Call for help! Garden novice [Archive] - SHTF Ready - Survival, Disaster and Emergency Readiness Forum

ladyhk13

01-15-2012, 03:18 AM

Do they like broccoli? Pretty easy to grow in our (your) area. Cukes totally easy, any kind of squash. Squash get HUGE here (the plants themselves), I grew my cukes on my fence last year so they wouldn't drag the ground and take up space and it was great. If you are tight on space try a raised bed and a book called "Gardening by the Foot" I believe. You make a grid of 12"x12"s and plant more stuff within them instead of the normal rows. You can actually get more food packed in that way. I made 4 beds like that within my garden for certain veggies and then put other stuff all around them. Potaotes are really easy to grow as well as every kind of lettuce you can think of. Totatoes I have a harder time with except for this weird one I got from Lowe's on a fluke this year - I usually don't buy from them.
Just remember that whatever seeds you get you should always try to buy heirloom and harvest your seeds for the next year. There are a lot of good companies out there. These are a few quick thoughts.

Sniper-T

01-15-2012, 03:31 AM

^ X a million! look at what your family likes to eat, and start there. How much space do you have? what is the sun like? How is the soil (ph)?

How much time do you want to spend, out in the garden? deciding to "grow your own" before you realize how much work, how much time, how much effort is involved, is setting yourself up for failure before you even start. Things like Zuchini and squash... you can almost plant and forget. but things like tomatos and peppers need more attention. You plop anything into the gound, and it'll grow, but growing and producing a plethora of fruit is a different story. you will need to weed, pinch, trim, snip, etc.. all on a daily/weekly basis. make sure you have enough time or resources (kids) to devote to this project, before you start.

ladyhk13

01-15-2012, 04:07 AM

The good thing is that your girls are young and impressionable. If you get them involved in the process they will be amazed at what they are growing and will probably eat about anything that comes out of the garden because "they" grew it. Sit them on the living room floor with a bunch of cagalogs and ask them what veggies look good and what do they think "they" want to grow. Allow them one or 2 items that they can plant and water and weed and be in charge of (let them pick different things so you now have some diversity). After only a couple of years you will be amazed at not only how big your garden has gotten but at how many new things they will try and you have built in cheap labor!

ravensgrove

01-15-2012, 04:40 AM

I am not even sure where to start to give you advice not knowing your zone etc. But a few things to remember and we have produced all of our own produce and sold commercially for years:

1) Buy the book Square Foot Gardening, the concept was referenced by ladyhawk...in the book you will get a great deal of information on companion planting.
2) If you are growing for subsistence while heirloom plants are nice...they don't have heavy yields as a rule, especially for tomatoes etc. The best growing tomato everywhere we have ever lived, and we move alot for the Army, has been your standard roma tomato. The yields are very heavy and you can use them for anything from salads to sauce. By all means grow heirlooms for variety...but don't plan on subsisting on them...unless your entire garden consists of heirloom tomatoes, each plant will yield minimum fruit...the difference is each fruit is generally much larger than your standard plant. I grow several heirlooms for market...but we EAT primarily romas and we eat tons of them as we have a primarily mediterranean diet.
3) Give up the idea right away you're going to be able to grow enough shelled peas, or dried beans etc to subsist on...its virtually impossible without a giant.....we're talking an acre plot here, for even my family of 4, the yields are just too small out of each pod. In lieu of go for your snap peas, green beans, bush beans, lima beans etc all of which supply protein and can be eaten whole...you get alot more nutrition and volume out of these varieties.
4) Succession and back crop. This means two things. Succession...using a 4 row example of the same item: plant each row 1-2 wks apart...this way each row is coming ripe at seperate times. Back crop...meaning once areas in your garden go fallow and crops end for the season replant with shorter season crops especially those which fix nitrogen (legumes) back in the same area. For instance, follow early cabbage with peas, then in the late summer early fall you can follow the peas with cabbage again...etc.
5) Grow alot of roots: potatoes, carrots, beats, turnips...you can on many of these plants in essence get two crops as many of the greens are edible as well as the roots.
6) Grow squash especially zucchini and hubbard...both of which can feed a family almost indefinitely. You need squash recipes I have five gazillion. Hubbard squash especially grow easily, bare huge fruit...we're talking upwards of 20lbs a piece...and store very easily almost all winter long. The other great thing about a hubbard is it is edible all through its life cycle from blossom to hard squash...early fruit taste more like zucchini, and by the end of fall you have more of a hard butternut variety.
7) I can not overstate the benefit of heavy mulching for both water control and keeping weeds down. MULCH, MULCH, MULCH.
8) Start composting now...it'll take you until spring to get anything of any use.

