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[Hollywoodgold]

My gardening research notes are online at:

http://sca21.wikia.com/wiki/Mess

Suggested sample list of books:

Gardening for Maximum Nutrition, Jerry Minnich
The Postage Stamp Garden Book, Duane Newcomb
How to Grow more Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine, John Jeavons
Carrots Love Tomatoes, Louise Riotte
One Circle, How to Grow a Complete Diet in Less than 1,000 Square Feet, David Duhon
Secrets to Great Soil, Elizabeth P. Stell
Future Fertility, Transforming Human Waste Into Human Wealth, John Beeby
Test Your Soil With Plants, John Beeby
The Humanure Handbook:  A Guide to Composting Human Manure, by Joseph Jenkins

Fred:

Thanks for the list. I am thinking we should have a "Lists" thread from which to build great resources.

DS

[Hollywoodgold]

A cheap and simple soils additive is coffee grounds. The local Starbucks abounds with this additive.

I decided to buy fruit trees today. Bought 2 pears, 2 plums, 2 apples and 2 figs. Unlike vegetables, they take a couple of years to generate significant fruit. A long term investment.

DS

[crepemyrtle357]

Thanks for the list. I am thinking we should have a "Lists" thread from which to build great resources

Use the wolfekipedia.

[Hollywoodgold]

Thanks for the list. I am thinking we should have a "Lists" thread from which to build great resources

Use the wolfekipedia.

Crepe:

I have but with little value resulting. Have a link??

Thanks

[mutti]

Friend I know who has a "garden type" commercial operation has passed this on:

1. Wholesale seed sales of fresh greens seed has dropped 20-25% due to concerns over liability (i.e. consumers who depend on box stores for fresh greens might be short later in the summer)

2. Demand for "plants" up about 45%.

[Lisa Aenne]

Mutti, what is the potential liability with seeds for greens? 

I did some weeding yesterday and noticed that the little oregano plants I transplanted last year are starting to grow and spread.  Yum!  I need to begin work on a terracing project I have planned and I need to move some strawberry plants.

[mutti]

Mutti, what is the potential liability with seeds for greens? 

I did some weeding yesterday and noticed that the little oregano plants I transplanted last year are starting to grow and spread.  Yum!  I need to begin work on a terracing project I have planned and I need to move some strawberry plants.

According to Paul, many growers will be avoiding the "fresh greens" due to the spinach/mixed greens scare last year.So they are ordering less see to grow the greens. From my understanding liability insurance prices are inhibiting the "smaller farmers" from providing this product due to cost constraints. But - I don't grow for sale so I don't follow it closely. Thankfully I have his "heads up" JIC. mutti

[NuclearDruid]

1 in 7 Americans plan to have a garden this year, up from 1 in 8 last year.

Survey: Big increase in US food gardening for 2009

The National Gardening Association’s new survey, “The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America,� finds a 19 percent increase from 2008 in the number of Americans planning to grow their own food.

In addition to cost savings, the survey found that Americans are looking for better taste and safer foods.

ND

[Lisa Aenne]

Thank you for the information, Mutti.  I've not had much success at growing greens.  I don't know if I wait too long, or don't pull enough out when thinning, but they are usually scrawny.  All the more incentive to try again for better success this year; it sounds like availability will definitely be compromised this summer.  We eat a lot of veggies, especially greens.

[MamaLiberty]

Well, I did it again... My tomato plants are already a foot tall and it will be weeks before they can be planted outside. sigh

I did borrow some "wall o water" thingies from a neighbor who isn't going to have a garden this year. They are used, so no instructions come with them, naturally. Does anyone have experience with these things? She described how to set them up, but I think I need to be an octopus first... or recruit at least three other people to help with it. Also, she indicated they are fairly fragile and she didn't have any "repair kits." Can they be repaired like a plastic swimming pool or

How much earlier can tomatoes be put out with these things? She wasn't clear on that either.

Any ideas gratefully received.

[crepemyrtle357]

Well, I did it again... My tomato plants are already a foot tall and it will be weeks before they can be planted outside. sigh

I've been fighting the urge to start my tomatoes yet. I think will wait til around April 15th. Suppose to snow sometime soon.

I planted some lettuce seed in a long planter, can't remember if they are real old or not lost label off the jar. But pretty sure some will germinate. But lettuce can take the snow just not hard freezes.

Been to friggin wet to do much outside. Like walking on a sponge.

[Jebur27]

Well, we have our most successful garden yet. 

We have about a dozen tomato plants, some of which we started from seed.  This is the first time we've had success with seeds.  Interestingly, the tomatoes that we bought already started are an heirloom variety called Homestead, so I need to learn how to save the seeds.  The tomatoes from seed are a hybrid variety. 

We also have several sugar snap peas, onions, and Swiss chard, all of which are actually growing.  The peas and chard were started from seed and the onion from sets. 

We have musk melon & water melon, although the squirrels have gotten a few of them.  They are now caged. 

Until this year, the only things with which we have been successful has been tomatoes & peppers of various types. 

[dogsledder54]

My garden is on hold until it stops snowing.   

[Canadian Mamma]

My garden is on hold until it stops snowing.   

tell me about it, snowed yesterday, got some brown grass poking thru some places, but the ground is still frozen solid.  Not even the crocus are stirring yet.

[MamaLiberty]

Indeed... I'm getting whiplash. It gets warm and the grass is turning green - then it snows again!! The snow isn't as deep, melts faster, and the nights are not as cold anymore, but still freezing good and hard. The tulips were coming up last week, but now are under the snow again. I hope they are ok. No sign of the crocus yet, but there is a layer of ice on the ground where they come up.

I'm almost tired of winter this year...