Posted on 01/13/2012 8:25:57 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning everybody! It is cold and clear here in NE Louisiana, zone 8a, we should reach 50° today under sunny skies. We've received several inches of rain in the past 3 weeks, so there will be no garden prep for a while yet, but the sunny sky has a way of getting me in the mood.
In last week's thread we discussed our seed and supply catalogs. This week I intended to discuss saving seeds from our own harvests, and starting seeds indoors. In preparing, I actually found a couple of articles that are very informative and give good information in very plain, easy to understand language.
Both of these articles are from GRIT magazine online. It is my hope that you will benefit from this information. The pages seem to load very slowly, but you may find it time well invested.
Vegetable Seed Saving: What You Need to Know
If you have any links with good information along these lines, please feel free to share them with the group!
You can grow a number of things on a fence or trellis. If it grows a vine, I've grown it on a trellis (I use cattle panels). Cucumbers, all kinds of winter squash, canteloupes, sweet peas, you name it.
I had some tomatoes come up on one of my trellises, quite by accident. They did okay, but they didn't wind themselves on the trellis as well as other vines do. Using velcro garden tape I was able to keep them held up there satisfactorily.
The wine will do fine in a clear bottle as long as it is kept out of direct sun light and florescent/artificial lighting. Once I bottle mine I will crate/box them up and store in the coolest place in the house.
My Alma mater used to have a Winery and grew muscadines to produce and sell a muscadine wine. That was some tasty but potent stuff!
Wow! You have been busy! Impressive.
Lady Bender is such a pro at going through catalogs. I need lessons in the worst kinda way.
Thanks for the info! He/she does guarantee germination, so I was willing to take the chance ... the price is excellent. Now, holding myself to only 20 varieties is another thing altogether.
Oh...so you’re not going for her ‘100 variety’ seed package??? :-)
Thank you for posting the timetable. I’m getting my tomatoe seeds ready to “grow”. I guess I’ll get my tires ready for the potatoes too. I’m getting truck tires and will paint them white, like my buddy to me to do. His Mamma told him to do it. I’m going to try potatoes and carrots in a plastic garbage container. Ilove potatoes.
You oughta be able to grow some killer sweet potatoes over there? Do you ever?
Actually, I’ll try anything that doesn’t get me first, except, a bunnie wabbit.
Heck yes, I never thought of those. I’ll have to get 3 more truck tires. The golfers already think I’m a bit “tetched”, with my molasses pots and pvf tubes waiting for plants standing around the back yard next to the 4th Tee.
I also need a new gauge to measure the brix. After doing all the measuring and math, my brew came out to be 0.5%, but the neighbors told me that I'm FOS because their lips went numb after the first bottle......
That is quite a selection you are planting though! Try constructing a simple cold frame around some of your peppers. I have a tabasco "tree" that's 4 years old and still producing in the greenhouse and several jalapeno's that have lasted several seasons.
Yep, I am making this to be a dry wine. The yeast you use makes a big, big difference. There are yeasts that don’t convert all the sugar to alcohol which produces a sweeter wine/mead.
This is a Wyeast strain for a sweat Mead or wine
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=44
YEAST STRAIN: 4184 | Sweet Mead™
One of two strains for mead making. Leaves 2-3% residual sugar in most meads. Rich, fruity profile complements fruit mead fermentation.
I have been using Wyeast for all my brewing - I have had good results so far.
What kind of Brix meeter are you using?
It is and it isn't so brave. Our average last frost date is 15 March. Depending on weather, I probably won't get everything into the ground, into 10 15-gallon nursery pots, into 8 5-gallon buckets, and into 4 earthboxes until the end of the month. That's kinda what you aim for. If a late or unpredicted frost hits, I've got their replacements ready to take their places.
I'm like the kid whose eye for candy is bigger than his tummy. I always seed twice as many plants and twice as many varieties as will fit into my available backyard space. I can't seem to help myself. :-)
What's unplanted I offer to anyone who wants them. Wish I knew about some local gardening organizations looking for plant donations. I REALLY do overdo the flat seeding. Big time!
Big disappointments last year were varieties of pole beans, and ichiban, waltham and crookneck squash. Varieties I grew in previous years with great results. Last year, they all failed -- miserably.
These varieties of squash thrived for awhile, then suddenly collapsed, shriveled up, and died. A kind gardner thread member sent me mail, "vine borers."
Ever since that mail I've searched for how to protect my plants. The only squash I'm planting this year is Waltham butternut.
The only pole bean I'm growing this year--beans were not included on my list--is Kentucky Blue. In previous years I grew both traditional and oriental yard-long beans with good results. Our heat probably, maybe, soured last year, but I'm not so sure.
For my irregular in-ground garden, a cold frame is not an option. Wael, maybe it is. I just can't figure out how to do it . . . yet.
Thanks, so much.
Through our mild winter, I've left intact a bell pepper patch, watering it every other week. Base is thick and green. Trying to decide, should I pull them up and replant? Should I prune? What do you think?
R.
OK! Great link! They even have a supplier in my area.
I’m using an ALLA Brix meter. It’s the type that floats in the wort for a reading. It came with the “Brewer’s Best” kit that I got for Chrisatmas in 2010. I’ve followed the instructions to the letter, yet I still come out with a real low alcohol reading. The Mrs. thinks the thing is broken, but I’m happy with neighbors who think I’m a brewing god!
All of my bell peppers bit the bullet during the last cold snap. I do have some Anaheim, Thai, and Tabasco plants that have been growing for a couple years now. It would be interesting to see if your plants would come back with a pruning. You may just want to cover them with a plastic drop cloth for the next month and a half until the danger of the last frost has passed. You don't really need a cold frame.
I feel your pain with vine borers. I had that problem when I lived in Live Oak. I ended up spraying my entire back yard with a dilute neem oil solution and skewering any of the remaining little monsters in the vine. Depending on the damage already done, the plant may survive or not. IMO-Malathion would have worked better, but it's difficult to find.
Other than the peppers I already mentioned and some papaya and banana, this years crop will consist of "Louisiana Mutant Okra" (courtesy of JADB), onion, sweet corn, orange honeydew, Homestead tomato, beefsteak tomato, pepperoncini, pepper acorn squash, radish, cucumber, peanut, and some watermelon. Of course, there will always be that exotic something-or-other fruit seed that I'll find at the Central Market :)
I don't know of any garden organizations in the area, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to sell your excess plants at a yard sale.
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