Weekly Garden Thread - March 5-11, 2022 [Budget-Friendly Gardening Edition]

March 5, 2022 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memorium

[Pollard]

Nope but it’s a Canadian company; https://heritageharvestseed.com/pages/about-us - Sounds like one person for the most part.

Only ships to Canada as well; https://heritageharvestseed.com/pages/order-info

[Ladysforest]

Thank you - yeah, I just read that. Hum.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I don’t do walmart or at least as little as possible.”

Wish I could say the same. I have little choice living far from ‘civilization.’ The closest town is 10 miles away, so 20 mile round trip once a week is the parameter I set for myself for groceries and gas. I’m not one of those women that ‘shops for entertainment.’ Ugh! I HATE shopping, actually.

Filled up my Ford Escape today; it’s just a little 4-banger. $39.00 for HALF a tank, so probably once every TWO weeks to town for now!

I do the best that I can with what’s available and I read labels. I can sleep at night. :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I’ll post all of my recipes when we’re all starting to ‘make stuff’ in the mid-to late Summer.

I do ‘cheat’ on Salsa. I use Mrs. Wages Salsa Mix. They should sell it at Menard’s, LOL!

(You can order it on-line, too. I buy the Mild mix, then add corn and black beans. Sometimes crushed pineapple.)

[Ellendra]

I have seeds for a few varieties of upland rice, but haven’t tried growing them yet. I don’t eat much rice, so my focus has been on other starches.

If you plan to grow a lot of grain, it might be worth looking at getting an actual rice polisher. It removes the bran from just about any grain, not just rice. It also separates the bran, so you can decide if you want to use it later. No winnowing needed.

[Ellendra]

I’ve had good results with heirloom seeds from Baker Creek, Adaptive Seed, Great Lakes Staple Seeds, Pinetree, Seed Treasures, and Southern Exposure, among others. I actually order from a long list of companies, but those are usually at the top of the list.

[Augie]

It was a mostly warm and dry week here in Central Missouri. The ice is gone from both of my ponds now, the peepers are peeping, and the daffodils are starting to show buds.

In spite of a ridiculously busy week at the salt mine, I managed to make good progress on the green-to project. Structural framing is complete, and the poly panels have been installed on the roof. I need to figure out a better way to trim the panels before I start putting panels on the side walls. The manufacturer's web site said to reverse the blade in a circular saw and use that. I did, and I don't like the results. Chipped and jagged and looks like trash.

I used an abrasive cut-off wheel in my angle grinder to trim the roof panels on the potting shed. I'll try that on a piece of the waste that came off the roof panels. I can't imagine that it would do a worse job than the circular saw did.

Anyway, the hard part is behind me. If the weather cooperates even a little bit this week I should have it done and ready to use by the end of next weekend.

[Qiviut]

My niece (the one with two little girls) sent me a link to a homesteading website - it turns out the place is very close to me!! The reason she sent it is that it’s got a nice plan for a little greenhouse - I am seriously going to have to see if I can find a spot (that won’d ruffle any feathers ... no pun intended) because I would love to have a little greenhouse.

Link - you can download PDF for free:
https://www.handmadeonthehomestead.farm/resources/ba2j3d5wsa89ouceciweo94sna46w8

Something else I noticed - she has chicken processing classes. I think I would like to go to one of those - I wonder what she does with the livers & feet ... hmmmm? Definitely closer than my niece who is 3 hours away, although I want to help her process her chickens later this year - I know I can get feet from her & probably livers, too.

[Augie]

All of the seed-starting talk up-thread reminded me that, with the green-to almost ready, I need to order heating mats, so I did.

I went for a pair of the 20.75”x48” BN-Link brand, with a single probe thermostat.

That should be plenty enough space to get a seed or two going. I had $100 on an amazon gift card, which made the purchase completely painless.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Score! See? I love it when someone else pays for the things I want, LOL!

We got 4” of snow last night. It’s very pretty - covering up the YUCK that was nothing but mud and brown grass.

Should be gone within the week. We really need the moisture - we’re still in drought. Even with this 4” we are way behind on snow. We average 50 inches, and we’re just over 12 for the season. Not a good sign of things to come. :(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The greenhouse looks great! You’re so handy! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Bookmarked.

Practice saying this: “I’m not the chicken plucker, I’m the chicken plucker’s son. But I’ll pluck the chickens ‘til the chicken plucker comes!”

One of my faves has always been Jenna Woginrich. She was farmsteading before it got cool, WAY back to 2007. ;) I think you would really enjoy her books. I still need to read, ‘One Woman Farm’ and her newest memoir.

https://www.coldantlerfarmny.com/books

And her blog:

https://www.coldantlerfarmny.com/

[Augie]

I was also reminded to place my order with Jung’s.

$138 for 34 packets of seed!

Our money isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Ladyforest: Here is another: Seed Savers Exchange

Located in Decora Iowa, Diana in Wisconsin worked in their Madison Wisconsin outlet. (IIRC!)

If you go to Pollard's home page has gardening resources including a long list of seed sources.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Augie; I did what I could to avoid the $4-$5 packets of seeds, but ended up buying from 4 different sources. I probably spent about that amount. I will NOT plant that amount though, and things like peppers and tomato seeds should be good for another 3-4 years.

(Alliums! Use fresh seed every year for things like leeks !)

Yesterday about 5:00 I was just west of the MO/KS state line and it began hailing/sleeting! Usually these pass quickly, but there was 3-4 inches by the time if finished. I was going to take I-35 to get home, but decided to go local instead. To many idiots driving 70 in these conditions. Did you get anything out by Columbia around 7-8PM?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Diana; I invited some people from Bam’s victory garden thread over. I hope you purchased a couple of gallons of Carlo Rossi Red for the company! :)

[AbolishCSEU]

Will be starting an inflation garden in addition to my regular garden on my rental property. Looking to growing fennel this year. Fortunately I have left over 10-10-10. Just pruned my pear, plum and cherry tree(s) Will be saving seed in case the SHTF.
Upstate NY

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Your Question; "Who is the chicken plucker here??" (Links to F/R posted article)

Here is a mechanized one!

Northern Tool "Yardbird Chicken Plucker"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How is your chicken coop going? (Incentive to get it fully stocked!)

15,600,000 Bolivars... The Amount Of Money You Need To Buy A 5 Pound Chicken In Venezuela

(15M Bolivar = about US$35)

[Augie]

I’ve been buying my garden seed from Jung’s for close to 30 years now. Their prices are, in general, competitive with the other seed vendors, and they have free shipping on orders over $100.

Could I have saved a few bucks by shopping around? Maybe. But that savings would have been offset by the time it took to do price checks and the shipping costs from multiple vendors.

CoMO got a little bit of sleet Sunday night. Not enough to cause the roads to be slick.

[Diana in Wisconsin]