My Gardens Failed This Year

Here we go again. I wrote in a post, years ago, that nothing grows in my garden. Someone replied with the comment that said they had an uncle who had the same problem. The uncle passed and was buried, and even things on top of his grave didn't grow.

  Yes, I can grow weeds. They are prolific. But, I cannot seem to grow tomatoes, or anything in the squash family. Either the weather is too hot and kills the plants (97+ degrees outside) or the weather is freezing. If only the plants could understand that there is a window of time where the weather is accommodating to letting them produce!

  So, I grow these tomato plants and they are prolific. They are nice and big. They look promising. But I put a Tulsi (Holy Basil) plant in with them thinking that was a good idea, until someone in a gardening forum informed me that the Tulsi would keep my tomatoes from producing tomatoes. So, I took the Tulsi plant out and put it in a big pot.

   Well, the Tulsi plant is doing great. We really need Tulsi to make tea with. It is supposed to help with sleeping well. The plant is doing well, even though it keeps flowering.

Tulsi (Holy Basil) Plant

You can even see some of the tomato plants in the background of the picture. Sadly, they turned black and most of the leaved died. There is some life on the tops of 2 of the plants that are left. 

    Then I grew something called 'Kiwano', which is in the squash family. The fruit tastes like cucumbers and watermelon. So, finally got some to grow nicely. I didn't realize that they were orange when they were ripe, so I picked a couple of green ones. They also have spikes on them, so I was surprised when big chunks were taken out of them by some animal. I do have one left and am waiting for it to ripen, hoping no other animal finds it first. When I do get a ripe one, I will put it in yogurt. 

I lost many papayas due to the weather and wind blowing. Some of them broke off in the upper parts of the trunk, but the roots were intact, so, I have bent over papaya plants. They definitely are not very strong. 

I have one healthy pepper plant that produces paprika peppers. But the new ones I planted seem to have disappeared or died. 

All these things I am writing about will hopefully help someone in the future. At present, I am experimenting with different ideas. One of those ideas is to use Epsom Salts with the tomatoes and peppers. Also, I got a safe fungicide to use when needed. Also, I read where someone had problems growing tomatoes, and finally got help when they took crushed (in the blender) eggs shells and used them with the tomatoes. I will try that too. 

  The TowerGarden has only peppermint growing in it now. It is too hot to grow anything else that grows in it. The peppermint plant took over the whole TowerGarden and the roots got in the way of everything, so we had to take the thing apart at the top and clean some of it out. 

  I'm using chicken manure from my chickens and adding it to the compost pile in the big garden in the back. I just have to make sure that the dog doesn't get into it, for that is one of his favorite places to go when we let him out in the back! 

   When the results come in, I will have to update this. I will let you all know what works and what didn't work, if anything. This is all a learning process for us all.

           

 

Gardening Updates and Lessons Learned

Here are some of the things that have been going on for the past year or so:

I actually planted Stevia seeds and got a couple of plants to grow. They did well until the weather turned cold. As soon as the temps got into the 30s and 40s, one of the plants would die. Finally, after one of the last cold spells, both plants died.

I planted some Holy Basil seeds (Tulsi) and they came up. I planted one in a 20 gallon pot, and it is doing great. Now I need to find how to use it!

Just planted one of asparagus plants I grew from seed. We'll see how it does in its new space outside. If it does well, I'll plant the others.

Another interesting seed I planted was one in the squash family called, Kiwano. It is also known as the African Horned Cucumber. The pulp inside the fruit resembles lime Jello, according to the description. Some of the reviewers were not impressed with the taste though. The plant is growing well, but no fruit on it yet. The other seeds I planted never germinated, but the plant that did is taking over a big part of the corner of our back yard!

I planted both lima beans and green beans in the spring. The temperatures here were so hot that I believe it killed both the plants. The lima bean plants lasted longer than the green bean plants, but I noticed today that they were no longer alive.

One of the Eucalyptus seeds germinated and is growing into a nice plant now. If you touch the leaves, the scent comes off on your fingers and it is strong.

I am pleased with the Lemon Balm seeds that I planted months ago. I got a couple of Lemon Balm plants that I replanted into the garden. As long as I keep it watered, it should be ok. I read where Lemon Balm, as good as it is, is invasive. I put it in a box garden and hope it stays there. I have a couple of pepper plants in there too, and one has little peppers on it! I can't remember what kind of pepper plant it is though! I guess we'll see when it is fully grown and turns the color it should be.

