The Gardening Category
Harvesting the first potatoes of 2010
The time has come to harvest the first of the potatoes. When the eyes were planted, they broke through the ground at different rates. So that means that the plants may mature at different times, and the harvest will be spread out.
When is it time to harvest potatoes?
A lot of people ask the question – when do you know when its time to harvest potatoes. Its a simple question and a simple answer – when the tops of the plants start dying, its time to dig the potatoes up.
If you have access to a tractor, a plow can be mounted to the rear end. The tractor is slowly driven over the row, as the soil is turned up, the potatoes roll out the ground. People can then walk behind the tractor, dig through the dirt and harvest the potatoes.
If your harvesting the potatoes by hand, dig around the base of the plant, or just pull up the plant to gain access to the buried potatoes.
Try not to use sharp hand tools – such as shovels – which can slice through the tender skin of the potato.
On May 30, 2010 – we harvested about 4 gallons of snap beans and 5 gallons of potatoes. I think the production of the snap beans is being stunted due to the lack of rain. For the year 2010, in just the first 5 months, we are somewhere around 4 – 6 inches below normal. If we would have received our normal rate of rain fall in April and May, I suspect that the beans and potatoes would produced a lot more.
Related Forum Post:
Kevs 2010 spring garden
Gardening Forum
Forum threads about potatoes
Harvesting snap beans
The snap beans are really starting to come in. If we could get some rain, they would be producing a lot more, but you just have to make due with what you have. In all, we probably picked 4 – 5 gallons of snap beans.
I’am going to string some of these beans up for them to dry in the shed, while some of them will be blanched and put in the freezer. The old timers use to run a string through the beans, then hang the string up where they would stay dry. If all of the beans had to jarred, that would be a lot of jars and it would cost a lot of money. But if done properly, the jarred beans can stay good for years.
Anyway, here is a garden update filmed on May 24, 2010. If you want to post a comment about this video, you may do so in the forum thread about my 2010 survivalist summer garden.
Fruit trees and the urban survivalist
Fruit trees are the friend of the urban survivalist. Unlike a garden, you do not have to replant the fruit tree every year, during the spring your neighbors will be jealous of the beautiful blooms, dwarf fruit trees can be planted just about anywhere, and some types of fruit trees are high producers. Meaning, that with just 1 or 2 trees, your family should be able to put up plenty of preserves.
Some types of dwarfs may not get 8 feet tall and might be something good to plant in the corners of your fence. If you have a fence in your backyard, what do you have planted in the corners right now anyway? Planting the fruit tree across the back fence might provide it with more sun light, as compared to planting it between the houses.
Over the past few years I have made it a point to plant some fruit trees. Some of the types I have planted include peach, plum, apple, and a fig tree.
When picking the different types of trees that you want to plant, take into consideration when the fruit is ready to be picked. I like to plant different types of trees so that the fruit ripens at different times. One might ripen in July, another might ripen in August, and another might ripen in September. This gives me time to preserve the fruit. Even if I do not preserve the fruit, having the fruit ripen at different times spreads out my food supply.
While planting the peach trees, I used miracle grow organic potting soil and some miracle grow plant food. The plant food said it was 10-10-10 with a little extra sulfur mixed in.
I thought about throwing some nuts, bolts or nails in the hole before the tree is set in. That way the tree has a source of trace minerals will will take a long time to break down. This was not done during the 2007, 2008 0r 2009 planting season, but I might do it this year. There are some 3/4 inch round bar rods at the camp. I though about cutting some pieces off of those bars – say about 2 – 3 inches long – and putting the bar under the tree. It might take those bars decades to break down all the way where there is nothing left
In 2008 I spread some 13-13-13 fertilizer around a peach tree in the spring. We were “supposed” to get some rain to help was the fertilizer in. We did not get the rain and the tree died. I think I put too much fertilizer around the tree. So in the spring of 2010, I’am going easy with the fertilizer.
Post your comments in this forum thread about fruit trees.
Rotating your seed stockpile
One of the questions that is asked a lot on the forums, is how long will seeds stay good? One example to the answer of that question is the Doomsday Seed Vault. This seed vault is designed to keep seeds frozen for centuries. Some types of seeds will stay good for decades. While other types of seeds can stay good for hundreds of years – if kept frozen.
Even though seeds can stay viable for a long time if frozen, I still take the time to rotate out my seed stock.
A lot of the seeds in my stocks are cucumbers, peas, snap beans, corn, squash, radishes, and zucchini – especially squash and zucchini. That is because they are easy to grow and somewhat disease resistant. Snap beans, cucumbers and zucchini can by high producing plants.
In the spring of 2008 my wife and I planted a couple of rows of snap beans. These rows were maybe 10 – 15 feet long. We got around a 5 gallon bucket out of just short row. Keep in mind that the 10 foot row produced food for over a month and had to be picked every couple of days.
On my trips to the local feed and fertilizer store I will buy anywhere from 1/2 a pound to a full pound of pea and bean seeds. Right now I probably have about 6 pounds of beans and pea seeds. Some of these seeds are 3 – 4 years old.
Here are some suggestions on rotating out your seed stocks:
1. Plant the seeds at the deer lease to feed the wildlife. When a doe gives birth to a fawn, this is a bad time of year. The spring and summer foliage has not yet fully bloomed, so sometimes there is a shortage of food. During this time I usually have several deer feeders going throwing corn once a day. This usually goes on through at least May or June.
