've decided to put a row of six single tires. This will be the planting space for our climbing veggies - peas, beans and cucumbers. Just behind these tires we're going to put up about a 12 foot stretch of chicken wire that we have on hand so the veggies will have a place to climb.
The next row is seven tires that are 2 deep for our potatoes. We like potatoes and want to have a good harvest, so we decided to put in 7 tires full. We will begin planting our first potatoes this week.
First we put cardboard under the hole in the tire to keep the dirt from washing out and to help keep the weeds from coming up into the tire. We just went to our local recycling center and picked up small boxes, pizza boxes, etc. that would work for our purpose. Yes, some people thought it was strange that we were taking recycling out of the bins, so I told them about tire gardening and suggested that they try doing one of their own!
Next we fill the tire about half way with dirt and pushed it into the sides of the tire. My middle daughter (age 6), then added a few handfuls of worm castings before we put in the rest of the dirt. We continued this process for our first two rows until darkness and hunger made us stop for the night!
These first two rows are right up against each other. The little spaces between the tires we also filled with dirt and will use to plant our flowering plants like marigold, nasturtium and the like.
We'll then have a walkway about the width of one tire. The next row will be 7-8 tires that are 2 deep for our tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc.
At the end of one row we're going to turn and go down the other side with a single row of about 7-8 tires that will have our lettuces, spinach, herbs, etc.
I'll keep you posted along the way with photos and tips we've learned - let me know what you think!
We started by getting tires. Most tire-change stores will gladly give you as many used tires as you care to take away with you. The stores have to pay to have the tires disposed of and they'd be just as happy for you to carry them away for them. We are fortunate that there is a little neighborhood tire change store a few blocks from our house, which made it pretty easy for us to get a few truck loads.
Hubby then went to pick up our first truckload full of fabulously mulched soil. Now, we are fortunate again here because our midwife, who has 400 acres in the next county, also has a deal with her little city that they dump all of the leaves at a certain spot on her property and have for years and years. This has become a terrific mulch yard and she has allowed us to come get whatever we need. Great, huh?
If you don't have a nifty midwife with a ton of land in your neck of the woods, you can either use your own soil and compost that you've put together, or you can try to find a nursery or similar business in your area that sells mulch and soil by the truck load.
Next we decided where in our backyard we wanted to put our tire garden and how we wanted to arrange it. We've decided to have about 4 rows of 7-8 tires each down one side of our yard set off from the fence a bit.
We left about a foot of space off the fence line, as I didn't want the tires right up against the wooden fence.
On the back row closest to the fence, we've decided to put a row of six single tires. This will be the planting space for our climbing veggies - peas, beans and cucumbers. Just behind these tires we're going to put up about a 12 foot stretch of chicken wire that we have on hand so the veggies will have a place to climb.
The next row is seven tires that are 2 deep for our potatoes. We like potatoes and want to have a good harvest, so we decided to put in 7 tires full. We will begin planting our first potatoes this week.
First we put cardboard under the hole in the tire to keep the dirt from washing out and to help keep the weeds from coming up into the tire. We just went to our local recycling center and picked up small boxes, pizza boxes, etc. that would work for our purpose. Yes, some people thought it was strange that we were taking recycling out of the bins, so I told them about tire gardening and suggested that they try doing one of their own!
Next we fill the tire about half way with dirt and pushed it into the sides of the tire. My middle daughter (age 6), then added a few handfuls of worm castings before we put in the rest of the dirt. We continued this process for our first two rows until darkness and hunger made us stop for the night!
These first two rows are right up against each other. The little spaces between the tires we also filled with dirt and will use to plant our flowering plants like marigold, nasturtium and the like.
We'll then have a walkway about the width of one tire. The next row will be 7-8 tires that are 2 deep for our tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc.
At the end of one row we're going to turn and go down the other side with a single row of about 7-8 tires that will have our lettuces, spinach, herbs, etc.
I'll keep you posted along the way with photos and tips we've learned - let me know what you think!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tips for Tomato Success
A nice, fresh, home-grown tomato. Brings a smile to your face and makes your mouth water, doesn't it?
Here are a few tips for successfully growing tomatoes, so you can enjoy some of your very own home-grown ones this year!
~ Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family, like tobacco
~ Aphids are a pest that will suck the life right out of your tomato plants. Ants like to eat the "honeydew" that is produced by the aphids, so they will actually over-winter aphid eggs and then give them rides to the host plant in the spring! If you see ants around your garden, you probably have aphids as well. You can treat this naturally by using predator pests: lacewings, ladybugs, hover flies and praying mantis all like to eat aphids. Some companion planting will also help: anise, chives, coriander, garlic, onions, petunia, radish, and nasturtium will all act to either trap or repel aphids. Diatomaceous earth is also deadly to aphids and ants will usually not cross it.