I planted Moringa seeds last week. They seem impossible to germinate, so, I will wait and see what happens with them.

The pomegranates are growing nicely. I have 3 of them growing and they will be planted in a 20 gallon fabric pot when ready.

The tomatoes are having problems though. The top leaves are fine, but all the underneath leaves turned brown and dried up. It seems to be something relative to the plants in that box, for I have different tomato varieties, yet, they are all affected by this.

Turmeric is growing well, and in one garden, a pineapple is growing nicely.

The avocado plant that I started about 4 years ago has grown into a large tree. But the Mango plant I planted is no longer there so I guess it died and I never noticed it until I looked one day for it.

Out of all the strawberries I have tried to grow, only one or two survived and have grown and spread out to other parts of the garden.

Corn has always been a disaster, but we will keep trying until we get it right.

I planted Calendula and it came up and did well. Had lots of blossoms for a while. Not much happening with them right now though as it's too hot probably.

The paprika pepper plant has given a lot of peppers and I have made paprika from the peppers on the plant.

Homemade Paprika Powder

My Poor Chicken

I am writing this, hopefully, to encourage those of you who have chickens. As we know, chickens are a big asset to our gardening, and they produce their own kind of fruit; eggs.

I pray for my chickens to be productive, and to safely lay their eggs. Hens can become egg-bound, and that could be life threatening. Chickens go through a lot of strange things that I never knew about before I had them.

Over the summer, my chickens stopped laying eggs. All of them, except two. One barred rock and the other an Americauna. The Americauna did eventually stop laying, but only for a short time. But the barred rock kept faithfully laying an egg, almost every day, in spite of the fact that all the other girls stopped laying.

 The barred rock continued to lay eggs until about a month ago. Then something strange happened. This particular chicken was outgoing and always with the group, but now she goes off into the bushes everyday, and just stays under the bushes. When I come out with food, all the others come running. But Clocky doesn't care anymore.

 Clocky appeared to be sick. At first, I thought maybe she was egg-bound, so, I went to the Internet to see what to do to take care of an egg-bound chicken. I soaked her in warm epsom salts water, 2 days in a row. I never felt any egg in her, but I did get to learn more about the chicken's anatomy by doing this!

  I prayed for Clocky to get well. And she appeared to be well again. But this week, she is hiding under the bushes again, or just sitting in the coop. Maybe she wants to be away from the rooster?

  It's been almost a month now, and Clocky is still not laying eggs (although I had more eggs the other day than I do hens. Not sure what happened, and don't know if perhaps Clocky did lay an egg).

  Clocky's personality is one of being an extrovert. When I got my first 3 chickens, they all came from the same place, and those 3 ended up being very well bonded. Unfortunately, one of them was a rooster, and he really does think he is the one who rules the roost! But the trio is now only a duo, with Clocky missing from the group.

  But for now, Clocky has a different personality. She isn't gregarious at the moment. One time, she even attacked one of the other girls who also hides a lot in the bushes.

  There are 2 reasons I know she is molting. First, she isn't laying eggs right now. She needs to take a break for she has laid eggs for 18 months straight, which isn't what hens usually do. Also, I am finding her feathers here and there. I read somewhere that when chickens molt, it is painful, and feels like a toothache (I would be interested in learning where the author of that article figured out how a chicken feels when they are molting!). Also, it is very stressful for them.

  So, unless there is something else wrong with her, other than molting, she is going through a hard, rough molting period. None of the other girls went through it with this much difficulty. Hopefully, she will come out of it soon and feel better.

  So, if anyone is wondering why their hen is acting strange all of the sudden, perhaps she is molting.

  Here are a couple of articles on molting:
An In depth Look At Molting
What Happens When Chickens Molt

Can't find Clocky. But everyone else is
in this picture.

Update: The day after I wrote this article, we lost Clocky. She was found no longer alive in her nest box the next morning. We loved our little pajama girl and will greatly miss her.

Saffron in my Back Yard

Saffron Crocus - 2018

I planted the saffron crocus bulbs in the spring, and it got so hot in the summer, that I assumed the plants had died. This had been the third time I planted saffron. The first 2 times were not very successful, so I assumed this time could have been the same, especially since the summer was so hot.

But lo and behold, I looked out there one day and there were purple flowers. I knew the plants were still alive at this point. They were pretty and you could see the saffron filaments inside the flower! This was a good sign because that is how we get saffron.

