| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| MichelleTN |
Posted - Mar 11 2006 : 10:31:45 AM
I am new here but one reason I really wanted to join as I have a question I hope you all can help me out with.
I thought while growing up on a farm with a large family the reason we gardened, canned and preserved so much was to be frugal but I am wondering if it is really more about the goodness and benefit of homegrown vegetable that is really the point in 2006.
I guess here is why I saw this...I went to Wal-Mart to look at the supplies I will need to can green beans and salsa this summer, the pressure cooker alone was $99, I didn't even look at jars and lids then went to Co-op spent $60.00 on fertilizer and planters and that is not even my tomatoes, cucumber, etc cost of plants yet. My little being Frugal bubble was popped over all the money I am spending on all these supplies.
Maybe its just the start up cost of canning that I will just have to get over this first year. I have been thinking this morning I am going to have to get over how much I am spending and think about the fresh vegetables that I will be eating this summer. It just has started to seem like alot of cost to just can for two people.
I went by my grandmother's this morning was exitely (is that a word?! ) telling her about all the seeds and plants I had bought, she then told me gardens were for large families who had time to do all that kind of stuff...so hummm.....oh, well, maybe it would be chaeper to just go to a farmers market when there is only the two of you.
I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions and advise......very much!
Sincerely, Michelle in TN
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Hideaway Farmgirl |
Posted - Jun 28 2006 : 09:07:16 AM
I like your planting starter tips, Bobbi! Smart, and positive!
Jo |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Jun 28 2006 : 08:22:48 AM
for starter containers I have a silly little tip for you.
If you mix your potting soil with unflavored geletin it helps give extra oomph to your plants, before it sets pack your soil into used toilet paper rolls that have been cut in half. Then you can have starter containers that are all the same height, and you can just plant the paper rolls directly into your planting area because the roots can grow right down, and the rolls just decompose right there in the garden.
I read that in a book about urban gardening, and it had a chapter on ways you can recycle and reuse things you would normally throw out.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| Buttercup |
Posted - Jun 27 2006 : 12:13:21 AM
First, welcome to Michelle, Next what a NEAT thread!!! I have enjoyed all of your post so very much! A couple things I would love to echo is that the taste and quality of homegrown are so much better not to mention the nutritional value! If one wants organic then I would say that growing your own is much better and more cost effective!! However if you just want to purchase produce grown til closer to being ripe thus boosting the nutritional value then buying at the farmers market may be cheaper. However, you would miss out on the joy and satifaction of working your own piece of ground and seeing (and tasting!!  ) the wonderful results!! I use to can a lot and I always used the boiling method so the cost to get started was never too high and of course I reused the jars, rings and canner so those cost were more then worth it not to mention the wonderful taste and quality we were able to have doing our own. One BIG point that I did not hear made was if you use old jars wether you get them empty or not make sure to boil them BEFORE you use them. I boiled mine twice. First I washed with soap, then soaked in bleach water, then rinsed and boiled them before I used them. Maybe I was over cautious but there are some nasty things that can develop in canned food not preserved right or left too long in the jar and it can be very harmful so to be on the safe side I would be very careful to ensure they were very clean. Also a side note on the manure "tea", I heard this is wonderful but that sheep's manure is the best for this but take care using it on young plants....dunno if anyone has actually tried it or not but that is what I have read 
Keep the great post comming I am enjoying them so much!!! 
"If we could maintain the wonder of childhood and at the same time grasp the wisdom of age, what wonder,what wisdom,what life would be ours" |
| Cindy Texas |
Posted - May 30 2006 : 12:00:00 PM
I have loved reading all the information on gardening. I can't wait to start my own but one question I do have is how do you save seeds? Do you just pull the seeds out before you eat the fruits and vegetables? Do you have to do anything special to them? How do you store them? Sorry for all the questions but I am trying to learn everything I can.