If you grow corn...you have to grow a great deal of it as a subsistence crop for a family, and it needs to be planted in blocks to germinate correctly. Not knowing how much area you have I can't advise on whether I think the room for corn is even a good idea.

How big of an area are you planting and what is your zone? I will open myself up to you for any questions, we have subsistence farmed for years and ran a successful CSA. I also teach classes as part of my income on everything from gardening to animal husbandry. I am all about sharing information and will be as helpful as I can.

Sniper-T

01-15-2012, 04:54 AM

^ LIKE, Like, Like, Like

cause I can only like once in the forum!

Raven, you want to adopt me?

ravensgrove

01-15-2012, 04:55 AM

If I adopt all of you Big J has to build a much larger house in NY....

ladyhk13

01-15-2012, 05:02 AM

Hey Raven just think of it this way....you could have an indentured servent and BigJ could get that house built 5x's faster! LOL!

izzyscout21

01-15-2012, 01:26 PM

Do they like broccoli? Pretty easy to grow in our (your) area.

Broccoli , cauliflour, tomato, cuckes, asparagus, celery, corn, beans...........the list goes on. Like I said, it's hard to get the kids to eat meat. They eat very healthy. Tons of raw veggies. I have NEVER seen a toddler ask for more salad, let alone 2 of them.

izzyscout21

01-15-2012, 01:33 PM

@ raven:

Wow, that's a plethora a useful unformaion.

I have no idea what zone i'm in. I'll have to go out and measure where the plots are going to be. I have no idea what size, but they should be decent

What kind of mulch are we talking about?

how do you store the squash without t going bad?

Evolver

01-15-2012, 01:45 PM

Your diffidently starting out the right way by asking question. This is our forth season of growing and we are still learning and will be learning for years to come.

I would recommend that you start out on the smaller scale by growing just a few plants like tomatoes, peppers and herbs in containers on top of your shelter or by hose bibs around your house for easy watering and maybe get some onions, garlic and a squash placed in the ground.

This way you can get something started now, learn about watering and what bugs/pests that you have in your area and then start planing your main garden for next years crops.

The fist step in your garden planing is finding the best location or locations that get full sun (6 or more hrs of direct sun),
2nd Plan how your going to irrigate (flood, sprinkler, drip or soaker hose) some plants like tomatoes produce more fruit when they're not getting watered by sprinklers.

3rd Plan what crops you want and the layout.

4th Work the soil to build it up nutritionally and get the PH levels right.

5th Add your irrigation.

Now your ready to plant. :) Like I said... start out on the smaller scale by working just one plot than add plots as you get more experienced. This way you don't get overwhelmed.

The Stig

01-15-2012, 01:49 PM

Raven: awesome information. Thanks for sharing.

Izzy: I've thought about this since I got your text last night. After much effort, and getting a headache, I realized I know somewhere between jack and shit about gardening. Other than seeing how far I can throw my father's tomatoes and making obscene gestures with the zucchini I know nothing that could be considered remotely useful.

Evolver: Also great info.

Sparrow

01-15-2012, 02:02 PM

Like a wise woman said to me, after my first attempt at producing food failed. It takes time to learn a new place. You cannot just have some seeds and expect veggies to grow. It takes WORK!!!

izzyscout21

01-15-2012, 02:08 PM

You cannot just have some seeds and expect veggies to grow. It takes WORK!!!

I know this.

This is why we're beginning the planning now. DO it right the first time.
This will be taking a lot of my energy this spring, so I wnat to be as effective as possible.

bacpacker

01-15-2012, 05:04 PM

Izzy, I got your text last night and waited to reply so I could maybe make some sense to you. I tend to ramble and not really say anything. First of all several folks have given some great advice. Some of which I'll probably mention again.

