I bought something called year round lettuce from this organic outfit in California, sustainable seed. For some reason, my Tabasco sauce insecticide kept them free from bug bites all Spring. Or maybe it just tastes bad to bugs, though not to me.
I had never heard of year round lettuce either. I had to use my google. Please keep me informed. Tell me if it turns bitter or bolts in that hot Texas summer. I don't grow lettuce here. But I grew some fabulous iceberg lettuce in Indiana.
This year I broke down and just bought coated asparagus seeds as my final attempt at growing it. My spouse had a good start on some at the edge of the township garden, but the person that plowed obligingly widened the area he plowed in and of course demolished it completely. I will probably throw the seeds on a no-man's land type spot next to my front door that used to be occupied by a tough old yew bush. Almost nothing will grow there; I can't remember how many different things I have tried. But who knows? The small Daphne shrub I planted nearby is thriving, and I've had Daphnes die in every other spot I've tried them. I may just plant the winter hardy climbing spinach so close to the electric pole out at the township garden that it will not get plowed away.... I have to laugh--I just bought some ramps seed! In fact, they sent me a larger package because they were out of the small size I ordered. I will definitely plant that in the woods somewhere. Apparently it's disappearing from the wild due to culinary demand by top chefs. The asparagus thing wouldn't be so bad if I didn't like it so much. Every time I buy it now (and I'm grateful it's raised in other countries for us) I wince as I realize supporting Trump may make it scarcer eventually. However, I've always stuck with American cars, so I certainly will have to stand by American vegetables as well.....To make it worse, I also like avocados. I just spent the evening copying out info on the heirloom bean seeds that just came in the mail, complicated by the fact that the vendor's website is copy-protected so I had to type out all the info instead of copying and pasting. The larger vendors don't usually do that, but I suppose they have a larger legal budget to protect their websites as well. One of the pole beans is supposed to get to 20 feet tall, and several were grown by Indian tribes way back when. Several are supposed to be extremely productive...but I need to decide how I'm going to handle the bean beetles that always show up here. I got a few Skirret seeds from the Bean Lady, and also ordered some White and Black Salsify and Burdock seeds elsewhere; the burdock and black salsify are pretty sure to end up in the woods, and the oyster plant on the extreme edge of the township garden. I also hope to be receiving a couple of varieties of amaranth and small packets of some grain seeds, more for propagation than actual food, although I plan to try the amaranth leaves. I'm also going to try short rows of several different Asian greens... It has begun to occur to me that if I plant all of the things I've ordered at once I have enough in each plant family that they will pollinate each other and not breed true next year....I do believe in over-planting, though; the only real alternative, other than total mulching, is daily weeding. I myself am not very heat tolerant.
The woman in Lancaster I bought seed from claims that her favorite lettuce is winter hardy here, but I believe it is a loose leaf variety.
I bought my asparagus as roots. I ordered my ramps by the bulbs because I am too impatient for seeds. Those things take like 7 years to grow from seed since they are only up a few months a year. I will probably order some seeds and do more in the fall. I have the perfect place for them.....except it isn't my land. My property is like the old game of tetras. I have two L-Shaped runs of 5 lots that are connected on their short side bumping end to end, if that makes any sense to you...basically two long parallel runs connected by a short run. The land on one side of my house has road frontage; the land on the other side runs to the rear of all the lots that sit on the road and the lots with my house are the connector between them basically. That perfect spot is behind the southern run and beside the connector run. Woody and wet. The ones I have now are in a bed on the shadiest side of the house, but I fear when I do some tree work, it might become too stressful for them there so I want to have a fallback plot of ramps. There is a bit of a dispute as to who owns that wooded area because the property lines are a mess on paper to what reality on the ground is or else I would buy that house too, chop off the back of the land, and then resell it without the woods.
It is called Malabar Spinach. As I said, I have only heard about it. I have no first hand experience with it. The only people I have chatted with it who do are Floridians for whatever reason so not sure how it does in other places. It apparently does quite well in Florida. It is not a true spinach. That is just what people call it. http://www.thekitchn.com/what-is-malabar-spinach-91477
I just tried growing mezclun lettuce, and it has been pretty bitter. I want to grow some greens that can take a little heat.
I am not a huge fan of mesclun mixes but I do grow them periodically. black seeded simpson does ok in my area if you progressively plant to stay ahead of bolting lulls. I am adding in orach, corn salad, large leaf sorrel, and Hanson improved crisphead this year. I can also grow arugula just about all year round if I am so inclined, though I mainly do it in the late summer and over winter. My fall greens often self-seed so for instance, I will have several waves of creasy greens and mustard over the year if I so desire. I am not a huge fan of creasy because of the bitter as well. They are very popular among the African American community for whatever reason so I let a friend of my brother's help himself to them whenever he wants. Otherwise a lot of them just end up as filler in the compost pile.
