Farming and Homesteading

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Do you know about sheet mulch gardening? I'm not so good at it, but I have done it before.

It's also known as no-till gardening.

You get cardboard boxes that you lay flat on the ground. Take a pitchfork and CAREFULLY stab lots of holes in it for drainage(if you like having toes and no stigmata, then PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF WHERE YOU'RE STABBING).

Then you layer straw and composty soil in alternating patterns on top of the cardboard until you have big mounds. Somewhere in the middle, you can just lay your seeds in and then pile more straw and composty soil on top.

The plants will grow in very loose, loamy soil.

My problem is that the soil is so loose that it drains really well, and I find I have to water a lot, and the plants don't take root very well, which makes weak stalks.

It is however, very good for growing potatoes, in my experience.

 

[Varzar]

Do you know about sheet mulch gardening? I'm not so good at it, but I have done it before.

It's also known as no-till gardening.

You get cardboard boxes that you lay flat on the ground. Take a pitchfork and CAREFULLY stab lots of holes in it for drainage(if you like having toes and no stigmata, then PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF WHERE YOU'RE STABBING).

Then you layer straw and composty soil in alternating patterns on top of the cardboard until you have big mounds. Somewhere in the middle, you can just lay your seeds in and then pile more straw and composty soil on top.

The plants will grow in very loose, loamy soil.

My problem is that the soil is so loose that it drains really well, and I find I have to water a lot, and the plants don't take root very well, which makes weak stalks.

It is however, very good for growing potatoes, in my experience.

Interesting, no I haven't heard of that before. I'll google it some more!
I have heard of people growing potatoes in just straw before though.
Potatoes seem very non-fussy. I grow mine in old car tires that I fill with a very sandy soil mixture. I can stack more tires on top and bury the plant as it grows to get more of a root system going.
The fast draining soil seems pretty important for potatoes. One year I used a really rich compost type material, and a lot of the potatoes rotted. They don't seem to like soil that stays wet for too long.

 

[Mary Terry]

The landscaping we've been doing around the house basically amounts to creating terraces. Not a lot of flat space up here as it is, so I've had to find places I could flatten out enough to make garden space.

I've been trying to learn something new each year in the garden, despite still having a lot of other construction projects to do. This year's experiment was peppers, and I have to say, it worked out really well. I got a lot of peppers, and I saved the seeds from them for next year. I like plants where I don't have to re-buy seeds annually.

I've been mostly growing what is hardy and seems to grow well here. Potatoes, onions, and garlic outside, peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse.
I haven't tried celery yet, but rhubarb grows effortlessly for sure, survives the winters with no problem at all. I didn't realize those wouldn't grow down south, interesting!

I also grew some cantaloupe this year in the greenhouse. It grew well, but in the midst of summer when we had 100+F temperatures, the greenhouse got too hot and most of my plants stopped making flowers, and therefore fruit. Still, I got a couple cantaloupe anyways, and they were soooo much better than any I have ever had from the store.

The thing I'm trying to learn right now is how/when to fertilize to get good sized tomatoes. I grew the same type as my neighbour, but his are always giant compared to mine, so obviously I need to fertilize more..

It is too humid and hot here for rhubarb, celery, and other veggies and for lots of flowers like peonies. Tulips have to be dug up and refrigerated over winter in order to bloom next year because it never gets cold enough here. The early French Canadian settlers in Louisiana, the Cajuns, couldn't grow celery so they substituted bell pepper for it. And they still do that even though celery is available in stores.

I know what you mean about homegrown food tasting so much better than store-bought food, and it is loaded with more vitamins and nutrition than produce that has been shipped thousands of miles or is sitting in a grocery store for days before we buy it. If I can feasibly grow veggies and fruits, then I do so and preserve it by freezing, dehydrating, canning, pickling or whatever works best. I love the entire process.

About tomatoes - they love heat, don't like a lot of water so I feel the dampness of the soil before I water. They need a lot of calcium in a formula that the roots can absorb or they will get blossom end rot. When tomatoes are overwatered, they grow big, sometimes the skin bursts, and the flavor is diluted by the excess water. Your smaller tomatoes may taste a lot better than the neighbor's big tomatoes. Bigness is not always best for tomatoes!