In case you didn't know, saffron is quite expensive. I think it sells for something like $58 for a gram, or something like that. At a price that high, I think I can grow my own.

As the flowers blossomed, I managed to remove the filaments and put them on a lid to dry. I will use them to make rice look more colorful.

Saffron, a highly expensive spice

Maybe over time, I will order more saffron bulbs. Or better yet, maybe the saffron bulbs that are in the garden will multiply and I will end up with more than 1 gram of saffron next year.

My Newest Gardening Tools

Here is a picture of my newest gardening tools.

The girls playing in their yard, one December day in 2017

They are such good helpers and they produce a good amount of eggs, considering it is winter and the days are short.

Chickens need light to produce eggs. It's been cold out but the chickens seem to be surviving the change of temperature very well.

The egg production got so low a couple of days ago, and I attributed that to the lack of light during the day, but, I found their secret! I found a stash of eggs under the coop! They were dirty so I used them in making a cake.

A few of the girls insist on laying their eggs under the coop, which means I have to slide under the coop and get the eggs. But the Barred Rock girls, aka, my Pajama Gang, still lay eggs in the nest boxes.

Thanks Sage and Olive, for making me
have to slide under the coop to get
your eggs out.

Pretty soon I can take their excrement and put it into the gardens. If I put it in fresh, it will burn the plants.

Our rooster, Ginger, should be grateful that he is part of our yard. Ginger attacks every once in a while. But I show him who the boss is, and he changes his mind. If you ever have a rooster who wants to take over, stare him down. Show him that you are the boss. If Ginger were in anyone else's house, he may have ended up on the dinner table!

"I'm the top dog around here. Nobody touches my girls or
they will be sorry!"

As for the rest of the gardens, they are taking a break. Hopefully, they will be back with good produce in the spring or summer.

Rudi Is Gone And Ginger Is A Rooster

Yesterday was a very interesting, yet also very sad day.

About 4 months ago, we set up a chicken coop and run in our yard. Over a period of several weeks, I tried to collect specific types of chickens. At two different feed stores, I had my name down for Americaunas and gold wyandottes.

All of the chickens I would get would have to be pullets, which means they would have to be females. Some people at the hatcheries where these chickens are hatched, are skilled in determining if a chicken is a female or male. But, there is a little bit of room for error.

The first three 'pullets' I got were a Rhode Island Red and two barred rocks. The Rhode Island Red was named 'Ginger'.

This is a picture of me holding 'Ginger'

The chickens were only a couple of days old when I got them. Ginger loved to come out of the tub. She was very selfish and would try to be first. 

Two weeks later, I got five more chickens. One was a New Hampshire Red, another was a black sex link. Then I got two Americaunas and one gold wyandotte. Hopefully, all these chickens would be pullets. But there is about an 8% chance that you could end up with a rooster.

Ginger seemed to be developing much faster than the other chickens were. She probably was the oldest, so I gave her some room for that. 

About two months later, Ginger had a nice red comb on the top of her head. Not too long after that, she started getting wattles, I think they are called. 

Around this time, a rooster ended up in our yard. After a couple of weeks of this rooster being here, we found out that someone had dumped him into the neighbor's yard, and their roosters chased him into our yard. He never left our yard, so we adopted him. We named him 'Rudi'.

We liked Rudi a lot because he was good protection from the hawks. As the girls got older, and used to their coop and run, we let them play outside more. Rudi didn't have a house to stay in though. He stayed in the bushes. Then he started roosting on the barn fence at night.

Yesterday morning Rudi never came for his morning feeding. I went out to look for him and found him. It was terrible. At first, I didn't recognize him. It looked like someone deflated him. I could tell it was him because the feet were sticking up. 

I am pretty sure a raccoon got him either early Sunday evening or Monday morning. It was very sad.

As my husband was burying him, the neighbor's peacocks came over and watched. It was like having a memorial service for him. He will be greatly missed, not only by us, but also by his peacock friends next door.

Meanwhile, as each day goes by, we are more and more convinced that Ginger really is a rooster. Yesterday, the final decision for that came about. 

As I let the chickens out to play, well, I noticed Ginger, let's say, he is now sexually mature and actively looking for a female chicken to be his partner. In this case, his selected partner was one of the barred rocks. He tried a couple of different times today, with the barred. 

We know now that Ginger is really a rooster. Or something is severely wrong with him. 

Ginger will be good at replacing Rudi for helping protect the girls from the hawks. We also have the peacocks to help as well as the neighbor's turkeys. 

