Gardening 2022

[joel]

WE had organic coffee, we had to clean all the non organic coffee out of the transfer system before & after roasting, that cost in time & labor, so the cost is not alway money grabbers. Sometimes it is to make sure your organic is in mixed with non organic/ regular food product.
We produced organic coffee & herbs for an nationwide grocery, before I retired & were inspected annually by USDA, it was not fun, they made the IRS look like sunday school. The paper work had to have every I dotted & T crossed, it was the hardest of four annual inspection we had every year & none of them where a walk in the park.
Organic has become a fad & all fads go overboard, just like raised bed that are really bottomless container.
I have double dug in ground beds that are still working well after twenty years & an orchard that has no raised beds. I have sandy loam soil, no rocks, never too wet. So the only reason for raised bed is to save space & with a two acre garden, space is never a problem.
OGM sold me on double dug bed long before I discovered that I did not need them, I have them so I use them.

 

[DrHenley]

We produced organic coffee & herbs for an nationwide grocery, before I retired have them so I use them.

LOL, I did just the opposite, I started roasting at home AFTER I retired. Thought about going commercial, but...
Once I got it figured out, and found good inexpensive sources of coffee, it's cheaper than buying supermarket roasted coffee.

 

[GaRp58]

My neighbor took store bought dried beans, soaked them overnight and planted. The are growing. I had no idea this could be done.

I did the bean plant thing as a teenager. You do not have to soak them, just plant in good earth in a paper cup or paper egg carton and keep them wet. Shortly after they come up you can put them in the ground.
BTW: if you pick your pinto beans just before they get ripe and start to dry, get them cut or get the beans out of the pods and freeze them...they will not give you so much gas when you eat them....

 

[GaRp58]

We picked the garlic a couple days ago and are getting a few tomatoes now. Still getting a lot of raspberries and the blackberries are about a week away, and looks like a bumper crop. The pie cherries are ready to pick, and the apple and plum trees are loaded with fruit and are probably a month away from being ripe. The rabbits are eating the tops of the onions. I'll get a trap set for them today. We have some nice sized watermelon that should be ready in a week or so. The corn is starting to get some ears, might be ready in a couple of weeks.

That all sounds great Arctic, but I hope you are not overloading your wife with her bad foot. That is a lot of canning and freezing it sounds like.

 

[GaRp58]

Everything i raise and grow here is "organic".

Nothing goes into my garden except cow manure, cut grass and leaves, the compost we make and once a year a light dusting of the normal potassium, nitrates (only 5 lbs. in the whole garden of 20,000 sq. ft.) and ashes from our wood fired heater in the garage in the winter. Absolutely organic down the the well water used to water it all with...not even city water on the garden.

 

[joel]

LOL, I did just the opposite, I started roasting at home AFTER I retired. Thought about going commercial, but...
Once I got it figured out, and found good inexpensive sources of coffee, it's cheaper than buying supermarket roasted coffee.

We blend hundreds of pounds of coffee & we blended tea also, but that is another story.
Do you get it blended or do you blend it, or is it unblended coffee of just one type?
It only matters to you, you are drinking it, but i had to ask.

 

[Mountain trapper]

That all sounds great Arctic, but I hope you are not overloading your wife with her bad foot. That is a lot of canning and freezing it sounds like.

Right now all the berry's are being frozen, except for some that she made juice out of. I can't keep that woman out of the garden. Then she can't sleep at night from the pain.
Yesterday she and the grandkids picked cherries and berries. Then we went swimming.

 

[GaRp58]

I can't keep that woman out of the garden. Then she can't sleep at night from the pain.

Helen had stomach and throat cancer...has no stomach any more, one third less throat and she cannot eat slowly and then JUST SIT for a half hour after eating (LIKE THE DOC SAID) and also cannot eat late evenings without coughing up some of it if her pillow is not at the right angle to keep her head higher than her throat...had her right arm paralysed for half a year after the BS doctor twisted her neck "as therapy" and severed a nerve in her neck C5 area. She lost most of her muscle strength and never got it back...she still tries to work in the garden, house, cleaning, washing, vacuuming, walking the dog, etc, etc, and still cries at night that she can't sleep from the pain....we both have wives with the SAME BLOOD TYPE: work till you drop - negative....