I'm still a novice about saving seeds but I'm learning!

 

[Mary Terry]

Do you know about sheet mulch gardening? I'm not so good at it, but I have done it before.

It's also known as no-till gardening.

You get cardboard boxes that you lay flat on the ground. Take a pitchfork and CAREFULLY stab lots of holes in it for drainage(if you like having toes and no stigmata, then PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF WHERE YOU'RE STABBING).

Then you layer straw and composty soil in alternating patterns on top of the cardboard until you have big mounds. Somewhere in the middle, you can just lay your seeds in and then pile more straw and composty soil on top.

The plants will grow in very loose, loamy soil.

My problem is that the soil is so loose that it drains really well, and I find I have to water a lot, and the plants don't take root very well, which makes weak stalks.

It is however, very good for growing potatoes, in my experience.

I expanded our garden by the no-till method. It works great for me! I posted about it in a thread somewhere here last spring when I cut open the huge cardboard box that our garage freezer came in and laid it on the ground next to the existing garden. I didn't put any holes in the cardboard because weeds would come thru the holes. I did put 5 inches of cypress bark on top of the cardboard. The soil was weed-free, soft, easily tilled when we removed the cardboard. That is the spot where the Brussel sprouts, cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower are growing now. I recommend it for anyone who doesn't want to dig out weeds or try to till dirt that is hard as a rock. It's the only way I'll ever expand the garden in the future because it was so easy. It requires only patience.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

It is too humid and hot here for rhubarb, celery, and other veggies and for lots of flowers like peonies. Tulips have to be dug up and refrigerated over winter in order to bloom next year because it never gets cold enough here. The early French Canadian settlers in Louisiana, the Cajuns, couldn't grow celery so they substituted bell pepper for it. And they still do that even though celery is available in stores.

I know what you mean about homegrown food tasting so much better than store-bought food, and it is loaded with more vitamins and nutrition than produce that has been shipped thousands of miles or is sitting in a grocery store for days before we buy it. If I can feasibly grow veggies and fruits, then I do so and preserve it by freezing, dehydrating, canning, pickling or whatever works best. I love the entire process.

About tomatoes - they love heat, don't like a lot of water so I feel the dampness of the soil before I water. They need a lot of calcium in a formula that the roots can absorb or they will get blossom end rot. When tomatoes are overwatered, they grow big, sometimes the skin bursts, and the flavor is diluted by the excess water. Your smaller tomatoes may taste a lot better than the neighbor's big tomatoes. Bigness is not always best for tomatoes!

I'm still a novice about saving seeds but I'm learning!

I have a planter where I put old oyster shells on top of the soil. It seems to really help the plants in it, as they have been growing in the same medium for many years without new soil. I wonder if that would help tomatoes, to have oyster shells wedged into the soil? The shells slowly biodegrade in the rain, over the course of several years.

Where I live the tomato growing season is very short. I usually only get a handful of precious tomatoes, and they're usually very small. Two whole bell peppers grew this year. And they were very much appreciated, adding complexity to our dinners.

My biggest produce I am able to harvest fresh where I live are onions, potatoes, squash, greens, and so much fruit such as plums, apples, and lots of wild blackberries. There are wild strawberries and thimbleberries on the trails, but those are so rare, that when you find one, you eat it slowly and really enjoy it, because that might be one of the only ones you get that year.

Celery grows easily here. It's an autumn crop. It doesn't like heat at all, and grows really quickly during the cold, rainy season, in shady, soggy soil.

Other plants that are easy to grow here are ginger, horseradish, and Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), but I really dislike the flavor of sunchokes.

Most of the stuff I harvest is grown wild. I love incorporating wild edible plants into my meals. There are so many up here in the shadows of Mt Hood and Mt St Helens. Also there are a lot of mushrooms in the forest, but I can safely identify only a couple varieties.

Oh boy, what a fun thread to post on. Y'all have got my curiosity going now!

 

[Magna]

I have a planter where I put old oyster shells on top of the soil. It seems to really help the plants in it, as they have been growing in the same medium for many years without new soil. I wonder if that would help tomatoes, to have oyster shells wedged into the soil? The shells slowly biodegrade in the rain, over the course of several years.