I will keep the name 'Ginger' on him though. But that means we will get less eggs for the next six years. Glad I didn't count my chickens before they hatched!

I Didn't Expect This To Happen!

There must be some kind of learning curve for raising Chickens. Whatever it involves, I must be missing something.

I came up with the brilliant idea of training the chickens to go into the run where they will be secure, by coming out with a yellow cup filled with dried mealworms. My plan worked for a while.

Just when I thought the chickens would be all excited about the time of day when the worms would be offered, either they changed their minds or lost interest in the worms.

I managed the other day, to get 7 of the chickens back into the run using the worm bribe. But Esther had a mind of her own. She either doesn't care for dried meal worms, or was so absorbed in whatever it was she was doing that she didn't notice.

I thought I could outsmart her by putting the cup holding the dried worms under her beak. Nothing happened.

My next thought was to get her into the coop first. So, today I just picked her up from her dust bath and put her in the coop. Of course, I am hoping that all the others see the cup holding the worms and go into the run when I put the cup inside the run.

It didn't happen today. Since Esther was inside the run, I had to keep the door shut or else she would find her way back outside the run and I would have to figure out how to get her back in. Try getting 7 chickens back into the run with the door shut!

Usually Ginger is the first one to come in and eat the worms. She is a selfish chicken! But this time, I caught her and put her inside the run. And this is what happened to my arm after I got her put in.

I didn't realize anything had happened until I saw all this blood on my arm. I got out some melaleuca essential oil and put it on. Since I was in a hurry, I couldn't tend to it. 

It's not that the cuts were painful or anything like that. But some of them were puffy. When I got back home, I cleaned the cuts up and put coconut oil, more melaleuca oil, and oil of oregano on the cuts. 

Ginger. My favorite chicken. How could she do this to me????

Ginger is one of the first chickens I got. She is, at this time,
the biggest. The 2 Barred Rocks are about the same age,
and they are almost as big as Ginger. Ginger is the one with
the big red comb. And we all know that it is possible
that Ginger might really be...George.

New Baby Chickens - Dual Purpose Animals

We have the cutest little critters in a bin right now, and we have already built a house for them. All 8 of them have names and they are all (hopefully) females. They are the chicks that we bought from feed stores in the last 3 weeks.

Why are chickens important? How do they help with gardening?

Chicks can do some really good, helpful things for the gardens. They can till gardens and they can also produce chicken manure which is great food for plants.

The neighbors have chickens and those little birds are over here all the time. They love our yard. I am glad they come over and I provide food for them to eat while they are here. They also serve as a natural insecticide as they spend hours looking for bugs in the ground. At first, that sounded gross to me. I'm eating an animal that eats bugs. So, therefore I am eating bugs. Well, maybe in a sense I am, but bugs provide good protein for the chickens.

The chickens also till our yard. There are places where the soil has been seriously turned over. I have to give the credit to the neighborly chickens for that.

I just used up a bag of chicken manure that I had. Probably won't have to buy that anymore!

Ginger, our Rhode Island Red

The chickens already have a section of the yard fenced off for them. They can roam that part of the yard and mow our lawn for us! The grass will be good for them to eat.

What a neat cycle in nature God made. We all are made from the 'dust of the ground'. We eat plants that grow out of the ground. Chickens do as well. Then they have the whole yard to use for their bathroom and the grass gets fertilized by their waste products. That helps the plants to grow and we eat those plants and the cycle continues.

This will be their new home in a couple of weeks. The weather needs to warm up some more and they need to have a full body of feathers to keep them completely warm before they can live here.

Of course, I almost forgot, one of the best things chickens give us is their eggs. Eggs are full of nourishment. Don't listen to the Old School of nutrition that says eggs give hardening of the arteries. New studies have been done and have found how powerful the nourishment is that we get from eggs.

Most eggs are either white or brown. Some are speckled. I opted for getting two chickens that will give either blue eggs or blue/green eggs. Some eggs are large. A few are huge. And then some are just small or medium. Most of the eggs I will get will be large.

There is a 98% chance that all my chicks are females. And they don't need a rooster to produce eggs, unless one wants fertilized eggs.

Huge Sweet Potato

I was digging in the garden today and felt a rather large sweet potato buried in the dirt. Actually, I was pulling out weeds by the roots, and found this sweet potato. Had to get a shovel to dig it out with.

