Food gardening

LazerBeakShiek said:
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prolly going to jail
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Pronographic photo cannot be viewed in my state without age verification.

I kid. Looks like Black Walnuts to me. Gather 'em before the squirrels get 'em in a bushel basket with a little air flow and let em dry and turn black. Grab a hammer & a cinder block or a brick & have a ball. I'd say get your aggression out, but if you smack 'em too hard it'll be difficult to distinguish meat from shell. Might want to make sure your dental plan is paid up and current.
 
I have a blossom on my Cherry tree! The one I planted last year died over the winter. Made the possibly risky move of placing another in the same spot, late spring/early summer, fingers crossed. Although I think you're not supposed to fertilize a new tree the first year, it did look like it needed some help, so I recently top dressed with mulch containing cow manure. It's awake, has new growth, and a single blossom. Hopefully the new growth(and the tree itself) survives the winter freeze.
 
Something I find interesting, ymmv.

I'd noticed ants on my corn, up and down, but primarily up at that top tassels from which pollen will later fall. Oh crap, ants are eating my corn tassles, I thought. A little research was in order. What I found....

Aphid farming. Closer look, yeah, there are small aphids. Aphids get on the corn. They "exude" some form of sweet sticky substance, excrement maybe? The ants dog it. So the ants in an effort to protect the aphids and the production of said sweet sticky substance form a protective area around the aphids, protection against predators. Crazy how the natural world works.

Besides getting the aphids off, a semi strong blast from a garden hose can help, it can be helpful to disrupt the protective ant colony. How can this be accomplished? Possibly, and I haven't tried it, yet....find another ant colony in a different location. Set out pieces of bread with a little something sweet on top, honey maybe. Once the ants are on the bread move it to the location of the aphid protective problem ants. The ant colony will recognize the new ants as interlopers. Disrupt the balance with....Ant Wars!

Yeah, crazy. But it's so crazy that it.just.might.work.

*shrug*
 
How is your garden doing?! Post some pics.

I tilled a vacant area inside (the fenced) garden. Man, poor soul quality, powdery, sandy I reckon. Dirt, sucky dirt. Lots of rocks and stone. I'm not going the full tilt truckload of compost route, not now anyway. Will put in fall vegetables, see what happens. Top tilled a 8x50 area outside the existing 12x50 fenced area I will be expanding to next year, with permanent perimeter fencing. Will let the grass/weeds die on the surface, deeper till, and plant a cover crop to till under next early spring. I gotta get some organic matter into that "soil".

It's running late for some things, but I have more cucumber seedlings(for later pickling), yellow squash(for eating, freezing once cooked, and maybe try some dehydrating), butternut squash(might be pushed for time in the growing season), and pumpkins! The pumpkins are about 100 days until harvest. Might juuuust squeeze by with pumpkins for Halloween. I have 12 seedlings, only going to plant 2-3 inside a separate dedicated fenced area. Maybe 2-3 randomly on the property, "wild", if the deer get em they get em. The rest I'll be delivering and planting for relatives, a random spot "wild" where they don't have to mow.

Quite a journey so far. Hopefully I'm learning some things from which I can benefit in the future. Hard work now might make things less difficult in the years to come. It's kind of sobering to think, overall you only get one opportunity per year. At 60, how many more do I have left. I've seen what (old) age does to people, it ain't pretty, too many difficulties drastically reducing the quality of life. That ain't for me, wouldn't look forward to it. Average life expectancy, for males, he-man such as myself, 'bout 77, or less. Sounds about right. 16 more chances, maybe. 16 chances ain't too bad. Sweet 16.
 
Went out to the garden, picked about twenty tomatoes, 10 bell peppers and about 20 Jalapeno peppers. Came back in
and cut up the tomatoes, diced them, through them in a pot, mashed and them and started spaghetti sauce.
 
We've had mostly success this summer - but not perfection. The squash and pinto beans played out early - we harvested them for all they were worth and then yanked them out. That's the big open area in the middle. Over to the left we're still getting great and many jalapenos and the arugula is still going strong (I don't really care for arugula but my wife has a boner for it).

