No pics and just a short one from me today, as it’s too durn pretty outside to stay on the machine for long. But: in case you don’t know, many vegetable plants only require 30-90 days of growth before harvest. And many are very easy to grow; lettuce and chard and potatoes and even tomatoes. There are many foods that freeze well, or can be stored dry.
Why am I reminding you of this? Because the flooding in the Midwest is going to utterly ruin a lot of our corporate farms, the farms that we still rely upon for our system of cheap and readily available food. No, I don’t predict starvation and food shortages, but yes, I do predict a rise in the price of food starting this fall or sooner, an even more dramatic rise than is already coming due to inflation and energy prices.
Spade up some grass. Fill a couple of pots. Head over to a community plot, or just create one on some unused land in your ’hood. It’s not too late.
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There's still some time
I heard a farmer on NPR this morning saying that if the flood waters recede in the next couple of weeks and the ground dries out enough, there’s still time for soybeans, and perhaps corn as well.
but the nature of our food distribution system and markets
guarantees higher prices, even if some portion of the crops are saved. market speculation will play a large role in food inflation, i’m betting.
Growing things is good for you
Never mind the enormously superior taste and texture, set aside the vastly higher nutritional level, forget the freedom from pesticides and hormones and antibiotics; growing your own is good for you emotionally and spiritually.
It will help you to be a better person; speaking only for myself, that’s a very desirable thing.
Thanks
It’s nice that you’re encouraging people to plant a veggie garden, especially in a bad situation.
We very much enjoy your garden stories and pictures.
A cheap and easy way to get a HUGE sense of accomplishment!
Last year, I dug up a new bed next to the driveway for perennials (about 6’x18’). By mid-June, I realized it was way too dry and hot to expect perennials to settle in comfortably, so I switched gears and planted tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, swiss chard, mesclun mix, onions, beets and a few kohlrabi. (There were a dog rose, stella d’oro daylilies, sage, parsley, chives, thyme and oregano, as well.)
Well, it was just so easy, and so darn much fun nurturing it. And then it spent the winter nourishing me! I’m hooked. It’s a little bigger this year (about 2’ wider). And it now has a low stone wall around it to level the patch for more even watering. I’ve moved the herbs to a back path and the dog rose now helps disguise the utility boxes. The daylilies have moved to the median between the sidewalk and the street. I’ve bordered a flower bed with carrots at the front and beets at the back. And the mesclun mix fills empty border spots here and there. Along the fence I’ve planted 3 kinds of climber beans: Scarlet Runner, Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake. I’d moved a couple of small shrubs last fall, so I planted yellow zucchini and green zucchini in the holes/hills left behind. And for good measure, I found a little empty spot for a hill of lemon cucumbers.
So now, the vegetable garden seems spacious housing only tomatoes (from sweet million cherries to beefsteak, plus early girl, roma, purple, gold and tiger stripe); sweet banana peppers, jalapenos, and red shepherd’s purse; celebration swiss chard; bermuda onions; leeks; 2 kinds of eggplant; andandand I can’t remember what else!
Oh, and a neighbor gave me four strawberry plants a few years ago. Now they form the undercover for the peonies and lilacs, and I’m looking forward to a bumper crop (a year’s worth for the freezer with lots left over for friends).
ChiDy ~ Your description of the Aronia piqued my curiosity, so I visited a local nursery and got a nice, healthy specimen. While there, I picked up a loganberry as well. It’s evidently a cross between raspberries and blackberries.
Just to put this all in perspective, my yard is 50’ x 80’ total. And I still have (a bit of) grass to mow. (Lambert ~ I love my push mower. No longer the mowers of our childhoods, they are engineered to move much easier. The best: it’s quiet; and no fumes!)
I wish everyone as much fun in the garden as I’m having! See ya’ after dark…
My pole beans haven't sprouted, dammit
Though I dug around a hill and found that they haven’t rotted, either.
And my state isn’t underwater, either, like the Midwest.
[x] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Did you fail to perform your Beltain rituals?
Shame on you then, and your own fault if the ground is not fertile.
Not too late though; always time to make amends.
(more technological question: did you soak the beans before planting? If not, could take 10-12 days for them to germinate.)
I planted pole beans last Sunday and they're up
Did I mention that I mixed vegetable compost and sheep manure (about half ’n half), topped up my holes and planted in that?
And now… the wonders of mushroom compost. If you have a mushroom farm anywhere in your area, it’s a great (and economical) crop booster. There is a farm, not too, too far from here that lets you load up FREE! Pick-up truck, trailer, bags, whatever, as long as you do your own shoveling. (Another farm charges $25/pick-up load.) I defy you to have a crop failure using THAT stuff.
No, I did not soak the beans
Good idea. I’m watering every night, though. But it’s been coolish. Maybe I just need to be patient.
[x] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Green manure...
… This year, I’m not collecting the weeds into a pile, I’m just ripping them up, and then turning them into the ground where found. Seems reasonable that this will intensify whatever good qualities are already there….
[x] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
patience issues
Yeah, I know, exactly….
Peas, beans, and anything with a hard cover will benefit from an overnight soak before planting. Cuts the germination time in half or better, and I am all about having the little growing things respond promptly to my demands; that authoritarian streak, I’m afraid.
Re: weeds, my experience, it is a good idea to let them sit out a couple three days and dry the roots thoroughly before turning them under. A lot of weeds, especially the grasses, will just come right back up if the roots aren’t dead. No seedheads, ever, though; toss ’em out with the green trash.
Chard, Lambert; cool weather planting, it is the best. You will never grow anything more rewarding - and good for you.
jackyt: that's exactly the way to deal with problem
areas. i’ve found myself becoming much more thoughtful, and minded like my plants, as i choose ’what goes where and when.’ veggies are wonderful in that way, they’ll do well in places that tender perens won’t, and sometimes vice versa. it’s all about Emfolling properly.
heh. i’ll post on that later. three hundred quatloos to anyone who knows the ref.
Another tip for pole beans...
The soil needs to be 16-18 degrees centigrade (64-70F?). That really does seem to be a big deal for germination within the bean clan.