~ Cornmeal sprinkled around your tomato plants will help control tomato hornworm. These worms (and ants, by the way) will eat the cornmeal and since they cannot digest it, they will swell up and explode.
~ If slugs are a problem, you can use diatomaceous earth around your plants to keep them at bay. You'll need to replace the diatomaceous earth after watering or rainfall. Epsom salts also deter slugs and is good for your tomatoes.
~ If you notice yellowing and wilting on the leaves of your tomato plants, you probably have blight. Blight lives in the soil and rain water can cause it to splash onto the plants. Most people recommend trimming the leaves of your plants up to a foot off the ground to keep blight from getting on them and spreading. You should also keep your tomato plants well mulched, as this helps make a physical barrier between the soil and the plant.
~ A home remedy for blight is Epsom salt and non-fat powdered milk. My grandmother always put about 1/4 cup of Epsom salt and a good shake of powdered milk, along with her fertilizer, into each hole before planting her tomatoes. She would then mix it around in the dirt and put in her plants. She would also then sprinkle a little powdered milk on the top of the soil once the plant was in place and lightly mix it in to the dirt. You can repeat this during the growing season. We use this method with our tomatoes and have good results.
~ If you notice dark black blotches appearing on the bottoms of your fruit before it can ripen, you probably have blossom end rot. This usually happens because the plant has not had consistent moisture. Be sure to use mulch to help retain moisture and in periods of very hot weather, be sure to water the plants more deeply and more often.
~ Another good thing about Epsom salts is that it contains magnesium and tomatoes like magnesium. You can put a Tablespoon of Epsom salts into a gallon of water and use as a foliage spray as your plants begin to flower.
~ If you are going to stake your tomatoes, do this at the same time when you plant them. If you wait until the plant is large to do your staking, you stand a good chance of damaging the roots and possibly killing your plant.
~ Small strips of pantyhose are a great way to tie your tomato stalks to the stakes, as the pantyhose are soft and gentle to the plant stalk.
~ To allow your tomato plants to get a good start before setting fruit, remove the initial blossoms that appear so the plant will work to set good firm roots first.
~ You can succession plant your tomatoes if you snip off the little "sucker" tomato plants that sprout between your established branches. You can put these in a little water until they root, then put them in small pots to get established before returning them to your garden plot. This will help extend the growing season of your tomatoes.
~ You can try growing your tomatoes this way: Hanging Tomatoes or Upside Down Tomatoes
Happy Growing!
Here are a few tips for successfully growing tomatoes, so you can enjoy some of your very own home-grown ones this year!
~ Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family, like tobacco
~ Aphids are a pest that will suck the life right out of your tomato plants. Ants like to eat the "honeydew" that is produced by the aphids, so they will actually over-winter aphid eggs and then give them rides to the host plant in the spring! If you see ants around your garden, you probably have aphids as well. You can treat this naturally by using predator pests: lacewings, ladybugs, hover flies and praying mantis all like to eat aphids. Some companion planting will also help: anise, chives, coriander, garlic, onions, petunia, radish, and nasturtium will all act to either trap or repel aphids. Diatomaceous earth is also deadly to aphids and ants will usually not cross it.
~ Cornmeal sprinkled around your tomato plants will help control tomato hornworm. These worms (and ants, by the way) will eat the cornmeal and since they cannot digest it, they will swell up and explode.
~ If slugs are a problem, you can use diatomaceous earth around your plants to keep them at bay. You'll need to replace the diatomaceous earth after watering or rainfall. Epsom salts also deter slugs and is good for your tomatoes.
~ If you notice yellowing and wilting on the leaves of your tomato plants, you probably have blight. Blight lives in the soil and rain water can cause it to splash onto the plants. Most people recommend trimming the leaves of your plants up to a foot off the ground to keep blight from getting on them and spreading. You should also keep your tomato plants well mulched, as this helps make a physical barrier between the soil and the plant.
~ A home remedy for blight is Epsom salt and non-fat powdered milk. My grandmother always put about 1/4 cup of Epsom salt and a good shake of powdered milk, along with her fertilizer, into each hole before planting her tomatoes. She would then mix it around in the dirt and put in her plants. She would also then sprinkle a little powdered milk on the top of the soil once the plant was in place and lightly mix it in to the dirt. You can repeat this during the growing season. We use this method with our tomatoes and have good results.
