Garden thread.

[MountainDon]

I used to like Spam, many many moons ago.    

I think they make a low sodium turkey Spam; Spam health food.   

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I used to like Spam, many many moons ago.    

I think they make a low sodium turkey Spam; Spam health food.   

I remember eating Spam, onion and mustard sandwiches and watching Hee Haw on the black and white TV at my grandparents' when I was a kid.  They tasted good... probably weren't that great for you, but they tasted pretty decent.  It was probably on white bread, too, which we never had at home, but I couldn't say for sure.

The video of your grandson was pretty cute... have you put him on payroll yet?

[glenn kangiser]

I don't know if my son would allow me to have that great an influence on him... and they live 75 miles away.

I may have to try Spam again one of these days -- I remember I liked it - fried with ketchup too.  I don't try to think about the ingredients in it.

[muldoon]

worked in the garden with the kids a bit this afternoon.  we transplanted the serrano peppers and the bell peppers into bigger containers.  they are growing like weeds. 

the bell peppers have 17 fruits hanging, and the hot peppers are more than 40. 


this is my son, he's  a ham too. 


these are like fire! 


bell peppers..  yummy -- I dont know what they sell at the grocery store because those are just watery pale imitations of good peppers. 


some of the carrots are almost ready


the artichokes and chives are coming in slowly, hope I'll have some good harvest pictures of those in a few more weeks/months. 

finished up for the day, I know it's still just a little tinkerers garden but it has been fun for us this year. 

[glenn kangiser]

Hmm - I should transplant our peppers, muldoon.  One day soon they will freeze and I know if they don't freeze they will keep growing.

It's great that you garden with the kids, muldoon.  They need to learn it for their future.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Unbelievable.   I went out this morning and pulled the old vinyl table cloth off the makeshift earthboxes and everything is still alive.  We've had several days of bitter temperatures. 

[cordwood]

The wife brought the Jalapenos in last year and they did fair in the house and produced great in the spring but so far this year the NM. peppers don't seem to be digin on the indoor environment.    New Mexicos don't seem to do well out here anyway

[glenn kangiser]

I brought our peppers in -- not doing great but not bad either.  They would have been froze in one more day outside.

[Jens]

Haven't read all of the pages (forgive my lazyness), but the wife and I are going to be planting two gardens this year, one about 30x30, the other 20x30.  Greens, carrots, potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, beans, melons, onions, zuchinni, tomatoes, squash, garlic, herbs, plus many more things that I can't even think of right now.

Are there postings on here about canning?  Homegrown, maybe you can help on this.  Like I said, I would read all 50 pages, but I have too much to do!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Feel free to email me or PM on the topic of canning as needed.  High acid foods are easiest to can.  Do you have a deep freeze?  I ask because some foods are better frozen than canned, and some are the other way around.  Some are good either way.  Some are also handy dried.  Just depends on what you want. 
I usually can pickles, tomatoes and tomato sauces and salsa, green beans, pickled okra, jams and jellies, apple butter, etc.  I like to freeze corn, peas, peppers, and berries, etc.  (Things like pears, peaches, etc. are good either way.)  I like to dry squash like chips, and the kids love dried fruits.  I also like dried okra and tomatoes and peppers to cook with throughout the winter.  I got a food dryer free off of freecycle one time... it was new and still in the box, so a great deal for me.  We've used it a lot.  Nothing smells better than apples drying on it.  DH keeps saying that this year was our "sabbatical", but I am tired of resting from the growing and planting and harvesting and canning, etc.  To me, going to the store feels like a chore, whereas working in the garden or kitchen does not.  (I guess I'm warped enough that I've always thought this kind of work was fun.)  Stuff like sweet potatoes and winter squash we just have always stored in a cool dark corner somewhere.  I used to always braid ropes of onions and garlic and use them during the winter.  If they were getting to the point where I was afraid they'd go bad, I'd chop them and dry them to prevent us from losing them, but usually they do alright as long as they're kept fairly cool during the winter months.

[cordwood]

Haven't read all of the pages (forgive my lazyness), but the wife and I are going to be planting two gardens this year, one about 30x30, the other 20x30.  Greens, carrots, potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, beans, melons, onions, zuchinni, tomatoes, squash, garlic, herbs, plus many more things that I can't even think of right now.

Are there postings on here about canning?  Homegrown, maybe you can help on this.  Like I said, I would read all 50 pages, but I have too much to do!

Your "AsperGrass" should be seperate so you can mulch it good in the winter for the next year.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   Aspergrass??  That's funny.  My kids always tell me it is "a-bear-igus".

[cordwood]

  Aspergrass??  That's funny.  My kids always tell me it is "a-bear-igus".

I love the stuff but since we left sunny SoCal I haven't tried to plant any. All my SoCal " Abearigus" beds took two years before they really put out good shoots and I think in a shorter growing climate as Ar. it may take even longer   And it seems the older I get the less patient I become, But also I have noticed the years go by faster now so I may have to prepare a bed this winter Hmmmmm? .......My life = Quandary!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I don't know... it goes crazy here in OK.  Our next door neighbor when I was a kid had a permanent bed of it in her garden, and she would freeze quite a bit every spring because she couldn't eat it all or give it all away.  During the rest of the year, she used the feathery leaves as filler in bouquets.  Put it in this year and you might have a harvest by next spring.  If not, then the spring after that.  But the longer you put it off, the longer it will be before you can pick some.   

