What happened to growing your own chow?

[PeeWee]

I grow a little these days in a little spot up next to the house on the sunnyside. My collards and cabbage are doing fine now, and we grow cucumbers and tomatoes in the summer. We have had a big vegetable garden in the past, but I eased up a little last year due to my new hip

 

[Mike Hammer]

I live in NW Arkansas.....some of the poorest farmland you can imagine. Added to which, my home stands under 50-75 foot Oaks and smaller Hickories and Dogwoods. I don't have a yard, as such; I have moss. There is a small patch of grass right near the road, it gets mowed 3-4 times per year, because that is all it needs. However, I am going to try some real heirloom seeds; from the museum of the fur trade, they are ancient lines grown by the Indians of the plains. Several varieties of Squash, edible pumpkins, several varieties of corn (it's true Indian Corn, the ears are less then six inches long) and some beans. All are noted for being drought resistant and not needing a lot of water or attention. If I can keep the Raccoons and Deer out of them, they might work.

 

[Ben]

They're a good company. We order from them, too.

We grow our own chiles and tomatoes, as that's what we eat most often, but we've also grown various other vegetables in the past, and once we finally get moved out of this apartment and buy a home of our own, we'll plant a much larger garden. I like the idea of being as self-sufficient as possible. What we don't grow, we try to buy from local producers.

Brad

Brad, are you growing those tomatoes in pots or do you have a yard of some kind with your apartment? Any tips on how to get tomatoes to grow in pots?

 

[Ben]

That's a great site. I'm hoping to get some land here soon in one of the popular community gardens to suppliment my diet with fresh veggies, and I'm getting heirloom seeds only. I didn't know this until recently, but companies like ConAgra and Monsanto genetically engineer their seeds so the seeds that the fruit or vegetable yield cannot be used again. That's just...wrong in every way possible.
Definately getting hierloom seeds.

I have had some luck getting pepper seeds to grow from the ones I have bought from the store. But I know what you mean about wanting the heirloom seeds. Some folks on the lounge have mentioned this before, I think, but a lot of enginering to make food look good has pulled the flavor right out of it.

 

[Brad Bowers]

Brad, are you growing those tomatoes in pots or do you have a yard of some kind with your apartment? Any tips on how to get tomatoes to grow in pots?

Ben,

When we moved in, the "backyard" had about a 12' X 10' patch of long-since-dead grass for a yard. We asked the landlord if we could turn it into a garden, as we had one at our previous apartment. He said that was fine.

We did try to supplement it with a container garden, but the tomato plants remained small and didn't produce very much. I'm not sure why, but we obviously don't know enough about container gardening.

We live in a rural valley, and nearly every house in town has a garden. I think it's a requirement to live here that you grow your own patch of corn.lol The hardest thing is the short growing season here. Last frost comes pretty late, and first frost can come pretty early.

Brad

 

[The Shirt]

I try something a little different every year in my tiny little city lot. I think I found the perfect spot for tomatoes finally as I had nearly 100 off of one plant this summer. Our season is short so some things just cannot seem to take off in time. I do now have a lovely patch of strawberries, an area for raspberries, and my kennel area is covered with snap peas. I adore kale in containers - super easy to grow. Perhaps try some different leafy veggies/lettuces in containers.

I bike to the farmers market when possible and seek out the local growers. I figure every little bit helps. Plus it's super theraputic to dig in the dirt and then make a fabulous dinner from the yard.

 

[Viola]

I won't be gardening this year, I'm going into the service. But I love gardening and I definitely have that as a goal of owning a home. I like the idea of growing my own food, and knowing exactly what chemicals (weren't!) involved. I also don't like my apples WAXED or my meat full of antibiotics.

I like the square-foot gardening method, its easy and it takes up less space and you can get a pretty good yield. I love a lot of kinds of fresh vegetables.

The boyfriend only eats potatoes and beets, though. Green veggies are not his friend. [huh]

Heirloom varieties aren't just true from seed; they often taste better. Just because, for instance, a tomato doesn't have COMMERCIAL virtues (like being able to wait several days being shipped and bounced around in a truck) doesn't mean it might not have a fuller flavor.

