Posted on 12/03/2021 12:11:47 PM PST by ransomnote
[H/T Travis McGee]
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If your garden requires added fertilizer every year, look into the possibility of using biochar instead. Biochar is easy to make, there are hundreds of different techniques you could use to make it. It’s made from anything burnable, as long as there aren’t heavy metals in it. And it improves the soil for decades, even centuries, at a time.
It works best if it’s inoculated before using, but that’s simple enough. I mix mine with the bedding in my chicken coop, where it has the extra benefit of eliminated odors from the manure. Mixed into a compost bin would work too.
I worry about the conventional farms surrounding mine. They go through a lot of fertilizers and other inputs every year. They’re going to have a rough time if they can’t get those.
Do people really think they can grow enough food in a backyard garden to feed their families for an extended period of time? And if there are actual food shortages, do they plan on guarding it 24/7 if their property isn’t fenced off?
You can grow all your families needs in a small space. I am not talking corn but tomato’s, beans, peppers and such
Besides, we will never have a food problem. As I said 1/2 of our farmland is not being used at any time
Most of our fertilizers do not come from China. Most from Canada, Russia and Tobago
“Besides, we will never have a food problem. As I said 1/2 of our farmland is not being used at any time”
That’s not the problem. The problem is logistics. Getting it from a farmers field to the consumer. We already have logistics problems. They’re getting worse. Globally. The average city dweller has 3 days of food in their residence. When law and order breaks down (which has happened in recent times in places like Minneapolis and Chicago) logistics problems get very bad very quickly.
Anyone who thinks there isn’t a growing supply issue needs to take the time to ask at places they normally shop. You’ll be surprised. Right now there’s a glass shortage in the US. That impacts any food or drink item that comes in glass. Like liquor. Not a staple obviously, but the tip of the iceberg.
You really think all those backyards have soil that can grow food?
That is what I was thinking. Bill Gates bought a lot of farmland last year. No under this regime we will be in a lot of trouble. Plus that land he bought wasn’t to feed the hungry it is for the next stage of synthesizing food with pharmaceuticals. It has already been announced they are trying to get the covid vaccine into things like vegetables. In fact, they’ve been doing this for decades. It isn’t something new. Just try looking up transgenic vegetables on the NIH site. Potatoes, tomatoes, spinach ...
The farmland Bill Gates bought up isn’t to feed the hungry.
Conquest, war, famine, and death.
But plagues are the last.
Exactly true !
With the anticipated shortage of phosphorous and potash,
Farm Extension says to evaluate your soil levels now
and postpone or delay any purchase for a year id you can,
and catch lower prices on the rebound in 2023.
The Gardening Forum just posted at 10:28 AM on Saturday/ 12/4/21, moderated by Diana in Wisconsin.
Consider this as your INVITATION !
As Diana says, "there is no such thing as a stupid question - all are welcome !"
“You really think all those backyards have soil that can grow food?”
Of course not but if 25% of the American public is growing food that would ease aay shortgages.
What would you plant in a gorilla garden?
Bill Gates is pure evil.
A Pox upon his head and his house!
A good farmer allows a portion of his land to lie fallow, or plants cover crops to be turned under as “green manure”, it gives it a chance to rejuvenate through the crop rotation and breaks pest life cycles.
Well, I had a book on it, but hubby borrowed it, and isn’t certain where he put it after he read it, and I don’t recall a lot since he took it before I was able to read much of it or make notes.
But there are a lot of wild plants that are Native to Mo. that are edible and most people don’t know it. Better known ones are Dandelions (weeds to most-but all is edible-and is one of the first available greens). We have some yucca plants - courtesy of our neighbor’s spreading to our lot - edible flowers.
Grasses/edible seeds-Foxtail, Crab, Goose. Plus, Foxtail stalks can be used to place over opening in grain storage area-mice etc. get fur so tangled they leave the grain alone. Crab grass - a rice substitute, Goose grass-flour substitute to help stretch your stock of flour for biscuits. Knotweed seeds are a cereal substitute.
Spring beauties-just look like tiny little wildflowers, but the roots are small edible tubers (similar to teeny tiny potatoes). And there’s wild Strawberries. Queen Anne’s Lace -roots-November to March. Etc.
Thanks. I have an abundance of all those weeds and many berries.
Some fruit trees. Pollinator garden. I just call it a wildlife garden.
I was a big fan of Euell Gibbons in the sixties and seventies. I have to check my library for his old books.
The drought a few years back really hurt the blackberries, and they haven't really recovered. We have black walnuts, hickory nuts, and acorns.
A passion flower vine appeared out of nowhere a few years back, and we've propagated that. Flowers for tea and the fruit is citrus flavor — hard to beat the critters though.
Raccoon got all my corn last year. Set a trap, but he was too big and tore up the cage. Got a bigger cage, but he appeared to have learned to stay away from cages. So I didn't even plant any corn this year.
We are going to plant some paw paw trees next season-native to Mo. Leaves for tea are quite beneficial - if we get the fruit that will be icing on the cake. We also have a Sassafras — I love that tea, but ya aren't supposed to partake of much of it.
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