Growing Food

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by zeehag

when the marina murders the bees, toothbrush is the alternative bee feet... i now have many serranos coming out and i have a whole boodle of tomatillos coming out.. we will win this !!! and gekkos for any lil bugs or stuffies deciding t o move into the 'hood.. yaaayy we win again!!!
now if i could be as successful with the refit.......

Hey Zee,

pollenating: you pollenate with a toothbrush. in Sailing the Farm, the guy uses a q-tip, i think. i'm going to check some videos to see how it is done

growing stuff: is it really that easy? until i found this thread and read (most of) Sailing the Farm, i worried (as in, really fretted) about getting greens out there. i'd heard about sprouts and thought i'd do that, but now i am feeling a bit more ambitious. (i love the pictures that Sparrow has posted on this thread! gorgeous!!!)

trade and barter: i appreciate hearing how you have traded a bit too... i can see myself trading greens for a loaf of bread or something... this would be a big plus.

Bees: i do not know if this would help bring the bees around to you, but they apparently love CLOVER. perhaps this would be a plant to add to your garden so that the bees find their way? no idea, just a thought. (maybe Sparrow knows)

refit: girl, you've been refitting for so long that i bet you've become a pro at storm watching. i think of you every time and do hope you can manage it all! sending you a big kiss!


wolfgal

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

Thank you wolf gal. I know there's a lot of people watching and not posting, I did so for years. But it's nice to hear appreciation. Sailing the farm and ok I admit waterworld were huge inspirations. Bottom line, some plants produce a lot of food for very little effort.

Yes, Sparrowhawk1, i definitely appreciate your input here. Very inspiring!

everyone keeps referring to waterworld. i have such a hard time keeping up with the times. it must be a movie... (only the other day, i made myself watch a terrible zombie movie so that i understood all the references to twinkies... must admit that i couldn't make myself sit through it all)

Bees: Zee mentioned the lack of them in her area. I suggested growing clover since bees are highly attracted to it and benefit greatly from it ( i read this somewhere, fingers crossed that it is true). is this a good idea? any idea how clover would do?

your garden is so gorgeous, so alive! i haven't had a garden for a while... if i started very small (as a confidence builder), how would you suggest that i get started? thanks!



wolfgal

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by wolfgal

everyone keeps referring to waterworld. i have such a hard time keeping up with the times. it must be a movie...

Yes. 1995 Kevin Costner movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpKbULrB9Z8

. No zombies, pretty good movie, fun sailing scenes, and post apocalyptic gardening.



I'm not @sparrowhawk1 but I'd start with sprouts (less than a week), then microgreens (two weeks), then herbs such as basil and chives and greens like lettuce. Tomatoes are more work. Which circles back to the Waterworld movie....

[zeehag]

wolfgal we has a bee!!!!!!
one bee came and was so busy with m y 5 plus ft tall tomatillo and my 3 ft tall serrano----alllll have fruit coming out now!!!
now i gotta re try cilantro and poblanos and my onions again.
yes birdee is growing to bottom here despite monthly cleanings of hull..but folks looking at my port side get yellow flowers and tomatillos hahahahaha
today we fix a sub sole framing break... should be fun. thank heavens for mexicans in mexico... they may get to you slow, but they will do work.
ps mazatlan is NOT the place to come for repairing. hahahahaha
oregano is easy to grow--i have a pot of it looks like a head of unkempt hair.. i have already donated some for home made tacos and gorditas and such.. have a beautiful 4 plant basil pot with a lone small not thriving cilantro .... i think the cilantro vahnts to be alohne.... call it greta. i may figure out how to post pix from my fone to here so you can see the mayhem i have wrought.
i tried lavendar--need to replant as it didnot come up. prolly because i planted it in hot summer hahahaha--supposed to be a bee attractor. want a citronella plant to keep mosquitos out of cockpit but i think chico would eat it. he has already sampled serrano leaves and fruit..hahahahaha silly cat. and i want catnip. monster needs a relaxer before my bedtime so i can sleep.

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Yes. 1995 Kevin Costner movie.

. No zombies, pretty good movie, fun sailing scenes, and post apocalyptic gardening.



I'm not @sparrowhawk1 but I'd start with sprouts (less than a week), then microgreens (two weeks), then herbs such as basil and chives and greens like lettuce. Tomatoes are more work. Which circles back to the Waterworld movie....

A double thanks to you, Auspicious!

