Food gardening

R

RFR

Well-known member
As this world gets more unstable, chaotic and uncertain, self reliance becomes more important.

Food is something we ALL agree on. Right? I mean we all like to eat.

How many of you grow some kind of food. From a windowsill herb garden to a plot of land or maybe a community garden.

Let’s share tips, experience, ask questions, etc.

This is the thread for all your backyard farmer needs.

No politics please.

This thread is only about growing food.

We all need to eat.
 
I have grown lots of veg successfully and badly. I also kept hens and reared my own from incubation to fully grown. A thankless task and waste of money. Other stuff as well.
 
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Growing your own food is a great way to become more self-reliant, and it's something that we can all agree on. I'm a beginner gardener, so I don't have a lot of tips to share yet, but I'm interested in learning from others. Has anyone had success growing their own food in a community garden? I'd love to hear about your experiences!

--
Jason Hook. I enjoy remixing old songs using Audacity together with UnMixIt for vocal removal or isolation
 
One of my wife's obsessions is gardening. Each year I get asked to expand the garden beds or make new one in different areas on the property. This year the list is off the charts expansive. The usual cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, lettuce, kale, beets, peppers, along with fruit trees and grapes. This year she added a patch of strawberries, blueberries and watermelon. She also has a bunch of Korean peppers and even the yellow mellons and Korean pumkins. This isn't even half of it.

We live in a pretty rural area with a couple of dairy farms just up the road. We do a ton of composting and also get composted cow manure from the farms. We are chemical free and use natural fertilizers and pest control methods. Our primary method is no till and use a lot of mulch to retain moisture. Our early beds were fabricated raised beds where we built from the ground up using top soil we trucked in along with manure and our compost. Later it was decided that we would build up our own soil and used the lasagna method where you layer cardboard, straw, compost and a bit of soil right on top of your lawn. As we build up these areas, we box them in. I cut down a decent amount of sapling's every year and turn them into wood chips. I also get a couple truck loads from a local tree company. We compost some and use it on walking paths. The older composted stuff is used as top dressing on the garden beds.

Composting is pretty simple and one of the best ways to get organic matter back into the soil. Year round we collect all the vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds. We layer this with grass clippings and leaves in the fall. We have multiple piles along the edge of the property that has partial shade. In the winter we use a big dark trash barrel with some drain holes in the bottom that we keep in a sunny spot to collect. It adds up and I've had to add a second 55 gallon composter for winter use. In the spring we turn the oldest pile for use and replace with the winter compost. Between manure composting and vegetation, we get tons of earth worms which benefit the soil greatly. It is funny to watch my wife get so excited about worms.
 
Folkcafe said:
One of my wife's obsessions is gardening. Each year I get asked to expand the garden beds or make new one in different areas on the property. This year the list is off the charts expansive. The usual cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, lettuce, kale, beets, peppers, along with fruit trees and grapes. This year she added a patch of strawberries, blueberries and watermelon. She also has a bunch of Korean peppers and even the yellow mellons and Korean pumkins. This isn't even half of it.

We live in a pretty rural area with a couple of dairy farms just up the road. We do a ton of composting and also get composted cow manure from the farms. We are chemical free and use natural fertilizers and pest control methods. Our primary method is no till and use a lot of mulch to retain moisture. Our early beds were fabricated raised beds where we built from the ground up using top soil we trucked in along with manure and our compost. Later it was decided that we would build up our own soil and used the lasagna method where you layer cardboard, straw, compost and a bit of soil right on top of your lawn. As we build up these areas, we box them in. I cut down a decent amount of sapling's every year and turn them into wood chips. I also get a couple truck loads from a local tree company. We compost some and use it on walking paths. The older composted stuff is used as top dressing on the garden beds.

Composting is pretty simple and one of the best ways to get organic matter back into the soil. Year round we collect all the vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds. We layer this with grass clippings and leaves in the fall. We have multiple piles along the edge of the property that has partial shade. In the winter we use a big dark trash barrel with some drain holes in the bottom that we keep in a sunny spot to collect. It adds up and I've had to add a second 55 gallon composter for winter use. In the spring we turn the oldest pile for use and replace with the winter compost. Between manure composting and vegetation, we get tons of earth worms which benefit the soil greatly. It is funny to watch my wife get so excited about worms.
Click to expand...

That's awesome, man. I hope you stick around and monitor this thread, could be a lot of help with advice based on experience.

Have you ever heard of or know anything about biochar?

I just got into a property where I have lots of room for big plans, but a little late and too busy this year to get started. Plus I want to amend the soil in some places prior to planting. For instance, blueberries require acidic soil, between 4.5 and 6, if memory serves.

Has anyone had soil samples tested to determine what amendments might be needed. From what I gather it does take time for amendments to alter ph, so I really need to get on that, the testing.
 