A couple questions for you, is your ground sandy with small gravel or more red clay? Has the area you are wanting to plant been growing weeds or grass? Do you know if someone around could work the space up initially? Do you plan on any raised beds, totally raised beds, or no raised beds? Are you on a well or city water?

First off I live in upper zone 7, with your elevation I'm guessing you are in Zone 6. The plants will be similar that we can raise, but your season will start a little later and end a little earlier. One of the first things you need to do is get in touch with your county Extension Agent. They have a lot of info available and most will do soil testing for you. Some counties agents aren't worth a crap, but hopefully your's will be. They can give you advise on your soil fertility and what minerals and such you need to supplement with. Planning where and what size your garden will be is something you need to do ASAP, and this area needs to get plenty of sun throughout the day. You also don't want the area to be in a low spot where you will have standing water. Wet feet will kill or hinder growth of a lot of plants.

Some great ideas on getting the kids involved from the start. Just remember they will have to know where they can walk and what is a plant and what's a weed. That takes time, my dad wore me out the first couple years I was learning cause I kept wanting to walk in the rows. :) It sounds like they like to eat a well rounded vareity so you have a wide choice of what to grow.
Some of the stuff I would suggest for your first year would be some early crops such as cabbage, onion, brocholi, califluor, potato. Peas are another cool weather crop, but like Raven mentioned they are not really worth the effort to grow your entire year's worth.

After it warms up, usually by mid April here, you can start planting cukes, beans, corn, pumpkins, squash, tomatos, peppers, most everything else. You will need different growth habits for example, corn should be grown in blocks at least 4 rows wide. This is required for germination purposes. Corn is a very heavy feeder and does take up quite a bit of space. I probably would not recommend it for your first years crop. Beans on the other hand, both green and dried, will give high yields in a given space. Green beans can be grown succession style for each variety you want to grow. One type we like and is a decently heavy yielder is Blue Lake. Can be found at your local Co-op. We have had really good luck raising dried beans and many different varietys. I plant them and keep them weeded and just let them go until the plants dry out and pull the whole plant and find me a shade tree to shell the bean under. I have even stored the whole plants in buckets and go back and shell them on a rainy day or when you can't get out and do other things. All beans can be grown in wide rows, think 3-5 rows sown very close together.. This increase your yields in a given space, helps shade out weeds and helps retain soil moisture. We grow several different squashes and melons and they are well worth the effort and space required. We grow Butternut and Acorn squash as our winter type squash, never tried Hubbard before but will be trying it this year (Thanks Raven). For summer squash I never plant more then 2 plants of each type. If you keep them picked you will have enough that you will get sick of eating it.

You mentioned Asparagus, It will take 2-3 years before you can harvest it. it needs this time to get the roots established, but if done right should last 20 years or more. Let me know if you want to get into this, I found a technique in a gardening book I have and it worked out great for us.

I hope this made at least a little sense. Feel free to question anything and everything. I'll be glad to try and point you in the right direction. Matter of fact I'll dig around a little and see if I can't set you up with some seed for some various things.

izzyscout21

01-15-2012, 06:26 PM

Great info, BP. You may have to make a trip up here for advising

izzyscout21

01-15-2012, 06:30 PM

perfect example:

here is a typical lunch/ dinner for my kids. They WILL get seconds and thirds. I use a lot of produce

http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx288/2crgrunt/Mobile Uploads/0115121205a.jpg

ravensgrove

01-15-2012, 06:38 PM

ravensgrove

01-15-2012, 06:49 PM

On to the questions....

If you are truly in zone 6...I suggest raised beds if you can at all afford them...if not a load of aged steer manure or other manure to raise the temperature of your soil...it'll help you immensely in the long run. As soon as you can work the soil get that manure in, then cover it with black plastic for x 2 weeks. It will raise your soil temp easily 5-10 degrees.

Not knowing the quality of your soil...its hard to tell you what to mulch with, but a good rule of thumb is a nitrogen fixer, pretty much all soil can use extra nitrogen. As the product breaks down it will return nutrients to your soil. Here I use hay..not straw which will actually pull nutrients from your soil...HAY....a good grass hay, if your soil is particularly dead alfalfa can rejuvenate it in one season. You could also use found items such as: newspaper, cardboard, leaves, grass clippings.