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by zeehag

wolfgal we has a bee!!!!!!
one bee came and was so busy with m y 5 plus ft tall tomatillo and my 3 ft tall serrano----alllll have fruit coming out now!!!
now i gotta re try cilantro and poblanos and my onions again.
yes birdee is growing to bottom here despite monthly cleanings of hull..but folks looking at my port side get yellow flowers and tomatillos hahahahaha
today we fix a sub sole framing break... should be fun. thank heavens for mexicans in mexico... they may get to you slow, but they will do work.
ps mazatlan is NOT the place to come for repairing. hahahahaha
oregano is easy to grow--i have a pot of it looks like a head of unkempt hair.. i have already donated some for home made tacos and gorditas and such.. have a beautiful 4 plant basil pot with a lone small not thriving cilantro .... i think the cilantro vahnts to be alohne.... call it greta. i may figure out how to post pix from my fone to here so you can see the mayhem i have wrought.
i tried lavendar--need to replant as it didnot come up. prolly because i planted it in hot summer hahahaha--supposed to be a bee attractor. want a citronella plant to keep mosquitos out of cockpit but i think chico would eat it. he has already sampled serrano leaves and fruit..hahahahaha silly cat. and i want catnip. monster needs a relaxer before my bedtime so i can sleep.

A bee!!!! Remember Samuel Becket's play called Waiting for Godot? the ending scene (of looming despair and desperate hope) involves a leaf that appears. the leaf grows on a little tree or shrub and is spotted by the two old men. Becket was close, real close: in today's world hope can be found in a bee.

Sounds like you have yourself a garden there!

ok will attempt oregano (along with the sprouts and Auspicious' suggestions).


hope the work goes well there today (and each day)!!

[sparrowhawk1]

Okay I've been thinking about this for a while and there's no simple answer to the best plants to start with. most people will say sprouts because that gives you the most nutritious food in the least amount of space. But the problem is you have to rinse them three to five times a day and in higher temperatures are almost impossible to grow because they rot.I can't tell you how many times I've rinsed sprouts for 4 days and then forgot or got too busy and then I lost all that effort so sprouts are not the top of my list. My recommendation is perennials and plants that are Hardy and don't take a lot of water. Also don't grow things you don't really like. Too many plants to recommend but I'll give you my top three. Number one, chives because they're so easy to grow and over time the plant just gets bigger and bigger. And just adding a small amount to say tuna fish or a salad makes it so much better. Second is sweet potato of course. it started with potatoes that I bought from the grocery store and they sprouted so I planted the vines and all of a sudden I have lots of greens, bug tolerant and once they have sweet potatoes attached to the vines they are tolerant for under watering. I've already explained this so read my threads for more details but grow sweet potatoes underneath either microgreens or lettuce. One of the biggest things about growing in containers is keeping water moisture correct so as I've said many times, a self watering container aka reservoir container is the way to go.
PS. Clover is a common sprout or microgreen but I don't think there's enough room to grow them for flowering and attracting bees.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

Okay I've been thinking about this for a while and there's no simple answer to the best plants to start with.

I don't think sparrowhawk1 and I disagree. I think we have different perspectives.

Foremost I strongly agree that you should not grow foods you won't or don't want to eat.

You have to water your plants. You have to attend to their nutritional needs which may just be soil selection but may mean fertilizer.

My suggest of sprouts is because you get positive results so quickly and that encourages you to keep going. I don't use a fancy sprouter - I use a Ball jar with screen as the lid. My memory for such things is poor but I haven't lost a load of sprouts. Same with microgreens. I just grow them on paper towel in a quarter sheet pan. The key for me has been to put them somewhere I won't forget them. I drain sprouts and leave them in the head sink. Microgreens are on the cabintop under the dodger at anchor and over the freezer lid underway. Non-skid underneath.

We both listed chives. I lump those in with basil and other herbs. You definitely can't neglect watering and you can overwater. They are extremely sensitive to salt spray.

Lettuce which we also both listed is easy. Start with leaf lettuce. Varieties that form heads are much more fussy. You can also prune leaf lettuce, like most herbs, and it keeps growing back.

If you don't like sprouts don't grow them. If chives taste too oniony for you don't grow them.

[Mike OReilly]

I’ve never been a gardener but sprouts have never let me down. I use a simple stackable set of trays. This lets me grow a lot in a small space, and seems very simple.

