Wednesday, September 30, 2009

What can I do to help with the environment?



Most people want to do something to help with the environment, or go green as the popular term suggests. But they do not know what they can do about it. Well I have some possible answers I would like to share with you. Gardening can be done in so many ways that if we use only some of them we can have a big impact on the environment around us. Take vertical gardening for instance we could plant some ivy at the base of a wall and watch these beautiful plants grow up the wall.

Not only are you helping with energy costs for the building that the vines are growing on but you are also cleaning the air we breathe, and also we are taking a plain wall and make it functional like a piece of art work, and is soothing to the eye. Not only are you helping with the environment, you can take pride in growing something and watch how it grows and matures into a beautiful plant. This is just one of many ways to contribute to the effort to help the planet and ourselves to have a better way of life.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Survival Garden ½ Acre Premium Garden Seeds - #10 CAN


A lot of people are selling Survival Seeds and they are the same seeds as you get here but instead of paying well over a hundred dollars your cost is 28.12 plus shipping. You cannot beat this offer. I have bought expensive seeds and this one here too and these are much better because they come in a #10 sealed can.

Premium non-hybrid, non-GMO, open pollinated garden seeds are a must for your emergency supplies. Each seed variety is hermetically sealed in triple foil Mylar bags and then sealed again inside our super tough #10 can to give you the longest shelf life possible. Produced by one of our nation's top seed companies, these non-hybrid seeds will give you reliable, fresh vegetables when you need it the most. Each can comes with 16 individual seed pouches.

These are not the same type of seeds that you buy at your local garden store. Unlike most seeds you buy locally, these seeds are non-hybrid, which means that you can reuse the seeds each year giving you an endless supply of fresh, nutritious vegetables. Because of their unique qualities and packaging, these seeds can be very difficult to come by. Buy yours today!

● 16 extra large seed packets - each seed packet will give you about 10 times more seeds than an average seed packet you buy at the store.
● Premium, non-hybrid, open pollinating, non-GMO seed varieties. These seeds are not genetically modified
● These special non-hybrid seeds allow you to harvest your own seeds for future plantings
● Hermetically sealed in triple foil packets with a resealable top so they can be reused
● Packets are sealed in a durable air tight, #10 can
● Includes detailed instructions on soil preparation, planting, and harvesting
● 5 year shelf life at 75° F - Each 6° drop in storage temperature will double the shelf life
● Enough seeds to plant well over a ½ acre garden
● Buying these seeds at your local retailer could easily cost you over $100 and not give you the nearly the same quality or shelf life

To learn more

Monday, September 28, 2009

Starter Supply - CASE of SIX #10 CANS


Get six cans of freeze-dried food offering the best value available. An excellent starter kit for those just beginning with a food storage plan or for those wishing to add or supplement their existing supplies with some delicious gourmet food. Either way, you will love the convenience of Saratoga Farms™ and Mountain House™ freeze-dried foods. You're covered for breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. Forget about cooking and meal preparation, just add water and eat!

● 6 #10 cans in one easy-to-store case
● No cooking or preparation! Just add water.
● Up to a 30 Year Shelf-Life!

Saratoga Farms™ and Mountain House™ freeze-dried foods are second to none in terms of quality and taste. Freeze-Dried foods offer many advantages over dehydrated foods. To begin with they taste much better because through the freeze-drying process the foods retain their taste, texture, and shape. In addition, freeze-drying locks in the freshness, vitamins, nutrients, color, and aroma of fresh frozen foods while providing the shelf-stable convenience of canned and dehydrated foods

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Harding off Seedlings

Transplants that have been raised indoors are soft, and must get used to sun, wind and rain. It is best to let them “harden off” gradually for several days before planting in the garden.

Move the trays of transplants outdoors to a sheltered, shady place out of the wind. Keep them well watered. If they wilt anyway, bring them back inside until they perk up again. Be sure to bring them back indoors in the evening.