Cindy
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| Rusty pins |
Posted - Mar 31 2006 : 05:59:02 AM
There is NOTHIN' better then gardening.:o)
Yes..the beginning cost can be a burden, but the first year we dug our gardens, hubby bartered for the use of a tiller, I did buy all the seeds, but started them in an old carrier that you place on top of a car. The kind that you put your suitcases in. It was the top part that a friend gave us. The jars where gathered over the summer season. Mostly from yard sales and the good will. The canners where bought AT canning season. We had the kids set up a veg stand every week-end and sold our excess vegs. This money we split with the kids. They got half, and the rest bought the canners. That winter we had so much stuff canned, it was wonderful opening up a jar of your own tomatoes to put in chili. The next season, I used the left over seeds. I had them stored in the fridge, and everyone of them came up.
So, it can be done cheaply. Barter whatever you can....and sell your extras at either a stand you have yourself, or almost every town has a farmers market now.
And most important of all, have fun, and be proud of the work that you've done. It's not easy, but it sure soothes the soul! :o)
Sweet Blessins',
Paula ;o)
"Life shall judge us harshly enough. Let us at least be gentle with each other."
http://www.rustypinsandoldlace.com/
'Antiques & HandMades for your heart and your home.' |
| Destiny~ |
Posted - Mar 30 2006 : 05:47:44 AM
What about composting oak leaves, especially with a lot of other materials? |
| greyghost |
Posted - Mar 29 2006 : 8:27:31 PM
Oak leaves are alleopathic - they don't permit the growth of new young plants very easily. I use them in established beds of good-sized trees & shrubs because they do help (I said HELP) keep the weeds down.
The manure tea is an EXCELLENT suggestion. I make a compost tea of leaves in a garbage pail evey once in a while. The stuff stinks to HIGH HEAVEN but the plants love it. |
| Libbie |
Posted - Mar 29 2006 : 2:58:54 PM
Julia - I so agree with tapping into the wealth of information that experienced people have. Some of my absolute best friends and helps are those who have farmed and gardened in our valley and town for the entirety of their seventy to eighty years. I feel so lucky to know them - sometimes I think I should be tape recording what they say, and I feel too sheepish to ask them...
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
| Julia |
Posted - Mar 29 2006 : 11:11:35 AM
Here is my 2 cents worth.
1- Manure tea! Get an old garbage can, add some manure from a bag, add water and let it steep. I use it all summer long adding more water and more manure. It works great and it is cheap fertilizer.
Don't be afriad to make friends with neighbors who garden, especially the older ones. They have great wisdom that is free and I have found that once a relationship is formed there is often gifts of plnats and such. I have made friends with "G'pa Chuck' who has not only given extra strawberry plants he didn't need,but extra soil and composts as well Onions, Raspberries, Bluberries and Sweet onions, and more. It all started with a question about gardening. I think it makes older people happy when they see interest in gardening from the next generation.
Cost in the beginning, yep, but well worth it in the end!
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Mar 29 2006 : 08:02:16 AM
Oak leaves are acidic and contain tannins. I love their beauty and hardiness, but I'm glad I don't have any. Every year a horse or two gets sick from eating acorns around here. |
| Destiny~ |
Posted - Mar 29 2006 : 05:44:45 AM
Lynn, why not Oak leaves? |
| greyghost |
Posted - Mar 27 2006 : 6:00:42 PM
Well, I garden and can - and it doesn't cost me very much at all.
First of all, ditch the fertilizer. Most fertilizers are salt-based and over time are detrimental to your soil. Get yourself a bucket with a lid, and start collecting all the coffee grinds, veggie trimmings, tea bags, eggshells (EXCELLENT source of nitrogen!) and tossing them into a compost heap. Add your leaves this fall (not oak leaves) and in a few months you'll have such beautiful dirt for your plants.
