Mother

Those are amazing, Pioneer Woman. Your planters look like the tubs that mineral comes in for cows. We have dozens of them but most of ours are black. They really soak up the heat and need lots of watering. I think I like yours better though ours do add some length to our growing season as the nights get cold. We doubled some of ours with bricks under the inner one to make them self watering with a wicking system in the middle and they work really well. Your flowers add not only beauty to the ‘garden’ but bring in the bees to pollinate the veggies and the birds to eat bugs. On top of that both zinnias and sweet William flowers are edible. Squash blossoms are edible as well. I love them stuffed, battered, and fried like fritters. I recently found out that squash and pumpkin leaves are also edible but haven’t tried them yet. There are so many veggie leaves and flowers that are edible, most of which are not known.

I am so sorry for all the struggling here among our members. I can only imagine how people there actually are who are having the same or similar issues. Way to go on the garden though, SusanAnn. It appears you are not giving in to the struggle and are getting a good start. 👍 Please, everyone, I know first hand about the struggles but now is NOT the time to give into it. Scream and yell, shed your tears, even feel a little sorry for yourself. Then reach down, pull up your big girl (or guy) pants, grab your boot straps and pull them up too, and get back in the fight. That’s what I’m doing and it’s helping …..when I’m not tripping over my pants or boots that is

I often steam blanch things. Many vegetables, if I am going to be using them in six months or so I don’t bother to blanch at all.

Welcome back MomM. If it happens again, just email mrssurvival@yahoo.com. Someone will get you in!

I like your persistence, LS. We had one of our raised beds collapse this year too. It’s only a couple years old. DH thinks he can rebuild it but he’s going to have to really reinforce it if he does. Carrots seem to take forever to germinate. I put some in over three weeks ago and they are just now peeking through.

I used two yogurt maker for years. One to do pint containers and one to do cup sized containers. I still use the small one when I want to culture my yogurt 24 hours to make it more digestible. The bigger one finally gave up after thirty or more years of use. If I am making regular yogurt now I use my insulated cooker. it works in the same way as a cooler only holds it’s temp longer only without the need for water. You can also make it in a wide mouthed thermos or a gas oven with only a pilot light burning, if it has one. Most modern ones don’t. I understand you can use an instant pot too. My old dehydrator has a yogurt setting. The whole object is to keep the warm yogurt at about 100° for long enough to culture the milk. An electric yogurt maker does that.

That is a strange statement. Are they letting us know that at some point we might be receiving this older vaccine, with it’s ‘significant side effects’ IF we have an epidemic? And just how old are those vaccines and why did they keep it if it’s not safe? I know the government has a huge stockpile of medications, all of them periodically tested and found to be safe and effective after decades of what they term ‘proper storage’ . Makes me wonder if the other medications have “significant side effects”. I really am getting more

That is beautiful, Dee. Like a painting.

Yes, very.

welcome Pioneer Woman. I just added you to the challenge (on the first post) I’m so glad you joined us. We are going to LOVE reading about your “pets” (I recognize that feeling ) Sprouts are definitely a big part of my urban farm/garden as are microgreens and shoots. We especially enjoy Sunnies and pea tendrils. Thank you so much for reminding me of crushed egg shells around the plants. 👍 Pictures would be great, I love seeing them all, but not required. At least I hope not as I am a terrible photographer. 📸

I am so pleased you are here with us. I’m looking forward to hearing more from you. With experiences like you have had I’m positive we can all learn from you.

It’s not too late but you will want a positive ID before you try it.

Little sister, we welcome you to the challenge. The more the merrier!

Oh my, Annarchy, where to start. Knotweed/knotgrass. Yours looks like knotgrass. I had only heard of knotweed, namely Japanese knotweed, but they do seem to have the same medicinal properties. I’m wondering if it grows well could it be cut and used for mulch or at least compost. Keyhole gardens. I had something similar years ago at my herb shop. I had forgotten about it or I might have considered trying another one. I still might. What I particularly like about the ones you linked to is the ‘lasagna’ soil. We have done both ground and raised bed gardens like that. Combined with the keyhole shape with compost in the center it should really be effective in your climate. If you could find the materials to make it tall enough to work without having to kneel even better. A similar bed is called hugelkulture. it starts with limbs and branches in the bottom . Critters: I’m pretty sure it’s a raccoon as it digs really deep and mostly in the corners or along the sides, throwing soil all over and only at night. The covers are working as no digging the last two nights but nothing in the traps yet except a stray cat after the meat. We will bait it with fruit tonight. I’ve been looking into the mats MM suggested and they could be cut around plants but it’s already dug up plants I didn’t cover. Doesn’t eat them though. I am sorry you are having pain and I understand not wanting to upset your DH but remember your symptoms could be heart related. Women often have different presentations and often try to pass them off as stress or pulled muscle, or indigestion. Please take care.

That gives a very graphic look at your heat, Annarchy. Wow. Have you tried mulching? Would that hold in moisture or would it just give hiding places for unwanteds? Is knot grass and knotweed similar? They are both polygonium species and the medicinal qualities appear similar.

