OT: Gardening ** Was Healthy Food & 100 Foot Diet Challenge

[Guest guest]

Howdy Tracy,

 

Now, we would love to have a garden, but we seem to have slightly black

> thumbs. But we are not giving up! ;-) We'll try again in the next year or

> so. Of course, we have chickens and get 6 to 8 eggs a day, so we swap with a

> neighbor who has a garden and gives us yummy veggies for the eggs.

>

 

Go on any search engine and seek info on gardening .. About.com, for

example, has good info for beginners .. they send tips via e-mail, etc.

Anybody can be successful gardening if they get the basics down. :-)

For maximum results I recommend you get a soil test kit .. I got one

yesterday from Lowes for around $10 or so. It measures the acidity or

alkalinity (pH) and if its one way or the other there are natural enhancers

to balance it .. sold cheap at dozens of places. It also tells the level of

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium in your soil .. and there are inexpensive

natural additives to balance this. Also .. the I-Net will tell you which

plants like which conditions .. example, blueberries like acidic soil but

some plants don't .. so for max results one can use small raised beds or

doctor a part of the garden one way and a part the other way .. and grow

various plants in the area they prefer. Did our parents or grandparents do

this? Mine didn't .. and they always had nice gardens. Maybe they learned

from experience what to do and not do. I believe that even if some factors

are off you will grow something but for outstanding results you need the

test and then add whatever to balance the soil. Another option is to ask

the local garden shop for an opinion on the soil in your area .. that's

better than just shooting for luck.

 

Chickens are good .. wish I had a half dozen or so but even though we are in

a rural area there are covenants here. Long ago this land belonged to Camp

Tyson .. the U.S. Army Barrage Balloon Training Center and after WW II they

sold the majority of it to Spinks Clay company

http://www.spinksclay.com/AboutUs/camptyson.html .. all Kitty Litter comes

from Paris, TN. ;-) Then Spinks sold some of the land outside their

operational area but placed restrictions like .. minimum lots 2.5 acres, no

chickens, hogs or goats .. but cattle and horses were fine.

 

In the mid-80s I had an AKC Brittany kennel in GA .. I raised Pharaoh Quail

to train the pups. I checked it out and found that I could raise quail

here .. but they can't free range because they would head for the hills.

;-) Odds are good we will raise them this year. Pharaoh Quail lay 12

months but you must keep a light in the coop during the winter months or

they'll stop laying. Also you OFTEN have to separate males from females

for a while cause they are very aggressive birds .. the females sometimes

decide they don't like a particular male and they'll gang up and whip that

poor critter till he can't walk .. hummm. ;-) The eggs are nice

hard boiled and the manure is great for the garden .. if .. it is composted

for a year. All manure (especially from poultry) must be composted ..

nitrogen content is too high otherwise. Check out compost too .. its easy

and there is a lot of information on the Net. Too much green (grass

clippings) or too much brown (leaves) can impact effectiveness .. and some

leaves .. like Black Walnut and Oak should not be used.

 

 

> We also have apple trees and peach trees.

>

 

Tracy .. if you can keep apple and peach trees healthy .. you can sho'nuf

grow vegetables .. its easier than dealing with fruit trees. ;-)

 

 

> Tracy

>

> Designer at Scrapbook-Bytes

> http://www.takeapick.com/2IH

>

> *Some people only dream of angels; we held one in our arms.*

> Remembering Jacob March 8 - 9, 1996

> Our Angel: http://sids-network.org/fp/jacob.htm

>

 

Wishing you good luck .. and y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>