Transplants: You want to cover trhe entire surface area of your garden with mulch 2 to 4 inches thick depending on how much weeds you think you have, wet the holy hell out of it then put hole through the mulch and plant your plant. You'll have virtually no weeding this way. Seeds....seed the row then cover entirely with mulch, and wet the holy hell out of it. The mulch acts like a sponge and keeps the plant smoist indefinitely...even in arid areas I never have to water more than once a week this way.

izzyscout21

01-15-2012, 08:20 PM

I think that is AWESOME! Just be sure they are getting enough protein. Little growing bodies need protein. I see peanut butter....other dark green leafys in your garden will help....spinach, kale et all.

I hadn't gotten the cheese brat and string cheese on the plate when I took the pic.

I'm sure there are a lot of parents that wish they had my problem.

ladyhk13

01-15-2012, 08:54 PM

My son's fav food was spinach if you can believe it. Don't know many kids who will eat that. I raised him that he will try everything once. If he doesn't like it, fine...but he will at least try it. We never ate at fast food and even though we ate out a lot it was at good restaurants and he ate well balanced meals. He was also raised to read labels to see what was in the food so when we went to the store we looked at everything and it's a habit still today (at 21 yrs old) he does. Good habits start early. Young children are molded easily. If they don't like something this week, they might eat it next month...keep trying.
Izzy you are in my zone and you can grow about anything you want. We have a pretty long season. Start your seeds indoors if you aren't going to do plants. I have read the Mother Earth News has a free garden planner although I haven't tried it yet (meant to). The book Ravensgrove and I mentioned is actually pretty good for a lot of things altough there were some things that due to where and how my existing garden was set up I didn't find it helpful so I used a hybrid of his system (4 beds that were 4'x12') and then did all kinds of stuff around them (they were in the center). I used straw as my mulch everywhere in my pathways - do NOT use hay because it sets seeds and you will get more weeds. It will decompose and add nutrients over the winter and you can either till or burn in the spring (next year). I also add all of my grass clippings as mulch too. It's free. I can't tell ya what to plant because I don't eat cabbage or beans other than green so my plantings are different than most I guess. But that's key, plant only what you and the kids will eat. If you like corn you have to plant A LOT of it since each plant only yeilds one or maybe 2 ears. I usually go down to my local farm and buy in bulk. Then I can what can't be eaten right away. I still have jars from last summer. It's really cheap to do it that way and it frees up a lot of space, time and energy from you. Plus there always seems to be bugs! I do have corn seeds in my stash but I have them put back for shtf. They will last for years before I have to plant them and harvest new seed.
Don't forget your herbs...they are easy, you can do them in pots and can dry them for storage.

Evolver

01-15-2012, 09:05 PM

Raised beds are nice because it's easier to build up and maintain good healthy soil, protect plants from frost and birds, longer growing season as Raven mentioned and irrigation. They do have there draw backs though... First is the cost, with the price of lumber now days you can spend in the upper hundreds for the lumber needed to build 4 4'x12'x15'' beds with top quality lumber so they hold up for many years. Second is the amount of raised beds needed to fill your desires would be at least 8 4'x12'x15'' if you only plant in the beds.

What would work well is a combination of containers, raised beds and the traditional row and mound planting. Again... start out on the smaller scale and work your way up from there... It well save you a whole lot of frustration. :)

ladyhk13

01-15-2012, 09:18 PM

I don't think the wood was that expensive for ours, regions may vary. Also remember that you will have to fill those beds. We got 4 yards of soil (not regular soil but what the growers use, top quality with vermiculite in it because remember our soil here has a lot of clay in it so it's heavy) which cost us around $100. and was WAY too much to fill the beds so I've been using it for my pots and anything else I can think of! Totally miscalculated on that one but hey, it wasn't a bank breaker so I just covered it up with a tarp and use it as I need.

Evolver

01-15-2012, 09:45 PM

Here is your go to that BP mentioned. It's a link to the University of Tenn Extension services.