 

[ethosMarjo]

We got our first seed catalog a few days ago, Butler Creek i think. Got the Murry McMurray chicken catalog too. The wife and I are getting our orders together for seeds and chicks. We want to get our orders in early in case there's any shortages this spring.

We own a small-business that sells heirloom / non GMO seeds if you guys are looking for alternative suppliers. You can find us here: Vegetable seeds, non GMO seeds to buy or learn about

 

[user 7704]

Since I watched a video on using human urine as fertilizer, they are popping up everywhere. I never realized that many people used urine. There are differences in the ratio 5:1, 8:1 etc. Also, it seems that a persons' diet and drug consumption would have lots to do with whether your urine is viable.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

We consider it really really dry currently? Just look at what if has been before. We are nowhere close to the truly drought stricken times.

Adapt 2030 David Dubyne had this and other very interesting graphs in his recent vidoe.

 

[dirtdiva]

Picking right now in my zone 6b/7a garden. Blackberries, figs, okra, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, summer squash, peppers, cantaloupe and watermelon.

Canning for this week rotel tomatoes, salsa, taco soup and beans.

 

[joel]

As of 2021 we only get 45.00 inches of rain a year.

 

[Mountain trapper]

As of 2021 we only get 45.00 inches of rain a year.

We get less than half that on a "wet" year. So we depend on a heavy snow pack in the mountains for almost all of our moisture. Here at our ranch we normally get 6 to 10 feet of snow during the winter.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Today we picked some corn, bell peppers, tomatoes and onions. Looks like we could have some watermelon in another week or so too.

 

[joel]

We get less than half that on a "wet" year. So we depend on a heavy snow pack in the mountains for almost all of our moisture. Here at our ranch we normally get 6 to 10 feet of snow during the winter.

Snow what that??
We had some snow in 1973.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Snow what that??
We had some snow in 1973.

I've heard of places like that. Some day we might move to somewhere that doesn't get any snow. At our place up north we'd sometimes get up to 26 feet of snow fall.

 

[joel]

Son went to Nine Quarter Ranch for a summer job.
He landed in May in the snow & lift in November in the snow.

 

[dirtdiva]

Got about 1.5 inches of rain in the last couple days. Picking watermelon "Royal Golden" and cantaloupe "Minnesota Midget" and enjoying daily while they last with lots of seeds of both drying. I am saving lots of seeds again this year. If nothing else they may make good trade goods.

Also picking tomatoes, peppers, okra, shell beans, summer squash, cucumbers and zucchini. Have dug 60 pounds of sweet potatoes
( Beauregard ) and have them curing in banana boxes.

Also picking figs and blackberries daily. They are the last of my fruit to ripen.

Canning shell beans, okra and tomatoes, rotel tomatoes, and starting to can blackberry pie filling to use for cobblers and fig preserves. Also canning some chicken and broth. Dehydrating this week okra, squash, tomato peeling and such for tomato powder and starting to dehydrate sweet potato bark with the really small or nicked sweet potatoes.

Lots of winter squash ( butternut ) hanging on the vine waiting to go into storage with the sweet potatoes. Just waiting for the peelings to harden. Probably pick right before frost.

 

[joel]

"Also picking figs and blackberries daily. They are the last of my fruit to ripen."
What varieties of Blackberries do you have, my blackberries are gone by July?

 

[Cindyd]

Got about 1.5 inches of rain in the last couple days. Picking watermelon "Royal Golden" and cantaloupe "Minnesota Midget" and enjoying daily while they last with lots of seeds of both drying. I am saving lots of seeds again this year. If nothing else they may make good trade goods.

Also picking tomatoes, peppers, okra, shell beans, summer squash, cucumbers and zucchini. Have dug 60 pounds of sweet potatoes
( Beauregard ) and have them curing in banana boxes.

Also picking figs and blackberries daily. They are the last of my fruit to ripen.