Over to the right in the bushy area - that's tomatoes in the front with big stalks of okra behind them. The okra produces like yellow squash. It comes so fast you have to harvest daily and eat it or give it away - we've been doing both. For weeks now. The tomatoes are another story. They started strong and we got some good picks early on - but since they've just gone dormant in terms of bearing fruit. We suspect it's the long, sustained, intense heat.

Already planning for the fall season now. :thumbs up:


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while bordering a garden, I tried that cardboard stuff. Crabgrass went under and some low weeds. so I'm taking all that out.
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I sprayed it with Glucosaphate. Next year its should be safe for peppers and tomatoes..carrots and radishes..or perhaps I will like the taste of the poison who knows..
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the Strawberry hangers are not working correctly. They grow straight down. Not out and I lost half of them..whats the secret?
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I got 18 months to hang around do home remodeling and gardening..play music...
 
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Picked a bunch of brussle sprouts and more tomatoes today. I have about 3 gallon freezer bags filled with jalapeno peppers. I will have to bring them
to the food pantry tomorrow. The pears will be ripening soon.
 
oh, perhaps the strawberry runners go back into the bag? Yeah, I dont know. It does not look like the picture on the box.
 
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There are so many pears on the tree this year that one of the limbs broke from the weight. So far I have picked up 3 five gallon buckets full, threw probably a
gallon bucket full over the fence because the insects were already in them. There is still probably 3 to 5 five gallon buckets full on the branch that I can't reach.
No wonder why it broke. I brought them all down to the gent down the road for his goats. They liked them. I have never seen so much fruit on one tree of any kind
as this one! Looks like a few more branches could break. The branch that broke was about five to six inches in diameter.
 
Absolutely agree! Growing your own food is not just about self-reliance; it's also incredibly rewarding. I started with a small herb garden on my balcony, and it's been a game-changer. Fresh herbs make meals so much tastier. I even add it to my Korean corn dogs. Let's keep this thread buzzing with gardening tips and experiences. Happy planting!
 
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Timmyghoul said:
Absolutely agree! Growing your own food is not just about self-reliance; it's also incredibly rewarding
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It makes one realize how no one wants to pick crops in the hot sun! I brought about 25 lbs of pears to the local food bank. I must have brought over a hundred
pounds there last year. I think I can meet that again.
 
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RFR said:
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.
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Here is our 2023 garden:
 
I've got little pumpkins on the vine(s). It was kind of an afterthought, I said what the heck and sunk some seeds. Wife's idea. Being an afterthought they went in late, planted around Aug 1st. Package says 110 days to maturity. With any luck I may have pumpkins for Halloween. It's just a small fenced space where earlier I had some other things growing. I started 12 plants, but realistically only had room for 2. Couldn't give the others away, go figure. Grow about 14 feet long, so I am training them to just grow round and round. One got away from me and grew up the fence/cage, out of the cage, and back in the cage. It has little pumpkins growing on it, not sure it won't get eaten by deer, supposedly they do not prefer fuzzy plants. Yeah, right. I'll likely pluck off most so as to concentrate on getting 3-4 nice sized jack-o'-lanterns. I'll probably eat one, although I'm not sure the variety planted is particularly good for eating. If memory serves first frost for the area is 1st to 2nd week of Nov. Game over then. Fingers crossed.
 
I've been growing some cooking ingredients myself, like herbs and veggies, in my backyard garden. Personally, I think that it's not only rewarding but also a great way to connect with nature.

Sharing tips and experiences in this thread is an excellent idea. Let's keep it all about growing food.

I'm also a cooking enthusiast! Recently, I've been ordering beef bone broth online from https://healofoods.com/products/heritage-beef-bone-broth. So far, I can say that it's been a real game-changer, saving me time and adding a rich flavor to my dishes.
 
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I've received orders to turn/churn in some fresh soil and to go over and get the irrigation system squared away.

This year we're going to install some partial light/shade garden netting/canopy to give our tomatoes a better chance. The direct and indirect heat was just excruciating last season.

I'm really very much looking to accomplish our strongest year yet with regard to harvest yields. You know.... just in case society breaks down - that extra broccoli crown will come in handy. :-)
 
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