~ If you notice dark black blotches appearing on the bottoms of your fruit before it can ripen, you probably have blossom end rot. This usually happens because the plant has not had consistent moisture. Be sure to use mulch to help retain moisture and in periods of very hot weather, be sure to water the plants more deeply and more often.
~ Another good thing about Epsom salts is that it contains magnesium and tomatoes like magnesium. You can put a Tablespoon of Epsom salts into a gallon of water and use as a foliage spray as your plants begin to flower.
~ If you are going to stake your tomatoes, do this at the same time when you plant them. If you wait until the plant is large to do your staking, you stand a good chance of damaging the roots and possibly killing your plant.
~ Small strips of pantyhose are a great way to tie your tomato stalks to the stakes, as the pantyhose are soft and gentle to the plant stalk.
~ To allow your tomato plants to get a good start before setting fruit, remove the initial blossoms that appear so the plant will work to set good firm roots first.
~ You can succession plant your tomatoes if you snip off the little "sucker" tomato plants that sprout between your established branches. You can put these in a little water until they root, then put them in small pots to get established before returning them to your garden plot. This will help extend the growing season of your tomatoes.
~ You can try growing your tomatoes this way: Hanging Tomatoes or Upside Down Tomatoes
Happy Growing!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Saving Seeds
Okay - you're getting your garden plot all ready for the first time and you are planning to purchase seeds for your favorite veggies to plant. What is all this talk about hybrid versus heirloom, organic, open pollinated - what does all this mean?
Well, basically it boils down pretty easy. Heirloom seeds are the only seeds that can be harvested and used to produce another plant exactly like the parent plant. Hybrid seeds are often sterile - even if they do produce a plant it will not be anything like the parent.
If you are purchasing your seeds at the local hardware store or large discount store you are probably purchasing HYBRID seeds. Most heirloom seeds are found in mail-order catalogs or online. I mentioned in my recent gardening post some great references for heirloom seeds (click the link here to see the list: heirloom seed sources).
Avid gardeners and those who practice a self-sufficient lifestyle work hard to keep their heirloom seeds going, year after year. My grandmother always saved her seeds year to year and she didn't have any special equipment or scientific methods for it.
So how do you learn to save seeds so you have them available for your use year after year? Here are some excellent links that will help you learn more about seed saving and get you on your way.
Seed Savers Exchange
Why and How to Save Seeds
International Seed Saving Institute
Kids Gardening - Finding, Gather and Saving Seeds - this is a website with a ton of information and great ideas for projects with your children.
How To Save Heirloom Seeds
Well, basically it boils down pretty easy. Heirloom seeds are the only seeds that can be harvested and used to produce another plant exactly like the parent plant. Hybrid seeds are often sterile - even if they do produce a plant it will not be anything like the parent.
If you are purchasing your seeds at the local hardware store or large discount store you are probably purchasing HYBRID seeds. Most heirloom seeds are found in mail-order catalogs or online. I mentioned in my recent gardening post some great references for heirloom seeds (click the link here to see the list: heirloom seed sources).
Avid gardeners and those who practice a self-sufficient lifestyle work hard to keep their heirloom seeds going, year after year. My grandmother always saved her seeds year to year and she didn't have any special equipment or scientific methods for it.
So how do you learn to save seeds so you have them available for your use year after year? Here are some excellent links that will help you learn more about seed saving and get you on your way.
Seed Savers Exchange
Why and How to Save Seeds
International Seed Saving Institute
Kids Gardening - Finding, Gather and Saving Seeds - this is a website with a ton of information and great ideas for projects with your children.
How To Save Heirloom Seeds
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Ready For: Gardening?
We're really anxious to get our spring garden in the ground, as I know many of you are as well! It could take volumes of text to go into great detail about gardening how-to, especially for those of you out there who might be doing your very first garden this year. So, I'm going to provide some links instead for great gardening resources that are already out there for you to use.
Getting the "perfect" garden spot going can take years of working the soil to get it nutrient-rich for your area of the state or country. But there are things you can do even if this is your first attempt at gardening that will make the job easier and still allow you to see some yield from your efforts.
You don't have to own a tiller, a lot of land or tons of gardening implements to get started. We've done traditional garden plots, square foot gardening, raised bed gardening, container gardening and had good yields and bad in all of them. Some of it is beyond our control - like drought, but usually just a little hard work and TLC will yield a nice little bounty for you and/or your family.