As I work with cleaning out the garden bed, I get a little produce here and there. Here is a compilation of what I collected recently.

Am ready to pull up some of the carrots. I planted 3 different colors. So far the yellow has definitely done the best. The purple did ok. The beets really didn't grow well, for some reason.

I have a few snow pea plants that are bearing fruit right now. Not much though. What can you expect from 4 or 5 little plants?

Lemon tomatoes are growing ok. They had brown spots on them, but that might be due to the cold weather we have had this year. The plants made it through the cold, but the tomatoes that were on the plants did not do all that great.

While I was at Tractor Supply yesterday, I picked up some strawberry plants. Most of the last strawberry plants I had died. I have 2 or 3 that are still alive. What I didn't realize was that in the package (which is labeled non-GMO), there are 20 strawberry plants. Now I have to find places to plant them.

All of the squash plants I planted died. They all seemed to have some kind of virus and all appeared to die from the same thing. I planted cucumbers in a new garden bed and will see how they do.

Today's Garden Produce In Winter

We were gone for 5 days last week, and I didn't have much time to cater to the gardens. But, I went out yesterday and picked some things out of the garden.

A couple of small ears of Dakota Black Popcorn, A couple of ears of flint corn, a paprika, and a small variety of tomatoes.

Wade's Flint Corn, Black Dakota Popcorn, Lemon Tomatoes,
Blue's Fahrenheit Tomatoes, Paprika, Green Zebra Tomatoes,
and Purple Jalapeno. 

  The papayas are still green and we will have to pick them if a freeze comes.

   Hey, I have a plan that may work to protect the chickens that I will have one day. We have a hawk here who would love to eat chickens. I have seen feathers from birds on the ground. But, I have a plan. In the area where we will keep the chickens, I will plant my papaya plants that are in pots. I will put a wire from one plant to another that will appear somewhat invisible to the naked eye, unless you know to look for it. I know it won't be a 100% safety net, but it will help. Plus, there will be enough space between the papayas that the sun will still be able to shine through.

   There is this really cool device that you can get that helps scare animals away, but it only works at night time. It doesn't need batteries as it works by solar power. It is called 'Nite Guard'. I have a couple of them already.


   As soon as the sun goes down, a red light starts flashing. The directions say to have it at the eye level of the animal that one thinks would be a predator. This product has a fairly good rating. It even helps to keep burglars away!!

   The product 'Nite Guard' (above) is an affiliate link. This simply means that if you click on that link and order anything from amazon.com through that link, amazon.com will give me credit for the order. There is no extra charge for the customer. Thank you for your support. 

I Want My House To Be A Farm To Table Restaurant

I have been studying farm to table restaurants and have found only a few that are like this. I wondered why not many are looking for farm to table restaurants, but, part of the answer to my question came about while we were in Georgia, a couple of weeks ago.

It was a rather disappointing experience for me. There was a bright spot though. We found one farm to table restaurant called the Stovall House, located near Helen, Georgia. This place was great. It was indeed a farm to table restaurant, probably the only one within miles of where we were.

We found a farmer's market one day, as we were traveling to Dahlonega, a little gold mining town in Georgia. We visited this place the next day and learned some horrible news. The produce department was very small compared to the rest of the store. It was like a quaint, old-fashioned grocery store with many products that were homemade. But what happened to the produce? There were no signs saying if the vegetables and fruit were organic, nor were there any signs saying that the food was non-gmo. So, I asked about it, and the man told me that the don't have much produce coming in because it is now too expensive for the farmers to bring their food in. There was something like a tax on agriculture that was 50%! No wonder there wasn't much food. The man also blamed the Democrats for that.

A little while later, I saw some corn. I asked another man if he knew if it were GMO or not. He said that everything they had was GMO. I personally do not think he knew what I was asking, for then he said that the corn had to be GMO because they do not want any worms in their corn (not sure how genetically modifying food can keep worms out of the food!). It was like a guarantee that there would be no worms in their corn. Of course, I did not buy any. Even if it weren't genetically modified, there would definitely have been pesticides on it if they were that adamant about not having worms in their corn!

For a state with so many farms in it, it looks like the farmers are discouraged. In Florida, things are different. People can grow food and sell it at farmer's markets. Quite a few people are doing this now.

So, my next idea is to try to grow the types of food that people would use. First though, I have to grow the kind of food that my family will eat. I am growing popcorn and corn that will be used to make grits (and pretty fall decorations). I will grow squash, beans, and peas. All of these plants will be grown in the garden beds.