[muldoon]

From the garden this morning,  orange and purple carrots, serranoe peppers, bell peppers and fresh chives.

[glenn kangiser]

hmm Lost the picture here but sounds like a nice harvest, muldoon.

[muldoon]

the picture is showing for me, but the direct link should be:

http://www.loopy.org/pictures/galleries/Spring%202008%20Container%20Garden/_thumbs/640x480-dscf3378.jpg

[MountainDon]

Nothing here either. Not even the image alone on the separate link.

  Other sites are connecting, but that one just sits there spinning its wheels.

Something's loopy I think.   

[southernsis]

I have had a problem growing a garden in the soil I have in NE Arkansas. Never mind all the rocks. I am going to try it with raised beds this year. I haven't tested the soil yet, can't find a test kit at any place around here, will have to order one from somewhere. My questions is, what to put in the soil to get me a garden growing in the spring. I can't get any cow manure here, but might be able to get something from the chicken houses in the next town. It seems like the only thing that grows are oak trees. Planted tomatoes and peppers last year, but they didn't do a thing.
I quess my first thing is to find a test kit. Is there some good commercial fertilizer? I love to garden, but I am getting very discouraged. Help

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Ssis,
Have good friends in MO and AR, and here is what they do for a garden, and it works beautifully.  They build their garden in a south facing slope and half-bury bales of hay or straw.  The first year, they plant the tomatoes and peppers directly into the straw bales and keep them well-watered.  Then behind the bales of hay, they use a mixture of compost and whatever dirt they can come up with to make the slope into little terraces.  Then, the next year, they incorporate last year's hay bales, manure, and whatever else they can come up with into each terrace and gradually build the soil.  Hope that makes sense.  An old-timer basically told me that the soil wouldn't grow much of anything, but he'd learned to plant directly into the bales of straw/hay after letting a tomato rot on top of one one time and growing a bumper crop out of the hay bale!  Also, where the soil is tough and rocky, they plant potatoes, because they are one of the best crops for busting up the soil.... as I mentioned somewhere else before, you might try the blue potatoes, because though they may not produce a huge crop, they'll almost always give you a steady crop.
Good luck this year.

[muldoon]

You need to find out whats wrong with the soil before you decide what to add to it. 

Have a look at http://www.sref.info/regionalpublications/SREF-FM-002
or http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:R5uOJMwFEsgJ:www.sref.info/regionalpublications/SREF-FM-002+ph+soil+oak&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

You said oaks grow, any idea what type of oak?  It might tell you what the acidity of the soil is.  ie live oak and post oaks like high acidity maybe u to 7 or 8.  Tomatoes like 6-6.3 according to most books I have seen on it.

If your ph is too high, you need to lower it. 
Easy organic way is to add sawdust, hay, and/or compost to the dirt and let it decompose.  Any organic matter you can add to your soil will be good.  You also can add sulphur -- but you should read up on dosage for it depending on what kind of soil you have. 

If your ph is too low, hydrated lime will bring it up. 

Your county extension office may have some information you can use as well.  They may even do your soil test for you, Mine did. 

I have had a problem growing a garden in the soil I have in NE Arkansas. Never mind all the rocks. I am going to try it with raised beds this year. I haven't tested the soil yet, can't find a test kit at any place around here, will have to order one from somewhere. My questions is, what to put in the soil to get me a garden growing in the spring. I can't get any cow manure here, but might be able to get something from the chicken houses in the next town. It seems like the only thing that grows are oak trees. Planted tomatoes and peppers last year, but they didn't do a thing.
I quess my first thing is to find a test kit. Is there some good commercial fertilizer? I love to garden, but I am getting very discouraged. Help

[Squirl]

Also some trees like the black walnut kill tomatoes and peppers.  They release a toxin into the soil that kills most plants around them.  It is also found in there leaves, so watch when composting too.  Raised beds are good because you can control everything that goes in.  If you are going to garden as a serious hobby, I would invest in a soil PH tester.  You can get them under $10 from ebay.

[southernsis]

We have all kinds of oaks, hickory, and other things. I am going to get a soil tester and hay bales, and raised beds. We have been composting for a couple of years now, mostly veggie scraps, coffee grounds. I have heard that if you don't use a mulcher on the oak leaves they take forever to break down. I tend to believe it because when we originally cleaned this place up there was a foot layer of leaves. No one had raked up the leaves for about 8 or 9 years and they had barely started to break down at the bottom most layer.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   DH's solution to the leaves not breaking down was to stick the lawn mower in the compost bin.    I would watch out with putting hickory, walnut, or pecan leaves in because anything in the Juglandaceae family is a little tricky in that it produces toxins that inhibit the growth of some plants.  Usually you can find a simple soil pH test in Wal-mart or Lowe's or home depot garden center... not expensive, but I second the advice to talk to your county extension agent, too.

[southernsis]

Thanks everyone. If all goes well, I may hve a garden this year.