I also start all my plants from seeds. I found those yogurt containers are awesome seed-starters. I get the quart sized plain yogurt ones - my dogs and I eat it up all year, and I save the containers - poke a hole or two in the bottom, the lid becomes a tray, and I get plants. I start ONE tomato per container as tomatoes need the most time and water for how I plant them. At planting time, they have to be at least a foot tall - and I remove the lower leaves and plant them 6" deep into the soil. The stem will easily become more roots, and you will save a lot of water with your well-rooted tomatoes.
I have yet to buy a canner. I have a very big, deep pot, and I do the boiling method. The cans get reused each year.
See? It can be cheap ;)
Happy Gardening! |
| MichelleTN |
Posted - Mar 26 2006 : 7:08:58 PM
Today when my DH was complaining about how much this garden is costing us, I remembered all you input in this thread! And no matter what the start cost is I am so looking forward to some FRESH HOMEGROWN veggies!!!
Michelle
http://tangledthreadsandknottedyarn.blogspot.com/ |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Mar 26 2006 : 04:24:48 AM
Another way I've been looking at it lately is like this.
I'm getting back into gardening after a loooong time out. I was just too busy. But our hot bed and cold frame are long gone, so we can't start as much seed ourselves this year. Local nurseries will sell us a handful of varieties, but to get some of the ones I want I have to buy plants from places like Burpee. A pack of three tomato plants is $10.95. This is a stiff increase since I last looked, years ago.
But I figure it like this. I'll be growing them organically, which makes them a premium crop. I'll get thin skinned, vine ripened fruits that would never survive mass production and transport, in addition to the benefit of having maximum vitamin content from more days in the sun and soil. Will I get more than $10.95 worth of tomatoes off my plants? Sure. Even counting my labor and inputs like fertilizer (thankyou, horses!) and pesticides (organic only, which are spendier), I'll come out ahead.
My kids are grown and I have a lot more disposable income than I did years ago. I could buy organic tomatoes, but they'd still have to be varieties that could withstand shipment. I'm very fussy about quality and do a lot of gourmet cooking, and knowing what I know about my own home grown tomatoes, I know NOTHING else compares.
And peppers, and sweet corn, and lettuces.....  |
| Libbie |
Posted - Mar 24 2006 : 08:46:44 AM
I dream of putting up a year's supply of food...Lorij - that is so great. Hopefully this year I'll come close. I think flavor is also one of the main reasons to garden, in addition to the fact that for me, the startup costs are "repaid" fairly easily over the course of the winters, even with the litte that I DO put up.
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
| Destiny~ |
Posted - Mar 24 2006 : 06:00:45 AM
You can use newspaper in your compost if it's made with soybased ink. Never use the section that is in color only the black and white. Also, I think shredding the paper makes it break down faster. You can also use the paper between your rows to keep out the weeds, just make sure it's several pages thick.
My biggest reason for having a garden is the 'flavor'. All of our produce out here is trucked in so it's picked early and ripens on the way-it also loses it flavor. By gardening, you can pick the produce when it's close to ripe or ripe and then you get to enjoy all the flavor. That, to me, is worth the start up cost. |
| LJRphoto |
Posted - Mar 21 2006 : 7:44:57 PM
Just a note about being able to collect seeds from the heirloom varieties... that really only counts if you are only planting one variety of each thing (say, only planting one kind of tomato and personally i have started seeds for about 5 different tomatoes). Otherwise you have to keep more space between the plants than most people have to keep them from cross pollinating. Of course, i suppose you could end up with something really interesting the next year.
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect." -Mark Twain
http://ljrenterprises.blogspot.com/ |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Mar 15 2006 : 04:58:00 AM
I'm not sure, but I think the old texts advised not using newspaper because of heavy metals in the inks. Now just about every newspaper in America uses soy based inks. Notice how you get black fingers when you read the paper, but you didn't when you were a kid? The ink is oily. I don't think it would hurt, but it might not heat up well unless you shred it.