Canning shell beans, okra and tomatoes, rotel tomatoes, and starting to can blackberry pie filling to use for cobblers and fig preserves. Also canning some chicken and broth. Dehydrating this week okra, squash, tomato peeling and such for tomato powder and starting to dehydrate sweet potato bark with the really small or nicked sweet potatoes.

Lots of winter squash ( butternut ) hanging on the vine waiting to go into storage with the sweet potatoes. Just waiting for the peelings to harden. Probably pick right before frost.

Wow! I'm jealous you have thst much harvest! I Can't imagine even squeezing enough time in to do all that. I hope you have help! I am lucky to get few veggies vacuum sealed or canned in a weekend. Monday through Friday, forget it, aint happening unless I take a day off. I'm vicariously living through you guys right now! Good job!

 

[Mountain trapper]

We should be able to start picking our blackberries in another week. Watermelon in maybe 2 weeks. We're picking tomatoes, bell peppers and corn most every day. Our apple and plum trees are loaded. Hopefully the frost will hold off for a few more weeks at least.
The grasshoppers are really bad this year, but the chickens are loving it. The yellow jackets are eating a lot of fruit and berries as they become ripe. We need to bring DDT back.

 

[dirtdiva]

"Also picking figs and blackberries daily. They are the last of my fruit to ripen."
What varieties of Blackberries do you have, my blackberries are gone by July?

I grow just two varieties of blackberries. One is Prime Ark Freedom Primocane Blackberry. Initially purchased my first starts from Stark bros nursery out of Missouri. Description below:

Harvest berries with ease from thornless, upright canes. Primocanes fruit first, followed by a second crop on older canes. Fruit is large, firm, and sweet. Excellent choice for home gardening or farmer’s markets. Disease-resistant to rust. Everbearing primocane. Early season. Drought tolerant. Cold-hardy. First-year canes begin ripening in July, while second-year canes bear heaviest crops in June. Both continue to fruit until frost. Self-pollinating. May be covered by USPP #26990 or other patents. APF-153T cultivar.

Second variety is a variety called Doyle. Best blackberry I have ever seen hands down!

Doyle's Thornless Blackberry, Inc.

 

[user 7704]

The rain missed us so I am back to watering. I have a MRI tomorrow, but after that, it is off to the gardens.

 

[dirtdiva]

The rain missed us so I am back to watering. I have a MRI tomorrow, but after that, it is off to the gardens.

Missed us too! I am still hip deep in canning. Picked shell beans yesterday and canning today. Good luck on your MRI

 

[user 7704]

I get here for mri and they are warning people that the AC is out and it is 90 ° . That will be fun.

 

[dirtdiva]

I get here for mri and they are warning people that the AC is out and it is 90 ° . That will be fun.

Well crap that does not sound fun. On a side note I got 2 canners running and it isn't real cool standing over these canning pots stirring tomatoes so I can commiserate.

 

[user 7704]

It wasn't hot in there at all. The lady was complaining as I had cold air from a fan going up my dress.

 

[user 7704]

I had some determinate, hybrid seed and thought I would have them for my late garden. I always plant heirloom. They are looking great. About 15" high with good strong stems. I have them in containers on the pool deck. If I just get a few to hold us, I will be happy.

 

[Pyro virus]

I just moved here to Mississippi last month. (I'm an old but new again member, I forgot I was a member on this forum for years. So I'm trying to figure out how to use it all over again. I typed Mississippi into the search and found your post hense why I'm randomly commenting lol)
I'm used to the pacific north west. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, parts of California and Alaska. I've never lived south of Oakland California in my life. Im trying to understand how to prep here because it is extremely different from up there. Never been in a hurricane or tornado. Only seen them on TV. I've dealt with hard core thunderstorms but not as hard core as the ones here. I love it but it's a huge climate shock to me. We dealt with some gnarly heat on the west coast last summer. We got up to 116 degree heat in Idaho alone. So the heart I kinda got a taste of but this humidity is like 5% away from living under water lol. Im sure I'll acclimate thought. Any tips on preps I should start working on asap for down here that I wouldn't have needed where im from? I'd love to know any tips or suggestions. Thankyou!