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/Search/pubResults.aspx?cs=This%20Site&u=https%3A%2F%2Futextension.tennessee.edu%2Fpublic ations&k=growing%20calendars

bacpacker

01-16-2012, 12:31 AM

Lots folks using raised beds it appears. I need to try some of your guys tricks. I've never used them before. I've always used typical rows and hills for all my crops. Learned that from my parents and grandparents. It does require more space than beds would, but with beds you will have to rotate crops to grow early, mid, and late season crops and feed them heavily. More crops from a small area, vs the same amount of crop from a larger area the beds will deplete the fertilty quicker. Like everything else, there are pluses and minuses in each technique.

ladyhk13

01-16-2012, 12:46 AM

BP, maybe just try one or 2 beds and see how you like it? Like I said before, I do both. Some veggies do well in beds and others do not.

bacpacker

01-16-2012, 01:00 AM

I'm planning on tryin at least one. I want to create a deep loose soil to grow carrots and parsnips in, maybe leeks in the middle of the bed. I'm kinda in the planning stages for a fall bed or two. I'm not opposed, I just don't have any experience with them. I've had room where I've lived or at least been able to grow stuff at my parents that growing in a bed just never had a big draw to me. Lately though with thinking about growing food year round to some degree, that using a few raised beds for early and late season stuff and using row covers and/or greenhouses.

izzyscout21

01-16-2012, 02:03 AM

thanks for all the great responses, guys and gals. I realy appreciate the information. Please, continue the great discussion, I'm taking notes

ravensgrove

01-16-2012, 05:26 AM

Keep in mind you don't have to use wood to build raised beds. I have seen people build raised beds with:

Black rock (particularly good it draws in the sun heat and releases over the cold night, there is a farm down the road that has 28 10 x 10 raised beds that are 60 years old!)
cinder blocks
earth bags/sand bags
growing in laid sideways trash bags....achieves the same effect
growing straight in straw bales
sod...one of my neighbors has awesome raised beds where the perimeter was made from the excavated sod.

Anyhooha, with raised beds you're after warmer soil in short season zones like zone 6. They also work particularly well in areas where the ground is rocky, for growing tubers/roots.

In lumber/soil you can easily spend 2k on 4 10 x 10s and 2 5 x 30s...I know, I built them last year LOL.

At our new place we're building black rock beds, had I seen the black rock beds at the Loerschter farm down the road before I built mine I would have invested in doing them here.

bacpacker

01-16-2012, 04:08 PM

Good points about different ways to make the beds. My dad got a Troy built tiller years ago and got a book with it that told of a way to make a raised bed using no side. The tiller has a hiller attachment that connects to the tiller and you can use it to hill up dirt about 8-12" deep as long as you want them. Down side to that is during heavy rains you can get some washing/erosion of the bed.

Sniper-T

01-16-2012, 04:19 PM

I built a pile of raised beds over the past couple years, all for next to nothing in re-claimed lumber.

I have 8 @ 2' X 4'
and 3 @ 8' X 8'

I went to a farmer friend, who raises horses, and brought home 4 truckloads of OLD manure (8-10 years) for free.

Total cost excluding labour was less than $20.00

I picked up those Steel tubes from work for next to nothing, and this year am going to try some potato stacks with some used tires that I have laying around

ravensgrove

01-16-2012, 06:13 PM

Austrian permaculturist Sepp Holzer uses berms like that and terraces Backpacker..he uses the berms in between rows of fruit trees and can grow almost year round in frigid Austria way up in the mountains. The biomass of the berm continually stays heated and creates a microclimate. I have tried berms before...I found them difficult to work in because I am short...barely 5'4, and hadn't made them wide enough I could get up on them and walk around side to side. If I used berms again I would make sure they were quite wide so I could get on them and work. There are several potato farms and asparagus farms here where I am in northern WA that utilize berms.

Grumpy Old Man

01-16-2012, 06:35 PM

Okay, I'll chime in now. Following is a link to our company website and the various products we make. I buy the Verdura seconds from the company (we won't sell them to the general public, they are strictly for employee consumption) to build raised beds. I'll explain why in a moment.

Soil Retention - Plantable Concrete Systems® (http://soilretention.com/verdura/do-it-yourself/installation/)

I'm starting my fifth year of gardening here in lower Kommiefornicastan. We are a zone 8B here in the desert. Yes, it is a desert with rainfall averaging < 10"/year. But I have a greatly extended growing season. I also have pocket gophers!! Those little buggers will destroy your crops before they get a chance to take off. Think of the two polite gophers in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Well I poison them, trap them, smoke them out and flood them out. They come back for more. Did I mention that I hate gophers? So I continue my war against gophers but I adapted to their attacks and changed strategy. (Sun Tzu-"Know your enemy").

