2022 Garden Thread

[EatenByLimestone]

"We Are Teetering On The Edge": Food Shortage Worries Mount As PA Farms "Crushed" By Record Diesel Prices | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

I really hate seeing this type of story.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Unfortunately, it is not only PA, but farmers across the country. There are going to be tremendous food shortages in the coming months (sooner than later). I hope you all are stocking up while it is available and affordable. We are, and that is also why we started the food forest and tripled our vegetables this season. We plan on canning, dehydrating, and freeze drying everything we don't eat from the garden when picked.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We’re putting food up for the winter. It seems a bit slower than most years, but it’s been colder.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We’re putting food up for the winter. It seems a bit slower than most years, but it’s been colder.

That's OK. Every bit helps. The more you can do, the better. Some years are better than others.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Very hot and humid today. Worked in the greenhouse (yup, that was smart on a day like this!). I tied up all my peppers and a few of my eggplants that were getting tall before they fall over. Fertilized all the plants in the greenhouse.

Peppers - they are a bit "wilty" in this picture.


Eggplants


Tiny Tim Tomatoes


Picked a dozen Tiny Tims. They will go in tonight's salad.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It dawned on me this morning that I've hardly used any AC this year. I only have 10000 btu in downstairs, and 8000 btu upstairs. My kitchen unit, 6000 btu, and another 5000 btu upstairs haven't been installed yet. The ones that are in have barely been on.

 

[clancey]

Your food garden really shows the hard work that you put into it and it is beautiful and save me a tomato just in case mine does not do well...lol That red one really looks good...Our weather is taking a change this year and we have been "cooler" too and I used my ac only three times with the use of fans blowing air around... I am into other things at these moments but so so glad you people are getting prepared for the food shortage that is coming. Good for you and may God bless everyone of you and keep you all healthy and safe...Pictures are beautiful...clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

We've been running our window AC units almost every day for the past month.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

so heres the garden now after 7 week.. I still have beans coming up.. the zucchini this year are excellent tasting and plants are almost 3ft tall..



this is my lawn

 

[begreen]

With the additional heat and sunshine, you all are pole-vaulting ahead of us. The high temp today will be around 56º. Low temps for the next 10 days will be around 50º. It's hard to get things moving along strongly in this cool weather. Everything except the peas, broccoli, and lettuce are just coping. The greenhouse cuke is the only shining star. It has been regularly producing winners. Picked this yesterday. The plant is now about 8ft long. The early girl tomato in the greenhouse has some flowers so we may see some fruit by July. Corn is growing slowly but surely. It's about 18" tall now.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

My tomatoes look like they’re coming along well. Kale looks good too. Everything else not so much. I planted in a different area of the lawn this year and there isn’t as much sun. Live and learn!

 

[clancey]

Here are some pictures---drum roll---lol. My tomato and Lettuce and my mint in the one planter plus my other white planter has Parsley and Basil among the grass and I do not really know which is which...Enjoy my ineptness with my failing stamina but I do enjoy this very very small garden--if one could call it that---lol.. The other wooden planter is empty I mix my food in...clancey

 

[begreen]

The tomato and mint look good. Maybe start some new lettuce in the empty planter.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Pinch a leaf off the parsley/basil plants and eat it! The basil will be very obvious! *big grin*

Mrs. Clancy, how about a zucchini plant? They’re pretty popular plantlets to purchase in the garden section of the home improvement stores! I have a couple just coming up from seed. There’s still lots of time to get them to grow!

 

[clancey]

Now why have not I thought of that "tasting" the baby plants--lol...Yea on my next shopping trip I am going to look around at some of their started plants maybe get one or two and more lettuce as well maybe to put in the second wooden planter like bg suggest then I might have lettuce for awhile although I do not like the soft texture maybe get a different variety...I might get a pepper too..thanks everybody...Everything that you people have started just looks great...clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

Can't tell what type of lettuce that you have Mrs Clancey from your picture, but it does look like a softer leaf lettuce. Romaine is nice and crispy and grows easily from seed. I've done it many times. A packet will only cost you a couple of bucks, and you'll have seed for a few years. If you stagger the planting, you can have lettuce just about the whole season.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We got the rest of the pond dug down 4-6 inches today, and then raked back all the decaying wood chips around it down to bare soil. Tomorrow, we need to dig up the grass on the one side in the pics. After that, I can start running strings with a line level, so we know where we have to build up the edge, so the pond is level.

After we level the sides, we will dig it down to a 12" level, put in an 18" shelf, then dig it down another 6" or so and put in another 18" shelf, and then finally dig the deepest part down to 30" that will be about 4 feet wide.

 

[begreen]

It finally looks like we are going to have a sunny week and a few days hitting 70. The plants will like that. Here's where our garden is at today. It's about 3-4 weeks behind normal, but ready for some warmth.



The tomatoes have a temporary fencing wrap. They are recovering after 2 deer attacks.


The potatoes don't seem to mind the cool weather at all. Lettuce and peas are also happy. We'll be harvesting our first sugar snap peas this week.


Last year's cement block bed is looking good considering to weather. Corn & squash are doing well with onions on the perimeter. That's tarragon in the center foreground.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Very nice gardens, and I'm happy to hear your weather may be starting to come around. I see the solar panels in the one pic. Is that setup for your greenhouse, or house in general?

 

[begreen]

I see the solar panels in the one pic. Is that setup for your greenhouse, or house in general?

There are two arrays. The other one is pole-mounted behind the greenhouse. They are grid-tied for the house in general.

 

[begreen]

That's looking more like it. Apparently, summer is going to start exactly on time this year.

 

[Dan Freeman]

We got the foundation down and our little garden shed (4 x 3) built down in the FF today. Now, we won't have to haul tools back and forth from our large tool shed near the house. We can keep an extra set in the FF.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We had our first bok choy harvest this evening. It was so much better than the store bought stuff!

 

[Dan Freeman]

Well, we got the major concrete blocks leveled in place today for the pond. We still need to buy 17 16x8x4 blocks and 33 12x12x2 blocks to finish on top of them and to taper down to the high side of the pond. Any variations will get covered with soil, and then we will drive in 18" rebars behind them and slope soil down behind them to hold them in place.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I can’t wait to see it finished! Are you going to widen the deep area?