From my understanding a cause of Blossom End Rot, a disease that can plague tomato plants is a lack of calcium in the soil. Adding oyster shell would be a great preventative. I've been saving organic eggshells for the same reason. I've ground over one quart of powdered eggshell so far and I plan on sprinkling some in each planting hole and around those areas for my tomatoes next year because I had a bad problem with blossom end rot on my tomatoes this last season. I lost over half of my tomatoes for that reason.

 

[Mary Terry]

@Yeshausdaughter - I wish I knew more about wild foraging. I occasionally harvest dandelion greens, all kinds of wild fruits, berries and nuts, and have eaten the tips of wild thistles which are cousins to artichokes. I've never harvested mushrooms, although I know some of the common ones such as hen of the woods, because I'm afraid I'd poison us!

One of my favorites is wild cherries. They are tiny cherries and it takes a long time to collect even a half cup of them which I turn into a sauce/gastric for meat. I have to beat the birds to them, same as the wild grapes called muscadines and scuppernongs here. I also love wild hickory nuts although they are extremely hard to crack open and extract the meat. They taste unique when compared with pecans and walnuts.

We also have sassafras trees, the leaves of which is used by Native Americans and Cajuns to make file gumbo. The roots also flavor root beer.

I recently realized that a flower I've always called a "pasture weed" is St. Johns Wort. It grows all over the place here and is toxic in sufficient doses.

I love talking about this topic, too!

Edit - There is a show on PBS television called "Wild Harvest" or something like that. Two Canadians, Les Stroud and a chef named Paul (I forget his last name) forage in your area and in Canada, and the chef creates dishes with what they find. He makes flour with cattail pollen and cooks the cattail roots, too.

 

[Mary Terry]

From my understanding a cause of Blossom End Rot, a disease that can plague tomato plants is a lack of calcium in the soil. Adding oyster shell would be a great preventative. I've been saving organic eggshells for the same reason. I've ground over one quart of powdered eggshell so far and I plan on sprinkling some in each planting hole and around those areas for my tomatoes next year because I had a bad problem with blossom end rot on my tomatoes this last season. I lost over half of my tomatoes for that reason.

Magna, I think you have to apply calcium in a different form such as calcium citrate or something like that. (I should google this). Egg and oyster shells don't break down calcium in a form that plant roots can readily access. I just buy a commercial tomato fertilizer that specifically contains calcium for tomato plants. It has always worked well. I put egg shells in my compost pile to let the earthworms break it down over time.

 

[Varzar]

There are so many up here in the shadows of Mt Hood and Mt St Helens.

Are you along the 84 somewhere? That is such a beautiful drive!! We went through there on a road trip a few years ago. I really enjoyed it!

I also wish I knew more about foraging, but I really have no idea which plants are safe to eat, and which would be good to eat.
The only one I've collected some of, but haven't quite figured out a good use for so far is yarrow. It grows all around our house prolifically, and it smells quite nice.

 

[Varzar]

It is too humid and hot here for rhubarb, celery, and other veggies and for lots of flowers like peonies. Tulips have to be dug up and refrigerated over winter in order to bloom next year because it never gets cold enough here. The early French Canadian settlers in Louisiana, the Cajuns, couldn't grow celery so they substituted bell pepper for it. And they still do that even though celery is available in stores.

I know what you mean about homegrown food tasting so much better than store-bought food, and it is loaded with more vitamins and nutrition than produce that has been shipped thousands of miles or is sitting in a grocery store for days before we buy it. If I can feasibly grow veggies and fruits, then I do so and preserve it by freezing, dehydrating, canning, pickling or whatever works best. I love the entire process.

About tomatoes - they love heat, don't like a lot of water so I feel the dampness of the soil before I water. They need a lot of calcium in a formula that the roots can absorb or they will get blossom end rot. When tomatoes are overwatered, they grow big, sometimes the skin bursts, and the flavor is diluted by the excess water. Your smaller tomatoes may taste a lot better than the neighbor's big tomatoes. Bigness is not always best for tomatoes!

