Author Topic: Seeds  (Read 1668 times)

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Online Pandora

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Seeds
« on: February 20, 2011, 01:18:55 PM »
Seeds
Post by libertasinfinitio on Feb 16, 2011, 8:23am

My brother has bought from this outfit, will be expanding the garden this spring and test out some new seeds to see how they do.

http://www.heirloom-organics.com/he/heirloomseeds.html

Re: Seeds
Post by johnflorida on Feb 16, 2011, 10:56am


Feb 16, 2011, 8:23am, libertasinfinitio wrote:
My brother has bought from this outfit, will be expanding the garden this spring and test out some new seeds to see how they do.

http://www.heirloom-organics.com/he/heirloomseeds.html



If they're heirlooms he can save his own seeds from year to year.I don't know what's in their packs but it looks a little high prices. What do they doo to save seeds from going bad that can't be done at home?

Re: Seeds
Post by libertasinfinitio on Feb 16, 2011, 11:39am

I dunno, I'm not in charge of garden operations, I'm just investment officer and master at arms.

ETA - I can't grow much...unless a temper counts!

Re: Seeds
Post by johnflorida on Feb 16, 2011, 2:42pm


Feb 16, 2011, 11:39am, libertasinfinitio wrote:
I dunno, I'm not in charge of garden operations, I'm just investment officer and master at arms.

ETA - I can't grow much...unless a temper counts!


Those aren't as easy to grow as one might think.

Re: Seeds
Post by Pandora on Feb 16, 2011, 3:14pm

Aw hell; the hybrids - drought, disease and pest resistant - aren't all that easy either! What I learned from gardening? The minute after you put the seeds/plants in the ground, they become targets for everything else Mother Nature made. It's a wonder to me anybody anywhere manages to grow and harvest anything. Hats off to 'em.

Re: Seeds
Post by glock32 on Feb 16, 2011, 3:24pm

That's something else to consider. How do you grow enough to eat without access to the benefits of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers? We take so much for granted, things we never even think of.

As a kid we used to have some pretty successful vegetable gardens, but I don't think there's any way we could have done it without modern chemistry! The Japanese beetles alone would have destroyed almost the entire garden without putting Sevin dust on the plants.

Re: Seeds
Post by Pandora on Feb 16, 2011, 3:39pm


Feb 16, 2011, 3:24pm, glock32 wrote:
That's something else to consider. How do you grow enough to eat without access to the benefits of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers? We take so much for granted, things we never even think of.

As a kid we used to have some pretty successful vegetable gardens, but I don't think there's any way we could have done it without modern chemistry! The Japanese beetles alone would have destroyed almost the entire garden without putting Sevin dust on the plants.


You don't, at least in my experience, unless you know a lot of organic chemistry, enough to cobble together your own p's and f's.

Even with today's modern developments, some plants succumb to diseases for which there is no remedy. Our cucumber plants were doing well until they got the Mosaic Virus and then, according to the Agricultural Extension Office, that was that.

Bottom line is get the seeds and a good supply of the chemicals with which to husband the plants to harvest.

I don't mean to sound discouraging, just that right now is the time to get some practical experience.

Re: Seeds
Post by johnflorida on Feb 16, 2011, 5:07pm


Feb 16, 2011, 3:39pm, Pandora wrote:

Feb 16, 2011, 3:24pm, glock32 wrote:
That's something else to consider. How do you grow enough to eat without access to the benefits of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers? We take so much for granted, things we never even think of.

As a kid we used to have some pretty successful vegetable gardens, but I don't think there's any way we could have done it without modern chemistry! The Japanese beetles alone would have destroyed almost the entire garden without putting Sevin dust on the plants.


You don't, at least in my experience, unless you know a lot of organic chemistry, enough to cobble together your own p's and f's.

Even with today's modern developments, some plants succumb to diseases for which there is no remedy. Our cucumber plants were doing well until they got the Mosaic Virus and then, according to the Agricultural Extension Office, that was that.

Bottom line is get the seeds and a good supply of the chemicals with which to husband the plants to harvest.

I don't mean to sound discouraging, just that right now is the time to get some practical experience.


Sing it sister!!!

Re: Seeds
Post by Pandora on Feb 16, 2011, 5:18pm

I do what I can, JF!

/maybe I'm just a very poor/bad gardenerRe: Seeds
Post by alphabetsoup on Feb 16, 2011, 8:45pm

I'm gonna make another go of it this year. I know better now what my strengths and weaknesses are. I did the heavy lifting last year developing the garden plot and this year will be able to just dig in.

