Thread: ALIPACer Gardening

Originally Posted by Lugundum

Vegetables are good but what about to try something of higher nutritional values? After all it looks like there will be problems with rice and possibly corn and wheat crop this year so the things could turn nasty.

What about topinambur/Jerusalem artichoke?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_artichoke

With yield of up to 100 tonnes / hectare whole family could live from garden as shown on Williams photos for the whole year.

Sweet potatoes / batatas are another interesting choice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato

Another tip could be "Erdmandel": high yields, high nutritious value, tastes like almond and contains a lot of proteins. However it could be a bit aggressive as a weed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyperus_esculentus

And thats all in addition to good old potatoes.

Good idea . Everyone should grow something that is a high producer, in case things get real bad .

And native plants are usually the most hardy unless you use hybrids and so far we never have.

I got some Poke Salad out of the woods and planted it in my yard, it is growing fast . It's also a pretty plant . I hear you have to boil it once pour off water then boil it again , boil twice to get out toxins . We started out with ' eidble ornamentals' about 3 years ago . We had already planted some ornamentals 'tree' 10 years ealier, they are huge now ,lets us know time flying , so we don't plant anything that says ' slow growing' .

We have been through a few bad storms and lost power for days . So I want to can the food this year , that way if power goes out, we don't lose all the food and hard work from processing it.

Originally Posted by chloe24

What a great idea for a topic! Thanks for starting this thread. Especially since there are so many people here from around the U.S. who live in the countryside and can share their knowledge and experience.

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about starting an organic vegetable garden. I guess all this concern about rising food prices have made more people consider starting one. My grandparents were Italian and used to grow tomatoes, basil, eggplants, zucchini and peppers. My grandmother used to make her own tomato sauce from the tomatoes they grew in the garden. And everytime I smell fresh basil I always get a flashback of her cooking in the kitchen.

I think it would be something very relaxing and rewarding to do. But I must admit I've been a little intimidated! (Unfortunately, my grandparents "gardening gene" must have passed me by) I want to do it right and after reading many articles on the subject I feel somewhat overwhelmed!

I really don't want to use the soil in my backyard because after years of spraying (including for the W. Nile Virus a few years back), I just don't trust it to be safe. I was thinking of making some planter boxes and filling them in with organic soil. My father said that most wood is chemically treated so I wonder if that would cause any toxic run off into the veggies when it rains. Also, I want seeds that are not hybrids or any other weird thing that's not natural.

What would be the first few steps for someone like me just starting out? I live out on Long Island, NY, and over the past few years our spring season has been unusally cool and damp. Thanks in advance!

Chloe , Go to Davesgardening.com .It has lots of info on plants and has a forum to ask qustions, some nice people there too . Just don't talk politics there, it's against the rules .

They have lots of apartment living planting guides.

Has anyone read anything about it soon becoming against the law to save seeds ? I read it on one of the links on some garden forum .

Also rumored that heirloom seeds are starting to be harder to get because of this rumor .

Now that big corporations are going into 'organics' they are pushing for tighter restrictions of independant farmers . Most seeds in stores now are hydreds .

With the huge joke of biofuel ,[ it takes 2 gallons of gas to make one gallon of biofuel ] going on now the a lot of farmers are switching to bio crops to get in on the profit .

Already shortage on rice, flour and grain is going up up up .

Also we just bought chickens and 2 ducks .

Originally Posted by NOamNASTY

Has anyone read anything about it soon becoming against the law to save seeds ? I read it on one of the links on some garden forum .

Also rumored that heirloom seeds are starting to be harder to get because of this rumor .

Now that big corporations are going into 'organics' they are pushing for tighter restrictions of independant farmers . Most seeds in stores now are hydreds .

With the huge joke of biofuel ,[ it takes 2 gallons of gas to make one gallon of biofuel ] going on now the a lot of farmers are switching to bio crops to get in on the profit .

Already shortage on rice, flour and grain is going up up up .

Also we just bought chickens and 2 ducks .

I don't know about the US making it illegal to save seeds, but I did read somewhere that there was a stir-up about heirloom seeds in the EU. I also remember reading about there being a limit on the number of chickens an individual could posess and the amount of eggs you could keep from your hens in Canada.

Anyway- here's a link to some interesting info you might want to read.
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/90 ... _Cook.html

After reading that, you may want to visit heirloomacresseeds dot com
They are a family run farm and they sell seeds that are not genetially modified.

Florgal, I went to the site and saved it after skimming through it . I will read it later ,thanks .

I use to order from Gurneys but lately they don't have many seeds other than hybrids .

Another good site for heirloom seeds ...rareseeds.com

Originally Posted by working4change

Another good site for heirloom seeds ...rareseeds.com

Thank You working4change!

Originally Posted by working4change

Another good site for heirloom seeds ...rareseeds.com

Thanks . I need to order some soon for fall planting .

Heard any good songs lately ?