I'm still a novice about saving seeds but I'm learning!

I really like knowing that none of the things I grow have been treated with any pesticides. It's so much more comforting when I eat my home grown lettuce and I'm not wondering what else I'm eating with it.
I do lose some stuff each year to insects and rodents. But, I'm ok with that. It's worth it for pesticide free food even if I have to share a bit of my food with the bugs. lol

I've do a bunch of freezing, canning, dehydrating and pickling as well depending on what I grow. Not so much this year though. Normally do a bunch of canning with fruits, but our very hot dry summer this year meant most of the trees didn't produce much at all. I don't have any of my own trees yet (need more soil for that), so what I do get in terms of tree fruits normally comes from neighbours with overabundance.

For seed collecting, well, I'm new to all of this gardening stuff really. But I currently tend to just collect the easiest seeds. Peppers and melons, and if my lettuce bolts and goes to seed I'll try to collect those as well.
Some seem too complicated though, like tomato seeds I gather need to be fermented in that little gel bubble they have around them in order to grow again... I gather some people just plant a slice of a tomato and let the tomato remnant rot that way. Not sure how they keep the tomato all winter though and still have it be viable in the spring..

 

[Magna]

Are you along the 84 somewhere? That is such a beautiful drive!! We went through there on a road trip a few years ago. I really enjoyed it!

I also wish I knew more about foraging, but I really have no idea which plants are safe to eat, and which would be good to eat.
The only one I've collected some of, but haven't quite figured out a good use for so far is yarrow. It grows all around our house prolifically, and it smells quite nice.

I'm guessing you have Lambs Quarters as a weed? It's ubiquitous where I'm at. Lamb's Quarters: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves & Identification | Chenopodium album Far better than dandelion greens in my opinion because there's no bitterness. It tastes like a wild spinach to me. You can also collect and winnow the tiny black seeds of the plant and steam them. I tried this as an experiment but didn't like it. It was supposed to have similarities to quinoa, but I found the seeds had a bitterness that I wasn't fond of.

Do you have Purslane? Portulaca oleracea - Wikipedia I like purslane because the leaves have a slight tartness that tastes good.

Evening Primrose immature seed pods are like miniature okra and can be eaten raw or steamed. Oenothera biennis - Wikipedia

There are so many plants to forage that are edible. Other examples: The peeled talks of thistles, cattail shoots (and pollen), dandelion greens, immature milkweed pods (steamed), marsh marigold leaves (boiled with changes of water), new growth spruce buds, to name a few that I've tried.

Don't take my word for it though, it's important for each person to do their own research before eating any wild plant.

 

[Varzar]

I'm guessing you have Lambs Quarters as a weed? It's ubiquitous where I'm at. Lamb's Quarters: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves & Identification | Chenopodium album Far better than dandelion greens in my opinion because there's no bitterness. It tastes like a wild spinach to me. You can also collect and winnow the tiny black seeds of the plant and steam them. I tried this as an experiment but didn't like it. It was supposed to have similarities to quinoa, but I found the seeds had a bitterness that I wasn't fond of.

Do you have Purslane? Portulaca oleracea - Wikipedia I like purslane because the leaves have a slight tartness that tastes good.

Evening Primrose immature seed pods are like miniature okra and can be eaten raw or steamed. Oenothera biennis - Wikipedia

There are so many plants to forage that are edible. Other examples: The peeled talks of thistles, cattail shoots (and pollen), dandelion greens, immature milkweed pods (steamed), marsh marigold leaves (boiled with changes of water), new growth spruce buds, to name a few that I've tried.

Don't take my word for it though, it's important for each person to do their own research before eating any wild plant.

That's cool. I *think* I might recognize Lamb's Quarters. The map certainly indicates it should grow around here. I'll have to look out for it next year.
Purslane I don't remember seeing.

Also don't remember seeing Evening Primrose.. But that would be really cool if it did. Okra is something rather difficult to get here. Not a lot of people use it, and the last time I got some in the store, it was already mostly rotten (I gather it was not as it was supposed to be after I talked to a friend from Texas). I don't use it a lot either, but I like to try making Gumbo sometimes. Yumm!

