Posted on 09/27/2013 12:37:17 PM PDT by greeneyes
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“Marcella— How bout growing these in your container farm?”
A tomato/potato plant is good, grow both foods on one plant. Now, if that plant could be sold as seed, it would be an absolute winner.
I have a problem with having to buy seed potatoes if you want potatoes, and, Yankees, don’t say save your potatoes in a root cellar or basement - we don’t have those here. Rightly, the Yankees on this gardening thread don’t have the same storage problems we do here.
In a SHTF situation, when I couldn’t buy plants or seed potatoes at a store, I want potato regular looking seeds. And, I don’t mean those occasional poisonous seed pods that grow on the green part of a potato plant. I mean seeds like our bean seeds or tomato seeds, etc..
Right now, I don’t know where to get seed potatoes for next spring. And, if the SHTF before then, I’ll never grow another potato of any kind because I couldn’t get them.
I have a long neck, and it really can be a pain.
—Yankees, don’t say save your potatoes in a root cellar or basement - we don’t have those here. Rightly, the Yankees on this gardening thread don’t have the same storage problems we do here.—
LOL— Them Yankees just dunnt know what problems food storage can be, down here beneath the snow belt. I have always lived in the South, and now in Texas, so food preservation has always been an issue.
What would be the point of surviving a SHTF event without taters? Taters, rice, maters, and bacon are the four food groups upon which life exists in the South.
***Now that it is cooler, going to try again this weekend. What would be good for the fall?***
http://www.fanicknursery.com/Downloads/CalendarCurrent.pdf
I have never tried to grow taters, so I know nothing. People buy seed taters, probably at a seed store. I think you make them buy cutting up ones with lots of eyes on them, cut them with two or three eyes on each chunk, I think, then let the cut parts harden or make a skin or something. I think there are some people on here that do that and could advise.
I know how to do it if I buy the seed potatoes. Same way I did it with the sweet potato sets except they did have skinny roots and swiveled up leaves. They looked dead when they got here, but were not. I have read how to do regular seed potatoes so that isn't the problem. I don't know where to buy them, that is the problem.
I suppose maybe Lowes or Walmart has them in the spring? I don't know.
I would not expect Lowes to carry them, more likely Henderson’s Seed on 105 downtown. You could give her a call and find out. If she doesn’t carry them in the spring, she will know who does, or call the county ext agent, they should know also.
The other day we were talking about Neem Oil. Here it is from Wikipedia.
Formulations mad of Neem oil also find wide usage as a bio-pesticide for organic farming, as it repels a wide variety of pests including the mealy bug, beet armyworm,aphids, the cabbage worm, thrips, whiteflies, mites, fungus gnats, beetles, moth larvae, mushroom flies, leafminers, caterpillers, locust, nematodes and the Japanese beetle. Neem Oil is not known to be harmful to mammals, birds or other beneficial insects such as earthworms, butterflies, honeybees and ladybugs. It can be used as a household pesticide for ant, bedbug, cockroach, housefly, sand fly, snail, termite and mosquitoes both as a repellent and larvicide (Puri 1999). Neem oils also controls black spot, powdery mildew, anthrocnose and rust (fungus). For use as a bio-pesticide, pure Neem oil should be diluted at the rate of 1 tsp per quart or 4 tsp per gallon of water and used as a goliar spray or USED AS A SOIL DRENCH AT THE RATE OF 1 LITER PER SQUARE METER OF SOIL (3 OZ PER SQUARE FOOT) Adding a surfactant greatly enhances its effectiveness. Ordinary liquid dishwashing soap may be used as a surfactant, added at the rate of 1 TBSP per gallon.
Neem oil is made from the seed of the neem tree. Neem is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiseptic and antiparasitic. Because of these properties, it is widely deployed in many different toiletries such as soap, toothpaste, hair care products, and skin care paoducts. It is used to treat a wide array of diseases, illnesses and problems and is considered a cure-all in India. The oil has moisturizing and regenerative properties, contains vitamin E and has essential fatty acids. Scientific research today validates many of the traditional uses of Neem Oil, it is used to treat bacterial, fungal and viral infections, boost the immune system and for many specific health problems. It is also used to deter mosquitoes, fleas, flies, ticks, mites and lice.
