Messages In This Digest (11 Messages)
- 1a.
- Re: Favorite Tool? From: Ken
- 1b.
- Re: Favorite Tool? From: grams46@aol.com
- 1c.
- Re: Favorite Tool? From: Amy Shea
- 1d.
- Re: Favorite Tool? From: Vicki Halverson
- 1e.
- Re: Favorite Tool? From: naturebug02
- 1f.
- Re: Favorite Tool? From: naturebug02
- 2a.
- Re: cat mess From: Ken
- 3a.
- Re: Refrigerator Garden Update From: Rachel
- 3b.
- Re: Refrigerator Garden Update From: Rachel
- 4.
- Re: No garden, but desperate to eat healthily From: kimdutta
- 5.
- Seed Starting Mix Recipe ??? From: Joseph Puentes
Messages
- 1a.
-
Re: Favorite Tool?
Posted by: "Ken" kenrogers@comcast.net kenrogers911
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:18 pm (PDT)
Stirrup weeder.
--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups. , "beaderanne" <beaderanne@com ...> wrote:
>
> What is everyone's favorite tool the they can't live without?
>
> Beaderanne
> Zone 5
> Missouri
>
- 1b.
-
Re: Favorite Tool?
Posted by: "grams46@aol.com" grams46@aol.com grams46aolcom
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:19 pm (PDT)
beaderanne@yahoo.com writes:
What is everyone's favorite tool the they can't live without?>
hula hoe
peace from kathy
support our troops; end the war in iraq
john 3:16
**************Need a job? Find employment help in your area.
(http://yellowpages.aol.com/search? )query=employment _agencies& ncid=emlcntusyel p00000005
- 1c.
-
Re: Favorite Tool?
Posted by: "Amy Shea" ashea23@comcast.net ashea23
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:20 pm (PDT)
Asparagus knife, or maybe that's not the name, but it's a long tool with a two-prong end that I use for pulling weeds, loosening soil, making holes for planting large seeds (peas, beans), etc. I have never used it on asparagus, heh.
Amy, mountains of SW VA
.......... ............... .......... ............ ...
Those who dwell
among the beauties & mysteries of the Earth
are never alone or weary of life. (Rachel Carson)
We ought to stay out of the nuclei. (Wes Jackson)
http://ashea23.massagetherapy. com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- 1d.
-
Re: Favorite Tool?
Posted by: "Vicki Halverson" vickihalverson@yahoo.com vickihalverson
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:20 pm (PDT)
shovel :)
Vicki in West MI
--- On Fri, 3/6/09, beaderanne <beaderanne@yahoo.com > wrote:
From: beaderanne <beaderanne@yahoo.com >
Subject: [Organic_Gardening] Favorite Tool?
To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups. com
Date: Friday, March 6, 2009, 8:15 AM
What is everyone's favorite tool the they can't live without?
Beaderanne
Zone 5
Missouri
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- 1e.
-
Re: Favorite Tool?
Posted by: "naturebug02" naturebug02@yahoo.com naturebug02
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:20 pm (PDT)
--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups. , "beaderanne" <beaderanne@com ...> wrote:
>
> What is everyone's favorite tool the they can't live without?
>
> Beaderanne
> Zone 5
> Missouri
>I love the tools that my physical therapist recommended due to my carpal tunnel problems. I was not about to give up gardening and she suggested the "Radius Brand". They carry a number of different tools for your needs. They are lightweight, nice wide grip, lime green handles makes them easy to find if you misplace tools, the grip is designed to follow the curve of your palm. You feel less stress on your hands and wrists. Plus, they have a hole in the hand tools so you can hang them in your garage on hooks or put a ribbon on them if you are working with other gardeners to keep your tool seperate. I don't have all of them, but will be asking for two per year for special days. Will donate all my old tools for recycle with the community gardens. Check with your local hardware company store to see if they carry some suppliers are not on the list. Think Spring
Debbie
Michigan
- 1f.
-
Re: Favorite Tool?
Posted by: "naturebug02" naturebug02@yahoo.com naturebug02
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:20 pm (PDT)
--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups. , "beaderanne" <beaderanne@com ...> wrote:
>
> What is everyone's favorite tool the they can't live without?
>
> Beaderanne
> Zone 5
> Missouri
>
I would not go out and weed the garden without my "Ames True Temper Action Hoe" #982245 It's a double edge cultivator weeder, its sharp, double edge its on a push pull method. Moving forward and backward motions it moves under the top of the soil getting those weeds disloged from the roots. They will not grow then. You can distroy more weeds with less effort and less time. Leave them and the sun will dry them out. Even let my 80 year old uncle try it on his clay and he had to go and get him one. He uses it daily in the summer and this is his favorite tool now also.
Debbie
Michigan
- 2a.
