Posts Tagged corn
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.
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.
Stocking up on seeds
As the local stores get their garden seeds in, its time to take an inventory as to what is need, what is not needed and what needs to be replaced. Seed stocks should include the types of food that the family will eat. And, most important, the types of seeds that will grow in a certain geographical area.
The bags that the seeds are stored in should be marked with the type of seed and the date when the seeds were bought. The date is very important so that the seed stocks can be rotated out every 2 – 3 years.
Examples of different types of seeds and plants:
Potatoes – are usually planted from cuttings from a mature potato. When the “eyes” start to sprout on the potato, take a knife, cut a good section of the potato off (along with the eye). Types of potatoes like red skin or Irish are high producers.
Squash and Zucchini – are both members of the melon family. Are disease and pest resistant, high producers, can be eaten raw and are full of nutrients. Use a balanced fertilizer, such as 13-13-13.
If the seeds are to be saved from the Squash and Zucchini plants, keep the two species planted separate and away from each other. Bees can cross pollinate between Squash and Zucchini plants, meaning the harvested seeds have a good chance of being a hybrid. The harvested seeds might produce, but the seeds from those plants might be sterile. If place is limited, and there is a certain chance of cross pollination, do not plant the Squash and Zucchini at the same time. But instead, plant Squash on season, and Zucchini the next season.
Squash and Zucchini leaves have little “hairs” on them. This makes the leaves unpleasant for animals (such as deer) that try to eat them.
Radishes – Are fast growers, usually only taking 30 days to mature from the time the seed is planted. The entire Radish can be eaten. The tops can be eaten like a salad, the root ball can be eaten raw or boiled. Use a balanced fertilizer, such as 13-13-13. The seeds are usually very small, so they do not take up very much room. Radishes should be considered the friend of every survivalist.