The salad making plants are going to grow in a Tower Garden. I will also put strawberries in and some herbs. The tomatoes and peppers can keep growing in the pots. And there are fruit trees growing in pots too.

Garden Beds with Sweet Potatoes and Corn

Prolific Sweet Potatoes 

Corn that is just sprouting

I want to serve people well who come to my house. It is important that food is safe to eat, not full of pesticides and not genetically modified. It should be safe if it comes from my back yard, that is, unless a plane comes over the house spraying Naled, a pesticide used to kill mosquitos.

New Garden Beds And Hydroponic, Aquaponic Gardening Coming Soon!

This is a very difficult time for me to be writing blogs, but I still have ideas and plans that I would like to share, so, my posts may be brief (and possibly boring!).

We now live in a new home with over an acre of land. Much of the yard is taken up with trees and a large barn, for which I am grateful. The front yard is large, and I don't think I can do much gardening there, because we have to use as much of that part of the yard for cars to park when we have events.

Nevertheless, I have worked with ideas on how to do gardening with little space, when I was at the old house. Many of those ideas will serve me well as I implement them in this yard.

We hired a man to redo the garden area. It will be just like the garden at the old house, but will not have trees interrupting the garden. If you ever pick a place in the yard to place your garden, placing the garden area under a tree is not a good idea! Been there. Done that. Won't do it again.

Garden Area When First Dug Out

I planted seeds in pots months ago, and they are ready for transplanting into the garden or into a larger pot. One of the seeds I planted was called St. John's Salvia, which produces a pretty red flower which attracts bees (hopefully!). I planted two of them in the garden bed near the aloe plant that a friend gave me.

Garden Bed Featuring Aloe Plant, Pineapple plants, and
St. John's Salvia plants

You won't be able to see the St. John's Salvia plant here unless you enlarge the picture. It is on the bottom right corner of the bottom garden bed. I have a couple more to plant, but will put them in another garden bed. 

Bees, you are welcome to come now! In that same garden, next to the St. John's Salvia plants, is a pineapple plant which I grew from the top of a pineapple that I grew at the old house. I was surprised that I could actually grow a pineapple, and one that looked like a pineapple and tasted good. Let's see if we get a pineapple from that plant.

So, here are some of the things I will be growing in the garden beds, Lord willing:

* Corn (non-GMO)

* peanuts

* squash

* potatoes

* peas 

* beans

* pollinating flowers

* pollinating herbs

* sweet potatoes

* beets
* celery
* carrots

Now, for the other ideas. Did you know that plant food that is made from minerals cannot be labeled organic? The word organic applies only to living things, and minerals are not living. So, my next adventure with gardening will be with hydroponics and aquaponics. I have a hydroponic set up, and as soon as the weather cools down, I will start the seeds for that. I tried this before on my balcony porch at the other house, but the plants never came to fruition. It looked like they were not getting enough light and there didn't seem to be anything I could do to fix that problem. Then a bird built a bird's nest around a broccoli plant. It was hard to clean it and change the water once that happened. So, I took the hydroponic set up down and will put plants back into it again. 

Have you ever gone to Epcot and ventured on the ride called, 'The Land'? I have always been intrigued by this and have loved this ride. Anyway, the idea of growing plants in a Tower Garden came from this whole concept as you can see it as you ride in the little boat through 'The Land'. 

That will be my next adventure. Here is my web site for this type of garden: http://www.ss.towergarden.com

I don't have one yet but look forward to the day when I can order one and learn how to use it. I want to grow strawberries, spinach, lettuce, and maybe some type of catnip or cat grass in it. Maybe I can grow wheatgrass too. 

Youtube has several videos on the Tower Garden. In NYC, there is a restaurant that uses Tower Gardens on their roof to grow their food! We visited this place but winter was just ending, and when I asked if their food was going to be from their Tower Gardens they said that it wasn't, because the weather was cold (it was even snowing while we were there). But if you go during the summer, you will probably have a choice of many food items that will have been grown on their rooftop (6 stories up!). The name of the restaurant is Book, Bell, and Candle.

Excerpt From 'Born-Again Dirt' Book

  I have just read the first chapter of this book, and it looks very good. It talks about gardening and farming from a Biblical perspective. Those who are in charge of industrialized agriculture are mainly people who do not have the mind of Christ. They do not see the connections of the web of life, and therefore, we have a very unhealthy society today who has no clue of how to recover from it.