I'll be setting up a "gardening" section in the tabs at the top of this blog soon and will be adding great gardening links as I find them. Meanwhile, here are a few to get you started:
Know your climate zone: Tennessee hardiness zones range from 6a to 7b. Knowing your hardiness zone will help you determine which plants will grow in your area during what times of the year. Here's the USDA Hardiness Zone Map for TN - this one is interactive for your location using Google Maps.
Know your frost-free date: The frost-free date for my area of West TN is April 8th-15th. That is the date that it is considered "safe" to plant outdoors without having to fear a frost will come in and kill tender young plants. The past 2 years running, we've had a hard frost / freeze around April 13th - so it pays to know this information. Here's a handy little chart from Victory Seed Company for the First and Last Freeze Dates for TN.
Know what you'll eat: It really doesn't do much good to plant a whole slew of squash or zucchini if no one in your family will eat them. So take some time first to decide what you want to eat and how you want to use it. Are you going to freeze any of your harvest? Are you going to home can any of your harvest? Are you going to dehydrate any of your harvest? Do you want to have enough to eat fresh plus plenty to put away for the winter? Do you want to grow extra to trade for other fruits or veggies you don't have the ability to plant? Do you want to grow extra for extended family members? Spend a little time thinking this through so you can take the next step and determine how much you need to plant based on how much you'd like to yield.
Some links relevant to the above:
If you want to home can, freeze or dehydrate and never have - I recommend this book as a complete guide to get you started. It covers everything you need to know about canning, freezing, dehydrating and includes fabulous recipes. I use this every year and have never had a recipe fail. Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving.
Know how much you need to plant: Once you know what you want to plant and what you want to do with your harvest, you can determine how many seeds / starter plants you'll need to reach your yield. Much will depend on your gardening method. You can get more plants in a smaller area if you use the square foot gardening method; you'll need a lot more room if you are using traditional row gardening, so take all of that into consideration. Here are some handy calculators:
Backwoods Home - you can go to the link, type in "gardening" in the search box and read many articles about gardening basics.
How to Plan a Farm and Garden to Feed a Family
About.com: How Much To Plant
Virginia Cooperative Extension - has a handy chart, but you'll need to use the TN planting dates if you are in TN instead of the ones on that website.
What kind of seeds? Most people trying to become more self-sufficient and grow a substantial garden to supplement or completely provide for their family's food needs will work hard to use only heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds gathered from this year's harvest can be saved and used to plant next year's harvest. With hybrid seeds (like most you buy from any "local" stores or nurseries) the seeds from your harvest cannot be saved and used for future planting, requiring that you constantly buy new seeds. Yes, heirloom seeds might be a bit more expensive on the front-end, but once you learn the easy art of seed-saving, you'll always have the seeds you need right at hand! Here are some links - do your research and make your own decision on the company you think best deserves your business and is most dependable:
Bountiful Gardens - we've purchased lots of seeds from this site and they've always been dependable.
Marianna's Heirloom Seeds - right here in TN
New Hope Seed Company - another right here in TN
GetSeeds.net
Heirloom Seeds
Seeds of Change
SeedSavers.org
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Amishland Heirloom Seeds
Keeping it going: Once you get everything planted, you'll need to take steps to make sure your plants thrive. Watering guidelines, using mulch, natural fertilizer, weeding, bug control, composting and knowing how to start companion and rotational gardening will help you get the most from your vegetable garden for your entire growing season and those to come. More links:
National Plant Board List of Noxious Weeds
Guide to Selecting A Garden Mulch
Environmentally Responsible Gardening Products
Chemical-free pest control and garden fertilizing - Jerry Baker, Master Gardener
Dave's Garden - gardening tips
Neptune Harvest - all natural organic fertilizer
How To Compost
Compost Master
Conserving Water In The Vegetable Garden
Organic Garden Pest Control
Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Natural Garden Pest Control
Beneficial Nematodes
Rotational Gardening
Crop Rotation
Companion Planting - Secrets of Organic Gardening
Carrots Love Tomatoes - companion planting book
Companion Planting - So Happy Together
Okay - time to get started! We're working this weekend planning out our first rotation of gardening that will start this week and the rotations that will follow throughout the summer and into fall. Our primary method of gardening this year will be tire gardening - and we'll show you how we're doing it every step of the way.
I'd love to hear your comments or share with me other links that gardeners here in TN might find useful!
Getting the "perfect" garden spot going can take years of working the soil to get it nutrient-rich for your area of the state or country. But there are things you can do even if this is your first attempt at gardening that will make the job easier and still allow you to see some yield from your efforts.
