It's About Time...

[teddyv]

I've been doing potatoes. Grow almost anywhere and pretty low maintenance. We have a short growing season (can get a frost overnight up until June) so some things I used to grow in lower latitudes just don't work.

[Sower]

On 3/29/2022 at 6:03 PM, Dennis1209 said:

Once again, it is about time. Time to order my seeds, pull up last year’s cages and stakes in the garden and do it again this year

Was wondering anybody here grow in a green house.
Many years ago we used our grey water (sinks/shower) piped way out to water some of the old large oak trees.
Later I found volunteer tomatoes growing with fruit in the month of December, from seeds from kitchen sink.
Have grown tomatoes and peppers through winter in my warm shop, with just a couple of extra regular florescent lights.
I think I could do well with a 12 x 24 foot size, permanent glass or plexiglass roof, nothing fancy w/old barn lumber/tin.
Has anyone tried this. I live in central TX so winters are not too crazy. 


 

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, Sower said:

Was wondering anybody here grow in a green house.
Many years ago we used our grey water (sinks/shower) piped way out to water some of the old large oak trees.
Later I found volunteer tomatoes growing with fruit in the month of December, from seeds from kitchen sink.
Have grown tomatoes and peppers through winter in my warm shop, with just a couple of extra regular florescent lights.
I think I could do well with a 12 x 24 foot size, permanent glass or plexiglass roof, nothing fancy w/old barn lumber/tin.
Has anyone tried this. I live in central TX so winters are not too crazy. 


 

It gives a head start, no doubt. I have tasted greenhouse tomatoes started locally in Tennessee and transplanted into the ground when the weather is right. I don’t know what it is, but I can immediately tell they are greenhouse-grown. Crunchy with problematic skin, not very juicy or flavorful. Maybe it is just me, as a former city boy, that does not seem to make sense of the difference.

I have also thought the faster I get them into the ground, the faster the harvest, not so. I now wait until the days get into the 80s and the soil temperature is agreeable. From experimentation, I proved to myself early is no better.

My kitchen sink and clothes washer are greywater, which would immediately kill everything in my garden, and I’m too lazy, and my garden is too far from my house. The best I have ever seen, the biggest and best tomatoes grown, they collected and used their air conditioner condensation water on the plants. I guess that would be called distilled water? I use well water and natural rain, but there is no comparison of what I have seen a/c condensation water does. Go figure?

I want to do that, but logistics and labor would not be worth it for the distance and number of plants I usually put in.

I have tried to grow tomatoes and green peppers in 5-gallon plastic buckets outside. Hey, I’m on to something here. Those plants are much better and grow faster than in the ground soil. Then those nice-looking plants with green tomatoes and green peppers the size of golf balls, the temperature gets into the 90s, and they quickly wilt and die. I suspect the soil temperature gets too high, killing them?

If you decide on a greenhouse, would you let us know if you see a difference in texture and taste compared to fully grown outside?

One other thing farmer Dells around here told me. Sprinkle some Epson salt around tomato plants before they start to ripen. Salt, are you kidding me? I know what salt will do to them, do you hate me or something? 😊

I tried it on a few plants to see and not kill them all. I’m here to tell you that the Epson salt tomatoes have much more flavor than the others.  

[ladypeartree]

I love this thread, I have a 75foot by 35 foot garden that is such hard clay I plant everything in containers ..oh and dogs that love to dig !!!!    I stopped planting in theground after 3 back breaking hours ( I have arthritis ) planting neat rows of potatoes only to find one of the dogs sitting behind me with a pile of said potato wagging her tail to tell me she had played hide and seek with me and she had won !

Last year I finally got a greenhouse ( 6 foot by 8 foot as it was the largest I could get on a flat surface and about all I could afford anyway ( they can cost thousands here ) ... It was great, all my plants were coming along very well and my grapes and blueberries looked good then we had hurrican winds ( only get them every ten or so years ) and my greenhouse is upside down and inside out on the garden and all the pots of plants are laying on therio sides shouting for help !