Here is an excerpt from the book:

"For instance, the most prevalent method of agriculture today, industrial agriculture, seems to be based on a worldview that ignores God and elevates man and his wisdom as the source of truth. This humanistic worldview results in a form of agriculture whose primary objective is maximum yield and profit and whose ultimate source of wisdom is science. Hence the large scale and complex technology of industrial agriculture."




We live in a time period where we are proud of our knowledge. But our 'knowledge' is just making us more and more unhealthy. Something is wrong with this picture. I think you can get the drift of what it is by reading just the excerpt I posted above.

I have read somewhere not too long ago, where science is the religion of the Modernists. Today, we have entered into a post-modern era where the younger generation rejects Modernism. Theirs is a more emotionally charged response to life and life's problems. Neither the Modernists, nor the Post-modernists regard God as the supreme being. Modernists believe that man is the measure of all things (the top dog), while Post-modernists believe that whatever you want to be your God, is what your God will be.

So, what's the problem here? We have a bunch of Modernists running our agriculture and food industry. They are making unwise decisions because they do not have the mind of Christ, and whatever they do will result in something God never intended.

Anyway, although I just started this book, and it seems pretty good already, maybe the author will have some insight on how we can change the course of things here in our society. Maybe the day will come when there will be more farmers who know God and can hear His voice. They will have the wisdom from God instead of trusting in scientific theories (which sometimes are bias and faulty).

(This is an affiliate link. If this book is ordered through this link, I will receive credit. It will not cost you anything extra. Thank you for your support!)

My Baby Pineapple

Here is a picture of a baby pineapple growing in my garden. I grew it from cutting the top off a pineapple a couple of years ago. I wasn't really sure if a pineapple would ever grow on it though. I have a couple of other pineapples growing in this garden bed as well, but they are not as big as this one is.

Pineapple growing on a pineapple plant taken from the top of a pineapple a couple of years ago.

How To Find Companies That Sell Non-GMO Seeds

Here is a web site listing places where you can order non-GMO seeds from. Why non-GMO and what is the big deal?

Genetically modified organisms are a product of those who want to have a monopoly on the food industry. They tell you that by genetically modifying seeds, we can produce a lot of food at a small cost. That is what you get when you want the convenience of a grocery store. But what is the trade-off?

  Food that is genetically modified, does not contain the nourishment that the original plant had. It is not nutrient dense, so to speak. Also, the seeds are patented, so that if you want to plant genetically modified seeds, you would have to have the license to do so, or at least, the place where you order the seeds from will have the license.

   There have been farmers who were sued because some pollen from genetically modified plants made its way into the farm. The farmer was unaware that he/she was growing this genetically modified food and governmental authorities tested their plants and found the genetically modified seeds in their crops. Because the farmers did not have money to fight back in court, they lost the case. But.... a woman who had money and was being sued for this took Monsanto to court and she won!

   The simple answer is to just buy heirloom seeds. But that can limit variety of what you might be able to plant in your area. Some have done the research and found the plants/seeds that have not been tampered with. They have helped take the guesswork out of trying to hunt down plants and seeds that are safe to use in our gardens.

Here is the url for the web site offering information on safe seeds:
http://www.realfarmacy.com/buy-non-gmo-seeds/

Gardening With Bees

As you all probably know, my gardens are at rest at the moment. The squirrels have decimated almost all of my gardens and I still can't seem to get the victory over them. But I do have some ideas.

Someone mentioned how squirrels hate human hair, so all the hair out of my hair brushes and combs will go into the gardens. I also need to fix the motion sprinklers that go off when they sense something in the range. Another idea that I incorporated a long time ago, but later abandoned, was to fill the squirrels up with food (popcorn). It could help them to have less desire to dig in the gardens for food. Plus, they become more visible to the hawks and become a tasty meal for them.

When I get all this fixed, I am going to plant some plants that will draw honey bees to the garden. Some of these plants are herbs, which I can use. A friend mentioned that she has a wild basil plant and gets a lot of bees on that plant.

Some of the plants will be flowers. They also attract bees and some of them will also attract hummingbirds. What a pretty garden it will be with colorful flowers, bees, and hummingbirds around it.

There are a lot of bee plants available. Some of the plants that I will order the seeds for are; borage, bee balm, and Korean Hyssop.

Baker's Creek puts out a big catalog/magazine with a lot of information on plants, and there were some pages on plants that attract bees. One of those plants is California Poppy.