2. Start a community garden with your friends and relatives. Take the seeds out of your stocks, use them to plant the community garden, and then re-buy fresh seed.
3. Give them away. Know someone plating a garden, share your old seeds with them.
4. Move the seeds to the bug out location. If your place has a freezer, store the seeds in the freezer so that you will have a secondary stockpile.
Comments can be posted in this forum thread about rotating your seed stockpile.
Pecan trees
Years ago, homesteads would have pecan trees planted rows in various places around the farm. Now these trees are reduced to a rarity. If you see an empty field, with a bunch of old pecan trees planted in rows, chances are an old homestead used to be there years ago. The old timers would collect the pecans and eat then through the winter. These are an excellent long lasting, easily store able food.
If you ever eat a fresh pecan, you will realize how nasty the packaged pecans from the store really are. Home made pecan pie is hard to beat. Well, you can not beat it.
The pecans have started falling, so its time to pick em and put em up. The pecan grows inside of a larger shell. The shell splits open and the pecan will fall out.
These pictures were taken at a local fair. The county court house (where the fair was held) has close to 2 dozen big pecan trees around it.
Fertilize pecan trees in the early spring with 13-13-13 around the outside edge of the limbs – also known as the “Drip Line.” Or spread some manure around the drip line instead of commercial fertilizer.
Post your comments in this forum thread about Pecan Trees.
The squash as a survivalist food source
The squash is one of the better choices for any garden. Its pest resistant, easy to grow, and the harvested squash can be cooked in a variety of ways. It can be fried, baked, grilled, or just eaten raw.
There are several reasons why squash should be favored by survivalist – can be eaten raw, it’s high in nutrients, can be cooked, and some types of squash can be stored for several months. The squash is in the melon family and can develop a hard outer skin. The squash should be harvested when it is in an immature stage. If the squash is left on the plant too long, the skin and the seeds will harden, making it undesirable to eat. Squash plants can grow to be about 3 feet tall and 3 – 4 feet across.
The squash is not what you might called a “high production plant”, but it does produce more then once. In this picture we can see several small “squash” starting to grow on the vine. The squash plant produces a vine, but not a long one. This “vine” may grow to be just a few feet long. The center vine of the squash plant in the picture may be about 18 inches long.
Planting a community garden
In these tough economic times, its important for people to come together. ne way that families can work together to safe money, is to plant a community garden.
In this example, 3 families, it breaks down to 11 people, 6 adults and 5 children are working together to plant a garden. This garden will be shared equally between everyone involved.l
The land we are planting on belongs to my step son and step daughter. Its some family land their grandfather left them after he passed away a few years ago. I’am guessing the plot we are using in the video is about 1/4 acre. There is another plot we are going to plant water melons on. And a smaller spot we are going to plant okra on.
Planting potatoes, peas and corn
Potatoes, peas and corn – plant them in that order.
Commercial grade fertilizer has 3 numbers, such as 13-13-13. Those three numbers stand for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (also called Pot Ash).
nitrogen – large leaves, tall growth – greens, spinach, corn, okra
phosphorus – root growth – potatoes, turnips
potassium / pot ash – pod production – peas, beans, corn, okra, squash
Potatoes – use fertilizers with a high middle number, such as 10-20-10 fertilizer. The higher phosphorus content helps promote root growth. The potatoes can be harvested and eaten at anytime. Just dig around the base of the potato plant and pull out the potatoes when you want some to cook. Or, wait until the top of the plant dies, then you know the potatoes are full grown and ready to harvest.
Stockpiling food
There is an interesting thread in the Survivalist Forum about Food Preps. Some of the topics being discussed are stockpiling canned goods, stockpiling dried or vacuum sealed foods, buying MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), canning your own food, stockpiling family sized or #10 cans of food, or something else.
Regardless of how much food you stockpile, its impossible to stockpile enough food for a lifetime.
Here is what my food preps look like:
Canned goods bought from local grocery store
Dried foods – dried beans, dried rice, and the such
MREs and Eversafe meals
Stockpiling as much seed as possible – beans, peas, corn, squash, okra, radishes,,, only to name a few.
Canned goods and dried foods are not a self sustaining food supply – once you eat them, they are gone. You are not going to be able to plant an empty bean can, and expect it to sprout a bean plant; which will grow more canned beans – that is not the way it happens.
Stocking up on canned goods, dried foods, vacuum sealed foods, is a dead end. Regardless of how long your food supply will last – 3 months, 6 months, 8 months, 12 months, its going to come to an end sooner or later.
This is where stockpiling open pollinated seeds comes in. This can give you an unlimited supply of food, if you take care of the plants and seeds. But first, you have to learn how to grow the plants and harvest the seeds.
Go back and take a look at mankind 2,000 years ago. The Romans did not have a china-mart to buy rice or canned beans from. They had farmers that raised their own food.
If a wide spread disaster happens, the only long term food prep option is to have your own seeds to plant your own garden.
Patio Gardening Project Finale and Review
This is the finale to our patio gardening project. So lets discuss how things went, the results and the types of seeds we should stockpile.
Overall, I was how the project went. Even though the box that the plants grew in was only about 6 inches tall, it seemed that the plants grew pretty good for the amount of sunlight, water and fertilizer they received.
Because the growth of the plants was stunted, lets not grow anything that takes a long time to mature – like watermelons, or squash.
Instead, lets focus on plants that can grow quick, do not require cooking and can be eaten at any time. A few examples of these include greens, radishes, and cabbage.