I have developed my own cultivars of pawpaw trees with the help of the Good Lord.
Pawpaw fruit is very healthy for you.
Pawpaw, also known as Indian banana, is the largest native fruit in North America.
They do well wherever apple trees do well.

A nursery sells my trees along with several exotics like jujube, persimmon, fig, mulberry, various nut trees, etc.
The owner is a military veteran that served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is fruit from my latest pawpaw tree, I have developed.
It tastes like a cross between a peach and a banana.
If you want to know more then please contact me with a PM.
I have a private business operation and internet presence.

KL_10_07_21.jpg

KL_530g_cut_in_half_10_15_20.jpg

This is the natural range for pawpaw trees.
It can be grown in parts of NY and New England, California, and the Pacific northwest.
It requires high summer humidity.
You need at least 150 frost free days and occasional upper 80 temperatures in the extreme northern range.

1658943493858.png
 
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I will be experimenting with 'non dig gardening' next year. I have two large bails of silage coming off a farmer which I will cover the ground with during the winter to kill off grass and other stuff.
 
Ed Fones said:
I will be experimenting with 'non dig gardening' next year. I have two large bails of silage coming off a farmer which I will cover the ground with during the winter to kill off grass and other stuff.
Click to expand...
Try wine cap mushrooms.
This is the best source for spawn.
They also have shiitake, etc.

Wine Cap Mushroom Sawdust Spawn: wood chip and straw beds

Grow your own mushrooms! Field & Forest has superior, certified organic spawn, ready-to-fruit indoor mushroom grow kits, tools, technical info & advice.
www.fieldforest.net
 
The best source of high quality, low price orchard trees in the USA.
Their cherries are the world's best:

www.vanwell.net

Van Well Nursery

Van Well Nursery is a top supplier of fruit trees to commercial orchardists, wholesale and retail nurseries and the average backyard gardener. We grow more than 1 million apple, pear, cherry, peach, plum, prune, apricot, and nectarine trees each year.
www.vanwell.net www.vanwell.net
 
WWLaidback said:
Try wine cap mushrooms.
This is the best source for spawn.
They also have shiitake, etc.

Wine Cap Mushroom Sawdust Spawn: wood chip and straw beds

Grow your own mushrooms! Field & Forest has superior, certified organic spawn, ready-to-fruit indoor mushroom grow kits, tools, technical info & advice.
www.fieldforest.net
Click to expand...
No laidback the idea is you do not cultivate the ground. So the cover kills off the grass and weeds and you make a tiny hole in the cover and plant your vegetable seedling through it and then the ground covering also acts as a weed suppressant. Meanwhile beneath the ground covering the worms and other soil life go crazy with food as they try to breakdown the rotting grass. You can cover the ground first with manure as well to make all super fertile.
 
An interesting factoid about pawpaw trees, they give off a scent similar to rotting flesh to attract certain insects to pollinate. We thought we had one on the property, as time has gone on it appears to be something other than pawpaw.
 
Mick Doobie said:
That's awesome, man. I hope you stick around and monitor this thread, could be a lot of help with advice based on experience.

Have you ever heard of or know anything about biochar?
Click to expand...
Looked it up. Sounds a lot like ash or more specifially, charcoal aka carbon. Lightweight black residue, made of carbon and ashes, remaining after the pyrolysis of biomass.
Mick Doobie said:
I just got into a property where I have lots of room for big plans, but a little late and too busy this year to get started. Plus I want to amend the soil in some places prior to planting. For instance, blueberries require acidic soil, between 4.5 and 6, if memory serves.
Click to expand...
We've planted blueberries that last couple years. One spot did ok, the other they really are not thriving. I have teased the wife as we have wild blueberries all around the region.
Mick Doobie said:
Has anyone had soil samples tested to determine what amendments might be needed. From what I gather it does take time for amendments to alter ph, so I really need to get on that, the testing.
Click to expand...
I suggested to the wife to get a garden soil test kit and a PH test meter. She says she doesn't need one and prefers to just experiment year to year.

I saw the mention of mushrooms. We have been foraging for a few years now. Joined a Facebook group for $10 and they have hunts and bring in state experts to teach you how to identify and test. This spring a friend had a bunch of trees taken down. They had to bring in a huge crane. There was about 20 oaks, limbed and ready to go. These were cut at the perfect time for plugging with Shitake spawn. We cut up about 20- 4ft sections and bought 3 varieties. Takes about 16-18 months. We'll find out next years. Wife waters the logs about once a week when it is dry.

Headed fishing tonight but I'll take some pictures if I don't get in too late tonight (usually 2-3am). The flowers are in a bit of a summer lull but still some decent color. She has an orchid that is stunning right now.


flower_01.jpg
 
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