I just dump a bit of water into the top every morning, or whatever I think of it. I usually recycle the same water a few times. The sprouts just grow, with little effort. Maybe it’s harder in hotter climates? Just seems really simple to me.

The only other thing we grow is herbs; basil chives, rosemary, mint, parsley, etc…

[sparrowhawk1]

First I want to share this link. https://youtu.be/nX4kq4QfYRA

Although it has nothing to do with boating, he totally reminds me of sailing the farm.

And back to sprouts. I get why people do it especially in cooler weather, but in Florida in the summer it's almost impossible. Although I did have success with the broccoli microgreens in my planter all summer. for me having to water three or four times a day just doesn't work. And I've done it all. I've had the type of trays that have little siphons in it so you fill the first tray and it slowly drains to the second tray and once the second tray is full, slowly drains into the third tray etc. At one point I had two easy green sprouters. they cost over $200. I had a dedicated 12 volt timer and inverter, fully automatic fine mist high success rate, worked great for about a year or two and then they both failed so... At one point I was sprouting wheatgrass in one of them and all sorts of sprouts in the other. one of my favorites was to sprout chickpeas and make hummus. I believe it made them more nutritious and easier to digest and everyone in the neighborhood said it was the best hummus they've ever had. I look forward to trying the method that I linked in Post 98 once it gets a little cooler. I tried it this month and it was still too hot.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

And back to sprouts. I get why people do it especially in cooler weather, but in Florida in the summer it's almost impossible.

Hmm. My experience is different. I haven't had any trouble growing sprouts anywhere from high latitudes to the tropics. I do use simple sprouters. I think I mentioned I use screens over Ball jars (these https://sproutpeople.org/sprouting-s...creen-lid-set/) for sprouts. For microgreens layers of paper towels in nearly anything handy. Sprouts are watered twice a day; we reserve water for reuse. Microgreens get watered about twice a day to keep the paper towels damp, less often in cooler climes.

[sparrowhawk1]

Well that's the beauty of a forum, different experiences doing the same thing. But I have to ask was it in the 90s with high humidity?

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Hmm. My experience is different. I haven't had any trouble growing sprouts anywhere from high latitudes to the tropics. I do use simple sprouters. I think I mentioned I use screens over Ball jars (these https://sproutpeople.org/sprouting-s...creen-lid-set/) for sprouts. For microgreens layers of paper towels in nearly anything handy. Sprouts are watered twice a day; we reserve water for reuse. Microgreens get watered about twice a day to keep the paper towels damp, less often in cooler climes.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by sparrowhawk1

Well that's the beauty of a forum, different experiences doing the same thing. But I have to ask was it in the 90s with high humidity?

Florida. More trouble eating the bread before it molded that losing sprouts. Caribbean was better - less humidity, better bread. *grin*

[sparrowhawk1]

Heheh. You should check out the thread on dehydrating. my standard procedure when I would buy a loaf of bread is to slice up half the loaf and turn it into crispy breadsticks that could last for months. Almost indefinitely if I vacuum seal them.

[sparrowhawk1]

Not so crazy now [emoji846]. No better time to start a garden but even better to have one going of course. Before this month I was going to town a lot so my garden kind of built up thankfully. I decided to transplant some of my chives so I could start growing some radishes. Also I'm going to see how well the chives do in a non self-watering container. After harvesting the edible part of course. and as you can see in the first photo the sweet potatoes have no problem growing under the chives. I planted cuttings at the very edge (4") of the container, also it's a good idea to pull the chives up when harvesting potatoes so I can put fresh soil in. Or better yet compost which I'm making myself. I put a peanut butter jar with the bottom cut out into the garden. I compost fruit scraps and if there are any vegetable scraps that are not fit enough to save for vegetable stock I put in the blender and then pour into the peanut butter jar. I save scraps in my fridge until I have enough for a blender full. My newest member that's already had babies is an aloe vera plant. I was given a baby and it grew into this huge plant that I harvested half of it (I wish I took before harvest photos but if you look at the base you can see all the "leaves" I cut off) to use the aloe gel and alcohol to make hand sanitizer [emoji4]. I filled up the five gallon bucket half full of wood chips basically just to save on soil but it will break down to dark compost, not that the aloe plant needs it but I can use it for other plants when I transfer because this sucker grows! that's enough for today stay tuned and stay healthy. PS three sweet potatoes may not seem like much but I cook one in bowl of rice getting two to three meal side dishes out of it making it go a long way.