So we can drench the soil where we’re growing squash and rid us of those pesky squash bugs. I’m going to try some on the fire ant hill I saw in the Community Garden.
I save caviar jars for my seeds. They’re all lined up in the the back freezer, like little soldiers/airmen. They are so cute. Hubby just cannot understand it. The larger seeds go in spice jars and they too are lined up, the beans and peas, corn, etc, go in my empty martini olive jars. I don’t can, so give those jars to a lady who does, I freeze stuff. I do have canning books though. DUH...they’re nice to read and have very nice recipes, and I do freeze those. I did make some tomato leather and one tomato that I turned into tomato dust, because I didn’t use enough tomato juice. I’m going to buy a drier for the coming vegetable season and may be keep some jars for the dried vegetables. Should be interesting.
Marcella, where is that dwarf nursery? I’ve been looking for such a place. I’m thinking of setting up a small “in syrup
pots” orchard of dwarf fruit trees.
I know what you mean about growing up with everyone who had canned goods. Mom and her sisters spent days preserving meat, fish, berries and wild “asparagus”, fiddlehead ferns. Just about everything we had was canned, jarred, salted, smoked and dried. We kids kept out of sight and quiet. I have sisters who still do it.
The link to the dwarf fruit trees is below. It’s in south Texas (the valley) and the trees are approved by Texas A&M.
http://www.citrustreesonline.com/
I’ve read the Truckers drive thru Washington DC is on and the organization which provides Overpass Signs and Flags are also participating. Thanks for alerting us, I’ve been watching the internet for information and it came from WND today.
“Henderson’s Seed on 105 downtown.”
I don’t know where it is - do you mean east 105 downtown where the courthouse is? That downtown?
“HOLY PHOSPHATE , Batman !!”
LOL! Exactly! I knew I was benighted, but I didn’t know enough at the time to know just how badly I was in the dark!
Well, fortunately (or not) I did not really put any into the okra/sunflower dirt patch with the clay.
This all went onto the pots. What I will need to do is make sure the pots I use next time have dirt that is not too phospataceous! Since most of my pots seem to be doing well at the moment relatively speaking, the challenge will be to remember which pot it is that contains the inordinate amounts of phosphate!
We had to take one of our kitties to the vet in NW San Antonio on Saturday. While we were there, it rained 3 times...hard. We got home a bit late and found that the ground was wet and the duck pond was full. We were excited because we thought it wouldn't reach us.
I think the humidity and rain put a damper on the Medina Lake Cajun Fest though.
I got out a tape measure this morning, and measured two of my tomato plants that are 8 and a half feet tall.
I had several that reached that height and produced real well; Black Krim, Green Zebra, and Golden Girl. All my tomatoes dried out in July though.
Our Brandywine and Cherokee Purple tomatoes have been wonderful. We will probably be harvesting more until about mid to late October.
That may be it! I cuss at mine when I brush against them and a ton of ants fall on me and start biting.
I grow mine in raised beds of composted horse manure, nothing else. I wonder if I should lop of the tops when they get about 4ft tall.
I bought a product by Hi-Yield called “Triple Super Phosphate
I loved that stuff, but I can't find it in my area anymore. 4 lbs sure beats toting a 50 lb bag of 3% any day of the week. You would probably bet better off broadcasting it on the soil surface and working or watering it in. You could still put some in a hole for the tomatoes, but I'd limit it to about a teaspoon. For potted plants, start out with a pinch and see how the plants react.
Hope your kitty is okay. Glad you got some rain.
Go down 75/ Frasier south towards 105 where it is divided into two) one way streets through downtown, cross over the west bound half, take a left onto the eastbound 105 at a Walgreens. This carries you through downtown for 5 or 6 blocks past city/county buildings, courthouses, etc. The last light is Main Street; go straight a block or so, cross RR track and Henderson seed and Feed is on the right side almost sitting on the tracks. I would call first, and see what she has to say. Then I would call the county extension agent’s office on Airport RD right off 336 NE.. These are the experts on local food growing on a home gardener size or huge farming size Property.
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