I have an area that I'd like to utilize for a mini orchard but I would have to reclaim it from the blackberries bushes and I'm not sure I have the fortitude to launch into that.

Re: Seeds
Post by nolan on Feb 16, 2011, 8:48pm

Gardening has been a little more involved than I thought when we started, but in the last 4 yrs we've gained some good knowledge.
My first piece of advice is to stress watering and weeding above all else. A trick I want to try this season is to cut 2 liter soda bottles into about 3-4 in. rings and place them around seedlings to catch water and prevent any water from hand watering from running all over the bed. Piling some dirt around the seeds is common, but the piles can wash out in a good rain, as I found out last year. I also want to use a soaker hose on a timer when the roots spread out enough.
Introduce some good bugs if you can, or a least be able to identify the good ones so you don't kill 'em. Leaving grass tall near the beds promotes good insect habitation. We grow peppermint near our plot and have about six different types of (I think) wasps. They're all different, vibrant colors and are pretty interesting to watch, but not aggressive at all. I aslo want to try raising honey bees to help w/ any needed pollination of crops, plus, I think honey will be a good commodity to have for barter.
We used some porous weed-mat this season and it was okay, but I think I'd prefer to hand-weed (I mean, have the kids hand-weed!), b/c I think the weed mat prevented the soil from aerating (by keeping ants out) and may have started to grow some mold under the mat.
A couple years ago we built these things called "cold frames" to get a jump on the season, but we didn't pay enough attention, which really is the bottom line. It requires a lot of attention.

Re: Seeds
Post by Pandora on Feb 16, 2011, 10:40pm


Feb 16, 2011, 8:45pm, alphabetsoup wrote:
I'm gonna make another go of it this year. I know better now what my strengths and weaknesses are. I did the heavy lifting last year developing the garden plot and this year will be able to just dig in.

I have an area that I'd like to utilize for a mini orchard but I would have to reclaim it from the blackberries bushes and I'm not sure I have the fortitude to launch into that.


No way to integrate the two? Are blackberries that useless?

Re: Seeds
Post by Pandora on Feb 16, 2011, 10:46pm


Feb 16, 2011, 8:48pm, nolan wrote:
Gardening has been a little more involved than I thought when we started, but in the last 4 yrs we've gained some good knowledge.
My first piece of advice is to stress watering and weeding above all else. A trick I want to try this season is to cut 2 liter soda bottles into about 3-4 in. rings and place them around seedlings to catch water and prevent any water from hand watering from running all over the bed. Piling some dirt around the seeds is common, but the piles can wash out in a good rain, as I found out last year. I also want to use a soaker hose on a timer when the roots spread out enough.
Introduce some good bugs if you can, or a least be able to identify the good ones so you don't kill 'em. Leaving grass tall near the beds promotes good insect habitation. We grow peppermint near our plot and have about six different types of (I think) wasps. They're all different, vibrant colors and are pretty interesting to watch, but not aggressive at all. I aslo want to try raising honey bees to help w/ any needed pollination of crops, plus, I think honey will be a good commodity to have for barter.
We used some porous weed-mat this season and it was okay, but I think I'd prefer to hand-weed (I mean, have the kids hand-weed!), b/c I think the weed mat prevented the soil from aerating (by keeping ants out) and may have started to grow some mold under the mat.
A couple years ago we built these things called "cold frames" to get a jump on the season, but we didn't pay enough attention, which really is the bottom line. It requires a lot of attention.


The bees are a must; flowering plants, regardless of ornamental or vegetable bearing, will attract them, but good thought on the honey.

We put the soaker hoses in our beds and they worked fine as long as the berms held out, which they did alright. The soda-bottle rings seem like a good idea to try, though. We mulched up with newspaper, and that worked pretty well, too.

As far as the kids for manual labor, oh well!; we did what we could but bore no fruit, so it's up to the "grupps".

Betcha Soup catches the reference.

Re: Seeds
Post by johnflorida on Feb 17, 2011, 12:02am

I used soaker hoses and burried then in all the lawn clippings I swept up AFTER they dried up. Spread them in and around the whole garden which acted as a way to save moisture and keep weeds down and as a pathway without going into mud.

And in the fall it was all turned into the garden along with a 40 pound bad of lime.Re: Seeds
Post by glock32 on Feb 17, 2011, 12:05am

Lawn clippings are also a good source of nitrogen.