My replacment greenhouse should go up this weekend if it doesnt rain or snpw as my son in law has finally finished sorting the damage done to theri garden and can coe do mine. My peas and broad beans were just moved in the pots to a ore sheltered part opf the garden and  are growing well ( but we did have small flurries of sky dandruf today after a week of brilliant sunshine ) and the fruit trees are showing lots of buds ( they have to be surrounded with wire to stop my dogs burying bones in the pots 

Part of the garden is just  scattered with bulbs ( my next door neighbour throws his away every year so now he gives them to me and I get lots of coulour in the back section of the garden in random patches . Did manage to grow a few ears of corn and lots of broccli and cabbage  but the caterpillars got all the cauliflower last year 

[Dennis1209]

2 hours ago, teddyv said:

I've been doing potatoes. Grow almost anywhere and pretty low maintenance. We have a short growing season (can get a frost overnight up until June) so some things I used to grow in lower latitudes just don't work.

Potatoes are a staple in our household. It would be potatoes if I could grow only one thing, especially with the prices and occasional outages in stores here.

The problem is, I have not had much luck with them. No matter how long in the ground, eighty percent of the crop is the size of new potatoes. I suspect my soil must be lacking something or acidic? I always intended to get my soil tested but never got around to testing.

Then again, it could be me; are the mounds not correct or something?

So far, there have been a few times at Walmart, Kroger, and IGA where the fresh produce section has been entirely bared of all products, save some exotics. I believe this is a precursor, a shadow of what is to come.

How high will inflation go eventually or quickly? That it will take a day’s wages only to feed oneself? I think a private garden will be beneficial and possibly even prudent in these times.

As Dan Quayle might argue, we loves us a potato. 😊

[Sower]

43 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

It gives a head start, no doubt. I have tasted greenhouse tomatoes started locally in Tennessee and transplanted into the ground when the weather is right. I don’t know what it is, but I can immediately tell they are greenhouse-grown. Crunchy with problematic skin, not very juicy or flavorful. Maybe it is just me, as a former city boy, that does not seem to make sense of the difference.

I have also thought the faster I get them into the ground, the faster the harvest, not so. I now wait until the days get into the 80s and the soil temperature is agreeable. From experimentation, I proved to myself early is no better.

My kitchen sink and clothes washer are greywater, which would immediately kill everything in my garden, and I’m too lazy, and my garden is too far from my house. The best I have ever seen, the biggest and best tomatoes grown, they collected and used their air conditioner condensation water on the plants. I guess that would be called distilled water? I use well water and natural rain, but there is no comparison of what I have seen a/c condensation water does. Go figure?

I want to do that, but logistics and labor would not be worth it for the distance and number of plants I usually put in.

I have tried to grow tomatoes and green peppers in 5-gallon plastic buckets outside. Hey, I’m on to something here. Those plants are much better and grow faster than in the ground soil. Then those nice-looking plants with green tomatoes and green peppers the size of golf balls, the temperature gets into the 90s, and they quickly wilt and die. I suspect the soil temperature gets too high, killing them?

If you decide on a greenhouse, would you let us know if you see a difference in texture and taste compared to fully grown outside?

One other thing farmer Dells around here told me. Sprinkle some Epson salt around tomato plants before they start to ripen. Salt, are you kidding me? I know what salt will do to them, do you hate me or something? 😊

I tried it on a few plants to see and not kill them all. I’m here to tell you that the Epson salt tomatoes have much more flavor than the others.  

I experience that most any late blooming/winter tomatoes whether from garden, wild or in my shop had a slightly perceptible tougher skin. But the thing was, They were way better than store bought (if available)  and fresh off the plant whenever I wanted some. The peppers were hot spicy and flavorful to make salsa. And it's cool to see green plants and red tomatoes in my shop in the cold  winter! I'm thinking to try a winter crop within the green house mostly, and also create seedlings for spring. Perhaps we never tasted tomatoes the way you grow them, but my wife buys seedlings every year from a nursery that has supplied costumers for over eighty years and all our friends we give our abundance of tomatoes and vegetables to are always saying they can tell they were not store bought by the delicious 'fresh' taste.