After two days, leaves and stems should be stronger. Move transplants to a half-sun location for 2 more days. When they are tough enough to go through the day without wilting, it’s time to plant them in the garden or container.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Some things you can do


In gardening you don’t always need to have a garden to get the vegetables you need to put up for a season. Most of the time you can get fresh vegetables at stands along the road, provided they are in season, and most grocery stores will carry vegetables that are in season in other parts of the world. Which makes getting ready for any emergency a little bit easier?

Now what you need to do is canning which is my preferred method of preserving food for the winter. You can also freeze most vegetables but if power goes out in an emergency the food will thaw out and spoil. Using the canning process you can also preserve meats for about a year. Actually I look at it like this is enough food to last for one growing season and restock after the next growing season. So I try to finish up eating everything I canned from the last season.
Another way of preserving food is dehydrating. This removes the moisture from vegetables and meats preserving them for several months and the meat is a good source of protein.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Compost Tea

Compost tea is effective on many pests because of certain microorganisms that exist in it naturally. Here's how to make compost tea at home. Use any container but a plastic bucket is easy for the homeowner. Fill the 5-15 gallon bucket half full of compost and finish filling with water. Let the mix sit for 10-14 days and then dilute and spray on the foliage of any and all plants including fruit trees, perennials, annuals, vegetables and roses, and other plants, especially those that are regularly attacked by insects or fungal pests. It's very effective for example on black spot on roses and early blight on tomatoes. How to dilute the dark compost tea before using depends on the compost used. A rule of thumb is to dilute the leach ate down to one part compost liquid to four to ten parts water. It should look like iced tea. Be sure to strain the solids out with old pantyhose, cheese cloth, or row cover material. Add two tablespoons of molasses to each gallon of spray for more power. Add citrus oil for even greater pest killing power.

Another good thing about Compost Tea is it good nourishment for the roots of plants. You will have to make quite a bit of tea but the benefits are much better. Now don’t use the compost Tea all the time, about once every two weeks should be enough.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Advantages of Raised Bed Gardens


First, there are advantages for your garden:

Perhaps the most important advantage is greatly reduced soil compacting. Plant roots need air. In an ordinary garden, you can’t avoid stepping in the garden bed occasionally when doing your everyday gardening. A properly designed raised bed garden allows you to do all you’re gardening from the garden path.
Plants can be spaced a little closer together in a raised bed because you don’t need places to step. This increases productivity per square foot of bed and reduces weeding when the plants begin to mature.
Note: Avoid the temptation to crowd your plants. You will still want to use generous plant spacing because your plants will grow much larger in raised beds.

Raised beds tend to drain away excess moisture better than ordinary garden beds. This is another advantage that helps the plant roots to breath. In areas that have saturated soil like Florida and many areas of the South, raised beds may be the only way you can grow many types of plants.
Soil conditions and types can be controlled more efficiently in a raised bed and they can be varied easily from bed to bed. Raised beds are the answer when topsoil is thin.
Water, fertilizer, compost, mulch, etc. can be applied more carefully because they only need to be applied to the garden beds.
Various studies have shown that raised garden beds produce 1.4 to 2 times as much vegetables and flowers per square foot as ordinary beds, due mainly to the above advantages. You can have a smaller and more manageable garden that produces more goodies for your table.

Then, there are advantages for you:

Raised garden beds bring your garden closer to you. Raised beds are after all, raised!
Raised beds tend to bring more order and pleasing geometry to your garden, especially when forms or edging are used to define them.
Raised beds can extend your gardening season. They tend to warm up a little sooner in the spring and remain productive later in the fall.
Do your gardening from the comfort of the garden path. No more bending over to pull weeds or trim plants. Sit on a stool or put a seat board on your garden wagon!