I planted my citrus using three foot diameter hardware cloth cages surrounding the root ball. I grow my tomatoes in containers. They don't seem to like the strawberries, peppers or grapes so those I plant directly in the soil. The do love root, squash, beans and melon crops. These go in raised beds built with the Verdura 30 yardstones built with a semi-open face. I lay down hardware cloth at the footing base so that the entire bed is protected from the gophers digging up into the bed. Then I build up 18" high and fill with soil. I plant various herbs in the open portions of the wall. The gophers don't seem to take to herbs and this keeps them from coming in from the sides. Here is where I plant my root, squash , etc. crops. I don't grow much as I only have to feed me and most of my friends out here have gardens as well, so we are constantly trading produce. We also have farmers markets for other things and after you get acquainted with folks the barter system comes into play.

The point of all this is that you have to plan for pests and your growing conditions. Since I am in the desert, I plan for my watering. I have sandy soil that is very rich but it still needs help so I fertilize. I use bone meal and blood meal in the containers. I mulch. I don't over water (learned that on container tomatoes last year). And I water when it is most effective-4:30 a.m. for about 10 minutes every other day.

Plan on growing winter crops as well- turnips, rutabagas, carrots and Collards!!!!! And rotate your crops location in the garden. Build a compost bin for all your food waste (except meat). If you get bunnies (just as delicious as cats) their manure is great. Chicken manure can burn your soil so use sparingly or add to your compost bin along with yard clippings fallen leaves etc. Water your compost and turn it at least weekly. Use insect predators to control insect pests. And if you grow grapes a net over the plants can save you crop from birds (feathered gophers).

Corn beans and squash grow well together in mound type gardening. For me, bush beans are easier to grow here than pole beans, but where you are pole beans may work better. Good luck and happy growing. You've gotten a lot of good advice from the truly serious gardeners here, so use what works well in your area. I'm more of a hobby gardener, but I still am able to raise enough that I can feed myself fresh vegetables with some left over for preservation. Grumpy;)

bacpacker

01-16-2012, 11:18 PM

Evolver

01-17-2012, 02:49 AM

All squash and melons, cucs, and corn are better directly in the ground due to the room that they take up only and Potatoes do the best when grown in a valley at first then Hilled (mounded) as they grow so they don't work very well in raised beds ether and I am a fan of raised beds.

ravensgrove

01-17-2012, 03:02 AM

Thats not entirely true...it really depends on your climate....like I said you can easily extend your zone by 1 or 2 zones by berming, it is done all over the world.

Sniper-T

01-19-2012, 03:32 PM

I don't remember if I posted this here or not, But I am planning on doing a couple of these this year for my potatoes.

I don't remember where I got the article from, but the authors name is attached for credit, and release.