 

[Ms. McGraw]

I think people from all economic backgrounds can be intimidated to begin growing vegetables. If one wasn’t lucky enough to grow up around gardeners, or be exposed to someone with experience in gardening it can seem overwhelming. I’m sure plenty of people think that they need to make a large initial investment in special bagged soil, containers to grown things in if space is limited, seeds, tools, pesticides and all sorts of other costs. Also, people with no exposure to gardening may believe that it requires a natural born talent or special knowledge of soil pH, planting times, moisture levels, ect. It can be frightening to a novice, especially a novice on a very tight budget (even though I’m sure all this information could be found at any local library for free). Plus…not to be a Negative Nancy, but we do live in an ever increasingly disposable society so the concept of growing food rather that purchasing it just might not occur to some.

 

[Starius]

Brad, are you growing those tomatoes in pots or do you have a yard of some kind with your apartment? Any tips on how to get tomatoes to grow in pots?

Ben, if you want to grow tomatoes in pots, keep in mind that you'll have to add a small lattice or wire ladder to the pot so the vines have something to grow up.
Otherwise, I think a better alternative to growing tomatoes in close quarters would be hanging upside down tomato plants. Read here and here for more information. Some peppers grow okay in this manner as well.

I have had experience growing potatoes in large pots, in college actually. My roommate thought I was crazy, but I took potatoes he brought back from Missouri (which had grown spuds) and nurtured them to grow and then planted them in large pots and left them by our apartment window all semester, occasionally leaving them outside when I went to class. The potatoes didn't grow very large due to these conditions but what did grow was quite tasty. Had I actually put any thought or effort into it and took care of them better, I'm sure they would have grown more. But for the spur of the moment half assed project that was heavily neglected, it turned out rather well. But if you want something like that to grow well indoors, you'll either need a grow light or a nice sun room.

 

[Miss 1929]

My city garden

I have a massive lot, so lots of room (though not lots of time). Pretty much everything grows here, and my topsoil is 30 feet deep! The best dirt, our whole area was a cattle ranch for 200 years, so it is super rich soil.

Too good, in fact - the weeds love it as much as the veggies do. So this is the year to try raised beds and lots of straw mulch. I hope that helps!

Lots of urban neighborhoods have community gardens that you can be a member of, then you get your own tiny plot to tend - great if you are an apartment dweller.

Of course the hard part is keeping up with the produce once it starts - you can only freeze as much as fits in the freezer (note to self: only ONE zucchini plant!), and canning is hot, hard work. It takes discipline.

 

[Starius]

I think people from all economic backgrounds can be intimidated to begin growing vegetables. If one wasn’t lucky enough to grow up around gardeners, or be exposed to someone with experience in gardening it can seem overwhelming. I’m sure plenty of people think that they need to make a large initial investment in special bagged soil, containers to grown things in if space is limited, seeds, tools, pesticides and all sorts of other costs. Also, people with no exposure to gardening may believe that it requires a natural born talent or special knowledge of soil pH, planting times, moisture levels, ect. It can be frightening to a novice, especially a novice on a very tight budget (even though I’m sure all this information could be found at any local library for free). Plus…not to be a Negative Nancy, but we do live in an ever increasingly disposable society so the concept of growing food rather that purchasing it just might not occur to some.

I don't know why people would think that growing things would be so overly complicated. I mean, most of this stuff grew wild out in nature all on it's own just fine, somewhere at some point in time. Well, maybe that isn't totally true either, a lof of these species have evolved over thousands of years due to continual human interaction with them. Maize (or corn), for example, was perhaps the first human made hybrid plant - 12,000 years ago! Research reveals that native folk in central america took two different grass species and started growing them side by side... and then eventually, which must have seemed like magic, a new species was born between them - what we now know as corn. (You can see a picture of the original grasses here.)

You're definitely right about it being a desposible society, and even one of fast convenience. Personally, the draw for growing food to me is simply to know where your food comes from. Eating is perhaps the most intimate thing we do with our bodies, if you think about it. We pick and choose the very fuel to go into ourselves and provide nourishment to our very being. I mean really, short of emotional intimacy, how more of a important personal act can you get? Yet what do we do? We shovel any ol mystery crap into ourselves because we feel we don't have time or are conditioned to just not put in the involvement to make good food anymore. But personally, I am tired of buying food items and just seeing them as "food items" and not know where they came from, or how they were nurtured (plant or animal.)

