Who's planting food or wants to share ideas?

[FirstLight]

I have herd several of us say that we are either already supplementing their food supply with gardening, or those who are thinking of trying it now for the first time...

Let's share! Who is growing what and where? I am in the sierras...short grow season, but it can be done.
I am lookin to try beans (pole, snap, sweet peas)
lettuce
corn, small ear
potatoes
beets
squash (zuchinni, crook-neck)
carrots
bush cherries
melon
pear tree (start it here, move it to my mom's in the valley)
berries

so far that's my idea, and we'll see how the seedlings do in the kitchen window!
I plan on planting in egg cartons by sometime in March
then we'll see how long it is before the thaw

usually by may you can get in the dirt,
still frosty until july
so I'll have to build some makeshift covers, got an idea for frames of wood, hinged, with plastic attached

lots of work, shit...I guess it will give me something else to do but sit here and read articles of going to hell in a handbasket!


so, who's next?

[lligrd]

1. I'm Going To Try One This Year

But I have no idea what to try in Southern CA. I have lots of reading to do first. Will be watching the thread for ideas.

[kestrel91316]

14. If you're in the San Fernando Valley like me, growing ANYTHING

is a challenge. WAAAYYYYYY too much searing heat on and off in the spring, and mostly on in summer and fall. By the time it cools off enough to start a fall garden, it's suddenly too cool and the days too short for anything to grow. I have given up. Now that I'm in an apartment instead of the house, my only prospect is for a balcony shade garden - maybe spinach and lettuce.........

I had better luck when I had a plot or three at the Sepulveda Garden Center east of here a ways, it's cooler there. We hit 119 in July of 2006 here.

[napi21]

2. We made a sort of green house last year using 1/2" plastic pipe.

Made 2 runners made from lengths of 1/2 plastic pipe cut in about 18" lengths and joined using tees. Then joined the ends of the two runners with an elbow at each corner. Then we took 36" lengths and bent them in arcs and inserted the ends into the side runners to form a half circle. We then covered the half circle with clear plastic forming something that looks like a half tunnel. We attached the plastic using plastic wire ties. We used it to cover our plants at night and left it on if the days were still cold. It's light weight enough to easily lift off when the sun was out and put back again when the sun went down for the day. It worked out really great and let us plant a lot earlier than usual. I don't think the whole thing cost even $10 in total, and it's easy to take apart when you don't need it anymore and save for next year.

I've been planting green peppers, tomatoes, beans, eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. This year, I'm going to try potatoes in a barrel. I wish I lived somewhere where I was allowed to raise chickens too, but I don't.

[dgibby]

24. old windows and straw bales

old windows (I found some at the dump, others at the Habitat Resale Store) propped up on straw bales work well. Just be sure to prop the windows open on really sunny days or your veggies will cook before their time!!!

[izquierdista]

3. Where are your cruciform veggies?

No cabbage, bok choy, kohlrabi, broccoli, turnips, kale, or cauliflower? I can understand leaving out the Brussels sprouts, but you're missing out if you don't have any of the others. They will stand up to the frosty mornings quite well.

[FirstLight]

5. I have heard that broccoli don't like it here...

Suppose bok choi or cabbage would be worth a try...I will have to expand my cooking repetiore! but that goes without saying if we're talking bout fresh foods and even canning for the winters...

[izquierdista]

7. Try kohlrabi

I used to plant that in September in South Carolina and it would grow all through the winter. Even on days when it was 20 degrees in the morning and the plant looked killed from the frost, when it warmed up in the afternoon it would thrive. You can use the leaves like kale or collards, and the bulb is a lot like a turnip. Since broccoli is a flower head, that's why it is not as cold tolerant. Cauliflower may do better because you have the leaves that cover the flower head protecting it from the frost.

[zeemike]

4. I just want to applaud you all for trying

:applause::applause::applause:

There is noting better for all of our problems than growing and eating your own food.
Potatoes are a good choice for a short growing season...they can be planted as soon as the soil is able to be worked and produce an abundant crop that will keep for some time as long as they are kept cool and somewhat moist. Other root veggies are good for the same reason.
So good luck and eat well.

[glowing]

6. Oh, I'm in FL.. Starting to ready it tomorrow... while I have my mom

down to help...(might be able to get a 2 seasons in if its not too dry this summer. It will be simply awesome to have fresh, ready veggies... with no GMO's and no pesticides..

[hermetic]

8. I live in a cold climate, too

Last year I learned to appreciate peas. Easy to grow and so good raw. And you can eat the pods, too.

I'm trying to start some seeds in egg shells, put in just yesterday. I dunno, we'll see.

I just read about how you can use plastic containers to cover your little plants at night. Sounds easy enough.
http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/2008/02/06/recycling-stuff-for-your-garden/

Let the thaw begin!