-
Re: cat mess
Posted by: "Ken" kenrogers@comcast.net kenrogers911
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:18 pm (PDT)
Cats, like birds, hae prickly stuff under their feet. You cna create a barrier about a foot wide of vertical plastic spikes. Here is description and source.
http://www.gardeners.com/Safe- Cat-Deterrent/ YardPests_ DogsCats, 31-954,default, cp.html
--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups. , chandu solanki <chandusink@com ...> wrote:
>
> can anyone please find a sure way of clearing cat mess , I have up t o6 cats coming t make a mess in my garden and I find it frustrating that I have to clean it up weekly. I have tried orange peel, moth balls, sonar alarms wit little luck , please help if anyone has any advice , my email is chandusink@... thanks c
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
- 3a.
-
Re: Refrigerator Garden Update
Posted by: "Rachel" shilohfarm@cgmailbox.com
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:19 pm (PDT)
Hi Sam,
You asked: "By Refrigerator garden, do you mean you planted in old
refrigerators?"
Yes. Garden plantings inside old frigs.
I don't know if you've already heard about my refrigerator gardens by now, from other lists that I am on, but here it is. For those of you that have already read this explanation, from other lists, my apologies for the repeat. It seems like all the really great & friendly gardeners can all be found in just a few choice meeting places... like this one. ;-) I'm glad I found you all here too!
We live in SW Arizona (low desert) between Tucson & Phoenix. Our soils here are either rock hard and completely lacking all nutrients or (when wet) as soft as pudding and lacking all nutrients... except salt.
Due to back injuries I knew that gardening the old traditional row gardens was not going to be possible for me any longer. For many years I just gave up row & cottage gardening as it was too much strain on my back.
Then last year I just couldn't stand it any longer and put in a large one acre, traditional row, garden. Even with lots of help, from the family here, that nearly sent me into back surgery and certainly took all the fun out of gardening for me.
So, I knew if I wanted to continue to garden, at any grand levels, that I had to figure a way to bring the garden up to my standing level. Hence, raised beds.
I then started thinking about obvious problems with raised gardens in this extremely dry desert and knowing that they would dry out very rapidly without a constant water source breaking my bank. Even though our gardens are all spent and gone by and through the months of May to September it is still very dry here year-around, during our other gardening months.
I started researching all the various gardening methods I could find. The Miedler Method, SFG, French Intensive, Lasagna Gardening, water gardening, upside-down gardening, ect. I decided, that for me, that the Square Foot Garden method would work best, for my circumstances. That was the method I wanted to use for many reasons. Easy soil mixture, organic as possible, conserve water, time, labor, no tilling, hoeing, raking and little seed used, along with working to avoid our minimal production and constant crop failures here, due to our soil's condition.
Then I only needed to figure out how to raise a Square Foot Garden. That is what sent me on my quest, which ended when I came up with the idea of using recycled refrigerators. They were nearly free, sturdy and durable enough to survive our scorching summers and I couldn't afford my other first choices of concrete block or redwood boxes. I had to go on the cheap and as free as possible.
I went searching at our church's second-hand store for something that I could use for raised garden beds. Even second-hand block wall and/or wood materials are expensive. I looked at old bathtubs, rowboats, water troughs, ect.... but, they were too expensive (for many of them) as well.
I then discovered the refrigerators, that were not repairable, standing disassembled on their back lot. I asked them what they were going to do with them and they told me that they completely disassemble them, remove all their parts, motors, compressors and safely recapture their freon. Then they sell them to the scrap yard for $5. each. Well, $5. x 14... that was within my, as close to free as possible, budget.
So, that only left me with finding a way to haul them home. DH borrowed a large truck from his job and we hauled them all in two trips (costing only fuel). DH & DS helped move them empty into their present locations and popped holes in their bottoms, for drainage. We originally thought we would keep the doors on them and use them for summer shade and winter cold frames but, since they looked too unsightly, I decided we needed to remove them.
Since our livestock give us a steady supply of manure, I went to work composting it up as rapidly as I could. Once the frigs were on the property and the compost was ready to go, I used the tractor's bucket to fill them up to within six inches from their tops.
Working quickly to meet our 'plant by February 15th frost date' we filled them to their tops with the SFG soil recipe. The SFG soil recipe was our greatest expense, but according to the SFG website, that is a one time expense and can be reused year after year with little additional soils needed.
The next big expense was the seed as I decided to buy all heirloom, heritage, non-hybridized seed from Baker Creek Seed Co. That way I could plant a small amount of seed and keep the remaining unused seed to use year after year. However, I did buy "Early Girl & Cherry" tomatoes plants from walmart as I didn't start any seedlings of them soon enough.
Since I always plant so many things and then forget what was planted where and since seedlings are always difficult, for me, to ID what is planted there... the grid marker of using square foot measurements and writing the planted item's name on the side of the box (with a metal paint marker) works well for me. With the SF method you only plant 1-4 seeds in each sf grid. The soil recipe is clean of weeds so when things come up you know that what you are nurturing is what you've planted, instead of a weed. I like that. I also like not having to be on my hands & knees to work but, can stand straight upright with little stress to my back.
