Veg Winter Dreams>>>>

[ioujc]

Anyone else dreaming of your Spring GARDEN???

Looking at the outrageous prices on line for vegetable seeds.....really SILLY!!

I LOVE Starks for fruit trees and I see they are now carrying vegetable and herb seeds also. AND the prices are REASONABLE!!

I must admit, I buy most of my seeds at Dollar General>>>can't beat 4/$1.00 packets, but STARKs would be worth some of the cost.

I bought trees from them years ago on my last farm>>>>>when I had 43 acres and 198 Angoras>>>>and EVERY tree lived!! I CANNOT say that about any other company I have purchased trees from.

STARKS is CLEARLY THE BEST!!

Give their seeds a try too>>>>>gotta be better than Gurney's seeds which are usually PITIFUL and cost $5.99 ++++ a pack!!

 

[Martinhouse]

Yes, ioujc. I've been thinking about my summer garden, too, although with a greenhouse, I garden somewhat all year round these days.

I'm planning to see what my feed store intends to set out and how early. If not satisfactory to me, I'll be placing an order soon. I just worry that the mail order companies only ship when THEY think things should be planted, and that may not be right for me and by then it can be all gone from the garden centers in my area.

I get some of my seeds at DG, too, and the good old time seeds like Detroit beets and Cherry tomatoes always germinate and produce just fine for me. And I agree the DG prices can't be beat.

 

[ioujc]

Yes, on this cloudy cold day and the ones that have preceded this, I sit in my warm house and dream of broccoli and cauliflower and beans and beets>>>>>instead of sugar plum fairies I see trellises and tomato cages loaded with fruit!! And peppers hot and cool dance before my eyes......oh I can't wait until the temperatures reach 60 degrees!!


What bounty we will know as the tiller and hoe are found not on the rooftop, but down in the garden>>>>>>>>>

OK, sorry, just got a little excited about my PASSION!!!

 

[mecoastie]

As painful as it is to say we are resting our main garden this year. It will be heavily mulched and left to its devices. The smaller raised bed will be a salad garden and we are focusing most of our efforts on finishing/overhauling all our perennial plantings, adding a sugar shack and completely redoing the chicken run. It pains me not to do any potatoes so I may try to sneak some in somewhere.

 

[Illini Warrior]

As painful as it is to say we are resting our main garden this year. It will be heavily mulched and left to its devices. The smaller raised bed will be a salad garden and we are focusing most of our efforts on finishing/overhauling all our perennial plantings, adding a sugar shack and completely redoing the chicken run. It pains me not to do any potatoes so I may try to sneak some in somewhere.

wow guy - 2019 isn't shaping up very well in regard tp the possible serious SHTFs - a terrible time to be eazing off on the prepping ....

 

[mecoastie]

wow guy - 2019 isn't shaping up very well in regard tp the possible serious SHTFs - a terrible time to be eazing off on the prepping ....

Hardly. It is not as if land is disappearing, I can use it if needed. I have all the seed I need except for potatoes. The reality is what would come out of that garden on a normal year wouldn't be a huge loss to us. The largest loss would be the couple hundred pounds of potatoes but I can buy those from a local farmer. I would rather let it rest now. We decided to focus on infrastructure things that we need supplies from off the property. That sugar shack will also be used for most of our heavy food prep. It will be set up with a wood cookstove, drying racks and a fair amount of our canning supplies. In a pinch it could provide additional housing. We plan on having the last of our food bushes/perennials in this year. The poultry run is going to be replaced and expanded from 30 x 40 to to 30 x 60 and split in 3 to either allow for separate flocks or provide some grazing if they cant be let out to free range.

There are always possible SHTFs. There were last year and there will be next year. Probably more likely next year with the elections.

 

[China Connection]

Seeds are cheap compared to seedlings.

 

[Seeker22]

No, I am not dreaming about another Summer garden in South Texas with squadrons of Squash Bugs and Grasshoppers the size of small choppers. The heat, the UV, all of it just beat my poor plants so badly that even with shade cloth, it is hard to watch.

I am putting in Winter crops and roots now. Also getting my Bocking #4 Comfrey sets in. I have enough Heirloom seed that I might go to Dollar General if it is deep discounted, but I have more seed than I will ever use.

I am going to plant in Spring, but will focus mostly on infrastructure. I too am looking to increase the size of both Rabbitry and Coop. And there is always the three sisters from Hell to contend with- Cactus, Cedar, and Agarita. That stuff grows while I sleep. Lots of exercise in 2019.