[fed-up]

9. my BF, an organic farmer, (not certified) grows mostly greens-kales, chard, lettuces-32 diff crops

I will start paying attention to what he does and when and posting it here. Like someone else already posted greens should be a MUST on every gardener's list as they are a very important food.

He is in the north Central Valley of California, and so planting season starts much earlier than the foothills or mountains, so it will give you mountain folk early advice. He uses a home built greenhouse-PVC and plastic for the covering to start some seeds others are directly sowed into the ground.

I do know that he has already tilled in compost (which is usually done a few months ahead of planting season so that it can start to break down and be useable). He does his tilling a few days after rainy periods so that the soil "fluffs" just so-too wet and the soil stays in clumps, too dry and it blows away when he is tilling it. Timing is everything!

A few weeks ago he planted onion sets. Sweet and stockton reds grow great in the valley! and his are "the best". Later he will plant his lettuces next to the onions, so the onions will shade the lettuce and help it from getting burnt during the very hot summer months here in the valley. He only has a few weeks in winter (when it is too humid and fungus grows) and a few weeks in August when it is hottest that he doesn't have lettuce.

He ordered sweet potato starts a month ago (a first-and they should arrive by May (sweet potatoes are an awesome very nutritious food and like sandy soil). I had to search all over online and finally he called the Ag extension in Fresno I believe, to find someone that carried them. Sweet potatoes starts can't be shipped across state lines, and very few farmers grow the starting slips.

He added a dozen more fruit trees this year, making a total of 40 trees (peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries-which need a male and female of diff varieties for pollinating and a few others. Apples and pears need a winter chill and they don't grow as well in the valley as they do in the foothills, so those are off his list. Apples are also subject to blight which is worse in the valley. For those that don't have a lot of room they can plant dwarf varieties and espallier them against a fence.

For those that have room, nut trees can supply a source of protein.

Last spring he planted everbearing strawberries in containers (to keep safe from rodents) so they should be producing great this year. When I lived in Sonora (foothills) I had a 10' by 50' patch along my driveway of Sequoia and ???. Every May when the neighbors Poplar trees were dropping their pollen all over my patch it was time to harvest and I was picking a quart a day for a few weeks. I would freeze some and made a ton of jam. My day care kids LOVED snacking on the patch.


Note of warning-if anybody is thinking of putting in "thornless berries" plant them far away from other crops, their sucker shoots WILL have thorns!

My bad neck keeps me from doing much of anything on the farm, but at least if I can post tips and tricks here I can feel like I am helping others and still be somewhat connected to farming/gardening.

[fed-up]

10. for those that didn't know-there is a gardening group here on DU

here is a great sample thread of bvar22's garden, with beautiful pics

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x5729

[newfie11]

11. Good luck to you

We lived in The South Dakota Black Hills 6500ft had a very short summer. We could grow cabbage, peas, lettuce but tomatoes/green beans were a thing of the past. My husband finally built a green house with PVC pipe, covered it with heavy duty greenhouse plastic and we had TOMATOES!!!!!
Then a tornado came and took it out, we sold and move to the farm here in Nebraska. Now our only growing problem is water.

[bvar22]

12. We are!

Twilight Harvest


Starkraven and myself left the Big City (Minneapolis/St Paul)in the Fall of 2006, moved to the country, and planted a Garden.
Details here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x5729


We are going to expand the Garden by 16' on the downhill side, and incorporate several corn,polebean,mellon teepees giving them plenty of room.
We are also planning on broccoli/cauliflower, cabbages, and turnips which we didn't plant last year.
We started a dozen broccoli plants a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't make it through a mid-teen freeze.

The garlic, onions, and strawberries OverWintered well.
Some of the herbs (cilantro, parsley, catnip, spearmint, penny royal and more) are sprouting from the last years roots.

We are planning to focus on heirloom plants for seed stock, but will plant a few hybrid tomatoes for fun.

The Peach Tree and Apple trees we planted last year are showing signs of Spring. Apples do well here, but peaches are iffy due to occasional late Spring freezes.
We have planted the one peach tree close to the house, so that we can put a tent over it with a light bulb heater in case of freeze.

We are very excited about this year, and have begun getting the garden ready for Spring planting.
We spent many dark Winter nights (well, as much Dark Winter as we get here) thumbing through the Seed Catalogs and making lists like children at Christmas.

We highly recommend Gardening by the Square Foot and chemical free organic gardening (OK, everything IS a chemical, but you know what I mean).


Hi, fed-up.
I got your note.
Thanks!
:hi:

[kestrel91316]

13. Look into Eliot Coleman's ideas for hoop houses to prolong your

growing season - he wrote The Four-Season Harvest, IIRC. He has quite the magnificent garden way up in Maine.