I'm sure I'll continue scrounging material to construct the green house  along with some sort of feasible economic (cheap) way to heat it. May get another old cast iron stove and burn my scrap lumber and fallen trees, or propane if not too pricey.

Anyway, I feel like doing/planning something for when I stop building cabinets so I can stay in shape physically/mentally, and not  vegetate. (Yikes. By growing vegetables?:)

[luigi]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:03 PM, Dennis1209 said:

Once again, it is about time. Time to order my seeds, pull up last year’s cages and stakes in the garden and do it again this year. Time to find and dig out those hummingbird feeders and get stocked up on sugar. Time to see if the lawnmower will start. I do not want to be startled by elephants and giraffes hiding in all my weeds. Well, they could be. 😊

I am trying to decide if I want to get another batch of chickens for the eggs. I’m no spring chicken anymore, and the preceding takes its toll trying to keep up with it all.  

I am not a prophet or for profit, but I think it might be prudent to can a bunch of stuff from the garden this year, Lord willing. I rationalize these shortages are going to get worse, much worse. It is readily apparent that high inflation will be followed by hyperinflation, then pop goes the weasel.

So, who will plant a garden this year, and what are you planning to grow? I had no luck producing pork and beef in previous years; I must have planted the ribs too late? As my wife thinks, it is all done behind the doors at Walmart, but I never hear any squeals, oinks, or moos there?

I have several fruit tress. I also acquired a bee hive and hope some honeybees move in.

[ladypeartree]

16 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

Potatoes are a staple in our household. It would be potatoes if I could grow only one thing, especially with the prices and occasional outages in stores here.

The problem is, I have not had much luck with them. No matter how long in the ground, eighty percent of the crop is the size of new potatoes. I suspect my soil must be lacking something or acidic? I always intended to get my soil tested but never got around to testing.

Then again, it could be me; are the mounds not correct or something?

So far, there have been a few times at Walmart, Kroger, and IGA where the fresh produce section has been entirely bared of all products, save some exotics. I believe this is a precursor, a shadow of what is to come.

How high will inflation go eventually or quickly? That it will take a day’s wages only to feed oneself? I think a private garden will be beneficial and possibly even prudent in these times.

As Dan Quayle might argue, we loves us a potato. 😊

I have had bumper crops by planting potato skins that have " eyes " on them from being left too long and very few good results on the occasions I bought seed potatoes . I have even had them grow in the copost heap when I have thrown away potatoe skins?peelings 

[Dennis1209]

3 hours ago, Alive said:

I was just suggesting to my wife that we grow bucket tomatoes this year.

We have been stocking canned food and last year bought a bunch of that emergency food that lasts forever.

Good luck with your bucket garden. I commented on my luck with that somewhere in this thread. I have a neighbor lady that grows her garden in a bucket and turns out great. Unlike me using a plastic 5-gallon bucket in full sun, she has HUGE clay pots. I do not know what the difference would be, other than possibly soil temperature, and hers are partially shaded during the day?

I too have a supply of Mountain House emergency food stored, as well as the food I have canned. My original intent was preparation for a natural disaster as I have experienced before. With what we see occurring these days, it has turned into a multi-purpose store. If hard times arrive, as I speculate, they will, it will be a blessing to share.

[Dennis1209]

14 minutes ago, luigi said:

I have several fruit tress. I also acquired a bee hive and hope some honeybees move in.

I love honey and thought about that myself. I looked into everything that I needed and read up on its particulars. 

Then one day during the summer, I went to the chicken house to gather the eggs and got stung by a wasp. I once delivered propane to fill up propane tanks; in the summer, 90% of the inside of tank lids have wasp nests, with two to dozens of wasps on the nest. I have been stung hundreds of times, ouch, ho-hum, on to the next.

My body chemistry has changed; now, a wasp, bee, or yellow jacket sting is a three-day affair with severe swelling. It has changed my mind about free pure honey. LoL