With Vfem's death in the family, I would like to make an offer in her stead:
Celebrity hybrid tomatoes
or
Hubbard true green improved squash
or
dark red beets
me&thegals
My daughter really enjoyed striped marigolds last year. Super easy to grow, huge and prolific. My niece and nephew ate themselves silly on cherry tomatoes, another really fun one for teeny gardeners :)
I also enjoyed trying out the farmer's weed equipment yesterday. Diamondback hoes, stirrup hoes (awesome!!!), something they called "the mule": Like a hoe, only rounding up on the edges rather than flat and WAY denser. It convinced me that my basic junk from the local discount store is not going...
Hah! No such thing as a weed?!?
I was reminded yesterday of edible weeds like lamb's quarters. Last year, we had so many in the garlic bed that we made a nice big pot of them steamed. They were delicious!
I was at a fascinating organic growers meeting yesterday all about weeds. I'm sure this has been covered before, but we have so many new, enthusiastic members that I thought I would toss it out again.
1. What tools do you use for weeding?
2. What other materials do you use--like mulches...
What a cool story, momof drew! That's why I let my kids spend more $ than actually necessary to pick out really cool things that we may not even eat :) If it's really awesome to them, they will be hooked!
Absolutely! Mine are from Seed Savers Exchange and called Dragon carrots. The best I have ever had. I will never willingly have a garden without them again. Another way to hook kids into gardening--really funky, cool-colored things. And a way to open other people's eyes to the fact that the...
Ohhhhh, one of my favorite subjects! I think getting kids into gardening ASAP is a terrific way to hook them on something you love and get them eating fruits and veggies. It is NOT without frustration, obviously. It took mine quite a while to get the concept of walking around the garden beds and...
setter4--Do you have any good organic stores by you? I say organic since they wouldn't have been treated to not sprout. If you do and they carry blue potatoes, you can use them. AFAIK, there would not be a difference between organic eating potatoes and organic seed potatoes. After all, that's...
Welcome, TMP! And thanks for the link. I will check it out. That's encouraging how fast the bats showed up! We already have bats, but I'd love a place for them to congregate and populate :)
I'd love to hear more bat stories :D
I've read an article or 2 about installing bat houses to cut down on various bug populations. I'd like to do this for my gardens. Has anyone else tried this? Noticed a difference? Have plans for how to build one or a cheap source for buying them outright?
Thanks!
me&thegals
I agree with Pat. I am spending about $400 this year, but that is for TWELVE FAMILIES! Of course, the bigger your garden, the less expensive it gets since the seed price drops dramatically for bulk sizes. I'm always shocked, though, when I hear someone say that gardening does not pay for itself...
Well, it looks like I stalled this one.
Let me start a new offer:
purple radishes from SSE
or
salsify
or
bitter melon
or
Hubbard true green improved squash from Baker
or
Musquee de Provence pumpkin from SSE--the coolest pumpkin I have every grown!
30 radishes or salsify
5 of the melons and...
I'd like to post again a site I found at the recommendation of a farmer's market friend: www.dixondalefarms.com. They group onions according to day length in your part of the country (there's a map on the site) and according to sweet, storage or unusual varieties. If you can get together with...
I'm sorry. It looks like I mispoke. I thought that Preen would block ALL germination... Could you tell me more, VT Chicklit, about how it blocks some, but not the desired plants?