Gardening and seed exchange

cindaroses

Spring is near and that means time to plant your vegetables! An easy way to get more vegetables in your diet is to grow them. If you have any questions, just ask me, I'll try to help. I love to garden, and really cut down my grocery bills during this season. Also, garden work means more calories burning. Nothing is quite as good as working for your food and then eating it fresh.

Also, if people are interested I would like to start a seed exchage. If you have seeds you want to share, especially heriloom or open pollinated you can list them. If someone wants them, they should send you a self addressed and stamped envelope. GMO's are becoming a problem and many people have special seeds that should be preserved.

If you don't have much garden space, or none at all, lettuce and kales are really easy to grow in pots. Ask me if you have any questions!

tammyquinnlmt

Any suggestions on planting eggplant? We have a garden every year, but I've never done eggplant

live2smyle

My husband and I just started our first garden. It is 50x50 lol. Might be a little big for a beginner. I would love to keep an eye on this thread

SaraTonin

GO GARDENS! This is great advice. I love home grown tomatoes and strawberries, they are my favorite. My parents usually also plant onions, corn, green beans, snap peas, carrots, and cucumbers.

OH, and the apple trees! They make apples!

I'm living in an apartment nowadays but I'd love to get one of those aerogardens and plant some spinach leaves.

cindaroses

Egg plant likes it warm and fertile. I like to either start them inside or buy starts at the nursery. The only problem I've ever had is that bugs like to eat the leaves. Not much actually bothers the egg plant fruit. I use organic products like neem oil or homemade hot pepper spray to keep the bugs off the leaves.

cindaroses

My husband and I just started our first garden. It is 50x50 lol. Might be a little big for a beginner. I would love to keep an eye on this thread

50 X 50 is a nice size! Just take it easy, you can space plants further apart until you are ready to use the whole space.

softsmiles

also garlic will keep pests from eating your garden... I use to have a big garden, but apartment living, (up until this year) now I have a small yard, but I think I will still plant my tomatoes in a 5 gal bucket! I have also used window boxes for cucks..

cindaroses

also garlic will keep pests from eating your garden... I use to have a big garden, but apartment living, (up until this year) now I have a small yard, but I think I will still plant my tomatoes in a 5 gal bucket! I have also used window boxes for cucks..

I put garlic and onions in the pepper spray. I knew someone who use to make garlic oil and spray on his plants so it wouldn't wash away from the rain as easily.

htimpaired

I love gardening. I am getting frustrated though. Bought my hosue three years ago. First year, I had a MASSIVE garden-my tomato plants were as tall as me! The next summer-it was really wet, and my plants drowned. Last year, they did well growth wise but the fruit did not set as much as I would have liked, and my cukes were stunted. My eggplants flowered but again, the fruit did not set, they just bloomed and fell off. The only thing I have had go well every year are hot peppers, and I don't even eat them!

I will definetely be watching this thread because I really enjoy having a garden but I get sooo disappointed when it doesn't do as well as I like.

BTW, I live in western NY so the weather is really unpredictable. One year it's soaking wet...the next year it'll be hot and dry...never can tell....

Jazzdaisy

I would love to have some heirloom tomatoes, but how do you grow them from seeds?

hroush

My garden consists of about 5 plants in front of our apartment's patio window :laugh: Maybe when we move later this year we will get a house that I can put a garden out back.

Arielnesika

Nice, I'm starting to get the gardening bug this spring too. I have a garden every year although last summer in Oregon was so late and soggy that it was a frustratingly short growing season. We added ducks and chickens to the mix last year so in late summer it's almost a full meal coming out of our yard!

time2move

I'm in Zone 5 and need to start my seeds soon. I'm doing tomatoes, multi-colored sweet bell peppers, basil, bush green beans and assorted lettuces this year. I'm sectioning off a small part of my horse pasture and using that. We have 7 acres and thanks to our trees, the only other good place is right in the middle of the backyard Which isn't happening. At least this way, I can have the electric fence around it and hopefully keep out the critters.

cindaroses

I love gardening. I am getting frustrated though. Bought my hosue three years ago. First year, I had a MASSIVE garden-my tomato plants were as tall as me! The next summer-it was really wet, and my plants drowned. Last year, they did well growth wise but the fruit did not set as much as I would have liked, and my cukes were stunted. My eggplants flowered but again, the fruit did not set, they just bloomed and fell off. The only thing I have had go well every year are hot peppers, and I don't even eat them!

I will definetely be watching this thread because I really enjoy having a garden but I get sooo disappointed when it doesn't do as well as I like.

BTW, I live in western NY so the weather is really unpredictable. One year it's soaking wet...the next year it'll be hot and dry...never can tell....

I can understand the frustation. If you put straw down as a mulch for your plants, this will really help the tomatoes out. The weather in my area can be the same way...hot one day, cold the next, too rainy, too dry. So, this year my husband and I are going to try using row covers to help with too little rain or too much, and to also help with the temperature. If fruit isn't setting, sometimes hand pollination can help...or maybe they need some more organic material.

cindaroses

I would love to have some heirloom tomatoes, but how do you grow them from seeds?

Watching a video would be easier than telling you. Start them 4-6 weeks before average last frost date in your area. Put some potting mix in a small pot and cover the seed just a little bit. As is sprouts and grows cut off the bottom leaves and add more dirt. This makes the roots stronger because the roots grow along the stem. Praxxus and some others on yourtube and good videos that can show you.

cindaroses

Nice, I'm starting to get the gardening bug this spring too. I have a garden every year although last summer in Oregon was so late and soggy that it was a frustratingly short growing season. We added ducks and chickens to the mix last year so in late summer it's almost a full meal coming out of our yard!

I added chickens too! The eggs are great! What breeds to you have? We have an Amberlink rooster, and 5 hens, golden wyandotte, 2 australorps, rhode island red, and partridge rock. All brown egg layers.

cindaroses

I'm in Zone 5 and need to start my seeds soon. I'm doing tomatoes, multi-colored sweet bell peppers, basil, bush green beans and assorted lettuces this year. I'm sectioning off a small part of my horse pasture and using that. We have 7 acres and thanks to our trees, the only other good place is right in the middle of the backyard Which isn't happening. At least this way, I can have the electric fence around it and hopefully keep out the critters.

I'm in zone 6. You should have some fertile land with those horses making some manure for you. I would love to have more land, but not quite 7 acres.

kayemme

i'm in zone 6b and am willing to help wherever needed

avid independent foodie / urban homesteader here... i run a large comm. garden, a school comm garden and am building another for a senior center this summer.

i forage and am growing a living wall in my apt.

cindaroses

i'm in zone 6b and am willing to help wherever needed

avid independent foodie / urban homesteader here... i run a large comm. garden, a school comm garden and am building another for a senior center this summer.

i forage and am growing a living wall in my apt.

I want to start school community gardens in my area, but the schools don't seem too interested in it. Have you heard about the recent uproar in Urban Homesteading. The Deveres family wants to trademark the term, urban homesteading, and want recognition when the word is used. If you have a facebook there is a page, Take back urban home-steading that dicusses much of what is going on. It is a shame. Many people looked up to them for their accomplishments and now they are aggraevating many urban homesteaders.

cindaroses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hN5LNyqlo

Here is a video about a youtube seed exhange going on. Under the video on the comments are other people who are offering seeds. But, it would still be nice to get one going to here as well.

freerange

do the bump

Arielnesika

For chickens we have a Barred Rock, a Golden Sex link, and a Indian Runner duck an Anacona duck. Duck eggs are actually pretty awesome, like super-eggs.

In my hippy town, everyone seems to be an urban farmer. There are something like 25 backyard chicken keepers in my small neighborhood. Not to mention veggie gardeners and even some beekeepers. I hope it's not just a fad!

What is a living wall and can I see it?

kayemme

i'm in zone 6b and am willing to help wherever needed

avid independent foodie / urban homesteader here... i run a large comm. garden, a school comm garden and am building another for a senior center this summer.

i forage and am growing a living wall in my apt.

I want to start school community gardens in my area, but the schools don't seem too interested in it. Have you heard about the recent uproar in Urban Homesteading. The Deveres family wants to trademark the term, urban homesteading, and want recognition when the word is used. If you have a facebook there is a page, Take back urban home-steading that dicusses much of what is going on. It is a shame. Many people looked up to them for their accomplishments and now they are aggraevating many urban homesteaders.

screw them - homesteaders are kind of anarchistic and usually pretty broke, so even if they sue, they'll just get a handful of eggs.

i've been calling myself an urban homesteader for the last 5 years. if it's that important to them, i'd say they weren't much of a homesteader at all.

kayemme

when i get the living wall going i'll post images. it's basically a system where you grow plants vertically in your kitchen. i'm planning on growing all my culinary herbs... i'm so excited.

kayemme

i would also like to exchange sourdough starters or other bread starters .... or have discussions about fermentation.

we're tapping our first maple tree this season. so far we have about a gallon and a half. next week we'll put in two more taps to hopefully get 2-4gals a day.

i love living like this. it makes me feel so sad for those who don't! they're truly missing out!

kayemme

I would love to have some heirloom tomatoes, but how do you grow them from seeds?

Watching a video would be easier than telling you. Start them 4-6 weeks before average last frost date in your area. Put some potting mix in a small pot and cover the seed just a little bit. As is sprouts and grows cut off the bottom leaves and add more dirt. This makes the roots stronger because the roots grow along the stem. Praxxus and some others on yourtube and good videos that can show you.

when i grow them from seed, i let them get about 6" high, then i build a "newspaper condo" around them. The stems of tomatoes are kinda hairy; those hairs are potential roots. the thicker and stronger you can make the roots, the better! so for about every six inches or so i build them another little condo, fill it with soil and let the roots get stronger. Then when it's time to plant them, i bury them all the way to their top leaves.

they will look sad and small for a couple weeks, then BOOM! They shoot up like tomato rockets!

cindaroses

i would also like to exchange sourdough starters or other bread starters .... or have discussions about fermentation.

we're tapping our first maple tree this season. so far we have about a gallon and a half. next week we'll put in two more taps to hopefully get 2-4gals a day.

i love living like this. it makes me feel so sad for those who don't! they're truly missing out!

Yummy, I love bread starts. A friend of mine tapped maples about a month ago. Got 45 gallons of sap and it made about a gallon of maple syrup. Good stuff. I agree, living this way you get the most out of life.

Grokette

i would also like to exchange sourdough starters or other bread starters .... or have discussions about fermentation.

we're tapping our first maple tree this season. so far we have about a gallon and a half. next week we'll put in two more taps to hopefully get 2-4gals a day.

i love living like this. it makes me feel so sad for those who don't! they're truly missing out!

Want a scoby for Kombucha??? My husband calls my gallon jars a chemistry experiment, LOL

I will have some seeds I can send out soon for maters and cukes and possibly bell peppers.

BifDiehl

bump - would love to get a decent garden going this year....

kayemme

I agree, living this way you get the most out of life.

not to mention the inherent exercise!

cindaroses

i would also like to exchange sourdough starters or other bread starters .... or have discussions about fermentation.

we're tapping our first maple tree this season. so far we have about a gallon and a half. next week we'll put in two more taps to hopefully get 2-4gals a day.

i love living like this. it makes me feel so sad for those who don't! they're truly missing out!

Want a scoby for Kombucha??? My husband calls my gallon jars a chemistry experiment, LOL

I will have some seeds I can send out soon for maters and cukes and possibly bell peppers.

I love Kombucha. I use to drink it when I was little and my parents told me it was fermented tea. Would you just ship the SCOBY?