You don't have to own a tiller, a lot of land or tons of gardening implements to get started. We've done traditional garden plots, square foot gardening, raised bed gardening, container gardening and had good yields and bad in all of them. Some of it is beyond our control - like drought, but usually just a little hard work and TLC will yield a nice little bounty for you and/or your family.
I'll be setting up a "gardening" section in the tabs at the top of this blog soon and will be adding great gardening links as I find them. Meanwhile, here are a few to get you started:
Know your climate zone: Tennessee hardiness zones range from 6a to 7b. Knowing your hardiness zone will help you determine which plants will grow in your area during what times of the year. Here's the USDA Hardiness Zone Map for TN - this one is interactive for your location using Google Maps.
Know your frost-free date: The frost-free date for my area of West TN is April 8th-15th. That is the date that it is considered "safe" to plant outdoors without having to fear a frost will come in and kill tender young plants. The past 2 years running, we've had a hard frost / freeze around April 13th - so it pays to know this information. Here's a handy little chart from Victory Seed Company for the First and Last Freeze Dates for TN.
Know what you'll eat: It really doesn't do much good to plant a whole slew of squash or zucchini if no one in your family will eat them. So take some time first to decide what you want to eat and how you want to use it. Are you going to freeze any of your harvest? Are you going to home can any of your harvest? Are you going to dehydrate any of your harvest? Do you want to have enough to eat fresh plus plenty to put away for the winter? Do you want to grow extra to trade for other fruits or veggies you don't have the ability to plant? Do you want to grow extra for extended family members? Spend a little time thinking this through so you can take the next step and determine how much you need to plant based on how much you'd like to yield.
Some links relevant to the above:
If you want to home can, freeze or dehydrate and never have - I recommend this book as a complete guide to get you started. It covers everything you need to know about canning, freezing, dehydrating and includes fabulous recipes. I use this every year and have never had a recipe fail. Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving.
Know how much you need to plant: Once you know what you want to plant and what you want to do with your harvest, you can determine how many seeds / starter plants you'll need to reach your yield. Much will depend on your gardening method. You can get more plants in a smaller area if you use the square foot gardening method; you'll need a lot more room if you are using traditional row gardening, so take all of that into consideration. Here are some handy calculators:
Backwoods Home - you can go to the link, type in "gardening" in the search box and read many articles about gardening basics.
How to Plan a Farm and Garden to Feed a Family
About.com: How Much To Plant
Virginia Cooperative Extension - has a handy chart, but you'll need to use the TN planting dates if you are in TN instead of the ones on that website.
What kind of seeds? Most people trying to become more self-sufficient and grow a substantial garden to supplement or completely provide for their family's food needs will work hard to use only heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds gathered from this year's harvest can be saved and used to plant next year's harvest. With hybrid seeds (like most you buy from any "local" stores or nurseries) the seeds from your harvest cannot be saved and used for future planting, requiring that you constantly buy new seeds. Yes, heirloom seeds might be a bit more expensive on the front-end, but once you learn the easy art of seed-saving, you'll always have the seeds you need right at hand! Here are some links - do your research and make your own decision on the company you think best deserves your business and is most dependable:
Bountiful Gardens - we've purchased lots of seeds from this site and they've always been dependable.
Marianna's Heirloom Seeds - right here in TN
New Hope Seed Company - another right here in TN
GetSeeds.net
Heirloom Seeds
Seeds of Change
SeedSavers.org
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Amishland Heirloom Seeds
Keeping it going: Once you get everything planted, you'll need to take steps to make sure your plants thrive. Watering guidelines, using mulch, natural fertilizer, weeding, bug control, composting and knowing how to start companion and rotational gardening will help you get the most from your vegetable garden for your entire growing season and those to come. More links:
National Plant Board List of Noxious Weeds
Guide to Selecting A Garden Mulch
Environmentally Responsible Gardening Products
Chemical-free pest control and garden fertilizing - Jerry Baker, Master Gardener
Dave's Garden - gardening tips
Neptune Harvest - all natural organic fertilizer
How To Compost
Compost Master
Conserving Water In The Vegetable Garden
Organic Garden Pest Control
Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Natural Garden Pest Control
Beneficial Nematodes
Rotational Gardening
Crop Rotation
Companion Planting - Secrets of Organic Gardening
Carrots Love Tomatoes - companion planting book
Companion Planting - So Happy Together
Okay - time to get started! We're working this weekend planning out our first rotation of gardening that will start this week and the rotations that will follow throughout the summer and into fall. Our primary method of gardening this year will be tire gardening - and we'll show you how we're doing it every step of the way.
I'd love to hear your comments or share with me other links that gardeners here in TN might find useful!
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