[Ramonna Villota]

15. It is that time

Oh it is just about a wonderful time. I can take my shovel and break ground... See the steam rise as I till the soil. My daughter and I will go and get seeds I let her choose after a few simple things for me. Butternut squash and Tomatoes and beans, peppers. Oh and Zuchinni cucumbers . Till the soil making sure it is dark and rich and loose..

[NMDemDist2]

16. welcome to DU Ramonna!

:hi:

and I'm going out right now to sow my radish and lettuce seeds, start a new compost pile and start marking my rows in the big patch

:bounce:

[Ramonna Villota]

17. Thank you

:)

[IowaGirl]

18. I tried the square foot gardening last year. We did it at my daughter's house with roses and they

grew like crazy. We did a few vegetables in our side yard. http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ has enough info to get started.

[plantwomyn]

19. Lake Tahoe is a unique climate.

I suggest you go to the experts in your area.
They will save you a lot of money to buy the right seed or plant variety. They may also be able to help you with FREE sources for seed and seedlings. Water conservation is important up there too, because of cost and for the environment.
Here is a link to easy cloche designs.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2007-02-01/Garden-Know-how.aspx
or you can go as easy as this.

http://www.demogarden.org/
North Lake Tahoe Demonstration Garden
http://www.projectmana.org/
Community Gardens
Project MANA's gardens are in Incline Village, Kings Beach, and Truckee. These gardens serve as demonstration gardens showing the viability of high-altitude gardening, economic benefits of growing food, and encourage community involvement. Food harvested from the gardens is given out at weekly distributions in the summer and fall.
My best friend lives in Reno and I've been there and to Tahoe many times. Beautiful place. D. L. Bliss SP is a great park and worth making a day trip to just for the views. Camper there and saw a lot to fauna.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=505

[FirstLight]

21. Great ideas!

There's still a good two+ feet of snow, but the edges are receding, so the dirt is soon to come. I will be starting some of the indoor babies in egg cartons (paper ones, they can be transplanted and the paper will dissolve in the ground)
I'll start after easter, this week is too crzy for me to do much else..

here's the seeds I got
heirloom tomatoes (big, maybe hard to grow, but the seeds came with a good bottle of wine, so I can't complain!)
small eggplant
crookneck squash
bushbaby beans
sugar snap peas
sugar baby melon
radish
carrots , small variety

and I have a yukon gold and russet potato or two sprouting eyes in the drawer!
started an avocado seed in the window
and my sweet peas are coming back after a winter sleep in the kitchen window

Decided that corn takes too much out of the earth, depletes my already bad soil
and any fruit like berries will attract the BEAR
Hopefully the racoons don't get wise to the melons ;)

so far so good

I need to get started on the composting, gotta find a container or two...

thanks for the local links, the community colege here on south shore has a demo garden too, but they realy don't do anything with it until summer. My bayriedn years ago was the summer intern/caretaker...I learned ALOT that summer!
can't wait to get my hands in the dirt! can't wait till the snow MELTS!!!!

[NMDemDist2]

22. how much land do you have? you may not need compost containers

I just wired together some pallets behind the shed and started a pile

:shrug:

[FirstLight]

23. Actually, the compost thing may be harder than I thought

I live in bear country, and am worried that a simple "trash can" will be too easy for them to get to...

anyone with bearproof ideas?

something cheap and hopefully easy to make is the ideal...I think I will start a thread on this alone

[FirstLight]

25. Check it out! pee works!

I asked here about a good bear deterrent for composting.
Got a bear proof plastic can, drilled holes in the sides for airflow and my teen goes outside and marks the territory every other evening, and so far NO bears! 3 weeks and a half a can of kitchen clippings, and not even a pawprint insode the fence!

maybe we'll actually have some garden success after all!

The snow is almost gone, but the frost os still around. Starting some seeds inside this week...(late I know, but it's still so cold, i figure I'll just have some later crops... besdies, I have a protable "greenhouse" structure and a farmer's market here for early harvest needs...mmmm! can't wait till that is back in May!

anyone else already planted in the ground?

[KoKo]

20. kick

[hippywife]

26. We've got our

Square Foot Garden going. Four boxes worth. Spinach, Turnips, beets, two kinds of onions, two kinds of lettuce, two kinds of carrots, two kinds of potatoes planted so far. Got seeds germinating for four kinds of tomatoes -two slicers and two paste-, tomatillos, and peppers. Need to get the herbs started. Then there will be squashes, melons, and eggplants to get going, followed by broccoli, punkins, and oh, I don't know how many things I have seeds for anymore. LOL

Need to get some cold frames built for the boxes to extend the season ala Elliot Coleman by fall.

The chicken pen has been reinforced to keep out the dogs and the chickens will be coming tomorrow!

:woohoo: :bounce: :woohoo: