Growing your own.

[bemore]

(17-09-2012 01:24 AM)earmuffs Wrote:  You wanna know the secret?
Chicken poop. Though in lou of chicken poop any ol' shit will do.
I swear to go that shit makes your garden grown into the biggest veggies you will ever see.

Poop works wonders, better then fertilizer.

If you have a fence you could keep some ducks. Ducks, unlike chickens, don't eat your veggies (chickens eat anything and everything) and they eat all the bugs in your garden. I know they did in ours. Like my parents would literally have buckets of snails when doing the weeding (we did have a big garden). But then when we got ducks who had free range, my parents would do the gardening and they said they'd be lucky to find to two or three.
Plus, they shit everywhere fertilizing your stuff.

It's a win-win. PLUS keeps plants bugs free with absolutely zero sprays.

I have heard about chicken manure fertilizer before... a lot of people swear by it.

I wish I could keep livestock but nearly all allotments ban it There are few exceptions

[Dom]

(17-09-2012 05:30 AM)bemore Wrote:  

(17-09-2012 01:24 AM)earmuffs Wrote:  You wanna know the secret?
Chicken poop. Though in lou of chicken poop any ol' shit will do.
I swear to go that shit makes your garden grown into the biggest veggies you will ever see.

Poop works wonders, better then fertilizer.

If you have a fence you could keep some ducks. Ducks, unlike chickens, don't eat your veggies (chickens eat anything and everything) and they eat all the bugs in your garden. I know they did in ours. Like my parents would literally have buckets of snails when doing the weeding (we did have a big garden). But then when we got ducks who had free range, my parents would do the gardening and they said they'd be lucky to find to two or three.
Plus, they shit everywhere fertilizing your stuff.

It's a win-win. PLUS keeps plants bugs free with absolutely zero sprays.

I have heard about chicken manure fertilizer before... a lot of people swear by it.

I wish I could keep livestock but nearly all allotments ban it There are few exceptions

I like the peafowl, but you need a tall tree for them to sleep in. They don't need to be fenced at night and so there is no clean-up or mainteance. They will eat some kale in the early spring and so I plant that later. Other than that they leave the plants alone and just get bugs.

The European restriction on seeds has something to do with the commercial trade between the union countries, I think. I am not up to date on it, but a couple years back read a number of very angry comments on this by growers.

Most seeds that are commonly sold are hybrids. Hybrids are created to combat certain diseases, and the more commercial ones are bred to ripen at a certain time, have skins that won't break easily, are receptive to artificial ripening methods and the like, so they can be picked and transported without damage. The one thing they are not bred for is flavor, and the heirlooms have way better flavor in almost all cases.

I grew 12 kinds of heirloom tomatoes this year and they are incredible. Some ripened very early, and there are still some out there now that are just starting to ripen, so I have a never ending supply it seems. They come in all colors and sizes and flavors, you can make tomato salads that look amazing. Red, yellow, orange, black, orange with green stripes etc. It looks incredible and tastes even better.

But any homegrown tomato from any seed will leave any store bought ones in the dust. It's the time from vine to table, and the refrigeration that makes them taste like card board. No wonder the younger people don't much like fresh veggies, the stuff in the stores tastes horrid. They are all meant to have sugar content, and none of them do anymore.

[bemore]

(17-09-2012 06:37 AM)Dom Wrote:  

(17-09-2012 05:30 AM)bemore Wrote:  I have heard about chicken manure fertilizer before... a lot of people swear by it.

I wish I could keep livestock but nearly all allotments ban it There are few exceptions

I like the peafowl, but you need a tall tree for them to sleep in. They don't need to be fenced at night and so there is no clean-up or mainteance. They will eat some kale in the early spring and so I plant that later. Other than that they leave the plants alone and just get bugs.

The European restriction on seeds has something to do with the commercial trade between the union countries, I think. I am not up to date on it, but a couple years back read a number of very angry comments on this by growers.

Most seeds that are commonly sold are hybrids. Hybrids are created to combat certain diseases, and the more commercial ones are bred to ripen at a certain time, have skins that won't break easily, are receptive to artificial ripening methods and the like, so they can be picked and transported without damage. The one thing they are not bred for is flavor, and the heirlooms have way better flavor in almost all cases.

I grew 12 kinds of heirloom tomatoes this year and they are incredible. Some ripened very early, and there are still some out there now that are just starting to ripen, so I have a never ending supply it seems. They come in all colors and sizes and flavors, you can make tomato salads that look amazing. Red, yellow, orange, black, orange with green stripes etc. It looks incredible and tastes even better.

But any homegrown tomato from any seed will leave any store bought ones in the dust. It's the time from vine to table, and the refrigeration that makes them taste like card board. No wonder the younger people don't much like fresh veggies, the stuff in the stores tastes horrid. They are all meant to have sugar content, and none of them do anymore.

A lot of shop bought fresh stuff has been irradiated as well

[Vosur]

I can't believe I just read three pages about how to grow plants properly when I didn't even plan to do so anytime soon.

[KidCharlemagne1962]

(17-09-2012 08:04 AM)Vosur Wrote:  I can't believe I just read three pages about how to grow plants properly when I didn't even plan to do so anytime soon.

I know, I first thought this should be moved to the Cannabis thread until I read the posts

Thanks for letting me down guys

[kim]

...BUMP...

bemore Wrote:Ive got a 212 sq yard allotment.

Gonna go see it tommorrow, cant wait to get cracking on it.

Sweet! Don't forget those before and after pics.

[bemore]

(18-02-2013 11:45 AM)kim Wrote:  ...BUMP...

bemore Wrote:Ive got a 212 sq yard allotment.

Gonna go see it tommorrow, cant wait to get cracking on it.

Sweet! Don't forget those before and after pics.

I accepted it and then decided ive got too much shit going on at the moment to give it the time it deserves. I was quite lucky as the guy gave me my money back for the allotment, so no growing yet im afraid.

[Dark Light]

Hmmm...I've been gardening literally from the time I was able to walk out and pull weeds, so I guess about two or three. I can fondly remember getting to ride on my Dad's knee while he drove his '64 Masey Ferguson tractor (which I am currently helping him restore to it's former glory.) I've not heard of a lot of this stuff. As long as you know when to plant your crops (it'll be a bit different depending on where you live.) Each crop has a certain time it should be planted. Regretfully I was lazy last year and planted my tomatoes too late...wound up with one sorry looking tomato not even worth bothering with. In any case here's how we usually did things.

Plough the field
Rotartiller the field
Pull out any remaining weeds
Put out the manure (we usually used horse shit)
Plant our crops
Do any prep work needed for specific plants, such as stakes for tomato plants and stakes/twine for plants like green beans
Put out catch and release style racoon traps
In recent years we have added a determent for deer, a device that emits a high-pitched squell when it detects motion
Water your seeds/seedlings/plants as needed
Ho/Weed as needed
Tie up tomato plants as needed make sure your green beans are wrapping around the twine
Kill bugs/ particularly potato bugs as needed
Harvest when appropriate, don't allow vegetables to get too large, particularly okra, squash, zucchini and melons such as pumpkins and watermelons.

We always eat fresh veggies, can more than enough to last through 'till next year, and we also usually sold the excess to the local farmers market, especially when I was young and we were poor.

It is a lot of hard work, but when you taste the results you will be glad you did it. Nothing beats quite literally reaping what you sew.

Now I cannot wait until I have another chance to eat some fresh tomatoes. If you have any questions in particular, I'd be glad to answer them to the best of my ability. Good luck! Oh, and we generally try to avoid pesticides as well, though we have used them, particularly in years when the bugs were to much for to fend off by squishing them one by one. Damn potato bugs!

Hope I helped.

edit. Good point about the water which I forgot to mention, don't put water on the leaves, it will burn them up as the water gets hot and evaporates, and it is always better to water early in the morning or late in the evening. Be particularly careful with tomato plants as their leaves are on the fragile side.

Also saw that bemore is being a weiney and not going through with it. WEINEY! Oh well, maybe next year.