Sniped:
The Tater Tire-Tower
Duncan Kunz
January 1998
Legal Stuff
This article is copyrighted, which means it belongs to me. You may make all the copies you
want, paper and/or electronic, and hand them out to anyone you want to, as long as you follow
these three rules:
�� You can’t charge for the copies. You got them for free; you pass them on for free.
�� You can’t change any of the text or drawings.
�� You have to pass on the entire copy, including this copyright data, and the headers and
footers of the document.
Okay, enough of the lawyer talk. Plant those taters!
The Tater Tire-Tower ©Duncan Kunz 1998 page 1 of 1
©Duncan Kunz 1998 See Restriction on Title Page
1. Introduction
Potatoes are great food. The Irish lived on them for years; and if there’s one vegetable that
provides more nourishment for the effort to raise them, I can’t think of it. You can store potatoes
for quite a while in a root cellar, and they are pretty low-maintenance plants to grow.
Two disadvantages of these tubers is that they are often damaged when harvesting, since growers
typically use a potato-fork (which is a sort of blunt-edged pitchfork) to harvest them, and that
often splits the potatoes; and, they take up a lot of room in the garden.
The tater tire-tower is a way to solve both problems, as well as to cut down on weeding.
2. How to Do It
You’ll need three or four old tires of the same size – I’ve used ones from light trucks or full-size
cars. If the tires are NOT steel-belted radials, you can cut the sidewalls off with an electric
keyhole saw to get a bit more production, but it’s not absolutely necessary. If you live in a hot
area, you should paint the tires a light color to reflect the sunlight and keep the soil a bit cooler.
Even if cooling the soil were not a problem, I’d paint the tires just to make the tower look better.
Clear a flat area about four feet in diameter, removing all weeds. Lay a tire flat, and fill it up
with good soil, including the amendments you’d usually use for roots and tuber crops. Plant the
potato-eyes or already-sprouted plants at the appropriate depth. When the plants are a couple of
inches high, stack a second tire on top of the first one, and gently fill it with dirt, too. Of course,
you’ll cover up the newly-sprouted plants, but that shouldn’t be a problem. It might be best to
have someone hold the sprouts straight up, so they won’t have to put forth as much effort to
grow up through the new soil.
Now, plant more potato-eyes or already-sprouted plants in the new soil. The new plants and the
old ones should clear the surface at about the same time. Of course, by now there’ll be twice as
many plants competing for light, so make sure they get enough sun. When the plants are a
couple of inches above the new layer, repeat the process with the third and (if you choose) the
fourth tire.
When harvest time comes, dismantle the tower (you might need a helper for this, since the dirtfilled
tires will be pretty heavy) one tire at a time, and the potatoes will just roll out. Gently
brush the dirt off the taters and store them on layers of straw in a cool, dark place. They’ll keep
for quite a while, as long as they’re not bruised or cut.
Remember that the soil should be added gently to the second, third, and fourth layers. This helps
keep the newly-buried shoots from getting crushed, and also allows good irrigation (remember,
those first-generation taters are in pretty deep, and you need to make sure the water percolates
down to their level). You might also want to bore a couple of holes in the side of the tater-tower
near ground level, so the water doesn’t collect in the bottom and rot the taters.
The first time I tried this, I got almost a bushel of taters from four truck tires. Neighbors would
run in fear whenever I appeared at their door with my crop. It’s almost like zucchini (except that
you can do a lot more with taters than you can with zucchini)!
I have only grown Idaho potatoes this way, but I see no reason why red potatoes (or even sweet
potatoes and yams) wouldn’t work.
Good luck!

bacpacker

01-19-2012, 11:34 PM

Raven, Which Sepp Holzer book do you have? I just found out he has two out. First one was The Rebel Farmer, second one is about Permaculture. I can't remember the whole title, but that's the one I have.

Patmark

01-27-2012, 01:47 PM

Hi Izzy, Grats on deciding to use the land to help feed your family and teach yourself to grow your own food. I only wish that I was as smart as you appear to be and asked for help so I didn't have to learn everything the hard way. The information that you have gotten already in this thread is invaluable.

Last year I decided to do the very same thing and set out to get it done. I decided to document every step in pictures so that I would be able to show other preppers what I did in the hopes that it would help others to be as successful at it as I have been. Now don't get me wrong I made plenty of mistakes along the way and you will too, that's par for the course and just a part of the process.

There are a couple of things that will make your life a lot easier as you go about creating your garden.

1). Start a compost pit immediately, do not wait until you need it like I did. Here are some picts of the process that I learned from the university of Colorado.

Compost pit | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.253271791390202.78822.100001221504169&type=3&l=415f1091c7)

2). Sit down and take the time to draw a picture of how your garden will look when it's complete.

Draw out the size that its going to be in detail.
Add in all the measurements,
draw in all of the sections, the rows, write in which plants will be placed where in the garden, how many of them that you want to have,
the space each one requires,
the time of year that each plant needs to be planted for your Zone,( I believe that you are in zone 6 there),
weather to start the plants from seeds or from , weather they should be started indoors or right in the garden.
I also googled each plant that I decided to grow to find out the soil, water, and light requirements for each type of plant and wrote that in as well.

Izzy I know this sounds like alot to do but after going in the yard and measureing things out a little this whole proccess really doesn't take as long as you might think and it helps you to visualize what it is that you are trying to create. Remember that growing your own food is alot of work and involves a very strong commitment. Plants don't care if you are sick or if you have to work, when they need something it has to be done, :). Plants are greedy little buggers.