Re: Seeds
Post by irondiopriest on Feb 17, 2011, 1:05am


Feb 16, 2011, 10:46pm, Pandora wrote:
...we did what we could but bore no fruit, so it's up to the "grupps"...


"Definitely humanoid, in spite of the distortion."

Re: Seeds
Post by Pandora on Feb 17, 2011, 1:24am

Well, well, aren't you the clever youngster! Just so, IDP.

And I see I added an extra "p" to grups. Partz-heimers.

Re: Seeds
Post by libertasinfinitio on Feb 17, 2011, 7:41am

Our garden guru is telling me this is going to be out first crack at non-hybrid seeds. So, after we get done doubling the size of the garden this spring, we are going to be experimenting with the heirloom varieties so we can learn a) what grows b) what survives to harvest, and c) when to harvest seeds. As far as the garden goes I am just a beast of burden. But since the garden is close to the woods nobody minds if I crack off a few rounds just to keep my mood up. ;D

As far as I can tell the railroad tie border and chicken-wire barrier has kept out the most destructive of mother natures critters, and diseases have not killed anything off. I keep warning people about our soil and urging people to grow stuff not too heavily dependent upon water, but I am not the garden guru so the ultimate decision is not mine. But our garden sits on sandy soil, and no matter how much rich black dirt , manure and other nutrients you add, I just don't think the bed can be deep enough to prevent a lot of water just seeping into the earth.

Anyway, well see how it all goes.

A real point of contention is eliminating my fathers first apple tree to make more room for the garden expansion...that idea is not going to go over very well. It will have to be accompanied by pledges to plant other apple trees elsewhere to soften the blow.

My daddy loves his apple trees!

The guru says he is buying seeds from three sources, my earlier link was one of them, not sure what the others are.

Anyway, lets keep this thread alive and share our experiences. The learning never ends and as far as this topic goes, it seems pretty essential.

Re: Seeds
Post by irondiopriest on Feb 17, 2011, 8:12am


Feb 17, 2011, 1:24am, Pandora wrote:
Well, well, aren't you the clever youngster! Just so, IDP.

And I see I added an extra "p" to grups. Partz-heimers.


Every episode. Many, many times.

Re: Seeds
Post by johnflorida on Feb 17, 2011, 10:49am


Feb 17, 2011, 7:41am, libertasinfinitio wrote:
Our garden guru is telling me this is going to be out first crack at non-hybrid seeds. So, after we get done doubling the size of the garden this spring, we are going to be experimenting with the heirloom varieties so we can learn a) what grows b) what survives to harvest, and c) when to harvest seeds. As far as the garden goes I am just a beast of burden. But since the garden is close to the woods nobody minds if I crack off a few rounds just to keep my mood up. ;D

As far as I can tell the railroad tie border and chicken-wire barrier has kept out the most destructive of mother natures critters, and diseases have not killed anything off. I keep warning people about our soil and urging people to grow stuff not too heavily dependent upon water, but I am not the garden guru so the ultimate decision is not mine. But our garden sits on sandy soil, and no matter how much rich black dirt , manure and other nutrients you add, I just don't think the bed can be deep enough to prevent a lot of water just seeping into the earth.

Anyway, well see how it all goes.

A real point of contention is eliminating my fathers first apple tree to make more room for the garden expansion...that idea is not going to go over very well. It will have to be accompanied by pledges to plant other apple trees elsewhere to soften the blow.

My daddy loves his apple trees!

The guru says he is buying seeds from three sources, my earlier link was one of them, not sure what the others are.

Anyway, lets keep this thread alive and share our experiences. The learning never ends and as far as this topic goes, it seems pretty essential.



If nibblers show up in the garden and the always do sooner or later make a tea using Cayenne pepper and spray the plants they only take one bite. And you can use veg oil OR dish soap to help it stick to the plants and washes off no problem later.

Re: Seeds
Post by libertasinfinitio on Feb 17, 2011, 11:20am

Does that work on deer?
« Last Edit: February 20, 2011, 03:48:57 PM by Pandora »
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Offline Miltrainer

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Re: Seeds
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2011, 07:37:55 PM »
Mrs. Trainer :) and I purchased from this outfit listed below. I did over 6 months of research on Non-hybid seeds and decided to purchase from this site. You get twice the amount of seeds than anywhere else. Or you can look at it this way, the seeds are half price. We planted a large portion of the seeds and they all grew. They have a large variety of foods depending on what growing zone you live in. We did have a bear of a time trying to keep the deer out. The carrots and the winter squash were the best.

http://www.aaoobfoods.com/nonhybridgardenkits.htm
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