Unchained Preppers
General Category => D.I.Y. => Topic started by: NOLA556 on April 21, 2012, 04:44:12 PM
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ok so I figured I'd create an official gardening thread for pictures, growing strategies, techniques, tips, tricks.. whatever.
I'll kick it off with a few pictures and an update on earlier posts in different threads.
Purple-hulls have developed a rather severe pest problem. they're still fine but the bugs need to be dealt with in a major way so last night I picked up some neem oil. from what I've been told, and what I've read online, neem oil seems to be one of the most effective organic pesticide/fungicide so that's what I went with.
the brand I used is called "GardenSafe Neem Oil Extract"... the reviews I found online were mixed. some people say it's crap, and others swear by it. I sprayed them down for the first time last night. here's their status as of 3:30 PM 4/21/2012
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/002-1.jpg)
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/003-3.jpg)
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/004-3.jpg)
and here's some of the other things I have growing that I haven't posted much about
figs
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/005-2.jpg)
blueberries
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/006-1.jpg)
oranges
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/007-1.jpg)
I have plenty more stuff growing in the yard but I'll save that for a later post.
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NOLA, thx for starting this thread. [URL=http://www.smileyvault.co
Are you in the same place as last years garden? It looks a bit different.
I will be up at the BOL next week and will take pictures of..... NOTHING! I do have several flats of seedling's growing but nothing can go into the ground until the third week of May or so.
Hey it was a balmy 65 here today in RI until the fog rolled in and the temp dropped down into the 40's. My bro is up at the BOL this weekend and he told me the temp was 39 when I called. Sleat & snow expected on Tues at the BOL. Burrrrrrr.
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no none of these pics are from the same bed as last year's pics/videos. that bed now facilitates our herb garden, which I didn't feel was very "prepper related" so I didn't bother with it. I'll post pics of the herb garden later on I suppose.
but yea, that garden last year was pathetic. this year isn't quite as pathetic but I still have a LONG way to go to become truly sustainable. the fruit trees will be a godsend in a few years once they're producing. (the orange tree is already producing but it's making little midget oranges.. kinda confuses me but whatever, lol)
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Nice start of the garden NOLA. I am in a bit of a holding pattern this season. We may or may not be moving a couple of months, so been hesitant to do much this growing season at our current location.
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oh wow! i don't want to speak too soon or anything, but only two days after applying neem oil for the first time, these bugs are dead as a hooker on the side of the interstate!
so far this stuff is great! I'd recommend it for sure.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&gs_mss=garden+safe+n&tok=dH879SqWSoD4Jfc6xiSgbQ&cp=14&gs_id=az&xhr=t&q=garden+safe+neem+oil&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=14500812092882211437&sa=X&ei=QFWUT8rtN-7q2wW-p8zmBA&sqi=2&ved=0CEoQ8wIwAg (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&gs_mss=garden+safe+n&tok=dH879SqWSoD4Jfc6xiSgbQ&cp=14&gs_id=az&xhr=t&q=garden+safe+neem+oil&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=14500812092882211437&sa=X&ei=QFWUT8rtN-7q2wW-p8zmBA&sqi=2&ved=0CEoQ8wIwAg)
I picked it up in the organic section at Lowe's
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Check out my neighbor's set up! Pretty sweet, I'm jealous. He's going to help me set up mine, just like he, he has already promised to help me with mine for next year.
(http://i1264.photobucket.com/albums/jj486/ejr914/Garden141.jpg)
(http://i1264.photobucket.com/albums/jj486/ejr914/Garden142.jpg)
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I'm more jealous of your surroundings than I am of that garden.
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EJR,
did your neigbor use "treated" 2 x 8's for his raised beds?
http://www.finegardening.com/design/articles/pressure-treated-wood-in-beds.aspx (http://www.finegardening.com/design/articles/pressure-treated-wood-in-beds.aspx)
...In the pressure-treating process, lumber is sealed in a tank, and air is extracted, creating a vacuum. Then a solution containing chromium, copper, and arsenic is added. Because of the vacuum, the chemicals are carried deep into the wood. Chromium is a bactericide, copper a fungicide, and arsenic an insecticide, and all arrest decay of some kind. All three are toxic, but chromium and copper don?t raise many concerns. If we don?t inhale it, chromium is not particularly harmful to us, and copper isn?t very toxic to mammals, although it is to aquatic life and fungi. It?s arsenic that is worrisome...
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ok so here's some of the other stuff that wasn't included in the OP.
peppers: 2 Jalepeno, 1 Serrano
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/006-2.jpg)
herbs: Rosemary, Dill, Basil, andd.... err.... some other stuff.. the herb garden is my lady's thing... lol
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/003-4.jpg)
tomatoes: Sweet Pear, Cherry, and where the three cages are in the front, I just planted 3 "Abe Lincoln" tomatoes (i have no idea what that is.. lol)
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/002-2.jpg)
apparently, with a little luck, a few Georgia Rattlesnake watermelon vines should be popping out of this little mound sooner or later.
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/005-3.jpg)
and last but not least, just a little while ago (5:00pm 4/23/2012) I dug a new bed and planted 9 stalks of sweet corn.
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/001-3.jpg)
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I might take some picture of our garden tomorrow and post them, but bear in mind we have alot of land and a couple of tractors.
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Mac Attack,
Most of the CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate) treated wood in the world is green in colour but you are right about it not being a very good solution for garden beds. With exposure to water the Arsenate will leach out of the wood and into the soil where it is then picked up by the vegetation (in this case fruits and vegetables) and carried to your body. Thanks for bringing it up it would be a real shame to have that kind of thing happen to the family.
The EPA maintains a great webpage about it http://www.EPA.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/ (http://www.EPA.gov/oppad001/reregistration/cca/) They also list alternative methods of treating wood.
Once again thanks for bringing to the attention of the group!
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quick update (without pictures... i figure it will become too much if I give picture updates every week lol)
watermelons and corn have both come up nicely in the last few days. 8 out of 9 stalks of corn germinated and 4 out of 9 watermelons (which is actually good because I would have had to thin the watermelons down to 3 or 4 anyway if all 9 germinated)
also made a new raised bed yesterday using cinder blocks. 4 blocks wide x 2 blocks deep. carrots will occupy all the hollow cells of the blocks, and the main bed will have eggplant and squash. the bed itself is finished, and filled with my own little concoction of different soils, one cubic foot of compost, 1/2 cubic foot manure-enriched soil (from Lowe's), 2 cubic feet of MiracleGrow organic soil, and the rest is just soil from the yard (i estimate about 3 or 4 cubic feet), all mixed up and dispersed homogeneously. today I'll plant all the veggies in it.
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CORN AHOY!
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/004-5.jpg)
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Here I was feeling like a punk for not having my summer garden in. Looking at your photos got me feeling pretty blue but low and behold I was right to wait!
About 3:30pm Sunday we got a massive storm front roll across the valley with hail that ended up being 3-4" deep. Maybe you guys in the Mid West have seen hail like that but this dude hasn't! It broke aluminum sprinkler heads!
The storm came with so much rain (1.5" which is a lot in NM) that I have had standing water in my yard and garden for most of the week.
I am delighted that I didn't put my tomatoes, peppers, chiles and eggplant out... looks like the peas, lettuce and potatoes got wasted along with the few fruit trees I had left.
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Here I was feeling like a punk for not having my summer garden in. Looking at your photos got me feeling pretty blue but low and behold I was right to wait!
About 3:30pm Sunday we got a massive storm front roll across the valley with hail that ended up being 3-4" deep. Maybe you guys in the Mid West have seen hail like that but this dude hasn't! It broke aluminum sprinkler heads!
The storm came with so much rain (1.5" which is a lot in NM) that I have had standing water in my yard and garden for most of the week.
I am delighted that I didn't put my tomatoes, peppers, chiles and eggplant out... looks like the peas, lettuce and potatoes got wasted along with the few fruit trees I had left.
damn bro. how old were your fruit trees? must have been pretty young for one bad storm to knock them out.
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3-7 years old. Dude it blasted the bark off of them! We'll keep watering them and hope but it doesn't look good.
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3-7 years old. Dude it blasted the bark off of them! We'll keep watering them and hope but it doesn't look good.
oh wowww.. damn dude I'm sorry. I'd be one pissed off sumbitch! hope they come back.
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it's crazy to look back at these pictures I posted just a few weeks ago. it looks so different now. in the pea bed, you can't even see the soil. they're so overgrown that the ground is completely shaded. the corn is over 2 feet tall. the watermelon vines are starting to creep out across the yard. the first inklings of production are starting to surface. Eggplants and straight-neck yellow squash are beginning to produce. Cherry tomatoes and bell peppers have been producing for a few weeks. fucking bliss. this is turning out to be a really awesome first attempt.
at least one important lesson learned: corn KICKS ASS in this soil. next season I'll be quadrupling the amount of corn I'm growing simply because it does so well.
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Here what I have at "La Hacienda de Deathstyle".
Aloe Vera plants
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010424.jpg)
Mint for Mojitos this summer. They look much better now.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010425.jpg)
Grapefruit tree
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010421.jpg)
Frontyard Orange tree that has been picked clean almost
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010437.jpg)
Plum tree in courtyard
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010426.jpg)
Courtyard Orange tree #1
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010422.jpg)
Courtyard Orange tree #2
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010423.jpg)
Neighbors grapefruit tree that drops plenty into my yard.
(http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/anthonycardenas/La%20Hacienda%20de%20Deathstyle/S4010435.jpg)
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NICE deathstyle. I'm growing to love fruit trees and berry bushes even more than seasonal crops. just keep in mind that you can't live on citrus. there needs to be a balance. but I'm not ragging on you, that shit is awesome. I can wait until my fruit trees start to produce.
in the mean time, you should plant some veggies.
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Eww vegetables are yucky! Unfortunately my grandfather was a good gardener but when he passed he handed over the property to my mom who wants things to look pretty instead of productive. Its sad, I told her years ago about silver and rising food prices and she admits Ive been right. Yet she still thinks her 401k and pension will survive and if things get bad enough she'll just starve to death in silence and accept her fate. I guess dying of starvation is easier than it sounds. [img]http://www.arrse.co.uk/at
Anyways after a really really really bad unemployment streak things are starting to look up. So hopefully I can live as spartan as possible, save up some cash, jump ship, and set up somewhere else.
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Eww vegetables are yucky! Unfortunately my grandfather was a good gardener but when he passed he handed over the property to my mom who wants things to look pretty instead of productive. Its sad, I told her years ago about silver and rising food prices and she admits Ive been right. Yet she still thinks her 401k and pension will survive and if things get bad enough she'll just starve to death in silence and accept her fate. I guess dying of starvation is easier than it sounds. [img]http://www.arrse.co.uk/at
Anyways after a really really really bad unemployment streak things are starting to look up. So hopefully I can live as spartan as possible, save up some cash, jump ship, and set up somewhere else.
don't give up on the family land bro. my family is the same way (maybe not quite as bad, but similar) I'm NOT wishing for the day that they die, but when it inevitably comes, I'm turning that place into a prepper's paradise.
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another quick update.
purple hulls are finally producing!!! dozens and dozens of little pea pods appearing all over. (like I've said before, this is my first year doing this so maybe i'm a little overly excited about my first successful raised bed :)) )
also, valuable lesson learned. when you space certain plants properly, you can crowd them just enough that by the time they're matured to their full size, they completely shade the ground beneath, which means you don't have to weed the garden because the grass and other stuff doesn't have enough sunlight to grow. I overcrowded my peas and had to thin them out, but i think the spacing is about perfect now. if you're thinking of planting peas, I'd recommend spacing them in a grid inside the raised bed. not rows. each square in the grid should be about 10-12"x10-12". you'll have to weed for a while until the plants reach full size. once they reach full size they don't allow anything else to grow beneath them because they completely shade the ground, yet they're still far enough apart where they're not overcrowding each other.
hope this helps.
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video update.
Backyard Garden Update: 5/29/2012 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2z2aL9XQfI#ws)
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Looks great, NOLA! [URL=http://www.smileyvault.co
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Looks great, NOLA!
thanks bro. I just BBQ'ed the first squash of the season yesterday evening. they were perfect too. nice and tender and sweet.
that being said, I'm already planning for next season. I'm thinking about just doubling my quantities of everything and maybe trying out a few new things as well. probably some different beans and peas as well as doubling my purple-hulls.
this shit is addictive bro. especially once you start eating your first harvest. feels great.
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size comparison (and showing off the lady.. :P )
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/colcorn-1.jpg)
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Damn what is she doing with your goofy looking ass??? see ya tomorrow buddy!!!!
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HARVEST TIME!
(http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h473/NOLA556/harvest.jpg)
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made creamed corn yesterday, eating peas right now as I type this. you guys that haven't started gardening yet need to GET ON IT!!!! it's probably the most rewarding thing you could ever do as a prepper, or as a human being in general! do it! and reap the rewards!
EDIT: I dare anyone to tell me I'm wrong here. purple hull and/or field peas, (AND/OR fresh corn/creamed corn), cornbread, and the meat of your choice, together, THE PERFECT EVENING MEAL!
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NOLA,
not to blow smoke up your kilt however I am pretty stoked with this subject you started and the followup you are doing. If this series doesn't get folks worked up you are not alive. I just gave you a Karma point for your efforts. [URL=http://www.smileyvault.co
I need to post pictures of our little garden up at the BOL. I haven't been there in two weeks and I will not be there for two more weeks so I am joan'sing to see how she is doing. I planted it keeping in mind that I will not be there to water it every day. It is in partial shade and the ground there always seems to be moist. We will see.
Last fall I planted 16 garlic bulbs and they are doing well. I cut off some of the garlic "snipes" (Spirally stem that comes off the top of the plant) and cut them up. I added them to a salad and it was a great addition.
This is what I planted so far:
> Sweet corn that should produce 48 stalks,
> Peas and beans all around the perimeter that should produce about 112 plants/vines,
> Twelve tomato plants, and
> Six jalapeno pepper plants.
I still need to plant melons, squash, pumpkins and turnips. Hopefully I will get to do that sooner then later. I also want to plant carrots in the fall. I hear that they are great to pull from the ground in the middle of the winter.
Again, Thanks NOLA.