Comments On Article: We Must Plant The Seed For It To Grow

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I think having a seedling greenhouse is a good idea and will look really nice when done. It is sure reminding me a lot of 1942 in the world today, except there's things that are making it worse for us then back then im afraid. To me it feels like things are incredibly backwards and we're trying to just keep moving in the right direction regardless of what the world's doing. One thing I found out this week is the number of women I know that have a housekeeper that comes each week. I've learned in maintaining our house and trying to do the history studies at the same time alongside working fulltime is that women had lots of help and nowadays at least for me that's just not there. I'd be curious if others have noticed the same thing or maybe that's just my observation?

 I did get some seeds planted in my few little beds, but I'm afraid they got washed away because we had a lot of rain come in one night. I've got potatoes and some grape plants to still get in the ground. I bought in the fall some fruit trees and landscaping trees that still need to get in the ground as well. The ground was too frozen before and now there's already some leaf buds, but the apple trees have some flowers that just appeared. They are so pretty right now which is enjoyable after such a harsh winter. 

Your yard will be very pretty when things start growing. I recently learned that old fashioned roses are edible. I've got them on my list to buy one day. Our friends have an orchard and they plant roses at the end of their rows. 

My husband and I gardened in the ground for decades but even before he passed I started transitioning to raised beds for the reasons you stated plus I find it easier to keep weeds out and, very importantly, our soil is very sandy, acidic and poor. We spent so much money amending our soil in our in-ground gardens and still needed fertilizer to get anything to grow. I have upfront costs filling a new raised bed but after that it’s just amending it with compost and a little fresh soil each spring. 

Would you tell me about your metal trellises?  Are they home built?  I assume they are?  If so, how were they created?  I have an empty row in my garden to fill with raised beds and I am thinking about adding at least some shade to that row with shade cloth on trellises. 

For my vining plants I have made PVC frames with nylon trellis mesh clipped to them. My cucumbers have been using that for a few years. It wouldn’t do for heavy pumpkins or such. 

I’ve noticed that being home all day makes a huge difference in gardening. Working all week with a long commute gave me so little time to tend even the raised beds. Now I go out there twice a day and it shows. It’s not impossible to garden while working- we did it for years- but it sure was harder for us. 

Joan S, to answer your question about the trellises. We are using metal conduit and cutting it 5 feet 5 inches and then putting a connector on top of the pole to put a 90 degree curve piece making it close to six feet to be able to walk under it. 

We put up the five foot piece first and then clamp them on to the bottom and top of the tank sides with metal clamps the size of the conduit.  We screw it in with metal truss screws. 

Each end of the curved piece needs a connector.  Then we go across from one side to the other and repeat at the other side.  Then we use fence wire and roll that over from one side to the other, up and over and down the other side.  We zip tied ours together in case we need to make adjustments.  They now have metal zip ties as well. 

I bought shade cloth to put over the top for when it starts getting too hot for the plants.  I also bought frost/shade cloth to use when needed.  For a quick temporary fix we clamp anything we can grab to cover the tanks if there is a quick thunderstorm with hail as of twice this week.  Also for a heavy rain because I don't want the seeds to float away.  We have been having more storms with hail the past couple of years now and we frequently get high wind storms as well so this is what we have done to protect our garden so we can hopefully get a better harvest.

I've gone forwards to 1943, to learn more about rationing in Canada  fro mthe local newspaper.
It's been very busy with Easter and birthdays, but a good kind of busy.
I'm chomping at the bit to plant things, but only the bell peppers could be started earlier. Now the tomatoes and rhubarb. Everything will be going out by the end of May, and some things a bit sooner. Then direct sowing around June 1st, for things like squashes and cuucmbers. I am also going to be putting in even more trellising, some of which should be metal on wood posts. It's what I can afford at this point, and my homr is not my forever home. So when I leave, they will all be taken down anyways, and the gardens coverted back to lawn.
Very excited to start the May planting!

thank you so much for the pictures and explanation!  I understand now how they are done!  I will be planning for something like this as I finish filling up my garden space. 

The canopies over beds with shade cloth work wonderfully. My husband did this several years ago and kept the beets covered all summer. That was the best year for fresh beet greens that we ever had. I used an amish recipe for pickled beets and it was so delicious that I will never use another recipe.

Your garden, gDonna, looks fantastic. We have yet to get out and prep ours for growing this year. The weather has been unusually warm for Wyoming all winter, but there is still plenty of time left here for a snow or two. I do have to cut lovage, chives and parsley this week, as they don't mind snow or cooler temperatures and they have grown to cutting point.

Many of my friends are speaking of feeling the intense need to grow more this year and stock more food. Some of those friends have freeze dryers, which are fantastic for storing food. We debated for years and decided against one. I dehydrate most vegetables and can some. The older I have gotten the canning has lessened quite a lot. I, too, feel the urgency to grow more food this summer. We had decided to forego a garden, but circumstances have change that decision for us. I plan on sorting through our seed storage this weekend.

Thank you again for another wonderful article. I hope your finger heals quickly.

A wonderful post, as usual! :) I am so glad Albert has friends to help him in his garden duties. After it being mentioned in the forum, I looked at growing zucchini vertically, and then at other things you can grow vertically. I have space for one arch trellis, so I got one. This is going to make such a difference in space in my garden! This year the zucchini will go in the tower trellis in the middle of the onions, and butternut squash will go on the arch. Next year when I've improved the soil where the arch is going, I'll plant on both sides of it. My asparagus is happier with me. I gave it some epsom salts while I wait for the langbienite to arrive. 

Since it looks like we're going to have higher inflation, I tried to find a way to outrun it. I used the numbers predicted for US inflation this year. After using my brain so hard that steam was coming out of my ears trying to figure everything out, I came to the conclusion that the official numbers have no correlation to my real life, and that I was going to have to keep my own record of inflation.  The first thing I learned from my own inflation recording was that my daily medication went up 12.5% since the last time I refilled it, and another product we use regularly went up 10% since the last time we bought it. These numbers are much higher than the official numbers. 

It's overcast outside because we had a wonderful rain that filled the rain barrel. :) Since it's a little dark inside the house, I have a solar lightbulb on next to me. The cost of the solar generators has gone down quite a bit since we first got them. After tracking our usage, we decided to invest in a couple more so that when some are in the house being used, others will be out charging. I can run all of the daily things like the Crock Pot or the blender or a curling iron, TV, lamps, and all of the small energy users for a couple of days without recharging. We think we can run the internet too, but haven't tested it yet. Hardwired lights, fridge, washer, stove, and water heater are things we can't run on our solar. We looked at how much we spent on electricity last year, and we think we can cut it by half. 

The lilies of the valley are blooming in time for Easter again. :)