I added the small gauge welded wire, laid over their tops, until the seeds sprout as the many doves and wild birds were just waiting for me to exit the area so they could dig up and feast on all my newly planted seeds.
Then since the old frigs where so unsightly, I decided on painting them to look like a picket fence. By measuring out and laying strips of masking tape over white frigs (those that were yellow I painted white first and those that were white or off white I left as is), painting over the tape green and then quickly pulling the tape back off. I didn't picket both sides of all of them as it was very hard on my back and time consuming. So, I only put pickets on the ones that are in the direct line of sight. If my back was not an issue for me I would have put pickets on all of them as I like that look best, but this works for me well enough. Also, I figure, once the boxes' contents are spilling over their edges that the pickets will be of little notice anyways.
Years ago, I painted my daughter's bedroom walls with white picket scalloped fence with arbors garden, using that same method. I painted shades of blue over the tape and ceiling, then a grass border at the bottom at the floor line against the green carpet. Pulled the tape off and added stenciled flowers, wildlife and bird houses. As she outgrew that room's decor we painted over all of it years ago. I do still have some pictures of her room if anyone is interested in seeing them?
So, that is where I recalled the idea to paint the frigs this way. It was much easier to do outside as I didn't have to be as meticulous and careful about getting paint on a carpet. Also, I didn't fuss about small painting errors as I figured an outdoor picket fence has many workable errors anyways.
I planted the corn and sunflowers in long 20x2 foot rows at ground level, using recycled cardboard under the SFG soil recipe to keep weeds down to a minimum. I figured planting and then trying to harvest them three feet off the ground, in the boxes, would be too difficult.
I also decided to add a drip irrigation system as watering with a sprinkler is not cost effective here. So, that is my tale... now IF the SFG method only works for me... if not......... it is all a wash! ;-p We can plant all the seeds and do all the correct things but, if God doesn't bless it... then it is just neat & tidy kept dirt.
I'm not really a recycle/greenie minded person -- although I see that I should be more so -- but, really I'm just trying to live as cheaply as possible and always in search of ways to keep more of my own monies in my own pocket.
Yesterday I took a piece of old plastic lattice work -- that was once used to shade dogs' kennels -- and cut it into long strips, wired it together into one long length, bent it over two t-posts and made my own gate arbor. Yes, it is homemade and it shows that clearly but, it cost me nothing but labor and a bit of white paint that I already had left over from painting the frigs.
Now that things are finished setting up and we are just waiting for the sprouting and harvesting. I will go and add some pictures to the group's photo albums now. Thank for asking as you can see gardening is my passion to talk about. I hope I've not bored you all and thank you all so much for your help, suggestions and encouragement along the way.
~~Rachel
~~blessings,
'Stop telling God how big your storm is and
start telling the storm, how big your God is!!!'
----- Original Message -----
From: Sam I Am
I'd love to see photos... and some specifics on setup if/when you feel
like it. By Refrigerator garden, do you mean you planted in old
refrigerators? Or, it's done to keep in a fridge?
Apologies if that's a stupid question.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- 3b.
-
Re: Refrigerator Garden Update
Posted by: "Rachel" shilohfarm@cgmailbox.com gplsgds
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:20 pm (PDT)
Okay, it looks like I was, finally, successful at posting the pictures. They are in an album named, "A Refrigerator Garden". I think, I sorted them correctly but, with a total of 30 pictures I see they've put them on two different pages inside the same album.
~~Rachel
~~blessings,
'Stop telling God how big your storm is and
start tell the storm, how big your God is!!!'
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- 4.
-
Re: No garden, but desperate to eat healthily
Posted by: "kimdutta" kimdutta@yahoo.co.uk kimdutta
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:19 pm (PDT)
hello, hello, hello! I am new on today and tomorrow I begin a wholefood, organic eating plan, which isn't going to be that easy for me to implement. I love nature and home grown veg and flowers etc, but have never done gardened, or very little. I have some space for some pots and growbags or whatever(three good sized balconies). Is it feasable for me to learn how to grow my own food, organically in these balconies? Could anyone help me to fathom whether or not my dream may become a reality? Thank you. Happy Monday. xxx
- 5.
-
Seed Starting Mix Recipe ???
Posted by: "Joseph Puentes" makas@nc.rr.com makas_nc
Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:23 pm (PDT)
I did a brief search of the messages but didn't get the right
combination of words since no doubt this has been discussed before.
Does anyone have a good recipe for making your own seed starting mix?
How many parts Peat Moss with what and what make a good mix?
thanks,
joseph
=====================
Joseph Puentes
http://h2opodcast.com/vsse. (Vegan Environmental Solutions Podcast)html
http://h2opodcast.com (Environmental Podcast)
http://h2opodcast.blogspot. (Blog for above)com/
http://PleaseListenToYourMom. (Women's Peace Podcast)com
http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com (Latin American History Podcast)
http://NuestrosRanchos.com (Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes
Genealogy)
Need to Reply?
Click one of the "Reply" links to respond to a specific message in the Daily Digest.
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Individual | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
No comments:
Post a Comment