[Diana in Wisconsin]

"The housewife is back," McCoy said. "Crafting, canning, sewing, gardening — traditional hobbies that used to be 'women's hobbies' — are hot with the younger generation."

Wa-Hoo! I'm SO happy to see this. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

PING!

[dblshot]

Probably got a surplus of fertilizer after the Franken campaign.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

This is why the “Food Safety Act” is being crafted and proposed by House Democrats. Can’t have people be in charge of their own food supply, now can we?

[BigFinn]

Got my garden in. If things get worse I may rip out my lawn and make it bigger.
It’s also a stress reliever. :^)

[BigFinn]

Got my garden in. If things get worse I may rip out my lawn and make it bigger.
It’s also a stress reliever. :^)

[diamond6]

I wish I could raise chickens, but I don’t think we’re zoned for it.

[goodwithagun]

I am buying heirloom seeds this year. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I want hardy plants that I can salvage seed from. Planting seeds from hybrids bought at the store will not yield anything.

[staytrue]

So people are spending 10 dollars and getting 650 dollars in value.

That is 600 dollars in taxable income by my calculation.

Plus, these people may be violating minimum wage laws, they are not withholding social security and medicare. Furthermore, they may be violating OSHA and enviromental laws.

There is no way in hell this is going to be legal under a democrat congress and president.

All the vegetables grown must be confiscated and put into a common pool where the hungry and poor need to be fed first.

[muawiyah]

Here's one of the reasons why everybody should consider growing a garden ~ even a small indoor one ~ we've got one whopper of a world busting drought coming this year. Makes 1930/35 look mild. It's more on the order of the things many of our ancestors faced in the 1800s!

There's a February 15, 2009 brief on the implications of this drought pattern at: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.infiniteunknown.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/countries_by_agricultural_output1.png&imgrefurl=http://www.infiniteunknown.net/tag/kenya/&usg=__QaVour7cLGEU2Z-kewsqWSDJl_U=&h=286&w=550&sz=83&hl=en&start=68&um=1&tbnid=iAvJalXdIiM3nM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddrought%2Bconditions%2Bmexico%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D54%26um%3D1<P>

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/2009/Feb/Countries_by_agricultural_output%5B1%5D-747806.gif

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I have been kinda quizzing folks in my area that are putting in gardens to determine their reasons for doing so. In the group aged 65 or older, they've always done it and don't know any other way. In the younger folks, I've been quite surprised that cost is not the driving force, it is the food contamination stories that got them fired-up.

In the above article the mother says it is so nice to want a tomato and go out back and pick one, which of course is true. What lots of folks don't take into account in the further savings of not hopping into the car and driving to the market/store to buy a tomato.

Most of us know how many times we've gone to purchase a tomatoe, potatoes, carrots or that other side dish for supper that night. How many times have we run to the market to put together that salad? Not to mention how many times we will buy something else that we would not have had we not gone to get the lettuce. The savings really add up.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Victory Gardens after an economic Pearl Harbor....

[Gabz]

Garden PING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(now to read :))

[KarlInOhio]

News from the future:

This year's rate of farm foreclosures, second only to the Great Depression, was caused by millions of suburbanites growing their own food in their gardens. Obama promises a bailout and Congress outlaws growing more than ten square feet of vegetables without applying for a permit from the Department of Agriculture. "People's gardening affect the interstate commerce of orange baseballs called tomatoes, thus limitations on individual gardens is constitutional."

[Eye of Unk]

These are 100% real pictures of produce grown in Alaska, I see these every year in competitions at the State Fair. And its nothing special, just a lot of sunlight we have in the summer.

[o_zarkman44]

planted my first flat of starter seeds last week.
have two more ready to plant in a couple days.

Temps went from 70 yesterday to 20 today. Getting the green thumb urge bad!

[kimmie7]

About time, too.

[longtermmemmory]

Next week there will be a news report over the crisis in unsafe back yard vegitables.

Cities will outlaw this agricultural hazard.

(ala FL orange growers trying to outlaw back yard trees a few years back)

[wideminded]

I'll be planting vegetables this year and I'm planning to try raised beds, which I haven't used before. I'd be interested to hear what people have to say about this. I understand the advantages, but I'm thinking about the construction details.

I'm curious about the proper depth for growing vegetables, as well as the best materials to use, lumber vs. blocks, etc. We have plenty of space available.

[Free Vulcan]

Grow lights have indeed been a beeotch to get this year. I went to three Walmart’s before I found a supply for mom so she could start seed.

Spent $400 in seed this year and just have potatoes to buy here in a couple of weeks. That’s in addition to the many hundreds worth from past years already in the freezer, saved and bought. Will be saving mountains of seed this year.

Greatly expanded on varieties and especially focused on grains while putting anything ornamental like gourds in the freezer to plant in better times. Converted my cover crop plot to peas and beans to get the same effect but get production from the space at the same time. Going to squeeze as much as I can into that quarter acre.

The main seed companies I order from in any given year:

Fedco - http://www.fedcoseeds.com
Comstock Ferre - http://www.comstockferre.com
Baker Creek - http://www.rareseeds.com
Gourmet Seed - http://www.gourmetseed.com
Johnny’s - http://www.johnnyseeds.com
Peaceful Valley - http://www.groworganic.com
Southern Exposure Seed - http://www.southernexposure.com
Seedsavers Exchange - http://www.seedsavers.org
Tomato Grower’s Supply - http://www.tomatogrowers.com
Nichol’s Nursery - http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com
Territorial - http://www.territorialseed.com
Shumway - http://www.rhshumway.com
Jung - http://www.jungseed.com
Totally Tomatoes - http://www.totallytomato.com
Vermont Bean Seed - http://www.vermontbean.com

[ViLaLuz]

Good news for the children and families.