Thanks for mentioning those, Euphrasyne. It is true you can add all those things to yogurt and I have but they do increase the cost. None of those are needed with fresh raw milk to obtain the rich taste. You can also strain the yogurt to make labneh or a Greek type yogurt. That increases the thickness and the left over whey can be used for dozens of purposes so nothing is wasted. That same can be said of home made hard and soft cheeses too. The whey left from the making is a wonderfully healthy bi-product. 😋

Annarchy, those areas look really good considering your climate and weather. And your squash? I wish my squash and cucumbers, and melon and etc in that family did as well. I always end up with powdery mildew on them all and get very little from them. I found mildew resistant seeds I’m going to try this year. When I do get extra male flowers I make fritters from them.

In our case I believe it is a combination of direct sun hitting it from both the south and west in the afternoon, the thick deck boards and possibly the soil also acting as a heat sink. That, however, will give us the ability to extend the grow season both earlier in the spring and later in the fall. We just need to figure some shade in between times. Maybe?? I’m looking for ideas on that.

I much prefer homemade cheese and other dairy products but the cost of milk to make it with is almost prohibitive. Unless you have your own milk supply it is more cost effective to buy cheese on sale. Home made cheese made from unpasteurized home produced milk will keep well in a cool place but will continue to ‘age’ as it is stored. I still make yogurt from store purchased milk. If the milk is bought on sale it is still cost effective but it lacks the richness of yogurt made from whole home produced cow’s or goat’s milk. I really miss my dairy animals.

Ambergris, that’s a terrible thought but exactly what I have been thinking. I almost died from the smallpox vaccine. I had been exempted by my doctor because I had severe eczema but when I was a freshman in high school an incompetent nurse who had not checked my records insisted I line up along with other unvaccinated students (it was the law, don’t you know?) and receive it. I knew nothing about being exempted and given no choice, I did so. Despite my mom’s dedicated care the vaccine spread all over my body and for over two weeks they expected me to die at any moment. I was so ill I remember little of those weeks but I well remember the recuperation afterwards which took weeks longer. That ‘multiple vaccination’ was the beginning of life long ill health. The good side is I should never get smallpox or monkey pox, ever. They stopped giving the vaccine here in the US in 1972 and supposedly the WHO had eradicated it from the world by 1980 except for the laboratory strains that were kept. The vaccine continued to be produced for use with monkey pox and for cases of bio weapon warfare. It is definitely not beyond conceivable believe that it would be used as such. Anyone younger than fifty was probably not vaccinated. If smallpox IS reintroduced seniors might be the ones with the advantage.

MM, that is exactly what I need. Thank you. I hadn’t realized there was such a thing. I am off to look for them now.

Annarchy, welcome. I’m glad you joined us. I am fascinated by the different ways of gardening in different climates. I am not new to container gardening having gardened for several years in 30 plus large half barrels in the yard but it seemed like every two or three years, no matter the additives, the soil was depleted and needed major reconditioning. Now, I can no longer do that work and I am determined to continue to grow as much as I am able. Already I am finding half the deck is a very hot microclimate with full sun that can spike the thermometer to 120° and the other half is partial or full shade. I am paying close attention to all your details. I believe I might have an advantage over desert climate in that we have more humidity, sometimes too much. I also have deep containers (14” - 16”) and heavy boards around some of my containers which might help keep the roots cooler. By watering deeply I can keep the roots growing down instead of reaching for the surface water and then dying as the top soil dries. Over half my containers are regular depth planters and window boxes though so they will be much more of a problem. I love that I can have gardened all my life and still learn something new.

Midnightmom, Welcome to the challenge. I added you to the first post. It’s been a slow start with setbacks but I love that you are persistent. It looks like you are getting a few plants growing. I am interested in how you will overcome the heat issues. Would shade screens help? I’ve been having set backs too, in the guise of a critter which is digging nightly into my beds. DH has set live traps but so far only caught a big black cat, which is not the culprit and doesn’t belong to us. We believe it is a raccoon which is attracted by the worm castings we mixed into the soil. We tried natural sprays, lights, wind chimes and a radio left on at night. I swear it was just dancing in the lights! We now have every container covered with old racks and wire baskets. Whatever it is will dig in even a small corner if left uncovered. Can’t leave them covered when the plants come up so will have to figure out something else.

Midnightmom, those are WONDERFUL, Won’t you come join our ‘challenge’ in the Urban Farming sub forum? You can post progress reports and pictures there. You are perfectly welcome to continue doing that here of course but if we can keep these innovative Urban Farming journeys together they will be easier for all of us to follow. If you also give us ideas for what works or doesn’t along the way the thread might work as a sort of how-to for others. It’s not a challenge to see if we can beat someone else, it’s challenging ourselves to see what is possible. You certainly have a super start with those really nice planters. I’d love to put you down in our list of fellow Urban Farming travelers.

to both of you.