The next thing that I had to consider in the planning stage was weather or not to grow organically. I have found that organic farming is a whole different ball game from modern farming and requires a different set of skills. I won't go into them as this post is getting way too long, but when you decide let me know and I will be glad to help you learn what you need to know.

All that said I really hope that these links will work on this site. :eek:

My Garden | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.189660701084645.63120.100001221504169&type=3&l=42ebf6b012)

Here is what I have done step by step in pictures, I hope this helps you let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help. Oh and one more thing my friend, keep in mind that these are pictures of how I did it. There are many ways to grow your own food so you most certainly shouldn't do everything exactly as I did as your circumstances may be different. Take what you need and leave the rest and just ask if I can answer any questions for you. Good luck man.

PM :cool:

izzyscout21

01-27-2012, 01:57 PM

Patmark:

Thanks for the intel. It is very much appreciated. I'm no stranger to growing, but I am a complete noob in regards to growing on this scale. I've already started composting, but I doubt it will yield the amount of compost I will need. DIgging the pics, man.

As for the organic or not, I'm going to roll with the chemicals. I need the food to live, not be a failed experiment.

One thing I realized the other day...... I may have to fence it in. The garden will butt up next to a cornfield. There are a lot of critters that frequent the field. I' sure the'd love to help me eat my produce.

Taz Baby

01-27-2012, 04:52 PM

You can use a solar eletric fence. Might be cheaper. We have battery powered motion alarms from HF. Also solar motion lights for night time.

Sniper-T

01-27-2012, 05:02 PM

You may also want to put a camera out for a while too. see what critters are even going to be a bother. No sense putting up a 6 foot chainlink when a single or double strand barb might do. Or putting up an electric, and having bunnies go under and deer and moosephants jumping over top.

Also remember to bury the lower edge to stop anything from crawling/digging under

bacpacker

01-27-2012, 11:55 PM

Izzy I saw on the TV last night talking about the zones for this area. You are definately in zone 6. The solar fencing it a good idea, I'm going to put one up around the chickens fence. It will also put out enough juice that it'll cover the garden, if I need to.
I picked it up at Tractor Supply. It was the 2nd largest solar charger they had, I think it was about $100.

ladyhk13

01-29-2012, 06:49 PM

I don't know if it's posted anywhere but if you have a deer problem, they will jump or go over a fence but the trick with them is if you put up your perimeter at 4' and then do another one shorter just a couple of feet inside of that one they won't come in. They have a depth problem when it comes to those types of fences and get tied up in them. I can't remember where I saw it but I think it was on some hunting show or something. It doesn't need to be chain link just that thin white wire that is used for electrical fencing...I don't know what it's called but when we moved here the people that set up our apple grove had it around the whole thing for the electric fence. It was white plastic on the outside and wire on the inside. I'm sure you could find something else as well but I was just thinking that it was nice ans stout and probably not expensive but if you have other stuff on hand I'm sure you can use it too.

Patmark

01-29-2012, 09:45 PM

Izzy, I don't know if this will work for deer. I don't have a problem with them down here but this has worked like a charm for keeping all the other critters out of my garden. Possum, Armadillos, Dogs, Cats, ect. I call this stuff Critter Ridder. :D

Go to the grocery store and buy one pound of the hottest peppers that they have, (I used Habeneros), and 2 gallons of white distilled vinegar. Put the vinegar on to boil and while it is heating up cut the peppers up. Once the vinegar gets almost to a boil put all the peppers in, seeds, stems and all, reduce the heat, and let it cook for an hour or so.

Set it aside and let it cool, I left it overnight to make sure it was completely cooled off. Strain out the solids and set them aside. Pour the vinegar pepper mixture into a couple of gallon storage containers full strength.

To use this in the garden itself:
Mix it in your sprayer, 1/2 gallon of Critter Ridder to 1 gallon of water. Spray the entire garden, all the soil, the stems, and the base of all of the plants.

To keep the critters from coming in your garden, pour this mixture full strength around the entire outside of the garden, then spread the solids around the outside as well. You will of course need to retreat the area periodically, especially after a good rain but I will tell you this, once I poured Critter Ridder around the circumference of my garden not even my own dog would go near it. He walked up to it, took one whiff, and headed in the other direction with his tail tucked between his legs. :D I hope this helps. It really worked great for me.

PM :cool: