[Buttoni]

Are you sure you don't want to grow some kind of cover crop to improve the soil at your BOL? You might get there to find that weeds have grown in your prepared soil or erosion has occured otherwise. The wind or birds can introduce weed seeds into your garden area. At least keeping a layer of mulch between your beds where you want things to grow later would help too. I have never heard of the term "kugelgardening" It seems like a good way to passively improve your soil year after year.

Oh, with the layered Kugelgardening and my composting in place for over a year now, I think I'm good to go. I already thought of cover crop & have a couple pound of clover seeds for nixing nitrogen and managing weeds. And I also have been taking lots of cardboard, mulch and have TONS of dead leaves to create a weed free area in and around the two raised beds as well as my in-ground garden areas. I just haven't been down there enough lately due to my husband's health problems to get to the nitty-gritty of pulling the garden all together. Going down tomorrow to start that process. Just pulled off enough for bedding plants off my in-town garden to set out for my first planting out.

 

[Mr.penguin]

UPDATE:
In the rural garden the biggest portion has been cut and is being burned slowly in a fire pit. Local fire warnings prevent traditional slash and burn techniques as a fire would quickly spread in this dry windy weather we have been having. I plan on spreading the ash and some compost we have been making then planting a cover crop mix. Hopefully that will be done this weekend.

In the urban gardens I have had some failure keeping indoor plants alive so I am in the market for some plants to keep outside. I am already behind on my weeding so I am thinking of adding a layer of leaf mulch. I have plenty of leaves around the empty lot that I can cut with my lawn mower.

 

[CC Pereira]

My grandmother taught me to use black plastic garbage bags (to cover the ground around the plants you want to grow) instead of weeding, which really seems to work rather well.

 

[Mr.penguin]

I had my first salad from the garden today. Radish tops and bottoms with dandelion and clover I foraged from my lawn. The clover tastes like spinach with a hint of vanilla. I think it would make a good smoothie. Once I get more of it growing I'll try that. All of the dandelion in the empty lot went to seed. I am debating if I should save some of it for later use. I am hoping for a few hot days in a row so I can dry some mint for tea. Speaking of tea has anyone tried making weed tea to feed their plants with? Lord knows I have plenty of weeds.

 

[CC Pereira]

I had my first salad from the garden today. Radish tops and bottoms with dandelion and clover I foraged from my lawn. The clover tastes like spinach with a hint of vanilla. I think it would make a good smoothie. Once I get more of it growing I'll try that. All of the dandelion in the empty lot went to seed. I am debating if I should save some of it for later use. I am hoping for a few hot days in a row so I can dry some mint for tea. Speaking of tea has anyone tried making weed tea to feed their plants with? Lord knows I have plenty of weeds.

Garden soil can be mixed with compost, then steeped in warm water for about an hour, and strained, to produce a nutrient infused water. Clover is rich in nutrients, such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, carotene, chlorophyll, etc. Dandelions are also rich in potassium and other nutrients. So I think plants like clover, dandelion, and other 'weeds', could be used to make nutrient infused water for the soil and for plants.

 

[Buttoni]

I've started a red wiggler worm 'farm'. Just fed them for the second time today. I'll have worm castings as well as the ability to make fertilizer liquid 'tea' from them in a bucket of water. You don't have to age it before applying to plants like chicken and cow poop. Plan to eventually divide so I can have a worm 'hotel' both here in the city and at our BOL.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

If you got any space at all to work with I think your a fool as a prepper if you aint doing some gardening even if its just a small one to supplement what you buy at the store! Even when I lived in an apartment My patio had a gang of things going year round to give me a little something to keep the pantry stocked and shaved off a little of the expense of shopping at the grocery store.

Gardening is definitely a skill that you will need to build over time as your not likely to have a gang buster harvest the first season. Building good soil takes time. Figuring out what works for you and what doesnt is a exercise of trail and error as you wont likely perfect it the first time you try it. Starting out with something as small as a 8x12 Victory Garden in the back yard thats more of a hobby, than fod production is a great way to break into gardening so when you have to do it "for real" youll be well ahead of the power curve!

 

[Mr.penguin]

I've started a red wiggler worm 'farm'.

My worms are free-range, organic, native and locally sourced. Meaning I just kinda dug for a few nearby and put them in my compost pile.

 

[Mr.penguin]

I have Daikon radish and champion radish going to seed right now some of it is going to be saved for next year and some of it will be going back into the garden for a fall crop.
I found out that you can pick the flowers off of the white clover and make a tea. I tried it and it looks and tastes like green tea.
I had some spring onion that turned brown and I planted the bulbs just to see if I could get the greens to grow back. It turns out that the spring onion bulbs doubled in size and turned into white pearl onions. I harvested half and the other half is going to seed right now. Seeing as the green onion was only a buck this is a good way to get cheap onion starts and seeds. I will be doing this again and I suggest others trying it to see if it can be replicated.
It might only be possible if you have a green thumb and good soil like me. I once grew a potato from peelings.

 

[Mr.penguin]

This morning I finished de-weeding the urban garden and added tomato plants and lettuce seeds. Funnily enough I was planning to water tomorrow but it started to rain. I started another urban garden last month my niece got ahold of my seeds and she planted whole packets of broccoli, radish, turnip, lettuce and more that I can't remember. Sorting though it is going to be a challenge but at least she has the spirit. Pictures of the jungle that will come out in a few months time will be glorious.

 

[Kauboy]

I started a compost pile in prep for a new garden.
From what I can tell, it's working, but slowly.

 

[Mr.penguin]

I started a compost pile in prep for a new garden.
From what I can tell, it's working, but slowly.

If you keep it wet it works faster It seems nutty but water your compost and see!

 

[RedSonya's Countdown]

^^^^^ +1 and a yup. ^^^^^

I look forward to watching this develop. And pics! Lots of pics!!!

Okay pictures coming soon!

I am starting a Hydroponics Garden inside, I live in the city in an a studio apt. This and staples is how I am prepping.

3 days in and I have Baby Leaves!

 

[RedSonya's Countdown]

Sorry all, I uploaded twice.

 

[KellyDude]

Looks good! Have a plan for how to sell/share lotsa lettuce cuz that stuff grows fast

I got an 8-bucket hydro system I haven't started yet since I'm still busy with outdoor garden.
Latest cherry tomatoes:

 

[Mr.penguin]

I just had a huge harvest of green onion which I chopped and froze for later use. I like to add it to pasta and soup dishes. Also I am looking forward to more tomatoes as the starts I put in are maturing and just starting to produce. I know how to make my own sauce so if I get enough tomato I'll make a big batch. I thought I would go to my local farmers market this Saturday and see what I can buy cheap that I can preserve. I have only done dry canning herbs before but freezing is easy. I can dehydrate vegies with the lowest setting on my oven then try dry canning that. Lastly I checked the "use today" section of the produce department for a good deal on peppers that I froze.

 

[Spenser]

I was raised near farms, and had a veggie & fruit garden both at home and at school (took horticulture classes). Had rows & rows of different veggies and herbs growing year round. At home we had grapes & raisons in summer, strawberry patches, Apple & Lemon trees, the side of our home was pure Mint varieties, and grew Peapods, Baby Carrots, String Beans, Different varieties of Basil, Water Mellon, Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers, Kiwi, Habanero peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Lettuce, Zucchini, Cilantro, Dill, Scallions, Potatoes, Onions, and other herbs & Veggies.

For a majority of veggies that grew above ground, Hydroponics was by far the fastest growing and germination compared to an outside garden. I had grown indoors Habanero peppers and basil year round harvesting too.

I use the liquid from the veggies I cook as nutrients for the hydroponic gardens, as well with outdoor gardens.

 

[Mr.penguin]

I collected radish seed pods from bolted radishes to save the seed today.

I also collected the tops of the lettuce that bolted right away

I ended up with what I imagine to be hundreds of little black seeds (not all shown here)
I also have a tomato a friend gave me that I am going to attempt saving seed from. I also have a few tomato plants of my own and a basil plant that I saved from death. I plan on drying the basil and use it year round.
Let me know how your gardens are going.

 

[KellyDude]

I've had some successes and 'lessons' in my first-ever garden. The cherry tomatoes have done great - my Big Beef & Bonnie Original plants are 7-8 feet tall with plenty of green fruit but only 3 have ripened so far. Hoping this cooler snap (48° this morning) followed by 80s might motivate them to redden.

I changed water on HydroBucket grow first time yesterday and the plants are wilting bit; hope it' just stress and not that I got a bad batch of hippie juice

Started compost bin and HydroCart

and am excited to keep producing my own safe food to eat!

 

[CC Pereira]

After reading the last few comments, I couldn't help but think of the following garden joke:

A woman noticed that her neighbor had grown some really good looking tomatoes ... big, red, yummy, juicy looking tomatoes. Her tomatoes OTOH, would never turn red. So she asked her neighbor how he got his tomatoes to turn red. He said 'I just expose myself to them once every day'. So the woman tried that method for a few weeks, and still, her tomatoes wouldn't turn red. A few weeks later, her neighbor asked her if her tomatoes had turned red yet, and she said 'no, but my cucumbers are huge!'