 

[Martinhouse]

Seeker22, I don't know what Agarita is, but I have honeysuckle, greenbrier, pokeweed and dock to fight with. Having to have fences means that one also gets solid walls of bird pooped seedlings that become fencerow jungles. And since I moved here, there is the dreaded PRIVET! A while back, some idiot in the areas with more money than brains decided he wanted an English garden and he brought it here and now the entire area is loaded with privet. For all I know, it could be statewide by now, or even worse. Everyone hates it...it is horrible! Under any tree where one doesn't mow, in three years there is an impenetrable thicket of privet.

 

[China Connection]

ground asparagus fern
Asparagus aethiopicus

The problem where I live. Yep, the birds shit it everywhere. It is shade loving

 

[Seeker22]

Martinhouse, Agarita is a quick growing bush with extremely sharp points on the sides and tip of every stiff leaf. You can make jelly out of the berries and that is an old Texas staple, but the only way to gather the berries is to lay a bedsheet under the bush and whack the bush til the berries fall off. Rattlesnakes love hiding in Agarita, even if they are tiny (ask me how I know) and I just want the things gone.

CC- Asparagus Fern is a $20.00 hanging basket in most garden stores in the states. Too bad it is a pest where you are. There are a couple of articles online that list it as edible and medicinal. Go figure. Make sure the Latin Names match up- always be cautious about online things being correct.

 

[Martinhouse]

When I first moved to Arkansas I was told rattlesnakes and copperheads like to hide in berry plants because they are waiting for the birds that eat the berries. That's why I've never grown strawberries on the ground here like we did in Minnesota. No way am I going to reach blindly into any kind of foliage at all to pick things until I've rustled it around enough to know there's no snake hiding in it.

This is why I've trellised cucumbers, squash and pumpkins since moving to Arkansas. I even grew my cantaloupe on a cattle panel fence. I let only watermelons grow on the ground, because they were planted thinly enough that the vines did not hide any ground.

 

[Freeholder]

I'm in the process of sorting through my old seeds and doing some germination testing to see what I need to order this year. I have ordered most of my seeds from Fedco in the past; may get a few from other places (if necessary) but I don't think I'm going to need very much even though my stored seeds are several years old. If you are counting on feeding your family and saving seeds to feed your family for years to come, I wouldn't get dollar store seeds. Pay a little more and get good quality seeds that will come true to their variety and aren't just floor sweepings from the seed houses (which is what the dollar store seeds are).

As soon as I can get everything together, I'm going to start winter-sowing seeds outside. Rather than collecting plastic milk and water jugs (which is the type of thing normally used) I'm going to make some portable cold frames and plant seeds inside those. When the seedlings are ready (and the weather is ready) I'll move the cold frames to the next spot. It should work about the same, will cost a little to set up, but I won't have to collect several hundred plastic jugs.

Kathleen

 

[ioujc]

Hello Freeholder>>>
I have never heard of Fedco before>>>>I went and looked and their prices are reasonable. However if you look at seed prices in the catalogues this year, I think it will cause you to have a sharp intake of breath!!

Hey China Conn.
Around here I can get plants for 4/$1.00 at the sale barn. People here raise them and have extras they sell at the local trade area. Sale barn is held just outside of town every Friday morning.

 

[Seeker22]

I have always had good luck with dollar store seed. 10 cents a pack works for me. I grow with the Lasagna method with alfalfa hay that has been in the rabbit hutches- full of bunny berries. Rabbit manure is not hot and can be used immediately. The size and amount of my veggies is amazing. I pull weeds once, just to prep the ground. Then put down lots of cardboard with the tape/plastic removed to either side of the seed bed. Once the plants are up four inches or so, I put down hay and water well. OMG- you would think God was on the other end yanking the plants up by their ears. Fast growing and bees everywhere. Ms. Bee is my friend. I have done it this way for nine years and haven't had a bad garden yet- even in the Texas heat.

That said, there is the wild grow period in the Spring and then the heat of Summer sets in. The plants struggle, but then the no more 100 plus degree days come back and I have the last wild growth push and the garden is done. A strange way to garden, but it is always the same. As years get cooler, I expect to see an increase in crops, until events of the GSM overpower us.

 

[Sherrynboo]

I have been bitten by the gardening bug early this year Today I set out about half of my 100 camarosa strawberry plants, should finish planting the rest tomorrow afternoon. Then I got my pepper and tomato seeds started. Our last projected frost date is mid March so I want to have my tomatoes and peppers ready in plenty of time. I have been getting my seeds on Ebay with free shipping.

 

[China Connection]

I ordered some shade cloth today. Should help with the sun on hot days.