Monday, September 21, 2009

After the Harvest


At the end of the growing season when everything in the garden is done, this is the time to get prepared for the next season. Now is the time to clean out all the plants left in your garden, and compost them. Next put down a good organic fertilizer and till the soil under to help break down the nutrients. Another option is to plant rye or clover for ground cover which you can till under in the spring and this will also ad nutrients to the soil. And by next spring your soil will be ready for the next planting.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Some tips for Sweet Corn


To ensure pollination plant several rows together in a block, Instead of one long row. Be sure and Side dress with fertilizer when the plants are 8 inches high. Keep well watered, from the time the tassels form up to harvest. Hill corn plants by pushing a few inches of soil up around the base of the plants when they are fertilized. This will provide more stability, but take care not to disturb the roots. Do not remove suckers, which are off-shoots of the main stem. Regular sweet corn, super sweet, sugar enhanced, and most important, popcorn should be isolated from each other to prevent cross-pollination.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Making Compost


You can make inexpensive, easy compost at home from leaves, grass clippings, garden wastes such as stalks and weeds, and vegetable leftovers minus the meat. Pile these together until well rotted. Use a compost tool to aerate the pile. You can enclose the pile with wire or with a ready-made compost bin. Keep adding organics until the size of the pile suits you, and then start another one. Keep the pile moist but not soaking. The pile is usually ready in about 6 months or faster in warm weather. You know it’s ready for the garden when its contents are dark and crumbly and look like the soil in the woods.

Friday, September 18, 2009

This is a Must See

Do Not Get Any Flu Shots

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Preparing your soil for next year


Good soil grows healthy plants

You should prepare your soil well ahead of time to provide the right conditions for growth. We have had the best success getting beds ready in the fall, right after the summer’s garden is finished and when cool, dry weather permits.

Because roots like a soil that is conditioned enough to hold moisture, but porous enough to provide air spaces and good drainage, The best way to give soil this texture is by adding well rotted organic compost, as often as is practical. Good organics include peat moss, well rotted manure over your entire garden to a depth of several inches and mix it into your soil as deeply and thoroughly as possible.

If your soil still seems heavy and form clumps when wet or hard clods when dry mix in up to 2 inches of coarse sand as well as the organic compost.
Soils that are too sandy and drain too quickly can be made more productive through liberal amounts of organic compost.

After preparing your bed, cover with deep mulch over winter to protect the soil and hold weeds down in the spring. With a raised bed prepared this way, we are often able to plant straight into it in spring with no further tilling.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Early Foods in the Garden


One of the best things you can plant to get a quick harvest other than green onions is radishes. You can even plant them a little bit earlier provided the ground has thawed out from the winter, and you are able to prepare the soil with shovel or tiller. Radishes are full of vitamins and minerals and are a good source of fiber. The good thing about radishes is you plant them and in 30 days you have radishes. Now this may sound funny but have you ever had a radish sandwich? Just lay out two slices of bread and spread some butter on them, clean and slice the radish thin and layer it on the bread, put a little salt on it and you have a radish sandwich. They are very good, and good for you. Talk about a cheap lunch!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Watering you Garden


The best source of water for your garden is rain, as long as rain keeps your soil moist underneath the mulch, or just under the surface of the soil, no watering will be needed. An actively growing garden requires at least 1 inch of rain per week. If you are not getting that or your plants wilt during the warmer part of the day, you probably need to water. During the first 3 weeks after setting out your plants, check moisture weekly. If the surface is dry beneath the mulch, dig down 6 inches with a trowel. If the soil is still dry at that depth water your bed. Later in the season after roots have reached deep into the soil, you need to water only if signs of wilting appear.

Water well but not too often. Soak the garden up to 4 hours at a time letting water soak deep, and then let upper soil layers dry out before watering again. This promotes deep root growth and a more lasting beauty and better harvest from your plants, and helps retard weed growth.

Several watering methods are effective. Ground watering with soaker hoses or a carefully placed hose soaks deep and avoids wetting the foliage, but these devices are sometimes hard to set up or move. Impulse jet sprinklers lay down a lot of water fast and are easy to move around but can beat small or tender plants down. A fine spray sprinkler of the oscillating or whirling type is both gentle and easy to move, but slower to water.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Container Gardening Tips


I'm a firm believer in container gardening. This type of gardening has many advantages, first you can control the amount of water the plant needs, and if the environment get bad like a storm you can move the plants to a safe place until the storm or whatever passes by. But the best part is you can be right there to watch them grow and develop. Now you want to make sure that your container is deep enough to contain the roots so you want to have enough room for the plant to grow. A good rule of thumb is the roots will grow down about half as far as the plant grows above ground. Another thing is please make sure your containers are clean and free of cleaning products. This will have a profound effect on how your plants do over the season because of the residual effect of cleaners.

I find it useful to use 5 gallon containers to grow most of my plants. This way you know the roots have plenty of room to grow. Be sure to put a layer of gravel on the bottom about one inch high and put about 8 to 10 holes in the bottom of the bucket to assure good drainage for the plant. And use the best soil you can get. I have found that a rich dark brown soil with some moisture makes the best medium for most plants. Before you put the gravel in the bucket make sure you rinse and clean the gravel to make sure it is free of contaminants.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Canning at Home


To preserve foods by canning two things must be done. First, sufficient heat must be provided to destroy all microscopic life that will cause spoilage in food; and second a perfect seal must be made which will prevent the re-entrance of microorganisms. These problems of preventing spoilage have been practically solved by the improved methods of canning which are explained below.Only the freshest of fruits and vegetables should be canned. Canning does not improve the taste of the product; it only preserves it for future use.

Methods of Canning Open Kettle:

This method involves cooking the product completely and pouring it into sterilized jars, using sterilized equipment throughout. The jars are then sealed and stored. The open kettle method is recommended only for preserves, pickles, and foods canned in thick syrup. For other foods use the following methods.

Cold Pack:

Cold, raw foods are put into jars and covered with boiling-hot syrup, juice of water. (Tomatoes are pressed down in the jar so they are covered with their own juice.) Jars are partially or completely sealed, following manufactures directions. Jars are then processed in boiling water or in steam to simultaneously cook the food and sterilize the jars.

Hot Pack:

Fruits and vegetables are preheated before packing causing shrinkage before food goes into jars. This is the preferred method as preheating the food before packing prevents “floating”, (especially with fruits) and assures a full pack. Processing time is also lessened when food is hot-packed.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Pole Beans


Beans are sensitive to cold temperatures and frost. They should be planted after all danger of frost is past in the spring. If the soil has warmed before the average last-frost date, an early planting may be made a week to 10 days before this date. You can assure yourself a continuous supply of snap beans by planting every 2 to 4 weeks until early August.
Plant seeds of all varieties one inch deep. Plant seeds of pole beans 4 to 6 inches apart in rows 30 to 36 inches apart along trellis, netting, fence, or poles; or in hills (four to six seeds per hill) 30 inches apart, with 30 inches between rows.
Seeds of most varieties tend to crack and germinate poorly if the soil's moisture content is too high. For this reason, never soak bean seed before planting. Instead water just after planting or plant right before a heavy rain.


Beans have shallow roots and frequent shallow cultivation and hoeing are necessary to control small weeds and grasses. Because bean plants have fairly weak root systems, deep, close cultivation injures the plant roots, delays harvest and reduces yields. Harvest when the pods are firm, crisp and fully elongated, but before the seed within the pod has developed significantly. Pick beans after the dew is off the plants, and they are thoroughly dry. Picking beans from wet plants can spread bean bacterial blight, a disease that seriously damages the plants. Be careful not to break the stems or branches, which are brittle on most bean varieties. The bean plant continues to form new flowers and produces more beans if pods are continually removed before the seeds mature.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Green Onions


Growing green onions is fun and very good for your health. When I was growing up and my grandfather show me that onions are a great part of our diet. It has fiber and nutrients that are essential to our natural well being. I remember as a kid my grandfather would make bacon and eggs for breakfast and have sliced tomatoes with green onions. He ate these most every day and he was a very healthy man. But I always got caught up in his enthusiasm to grow his garden. Growing green onions in your garden is not only fun but it is beneficial to your health, and best of all it enhances the flavor of most foods.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Growing Radishes


Radish is a cool-season, fast-maturing, easy-to-grow vegetable. Garden radishes can be grown wherever there is sun and moist, fertile soil, even on the smallest city lot. Early varieties usually grow best in the cool days of early spring, but some later-maturing varieties can be planted for summer use. The variety French Breakfast holds up and grows better than most early types in summer heat if water is supplied regularly. Additional sowings of spring types can begin in late summer, to mature in the cooler, moister days of fall. Winter radishes are sown in midsummer to late summer, much as fall turnips. They are slower to develop than spring radishes; and they grow considerably larger, remain crisp longer, are usually more pungent and hold in the ground or store longer than spring varieties.

When to Plant

Spring radishes should be planted from as early as the soil can be worked until mid-spring. Make successive plantings of short rows every 10 to 14 days. Plant in spaces between slow-maturing vegetables (such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts) or in areas that will be used later for warm-season crops (peppers, tomatoes and squash). Spring radishes also can be planted in late winter in a protected cold frame, window box or container in the house or on the patio. Later-maturing varieties of radishes (Icicle or French Breakfast) usually withstand heat better than the early maturing varieties and are recommended for late-spring planting for summer harvest. Winter radishes require a much longer time to mature than spring radishes and are planted at the same time as late turnips (usually midsummer to late summer).

Spacing & Depth

Sow seed 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Thin spring varieties to 1/2 to 1 inch between plants. Winter radishes must be thinned to 2 to 4 inches, or even farther apart to allow for proper development of their larger roots. On beds, radishes may be broadcast lightly and thinned to stand 2 to 3 inches apart in all directions.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Save Your Seeds


Now is the time of year that we harvest our garden and enjoy the bounty that we have grown. But one thing is for sure you must leave some good Heirloom stock in the ground to save for seed. Just be sure to let the plant mature and fully develop the seeds within it. When you harvest the seed be sure to lay them out on paper towels and let them dry for at least 3 weeks then store them in a cool dry place till next spring when you can germinate them into the next generation. This is important.

Advantages of Raised Bed Gardens


I would have to say the most important advantage is greatly reduced soil compacting. Plant roots need air. In an ordinary garden, you can’t avoid stepping in the garden bed occasionally when doing your everyday gardening. A properly designed raised bed garden allows you to do all you’re gardening from the garden path.Plants can be spaced a little closer together in a raised bed because you don’t need places to step. This increases productivity per square foot of bed and reduces weeding when the plants begin to mature. Note: Avoid the temptation to crowd your plants. You will still want to use generous plant spacing because your plants will grow much larger in raised beds.

Raised beds tend to drain away excess moisture better than ordinary garden beds. This is another advantage that helps the plant roots to breath. In areas that have saturated soil like Florida and many areas of the South, raised beds may be the only way you can grow many types of plants.Soil conditions and types can be controlled more efficiently in a raised bed and they can be varied easily from bed to bed. Raised beds are the answer when topsoil is thin.Water, fertilizer, compost, mulch, etc. can be applied more carefully because they only need to be applied to the garden beds.Various studies have shown that raised garden beds produce 1.4 to 2 times as much vegetables and flowers per square foot as ordinary beds, due mainly to the above advantages. You can have a smaller and more manageable garden that produces more vegetables for your table.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Growing Lima Beans


Lima Beans

When summer temperatures warms the soil beans can go from seed to table in about 60 days. Of the many types of beans, the two most frequently grown by home gardeners are snap beans and lima beans. Each of these can be divided into two types. Low growing plants and tall growing plants. The legume family also contains many delicious vegetables that have beanlike seeds but that only remotely resemble the familiar type of beans.

Both the bush and pole types of lima beans have larger and more spreading vines than their snap bean counter parts. Lima beans do best in areas where summers are long and rather warm. Limas are planted like snap beans except they need more space. Plant them 4 to 6 inches apart in a row. In clay soils plant them on edge to improve the chance of germination.

Planting

Plant beans from seeds sown in the ground as soon as the soil has warmed up. Beans are frost tender and require a soil temperature of 65 degrees to sprout reliably. Either check the soil temperature with a soil thermometer or wait until late leafing trees (oaks, hickories, and pecans) uncurl new spring foliage. Successive crops can be planted until midsummer. Plant seeds of bush beans 3 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart. Pole bean plants are much larger, requiring 3 feet between rows and 9 to 12 inches between plants. If you want to run the vines up tepee shaped supports, dig holes in the corners of a 3 foot square and plant three pole bean seeds in each. Cover seeds 1 inch deep in clay soils, 1 ½ inches in sandy soils.

Care

To avoid the spread of diseases from plant to plant, cultivate shallowly and only when the foliage is dry. Water frequently by soaking the soil instead of sprinkling. Moist foliage invites bacterial disease in humid areas. High nitrogen fertilizers and heavy application of compost will encourage more foliage growth than vegetable production. Use a fertilizer with a nitrogen phosphorus potassium ratio of 1:2:2, applying it every three to four weeks in a shallow furrow about 6 inches away from the plants. Cover the fertilizer band with soil. If you furrow irrigate apply the fertilizer in the furrows so water can carry it into the root zone of the bean plants.

Growing Carrots


When to Plant

Carrots are usually planted with other frost tolerant vegetables as soon as the soil mellows in the spring. They may be planted earlier in gardens with sandy soil. The soil should be plowed and prepared to a depth of 8 to 9 inches to allow full development of the carrot roots and the seedbed should be worked uniformly to break up clumps and clods that prevent penetration of the roots. Varieties with extremely long roots (Imperator and Tendersweet) usually are recommended only for home gardens with deep, sandy soil. Excess organic debris worked into the soil just before planting also may affect root penetration, causing forked and twisted roots.

Spacing & Depth

Plant seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep (no more than two or three seeds per inch) in early spring. Later sowings may be planted 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep when the soil is dryer and warmer. Space rows 12 to 18 inches apart. A single radish seed planted every 6 to 12 inches can mark the row. Germination requires as long as two weeks and the seedlings may not emerge uniformly. If heavy rains occur after sowing, packing the soil surface, no seedlings may emerge. Thin the seedlings when they are about one inch tall to no more than three seedlings per inch for finger carrots; one or two seedlings per inch for carrots that will be harvested young; and one seedling per 1 to 2 inches for larger varieties like Danvers and Chantenay that will be allowed to develop to full size and be harvested mature for canning or freezing.

Care

Carrots germinate best in warm, moist soil. Covering the row with clear polyethylene film warms the soil and conserves moisture. Remove the film immediately when seedlings appear. To assure germination of successive plantings during the late spring and summer months, it may be necessary to supply water by sprinkling. In the heat of summer, some shade may be necessary to keep the tiny seedlings from burning off at the soil line.

Young carrot seedlings are weak and grow slowly. It is essential to keep weeds under control for the first few weeks. Cultivate shallowly with a knife blade cultivator or hoe. Deep cultivation may injure the roots.

Harvesting

Carrots can be harvested or "pulled" when the roots are at least 1/2 inch in diameter. Under usual conditions, carrot tops may not be strong enough to withstand actually being pulled from the ground and digging helps to remove the roots without damage. Finger carrots are usually ready to harvest within 50 to 60 days. Other varieties should be allowed to grow until they have reached a diameter of at least 3/4 inch (about 60 to 70 days after planting). They then may be harvested over a 3 to 4 week period. Summer planted carrots may be left in the ground until a killing frost. Some gardeners place a straw mulch over the row so that carrots can be harvested until the ground freezes solid. In many areas, a heavy mulch allows harvest of carrot roots throughout the winter. For carrots to be stored, cut off the tops one inch above the root and place in storage at 32°F with high humidity. Carrots may be placed in a refrigerator, buried in lightly moist sand in an underground cellar or stored in the garden in a pit insulated with straw. Under proper storage conditions, carrots keep 4 to 6 months.