Park Seeds has it--here's a link with a good photo. They don't mention it, but it likes a reasonably moist situation, or regular watering. http://parkseed.com/product.aspx?gc...PK-P1&ef_id=WPeURgAABMWdENnG:20170419164558:s
We've tried asparagus roots several times, which is why I won't put more money into them. I've also given up on growing rhubarb...the one time i was successful with that in my yard I then let it get shaded out by some wild plum trees. I've been too laissez-fare with bird-sewn things. What I really need is a bit of agricultural land somewhere close by, but I'd probably ruin it. I bought the ramps seed more on impulse because I had wondered for years what it was. Then I read up on it. If it does well, so much the better for my little woodland. My daughter used to eat wild garlic as a child; apparently that's a bit poisonous but I didn't know that at the time. It never seemed to make her ill. If the ramps ever grow maybe I will finally get to taste some eventually, if "wild croppers" don't get to it first. Would a survey help with that land or is it hopeless? It is a great idea to have several types of growing area, and one that close to your house is a bonus. My woods are a couple of acres in another county, but I like to get out that way occasionally as it's more rural. I was starting to feel too citified where I live; they've rezoned agricultural land in my town and are loading former fields up with "condos" that remind me of tenements. What I really dislike is that I can't have ducks or chickens. I've been trying to think of a way to have some form of bird in the woodland to get rid of deer ticks. There are lots of deer out there. I've been thinking if i just plant things that draw wild birds in that might help. The property gets sun on its frontage and at the ROW behind it so it has more potential than deep woods to grow thins, plus is bordered by rivulets that seem to be year round. It's at the edge of what people in PA consider a mountain--actually, part of a long mountain ridge that is called Blue Mountain..
I am sure a survey would help but I am not paying for land that is not mine t be surveyed. In reality though, I don't think there is a real issue other than some crabby old neighbors who claim those woods are theirs when they are not...well some of it is but most of it is not. They mostly belong to the owner of a rental property that the lawyer owner could care less about as long as he makes money off it. What it is is that the street those houses face on which is sort of perpendicular to my street was laid out wrong. The houses are square to the street but the lots are not so they all run at angles to the street frontage but then the lower end lots run at opposite angles and they all sort of collide in these woods. I may just wait until crabby neighbors die or go to nursing home and theirs has to be sold too and buy the 4 houses in a row (3 they own + the lawyer house) and cut the backs off them and turn them either into rental houses or resell them with less land. I could pick up a couple more acres that way. Those houses are old and in need of some modern updates so they could be flipped for a profit with some work into them.
It's amazing how poorly much land is laid out. Many of the so-called land "bargains" available actually are landlocked, and you can't get to them except by helicopter, balloon, or some sort of illegal action, like walking in over someone else's property. I'd like to get a larger piece, but everything in my price range seems to have notable defects of one kind or another. Sounds like you may improve your environs by straightening it out. Some more seeds came in today; the most exciting one is an amaranth that can get about 8 ft tall. The others are tiny amounts of grain such as hulless oatmeal. I thought I'd plant a bit of each to see if I can get more seeds. There from a sustainable seed company that finds rare strains and promotes them. Another thing I'd like to do is grow mushrooms in the woodland. The Oregon mushroom company I have a catalog from sells all sorts of mushroom related things including throat sprays and inoculant, as well as some nonedible spoor mix designed to improve soil fertility. Next winter I may try sprouting again...and I've been reading with interest of a new sustainable food production approach that combines fish with aquafarming. I don't know, realistically speaking, if I would enjoy that as much as outdoor gardening, though...in fact, I know I wouldn't. If food got scarce it could be of interest, though...but it would be rather expensive to set up and I worry about things like mold and excess moisture, plus electrical expense if set up indoors.
In a week or two the garden will get tilled. Its been organic for 100 years. I learned how to grow plants and vegetables from my great uncle. We all would go in the garden as kids and he would let us help out turning the soil, empting the compost pile, bug huntin'. All that. He made it cool and fun. As an adult one of those moments you carry with you forever was when our autistic Godson was in the garden with me. He was really young at the time. He sat in the middle of a patch of carrots. He pulled one up and his reaction to the fact there was a carrot under all that soil was one of the most special things in my heart to witness. A picture frozen in time.
I planted asparagus seeds along a 15 foot West facing wall because I wanted their fern effect. I dug a trench about 10 inches deep filled it with 3 parts manure 1 part garden soil and planted the seeds. The first year I had beautiful ferns . The second year I had a bumper crop of asparagus. This was in coastal SC.
I am experimenting with growing tomatoes in buckets this year. People swear by it so thought I would give it a try. I have plenty of tomatoes in the ground in the field though as a standby. They are doing well in the buckets so far, but the true test will be when they are big and it is 90°+ both for their ability to survive, and my willingness to lug gallons of water around every day to keep them alive. I didn't do that double bucket with a water pool and wick system. I just drilled holes in the bottom, sit them on their lids as a saucer, and planted that way. Everything except corn is basically planted. I have some later wave leafy things just starting off in cell packs. Now I move on to phase 2 of my gardening year--propagating ornamental things, transplanting things from woods into pots for eventual planting in the ground if they survive. Found a cluster of little dogwood seedlings I will try to pot up and keep alive for fall transplants, for instance. I have way too many saved buckets from garden center stuff I need to put to use or get rid of. My outbuilding is overflowing with them right now, and somebody just gave me a bunch more. Planted a 30 foot row of hibiscus seeds I got from neighbor last year to see if any of them grow.
You mean those 5 gallon plastic buckets? Have you seen the video about cutting holes along the sides of those buckets?
Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Yes like 5 gallon buckets. I have a plethora of 5 those buckets too so I decided to start experimenting. I figure maybe I can perfect the art of bucket gardening before I get too old to bend over
I have seen some interesting ideas people have come up with. I have a few acres to garden with so I am not under any sort of forced innovation/experimentation. I just like doing something different every year figuring it will come together eventually. I have also started playing with going vertical. Will post a photo when it is not thunderstorming so I can take one of my little project today. I had a handful of those metal rectangular planter things with the cobnut liners I attached to some old wood pallets and put along one of the walls to one of the outbuildings. If it works to produce, I will probably do the whole wall next year with gutters as planters. For now, just trying lettuce, a few radishes and some lemon cucumbers in them to see what might be suited for that kind of set up.
