Anyone else grow their own food

I just got my garden plots plowed even though we're a ways out for planting. I don't use any chemicals. It's nice knowing where your food comes from and nothing from the store compares. Plus it's therapy for the soul to be in the dirt.

I put in a garden...potatoes, beans, cucumbers, various melons, squash etc.....good stuff

Started my garden a few days ago, the first in 4 years. I missed not growing a few veggies and yes there's nothing better than growing and eating your own food![cl

Been raising some plants up & finally planted them yesterday since it look like all possible frost was history & guess what happened last nite... frost! Hope it didn't kill my baby okras!!!

And u're right... store veggies don't even compare to home growed to say nothing about chemical free!!!

BoB

The wife grows some veggies, a few herbs and keeps a strawberry patch.

If I had it my way (and my neighbors could mind their own business) I'd grow steak and bacon.
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I've been wanting to become more self sufficient for years. But living in town has its limitations. We don't have enough yard to even think of having a garden.

I made the wife 3 4' wide 8' long and 1' tall cedar planters last year and she wants a couple more.
These are easy to maintain and produce a lot of stuff

I raise world record hot peppers and a few tomatoes and squash. It gets in your blood after a good year and the food is always better.

Yep! We do a huge garden every year. Can and freeze a lot of what we grow. Do some trading for what we can't grow. We have over 60 chickens and sell/trade eggs which brings us customers for other things we do. Also raise chickens and butcher them. Typically do 100 of those a year, sell about 60 which pays for the one's we keep.

30 years ago when I bought my house I had a large garden in the side yard. Over the years the Maples grew to 60'. Nice cool shady yard on hot summer day, not so good for a vegetable garden.

Now I plant a 6' x 24' patch next to the driveway the only spot I have with enough Sun. Mostly tomatoes & my chiles. The peppers that have long maturity dates I grow in 5gl pals. I start them early and they can finish indoors if needed under grow lights.

21willys said:

I've been wanting to become more self sufficient for years. But living in town has its limitations. We don't have enough yard to even think of having a garden.

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21,
It's really easy to grow most veggies in pots. We grow tomatoes, arugula, lettuce, carrots, potatoes & a lot of other stuff in containers. Love home growed arugula... it tastes SO much better than store bought!!!

BoB

Old Iron said:

I made the wife 3 4' wide 8' long and 1' tall cedar planters last year and she wants a couple more.
These are easy to maintain and produce a lot of stuff

Click to expand...

We did a partial switch to "box gardening" last year, with 3 4' x 4' boxes. Now this year we will pretty much stop planting directly in the garden, as all of these boxes plus the new ones we're making this year will take up the whole space where the garden is. We also have black rasberry & blueberry bushes, and apple, cherry, and peach trees, mostly semi-dwarfs, since we are in town. Oh, also English Walnuts. We have taken out the pear & apricot trees there were here, because they didn't do well anyway. My son still plants a lot of garlic in one corner of the old garden, too.

On the box gardening, you mix vermiculite (we used the insulation type from a self-help construction supply store, as it's much cheaper), peat moss, and several types of mulch. No actual soil. You do have to water it a lot more than a normal garden, but my wife really likes it. Our daughter & her husband also have some, and she plants a lot of herbs.

Already growing a few seedlings inside. We plant the full spread for a garden and have separate plots for the cucumbers and melons/squash since they tend to over-run the rest of the garden. Also started a strawberry/asparagus patch. And around different spots, planted raspberries, blackberries, and grapes. Have several apple trees growing from seeds and am hoping to do the same with cherries and butternuts. A few black walnut trees and one butternut were already here.

Not sure everything survived the rough winter though.

Dr Crankenstein said:

The wife grows some veggies, a few herbs and keeps a strawberry patch.

If I had it my way (and my neighbors could mind their own business) I'd grow steak and bacon.
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i thought every house in sask. was at least 3 miles apart

We've tried to grow outside here in the desert, but the abundant wildlife ate it faster than we could plant it. No matter how we tried to protect our plants, they got to them. My next project is to build an attached greenhouse on the south end of the house. Inside we'll set up an aquaponic system. Going to raise Tilapia and use the same water to grow our veggies in lava rock. Protein and vegetables in one shot. Should get about 3 times the yield and use a fraction of the water, since it recycles through the system. Those with limited space, like Tripper, should look into it. It can even be done indoors under lights.

Willowbilly3 said:

I just got my garden plots plowed even though we're a ways out for planting. I don't use any chemicals. It's nice knowing where your food comes from and nothing from the store compares. Plus it's therapy for the soul to be in the dirt.

Click to expand...

Hey Willow

Go on line and google "back the eden gardening" there is a video on there that will knock your socks off. I sold my tiller last summer. Paul Gautschi is an incredible person. He bases all his gardening methods on the bible. I know it sounds crazy but we started with some of his methods last summer and I gotta tell you.....this man has got all the answers...

http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/paul-gautschi.html

I really hope you have time to listen to him. There is another fellow on youtube who has interviewed him a bunch of times and his stuff is pretty cool. Paul is the man for sure...

mikeC

DirtyDon said:

….My next project is to build an attached greenhouse on the south end of the house. Inside we'll set up an aquaponic system. Going to raise Tilapia and use the same water to grow our veggies in lava rock. Protein and vegetables in one shot. Should get about 3 times the yield and use a fraction of the water, since it recycles through the system. T….

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From my Aquaponic System:



Two videos of my system:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0HAg5ffzPg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okL6BjH94VY

A green house is really the correct way to do this. You need the space and the Sun will save you lots of $$$. The 1st thing you learn is your never have enough grow bed space. The name of the videos was a joke as we won't be eating the Goldfish.

mikec4193 said:

Hey Willow

Go on line and google "back the eden gardening" there is a video on there that will knock your socks off. I sold my tiller last summer. Paul Gautschi is an incredible person. He bases all his gardening methods on the bible. I know it sounds crazy but we started with some of his methods last summer and I gotta tell you.....this man has got all the answers...

http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/paul-gautschi.html

I really hope you have time to listen to him. There is another fellow on youtube who has interviewed him a bunch of times and his stuff is pretty cool. Paul is the man for sure...

mikeC

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Thanks. I did get to listen to part of it, will take time to get all the info.

Hey IronRat, just checked out your videos. Nice setup. I'm surprised 4 goldfish can provide enough nutrition for the number of plants you have. They seem to be thriving though.

I got my spuds in today. Bought a pallet of Miracle grow garden soil for some raided beds and got several beds cleaned out and ready. Went to the nursery and looked at trees, probably get a couple new ones Monday.
Time out to work on the Tomahok chipper. Making mulch from tree branches and cardboard boxes.