You mention novices perhaps being frightened by growing food... I am growing quite the opposite. I am more frightened of the mainstream alternative.
A couple weeks ago, my father got me some tostino's pizzas for some quick meals. They brought back a flood of memories for me because I pretty much lived off of them when I was living in a hotel with my mother, last year, when she was undergoing treatment for cancer. So I ate them, and that was that, right? No, that very week, I saw on the news that tostino pizzas were being recalled because of a risk they were carrying Ebola. EBOLA, people!
Why do we risk our very bodies with food we know nothing about? Are we just so lazy as a culture now? Are we too naive and trusting about store bought food just because it's sold in a local grocery store?

I don't know, I don't claim to have any answers. But I do think this is a matter that should reach more mainstream public awareness.

 

[Ben]

Don't worry. It was e. coli -- which is much more survivable than Ebola.

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/


It would still be pretty unpleasant, though.

 

[Starius]

Don't worry. It was e. coli -- which is much more survivable than Ebola.

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/


It would still be pretty unpleasant, though.

Oooh that's right! Haha, man, ebola, what was I thinking?
Although, I still don't believe it's crazy to think you shouldn't have to worry about either in your pizza.

 

[Joie DeVive]

I think people from all economic backgrounds can be intimidated to begin growing vegetables. If one wasn’t lucky enough to grow up around gardeners, or be exposed to someone with experience in gardening it can seem overwhelming. I’m sure plenty of people think that they need to make a large initial investment in special bagged soil, containers to grown things in if space is limited, seeds, tools, pesticides and all sorts of other costs. Also, people with no exposure to gardening may believe that it requires a natural born talent or special knowledge of soil pH, planting times, moisture levels, ect. It can be frightening to a novice, especially a novice on a very tight budget (even though I’m sure all this information could be found at any local library for free). Plus…not to be a Negative Nancy, but we do live in an ever increasingly disposable society so the concept of growing food rather that purchasing it just might not occur to some.

I think you make some very good points. Much of the readily available information on the topic of gardening makes it look like a mystery cult. Flowers the size of your head? Pumpkins that outweigh a man? These people must be magicians!
I'd like to assure any beginners out there that it doesn't have to be that difficult. I was raised growing things so I do have that advantage, but it isn't as complicated as it looks. I know virtually nothing of soil pH, proper planting times, watering levels or any such things. I take more of a learn by doing approach. If my plants come up scrawny, they probably need some food. If they come up very green and bushy but refuse to create fruits or flowers, there is probably too much nitrogen. As for watering, if the plants are droopy, they need more water. If they develop mildew (spots), I probably overwatered. Pull off the spotty leaves and cut back on the water.
I plant in the spring after the hard frosts have stopped.

As for being expensive, again it needn't be. If you are working in a yard, you can start with the soil you have. If you need food, there are two really good foods for plants that are pretty cheap. One is manure, which you buy at a nursery or hardware store for a couple bucks a bag. You don't need much, a little goes a long way. The other is free. Grass clippings and leaves from your trees. Putting these on top of your garden helps to keep weeds down, is a form of composting and keeps the water in the soil. And it doesn't cost anything!!
I personally don't use pesticides. I spend the time daily to check on my crops and keep an eye out for damage. I remove any offenders by hand. I learned in CA what the eggs of the bugs who ate my garden looked like, and could destroy them before they hatched and ate my crops.
Seeds can be a bit pricey, but if you go heirloom, you can save the ones you grew and use them year after year. As for tools, I recommend: a shovel, a hoe, a metal teethed rake, a hose and maybe a trowel and claw. These will run you a pretty penny new, but they will last you a lifetime. You can also try garage sales/estate sales and flea markets for deals.

And you are right, in a world where when some inner city children were asked to draw fish and they drew little brown squares (fish sticks), we are overly removed from where our food comes from. I was teaching a third grade class whose students were horrified to discover that their hamburgers had come from a cow!! I am personally a believer in the slow food movement, and think that community gardens in schools are a great idea! There's no reason most of us can't grow at least a little of our food if we want to.

 

[Foofoogal]

We used to do above ground gardening which is very easy. We grew alot of veggies but one can grow as much as they want.
Make a box about 6 x6 feet or however long or wide you want. We put and you can also if you have access to horse manure. Put this in with some dirt. Cover with black plastic and let sit if the manure is green or if you can find old just put in with dirt. Plant away.
Greens grow good this time of year I guess most places? Spinach, mustard, collards.

most places have a county extension office for help and seasons chart.