Home Gardening on the Cheap

Planting Seeds In The Peat Pellets.

2011-04-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

2011-03-30T17:22:00.001-07:00

2011-03-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

2009-12-07T12:54:00.001-08:00

Been a while since I posted a new blog on here, but I'm gonna get back into it.

This spring I will be doing square foot gardening again. The first garden I ever put out in 2000 was a sq. ft garden. It was the best producing one I ever done. I went back to traditional gardening methods after that and the harvests were lower, the weeds were bigger and it took alot more water, time and energy. Square foot gardening is when you make areas 4 foot by 4 foot so you have 16 1 foot squares. In each square you plant a certain number of plants. Examples are 16 radishes, 16 beets, 4 leaf lettaces etc. Since everything is so close together the weeds have a harder time competing and you don't waste water and fetilizer on ground that nothing is growing in. Everything goes right on the plants where it is needed. When you do have to weed you just pick a few squares everyday and spend 10 to 15 minutes pulling small weed sprouts instead of hours weeding and hoeing long rows. As the days of winter go along I will make some tic tac toe frames that will divide the 1 foot sections and I will make some raised beds. More to come soon.

Giant Pumpkins and profit?

2007-12-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

Every year we try our hand at Giant pumpkins, and last year we failed miserably. 2 inches of rain from May till November, does not make for a good garden much less a couple of orange fruit whose DNA is trying to force them to grow as much as 30 pounds a day. When I say Giant I mean a pumpkin that weighs 1,682 pounds! http://bigpumpkins.com/.

It takes a lot of water and fertilizer to keep one of these things healthy and you can easily invest over 100.00 dollars a year on them. Why are they on a site about cheapness? Because if you grow a big one 500 to 2,000 lbs. You can win a lot of money at fairs with it, and the seeds can be sold for as much as 30.00 dollars each and there is a waiting line to buy them!

The info needed to grow them is much to voluminous to enter into here but there are a lot of resources on line.

This is a one hundred and fourteen pounder I grew and carved into a grumpkin.

Chicken coop and run setup

2007-12-26T16:01:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas day and I just got back from the in-laws with quite the haul. Every Christmas we go to my father in-laws house around noon and fix a big brunch. 25 people, bacon, sausage, french toast, hash browns, biscuits and gravy and EGGS lots of them. I brought 34 from my chickens at home plus we used a dozen of the tasteless ones from the store. I saved all the shells and will let them dry out. You can throw them right on the compost or crush them up and save them for when you plant your tomatoes, sprinkle a generous amount into the soil when you plant them and the calcium will help the plant resist disease and blossom end rot. Got a couple of filters full of coffee grounds too, good stuff called Jamaican Blue.
Anyway lots of presents and good times where had by all.
My son Joe and my sister in-law both have birthdays today so we do b-day party's today too.
The days are getting longer now since a few days ago so be thinking about what seeds you'll be starting indoors, a lot of varieties aren't sold in plant form at the local nursery and seeds are cheaper.
Merry Christmas everyone.

Cheap starter pot made from newspaper.

2007-12-24T13:39:00.001-08:00

Winter tips.

2007-12-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas eve so Merry Christmas everyone. I've an hour or so to kill before heading to Moms house so I thought I would post a few more tips.
Even though it's cold outside you can still do things to prepare for the coming growing months. Compost, Compost, Compost! Now is a good time to turn your compost and get some air into it. Don't forget to throw kitchen waste onto your pile, any raw vegetables, egg shells, coffee grounds or even shredded newspaper or tissue paper that was packed in gift bags. If you have bags of leaves or still have a yard full of them add them to the pile or spread out on garden when spring comes it will help build soil and keep water in. If you live farther south you may still be able to sow a cover crop of winter rye, winter wheat, peas or clover. The roots will grow deep into the soil and keep it loose and some fix nitrogen into the soil. A $3.00 bag of any of these will cover a garden approx. 30x70.

Free "green" starter pots.

2007-12-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Got any old newspaper lying around? Newspaper pots are easy to make and there is little or no transplant shock when you plant pot and all, plus the paper helps build your soil and attract worms. All while not adding more usable paper to landfills. Watch the video and try one for yourself with a little practice you can fold one in about 45 seconds. Use these for starter or potting up pots. For tomatoes fill half way with potting soil and plant seed, as seedlings grow add more dirt till bag is full. The stem you bury will spout roots and help the plant from being leggy or spindly.

Brandywine tomato plants

2007-12-19T14:19:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my gardening blog.

2007-12-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to my blog Home Gardening on the cheap. In the coming days I will Be adding my $.02 but not much more than that to the world of growing food and flowers and small livestock on your own small property.
Also if anyone wants to ask a question I'll try to answer it, or suggest a topic about gardening or being cheap I'll try and write about it.
Checkout my cheesy videos. http://www.youtube.com/slmdj. Thanks.