Thistles definitely grow here (a bit of a weed really), as do cattails down in our pond. We get some dandelions, but the deer like those too, so they don't last too long once they grow a flower.

We also have wild strawberries all over the property. They take forever to pick a handful, cause they are no larger than a blueberry, but they taste like jam straight off the plant.. Sooo sweet!

 

[Magna]

@Varzar What about Burdock? (nature's velcro) The roots are edible. In fact they're often sold in specialty health food stores. The nature's velcro part: the seed pods are globes completely surrounded with extensions that have hooks at the end. They cling to most anything. Case in point: One of our children years ago threw a handful of them at another one of our children with the ball landing in hair. It was impossible to remove the ball of burdock seed pods and the hair had to be cut off.

 

[Varzar]

@Varzar What about Burdock? (nature's velcro) The roots are edible. In fact they're often sold in specialty health food stores. The nature's velcro part: the seed pods are globes completely surrounded with extensions that have hooks at the end. They cling to most anything. Case in point: One of our children years ago threw a handful of them at another one of our children with the ball landing in hair. It was impossible to remove the ball of burdock seed pods and the hair had to be cut off.

I just googled that.. I've heard people around here mention it before, but looking at the pictures online, it looks a lot like thistles. Spiky bulb with a purple flower.. How do I tell which is which?
I think it must be thistles we have though, I haven't noticed them turning in to clingy little balls.

We do have burr plants here though too, they are considered an invasive weed though and get pulled out as soon as possible. I'm also fighting a losing battle with another invasive weed, hoary alyssum.

Reminds me though, there's another plant we have that grows a tall woody stalk and has a big tuberous root. I've been wondering if that is an edible root, as it's always quite substantial in size. I'll have to figure out what it's called and research it.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I just googled that.. I've heard people around here mention it before, but looking at the pictures online, it looks a lot like thistles. Spiky bulb with a purple flower.. How do I tell which is which?
I think it must be thistles we have though, I haven't noticed them turning in to clingy little balls.

We do have burr plants here though too, they are considered an invasive weed though and get pulled out as soon as possible. I'm also fighting a losing battle with another invasive weed, hoary alyssum.

Reminds me though, there's another plant we have that grows a tall woody stalk and has a big tuberous root. I've been wondering if that is an edible root, as it's always quite substantial in size. I'll have to figure out what it's called and research it.

When looking for dock, don't look for the flower. That's just burdock. There are many varieties of genus rumex. You really shouldn't be just googling. If you don't know it, you don't know it.

 

[Varzar]

When looking for dock, don't look for the flower. That's just burdock. There are many varieties of genus rumex. You really shouldn't be just googling. If you don't know it, you don't know it.

I definitely don't know it then. But I wouldn't rely on just google for such things. My neighbours grew up here and are much more familiar with the local plant names. I'd certainly be quizzing them about what they know about the local plants too (and then supplementing that with more googling).

I'd be very cautious about eating any wild plants unless I was very certain they weren't going to kill me.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I just googled that.. I've heard people around here mention it before, but looking at the pictures online, it looks a lot like thistles. Spiky bulb with a purple flower.. How do I tell which is which?
I think it must be thistles we have though, I haven't noticed them turning in to clingy little balls.

We do have burr plants here though too, they are considered an invasive weed though and get pulled out as soon as possible. I'm also fighting a losing battle with another invasive weed, hoary alyssum.

Reminds me though, there's another plant we have that grows a tall woody stalk and has a big tuberous root. I've been wondering if that is an edible root, as it's always quite substantial in size. I'll have to figure out what it's called and research it.

Post a photo of the plant here, or PM it to me, I might be able to identify it!

 

[Varzar]

Post a photo of the plant here, or PM it to me, I might be able to identify it!

Cool thanks! I'll definitely take some pictures!

 

[Gerontius]

I got to this part and thought, "uh oh, what did you do with the moles? soup?"

You grind the back ends of them up & cook it all down & then you can make a jar of molasses!

 

[Mary Terry]

You grind the back ends of them up & cook it all down & then you can make a jar of molasses!

I use them to make Mexican mole sauces.