Huachuca Experiment

[Webstral]

It makes good sense to recycle the fish waste. What are the fish eating?

My sunflowers have sprouted. I now see the virtue of starting them in those little planters. I planted them in groups of three, and in most cases three seedlings came up. My 4 year-old and I carefully dug up about half of them and redistributed them across the plot. We also seeded clover, which has sprouted very unevenly. I can see that I'm going to have to reseed regularly if I'm to get a halfway decent coverage of the soil.

I still want to plant an heirloom variety of corn, plus beans and pumpkins in one plot. If I really get my act together, I'll put onions and a companion something-or-other in the third plot once I get it cleared. We eat lots of garlic and scallions in this house, followed by red onions. I'd like to try tomatoes again, but I'll wait another year, I think. We eat a lot more garlic and onions than tomatoes.

I can see the value of having some good compost ready to spread on the soil. Clover is supposed to get raked into the soil so that it has a modest covering. I don't have the right rake for that job, and I'm not willing to put down $30 for a new rake until I prove to myself that I have some staying power with this project. I recycled the soil from a houseplant that didn't make it so I could cover some of the fresh clover seed in a shallow layer. My son was very helpful in getting the soil out of the old pot, but once he discovered the yellow beads in the bottom of the pot he turned all his attention to digging "treasure" out of the bottom of the pot. I'll provide some feedback on whether a modest covering improves the sprouting of the clover. Since it's a nitrogen fixer, I'd like to grow it as densely as possible so that next year I can grow tomatoes and basil in that area.

[natehale1971]

there is a type of lichen (sp) that grows as a 'scum' type vegie that is actually eatible by humans (and is said to taste like lettecce. and is also considered as the perfect TEOTWAWKI food stuff. I cant remember the exact name of this, but it's on one o the websites that tells people how to set up the Aquaponics system.

The veggies also provide water purification as well as food stuffs.

If you want, i'll get you the basiscs for the set-up. there is alot of good stuff in it. and it's pretty cool to do. while the intital set up can be expensive depending on how you go about it... in the long run it quickly starts paying for itself within a few months when the first crops start to come in.

If you are wanting to use heirloom seeds to grow totally natural and organic veggies, you'll need to make sure you grow them in an enclosed space since the pollen and seed spores from altered plants can get to them in open fields. it's werid, but true. I've talked with farmers whom had to close down because the altered seeds had spread to their fields from the fields being used to grow the modified plants.

but if no on in your area is uing altered seeds, you'll be okay... but you're best bet is to keep track of your crops as they are growing... and if you find plants that ARE growing from these genetically modified plants. PULL THEM UP ASAP. Don't burn them... bag them up and throw them out in your trash. I have been told that if you burn them, they can contaminate the rest of the plants in your garden. on the safe side, i was told to also do this to the surrounding plants.

but i've only talked to one person about that... and he was a farmer whom had to deal with this on a regular basis, since the other farmers whom used the Genetically Modified Seeds actually used the law to take him to court for violating some kind of clause. it was really stupid and he was really angry about how much money he had lost due to law suits.

[Webstral]

I'd be very interesting in seeing the schematic.

My son and I have added corn and pumpkins in the new plot. Once the corn sprouts, we'll add beans next to the corn. Pumpkin seeds are very expensive, we've discovered. 14 seeds were $3.00. We're going to keep all those seeds for the future rather than buy any more of the same variety.

The sunflowers are doing great. The clover is not. I'm going to have to keep adding clover seed. I've got to figure out why some clover sprouts while most of it doesn't.

[natehale1971]

It's a PDF that i've got, i'll get it and the other thigns i've been reading uploaded into my public folder in Dropbox... and then give you a link to it!

[simonmark6]

You might want to plant dill and oregano with your pumpkins. They'll deter pests and go well with your garlic.

Corn and pumpkins grow well together so that's a good choice. You might also want to companion plant marigolds and nasturciums if you have the time. Both are good bug deterrants. Whatever you do, don't plant potatoes in the same plot.

[Webstral]

I put in marigolds yesterday. Once the corn and pumpkins sprout, I'll put some marigolds in the open spaces. Hopefully, they'll do okay in the gaps. I also put marigolds along a strip at the back of the plot and more in the corners where I'm growing sunflowers.

Potatoes... I want to plant some, but I don't have the space. I'd also like to put in basil because basil is so danged expensive. $3.00 for a bunch that will make just enough pesto to cover four drumsticks. Highway robbery, that. What I really need is more containers (and, of course, soil to go in them). With containers I can make better use of the deck, which gets lots of sun and otherwise serves no good purpose. Then I can move the contents of the herb garden and use that plot for potatoes, onions, and garlic. I'm trying to look ahead to Thanksgiving. It would be nice to have potatoes from my own yard for the occasion.

[simonmark6]

We have very little space in our yard but we have grown potatoes inside old tires filled with earth. that might be viable for you. As for dill and other herbs, do you have walls with decent sunshine?

If so, buy some plastic piping as long as you can reach (we used drain pipes). Cut vee shapes half-way through every 6-8 inches (you might ask a vet gardener in your area about the best for your climate) and screw to the walls about two feet apart. Fill with earth and grow stuff out of each pocket.

We use them for strawberries and they're fantastic. When we really work at it we put trellises between and grow climbers like peas and runner beans in between.

Another thing you might consider is asparagus peas: great flowers, edible leaves when they're young and peas which taste of asparagus later. The peas can be dried and rehydrated later or ground up (I hear they make a coffe substitute but when we grew them we ate them as they came out of the pod-yum).