Had a great day in the garden and managed to complete most of the jobs on my list. That never usually happens …
First job of the day was to feed and water the herbs in the greenhouse. They’ve been growing so well in there, and it’s been a real joy to cook with fresh homegrown ingredients again.
We have been battling aphids though … and in an attempt to avoid sprays, we’ve introduced some lacewing larvae. I’ve never tried this approach before, so I’m intrigued to see how well it works. Guess we’ll see… Has anyone else tried this ???
We spent the rest of the afternoon planting more cucumbers and strawberries, weeding (yuck) … and moving grow bags into the Polycrub, ready to transplant our tomatoes.
Finally out in the garden again and I’m loving it. It’s so nice to be working outside in the sunshine, and the brighter weather has really lifted everyone’s spirit.
We’ve kicked off our projects this year with some new raised beds. We had some old decking planks laying around and they were just perfect for the job.
So pleased with how they’ve turned out and we’re having fun filling them with rhurbarb and chives.
We’ve also popped some weed matting down in the Polycrub and are working hard on plans for the internal layout. Really want to get it right, so reading piles of books and doing loads of research … stay tuned …
In the meantime we’re using it for our strawberry bins and the plants are doing great.
Anyway, I’m off to plant some garlic … hope you’re all well and finding smiles along the way …
Fully furnished, the pods minimally disrupt the environment as they aren’t built into the ground and can be easily relocated without damaging land. They’re also self-sufficient, relying on things like solar power, gray water recycling technology and UV sanitization methods, and can be installed within a matter of minutes.
isn’t scary how much we actually trust and rely on the government and big corps? for almost everything… (even though they’re poisoning us) what if something happened that caused big corps to shut down.. or even turn against us? who here knows how to make laundry soap, shampoo, body wash? what about big food corps? what if they just decide to take their products back? how many people have their own livestock and/or a food garden to survive off of? what if you rely on city water and they take that back too? what about big pharma? who knows herbal remedies for infections? what if in the future, for some reason, we couldn’t just walk into walmart and buy all our wants and needs? kind of scary right? what would we do then?
Found these axes at the Goodwill today. The smaller is a Norlund Saddle Cruiser (double headed) and the larger is still a mystery, though it appears to be some sort of standard double headed fire axe. Both came with the leather sheaths and each were under $10. Total score.
Got another garbage onion started, this time a sweet yellow onion. Looking at all the divisions in the center, it may send up shoots from multiple places meaning I can divide it and get more than one onion out of the deal. We’ll see!
For those who mentioned having trouble getting this to work, you do have to change the water daily. Not just add more, but pull the onion out of the dish, dump out the water, rinse out the dish, and put new water in (and obviously put back the onion). Other than that and temperature control (don’t let it bake in the sun or freeze in a draft), just leave it alone and it should sprout.
Finally getting my seeds started! Since I live in an apartment with no balcony or patio this will all be a 100% indoor garden. Never done this before, so we’ll see how it goes!
Now, this seed starter tray is really nice. I’ve seen a few different versions, but I went with this one (years ago) because the company offered refill pellets so you can reuse the plastic tray and clear greenhouse lid (not pictured).
I will say that these little pellet refills also work well when put in eggshells for those who like to use their old eggshells as seed starter containers. They have biodegradable mesh around them that allows them to more or less keep their shape in case they’re too tall for the eggshell.
To use, just soak them for about 10 minutes or until they’ve expanded, then sink a single seed in the center of each one.
Finally getting my seeds started! Since I live in an apartment with no balcony or patio this will all be a 100% indoor garden. Never done this before, so we’ll see how it goes!
Now, this seed starter tray is really nice. I’ve seen a few different versions, but I went with this one (years ago) because the company offered refill pellets so you can reuse the plastic tray and clear greenhouse lid (not pictured).
I will say that these little pellet refills also work well when put in eggshells for those who like to use their old eggshells as seed starter containers. They have biodegradable mesh around them that allows them to more or less keep their shape in case they’re too tall for the eggshell.
To use, just soak them for about 10 minutes or until they’ve expanded, then sink a single seed in the center of each one.
It’s amazing to me that food grows literally everywhere, but we’ve become so out of touch with nature as a society that we’ve forgotten much of this information.
Purslane and wild amaranth growing between the parking lot and the sidewalk. Both have leaves that can be simply picked and eaten raw (young leaves are best), and amaranth seeds can be used as a grain.
I imagine when I finally get land to grow fruits and vegetables, the weeds will only get pulled because they’re going on the dinner table.
Really though, I will have a section of land I’ll call my native garden where I transplant all the weeds and wild plants I find that are edible. Since they’re wild plants I’ll be able to just leave them alone until harvest. Easiest food garden ever!
I put the root end of a store bought white onion I ate into some water and it’s growing quite nicely; plenty of new roots and an obvious swelling in the center on top. Once it starts turning green I’ll put it in a pot.
Never grown onions before. This will be a fun experiment.
This is a book that I think every homesteader will find intriguing. The bottom says:
“Deftly steering clear of dogma, never sounding like a sanctimonious scold, Eric Brende makes a persuasive case that most of us would enjoy life more by radically minimizing our reliance on modern technology. Better Off is a buoyant, thought-provoking, and very entertaining read.” ~ Jon Krakauer
Every morning as I walk to my woodstore I see this guy getting fatter and fatter and can’t but help view him as one of those cartoon birds just about ready for the roasting dish .
[ID: Highlighted text, reading, “A lot of times when I think I’m being self-sufficient, I’m really just learning to live without the things that I need.” /end ID]