We didn't tend to compost much, at least not in the traditional sense; we just didn't have time to properly tend a pile. We'd find spots in the garden that weren't in production and put things in. It'd be broken down in no time. We also used a lot of manure with it, so no doubt the nitrogen accelerated things. We always had some sort of cover crop in the winter, and used soiled bedding. I don't remember critters being much of a problem, probably due to the manure on top.
"What another would do as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself, and there, make yourself indispensable." ---Andre Gide |
| Rosenwalt |
Posted - Mar 14 2006 : 4:56:01 PM
I thought I read that the ink on the newspapers could be toxic?
Well anyway, I haven't canned yet but I love using my pressure cooker for dinners. The meat is so danged tender it's embarrassing!
Rose Marie,
Central New York
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| Mag |
Posted - Mar 14 2006 : 4:40:53 PM
You are right Alee, you should not use meat in a compost. We put up alot of tomato sauce and salsa and pickles last year and are still munching on them. Hubby had never canned before and really got into it! Our arrangement works great, I grow the veggies and he cans them! Perfect! |
| Alee |
Posted - Mar 14 2006 : 09:43:07 AM
You should never add in meat products to your compost (from what I have heard and read) as it can introduce bacteria into the compost that can be very bad for humans and in some cases even fatal. |
| MichelleTN |
Posted - Mar 14 2006 : 06:10:57 AM
Yesterday I started thinking about what you all said about saving seeds. My mom is hispanic from CO and anytime someone comes or goes to CO, they know they better bring a bushel of Chilis back, lol, which we roast and freeze. I don't know what kind they are but they are different than anything we get in the South. So, I saved some of the seeds from the chilis I had last night with my tacos, I have the seeds spread out on a paper towel....but now what?! lol I guess they needs to dry before I try to plant them. SO, wish me luck, I jsut might be growing CO Chili in TN~ LOL
Michelle |
| lonestargal |
Posted - Mar 13 2006 : 05:40:53 AM
I was having the same problem. We have LOTS of critters that roam our property. I finally caved and bought a compost bin from www.compostumbler.com. It's really a lot of money and I know that it CAN be done for free basically but I really worried about the critters and we have so much planting to do this year (my parents are building a new house and will have TONS of planting) that I needed compost asap. My mom split the cost of it with me. I've got my first batch going right now but I think I'm really going to like it. Solves my problem of any smell and critters as well. |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Mar 12 2006 : 7:49:27 PM
Michelle -
I use compost all the time in my veggie garden, works great, also I get a surprise vegetable from time to time - either extra tomatoes or some type of squash. Where I live the city of Portland has a organization that is called METRO recycling. They occasionally offer compost bins for $25.00. They sell them at the local community collages on a given Saturday - but you have to get up early and wait in line to get one. DH got me one when we first moved in and I have used it constantly. I also use the compost for my potted plants that I put on the porch every spring and summer - the annuals love it.
Anne
"Second star to the right, straight on till morning" Peter Pan
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| TejasFarmgirl |
Posted - Mar 12 2006 : 7:03:43 PM
Hey Michelle - welcome!!
I am completely a newbie - we purchased our 4 1/2 acre property last summer but haven't sold our current home yet -and have been completely remodeling the house-so I don't have any experience with gardening or composting - but I have researched it pretty extensively.
I had taken down some welded wire fencing from the property and made three circles that are 4' x 4'. I have added shredded leaves from the property (we have tons!). Next, I will add the chicken manure, alternating with more shredded leaves, limbs, etc. We have also been saving vegetable and fruit scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds. We have decided not to add meat or dairy products because we don't want to attract more critters than necessary. We will water the pile and turn often. I like the wire circle bins because 1. they were free and 2. to turn the pile, you just lift up the circle and scoop everything back in. We also got a compost thermometer to check the heat in the middle of the pile to make sure it is getting hot enough.
Another idea that is really great is to use worms, I think it is called vermiculture. There you have a big box, order or dig up worms, and feed them your kitchen scraps - apparently there is no smell at all and worm castings are amazing for your garden.
Good luck and look forward to hearing more about you!
D. |
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