Here are a couple of links to articles on bees in the garden:

http://www.veggiegardener.com/attracting-bees-vegetable-garden/

http://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/plant-a-bee-garden/

The honeybee population is disappearing and the thought is that the reason could be due to a chemical substance called 'neonicotinoids' which are used on plants to protect the plants from pests. Almost everything we eat depends on pollination, and if we don't have bees to pollinate our crops, eventually we will not have food to eat. Food that is made in a lab is not genuine food and can never replace what grows in nature. 

Can we ever bring the bees back? I don't know, but I know we can try. If we could create an environment that is bee friendly, maybe we could watch the bee population come back.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/11/13/honeybees-are-dying-and-our-food-supply-will-go-with-them

Baker's Creek Seeds - www.rareseeds.com 

Produce For Today

This is what came out from the garden recently. Pretty good for going through a freeze last week and the cold weather we are experiencing this week.

Between the hot and cold weather, and the damage done by the squirrels, it is amazing that anything grew in the garden. I notice that the squirrels have not damaged many pepper plants. Only the tomato plants and some trees were affected by the squirrel damage. 

Our Honeybees Are Dying - One Possible Reason Why

This morning I was reading in Mother Earth Living magazine about bees*. There was a url that led to using bees in the garden. I would love to have some honey bees someday!

But here is something interesting about bees; If you haven't heard already, the bee population is dying out and no one seems to be able to figure out why. That is, until recently.

There is some thought that a chemical used on seeds is now the leading belief that the bees are dying off. If we continue to use this chemical, will honey bees become extinct?

Here is an excerpt from the article that you might find interesting. It explains why this chemical is bad for bees and how it works. If it is bad for bees, is it good for us?

"The class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids is suspected to be one of the major causes of bee die-offs. The pesticides, nicknamed “neonics,” were introduced in the 1990s and have become the most widely used insecticide in the world—so ubiquitous that they are now found in 80 percent of the world’s crops. They come coated on virtually every seed planted in every major crop across the country—sunflowers, canola, cotton, soybeans and corn, for example. Neonics are systemic; they are taken up and move freely through the entire plant making every part of it toxic. When ingested, the compounds can cripple a bee’s navigational skills and its ability to find its way home after foraging. They may also interfere with a honeybee’s intricate “waggle dance” that tells other bees where to find flowers. Neonics can also undermine bees’ immune systems."
I wonder why this chemical is just now under investigation. How long have we been eating food from plants that are affected by neonicotinoids? 

There are garden seed companies such as Baker's Creek and Pinetree Seeds should be safe to use. 

The other end of this spectrum is to get good, pure seeds and use those which will attract bees. I think this could be fun. Maybe it is possible to build our own bee habitat and make our gardens bee friendly. 

More on this later.

http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/gardening-for-bees-zmgz15mazhou.aspx

Niteangel Natural Insect Bee Hotel

"If you want to create a one-stop shop for many creatures, this little house gives them all a place to rest their wings. This houses butterflies, bugs, and bees all in one place. Plus it is made (mostly) of natural materials - think I might have to try this one on for size." Customer review
(This is an affiliate link. Thanks for supporting).

Back to Eden Youtube is Up - Watch It For Free

Here is the video for Back To Eden gardening. It is one of the best. The embed feature is disabled, so I will just post the url here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiGof48XVCQ

Answer To The Squirrel Dilemma?

I got it! I got it! I got it! Finally, I got it!  This one had the best reviews. I will set it up as soon as possible and hook it up to the hose. If this works in my back yard, chances are good it will work for others.



I have tried adding mulch to the pots, and that did help, but did not solve the problem completely. I made a Vapor Rub mixture using a lot of peppermint oil and Eucalyptus oil, and smeared it along the fence by the plants, and that may have helped as well. But the critters are still out there and the garden pots are a strong temptation for them still.

I have been turning on the sprinkler whenever our day is for watering our yard. One thing that is fun to use, but you have to be out there all the time, is a BB gun. I'm learning how to shoot now, and have aimed the gun close to where the desired targets are!

The sprinkler scarecrow repellent should do the trick. In the future, I will get another one to do the other side of the yard, where the squirrels get into as well. I have 8 beds in there and 3 of them are totally destroyed by the squirrels. I can't plant anything in them because they will get turned upside down.

Say Bye-Bye to the squirrels, and the raccoons, and all the other little evil guys out there! Hopefully, this will work well.

 Will update.