So you think you can...GROW YOUR OWN?

Wisconsin State Journal/77 Square ^ | March 20, 2011 | Sandy Cullen

[listenhillary]

Good for starting seeds indoors? Make/model name is?

We’ve had wild temp swings this spring. We had 7” of snow last Monday and 80 degrees forecast today.

[PUGACHEV]

Yes, basil is a great thing to grow. A few plants grow more that I can consume, and they just keep producing. Hungarian wax peppers are another favorite, along with jalapenos and cubanells. This year, I am going to try one of those upside down tomato plants, just to see what happens. My tomato plants usually turn into a jungle by early summer, and by August they are over 8 foot tall. I need to learn how to prune them better.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

This week is going to be cold and rainy, here. That’s OK. most of the snow is gone - let Mud Season begin, LOL!

I’ll e-mail you soon. Lots to catch up on! :)

[Holen1]

Bookmark

[Redleg Duke]

Some of us do enjoy vegetable gardening, however.

I don't think posting this article was meant as a personal attack on you.

[Black Agnes]

Show me the exact text, in the bill itself, that says that.

Specifically.

[deport]

Patio farming

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Looks like they only ship this model, which is the Top-O-The-Line one for $850.00! The smaller one has 4 shelves, too, but is half as wide. Runs about $429.00, I think? I’ll get the model number for you when I go into work today. Remind me if I forget!

http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=52975&c=660&p=Seedling+Light+Cart

[posterchild]

Wow! You must be a psychic!:)

[Redleg Duke]

Yesterday, Barb and I went to Lowe's intending to get the PVC joints and pipe for her seed starting frame. Passing through the shelving area, we found a five-shelf unit, 4' long. We got one of those instead and I cleared an area in the basement and we set it up.

We also bought seed starter trays, starting soil and seeds. She is putting them in today and I will rig the grow lights this evening.

We are also building raised beds for the garden and bringing in new soil as the old soil is worked out. I will build the bed out of 4 by 4 corner posts and 2-by sides, with a rabbet on two adjoining edges of each corner post and assemble using pocket screws.

She brought out her small, powered cultivator to use in the raised beds. Got to put in asparagus this spring as well. A tradition with my gardening!

[snowrip]

Wrong, but don’t let facts stand in the way.

The language of SB 510 is deliberately vague. It grants the federal government the ability to oversee production standards for all food produced and processed in the US, and provides for the hiring of 4000 new FDA employees specificaly for the enforce of the new regulations. If you're a company like Del Monte or Monsanto (both companies that spent millions lobbying for the passage of this POS), you have virtually unlimited financial resources to pay for inspections, equipment and storage upgrades, certification/recertification, court proceedings, and the like. If you're a small organic grower or someone that sells at the local county fair/farmers market, not so much.

The Supreme Court has already ruled that growing wheat for your own use interferes with interstate commerce. Wait, what was that other piece of legislation where the federal government is trying to force horrific new measures of governmental control down the throats of American consumers, under the guise of the Commerce Clause? Oh, I remember... the "heathcare reform" bill. I'm sure that one will work out just fine, too.

[Sacajaweau]

Fondest memory is going down the path at grandmas to the swing at the half way point. Grape vines on their trellis dripped with green and purple baubles on either side of the path. At the swing, I sat with grandma as she shucked peas for dinner.

[posterchild]

There was a problem a few years ago with Clopyralid (lawn herbicide) coming from grass clippings and surviving the composting process. Hopefully that is no longer the case.

[Uncle Ike]

” It only applies to farms making greater than $500,000 in income. “

It helps to actually read the language in the bill (now law) — the original language did not differentiate between corporate farms and hobby-gardeners, but an amendment was offered which gave the ‘under-$500,000’ crowd an ‘exception’ - which is different from an ‘exemption’, in that, in the language of the law, the FDA may, by bureaucratic fiat, rescind this exception for anybody, at any time, for any reason, without benefit of ‘due process’, whenever it sees fit....

But, that’s okay - you’re gonna believe what you want to beleve, and if that makes ya happy, you have my blessing... ;)

[posterchild]

I always try to grow basil and tomatoes. Next I need to figure out how to grow olives in zone 6 and find a place to get one of those elusive mozzarella trees...

[handmade]

Your really tall tomatoes are indeterminate- they produce til they freeze. If well staked they are very manageable. If you want shorter plants, go the determinate route-they will produce til they are done, then they really are done. But they are also a manageable height, although they will like a bit of staking as well. Then you can get between and pick easier.

[massgopguy]

When we lived with my Italian grand parents vegetables were picked from the garden all Summer long. My grandfather’s secret weapon was to put a Smelt under each plan as they went in.

[Gabz]

If you can sc**w up a potato or carrot crop, you should have to eat plastic bags.

Well, I guess I'm in for a diet of plastic ;^) Although I've never tried taters, I've never had luck with carrots LOL!!!

[Red_Devil 232]

You will need a Pasta tree eventually.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “with a rabbet on two adjoining edges of each corner” <<

.
Aren’t you worried that the rabbets will eat the veggies? :o)