Posted on 12/27/2013 12:25:05 PM PST by greeneyes
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Thanks, I copied your information. You have been helpful and I appreciate your effort to take time to write it.
“It’s a VARMINT, preying on your food!
Does that inspire an attitude?”
I will definitely kill it/them but I’m not using my finger/hand/arm/leg, to do it. Maybe a squirt of soapy water would do it. I could knock it/them off into a cup, then kill it/them, not with my finger/hand/arm/leg, however.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/v-28-sale.aspx
There’s a pickling cucumber on that page. Johnny’s has a really good reputation.
https://www.jungseed.com/dc.asp?c1=Sale+Items&c=77
A couple cucumber choices in that listing of sale items. I’ve had really good luck with Jungs as well.
YMMV, as always.
I’ve made pickle relish from pickling cukes, slicing cukes, zuchinnis, green tomatoes, and assorted summer squash. All of them worked, but the thing that I like using the best is T squash, which you’re already growing anyway. It holds its texture well, has good flavor when pickled, and is easy to work with.
It’s kind of a combination of “how much do I have room for”, “how much is each plant likely to produce” and “can I handle it if it produces more than I expect?”
Each corn plant is expected to produce 2 ears. Each of the tomatoes I plant is expected to produce a bushel (the varieties that won’t, don’t pass muster.) Each beet plant is expected to produce one beet.
Sometimes one won’t produce anything, sometimes they produce more than expected. Know your own eating habits. Make lots of spreadsheets, and remember to allow some margin of error for weather/bugs/accidents/etc.
I’ll see if I can find Jackie Clay’s list again, she lives off what she grows and she once gave an example of what she plants every year.
Paprika and cayenne are peppers, they can be grown the same way as tomatoes.
My first “all my own” garden had parsley planted from seed. It grows like a carrot.
Basil and oregano I have seeds for, but haven’t planted them yet, so I can’t help much there. I don’t think there is such a thing as ginger seed, it’s grown from chunks of the root. Garlic is usually grown from cloves, not from seed. Although I’m sure seed exists for it. I’d have to look up turmeric, I’m not even sure off the top of my head what kind of plant that comes from.
I should probably mention that I’m inclined to grow things from seed whenever possible. My garden spot on my land is an 800’ hike up steep terrain, with strong gusty winds that beat whatever plant I’m carrying to death against it’s own name tag.
Thanks for the link. Yep, thumbs up, deer don’t like artichoke. However, it also says they don’t like sunflowers but mine think it is candy. I’m hoping that if they don’t like what is planted at the beginning of the row, they’ll go on and not bother what is further down the row.
Ah, Ruger rifle, excellent choice, regardless of the color. I used to own Ruger rifles but sold the arsenal years ago, to make a down payment on a farm.
As Mr. Random said, hornworms are easily kept under control if you do regular bug patrols. If they get too big, you can track them by their poop. They make serious poop. But, if you ever see a hornworm with what looks like white rice stuck all over it, leave that worm alone. The worm is being consumed by parasitic wasp larvae, and has an extremely short lifespan. By the time the worm is consumed, another generation of adult parasitic wasps will fly away to do more good works elsewhere. Also, as Mr. Random stated, tobacco ripens from the bottom to the top: The top leaves are the heaviest and have the most quality. Good luck with your tobacco crop!
Oregano seeds are teenie tiny, sometimes it is best to just buy the plant, unless you are a commercial grower (one happy plant will produce a bushel of oregano per year, easily). Basil is best grown from seed. It easily germinates and if allowed to go to seed, will naturalize - volunteer plants year to year.
You’re welcome.
I love deer. We have everything but (8’ fence & urban). I guess there’s nothing you could plant that would detract them. (I know they drive one neighborhood here crazy. The people are occasionally at each other’s throats, the likes vs the hates.) They can be pretty destructive.
I’m sure I wouldn’t like them so much if they were munching my plants. (Our problem is coons. They tear up the feeders & have broken 2 birdbaths. Little devils)
“I started with “family needs” guides, comparing several; as well went by memory of my parent’s gardens.”
I’ve just studied your post about how much you plant. Thanks for writing that. You have a plan you go by and I don’t have that yet. You know which plant produces one piece of food and which one produces many pieces of food. That is part of my confusion about what to plant and how much.
I suppose I need to do what you did - you know how much food one plant of “x” will produce and I don’t. I need to look at my seed packets and determine how much food will be on one “x” plant and how much I want for fresh and for canning and double that amount in case something happens to the original plants. This appears to be the reasoning of most on this thread. I can also start more seeds for most of the plants for a fall garden according to a lot of the seed packets. I must study those packets more so I know what each seed will do.
My goal is to get down to foods that would sustain me in the case of an emergency that lasts for a long time. Food to eat and can needs to be growing as close to all year as I can get it. I am seeing now that the plants I planted for this winter, can easily be kept alive and growing. Historically, February is the worst month of winter here. I’ll see then what I have to do to keep plants alive through that.
Right now it is 56 degrees outside with sunshine.
/johnny
“we’ve got a 20mph wind out of the north and it’s chilly here”
Surely you don’t live in Texas. I have 64 degrees with sunshine - perfect, and it’s calm, no leaves moving outside.
Overcast and gloomy, too.
/johnny
Monday, it won’t get over 50 degrees and Monday night down to 32. It doesn’t seem to get as cold in my garden as they say. Have to believe it is the high brick walls putting out heat at night to mix with the cold air.
I have stayed up until after 1 am several times, to see what the temp. is on those cold nights, and it doesn’t get down as low as they say it is going to be.
More useless knowledge I picked up with my 1800s reading.
/johnny
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