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sho3360
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2015 07:29pm - Edited by: sho3360
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Hi, everyone, getting our seeds planted for our food plot. This is one of the most enduring memories from my childhood. My grandmother would start her plants indoors 3-4 weeks ahead of planting them in the garden. That experience from my childhood left me with a passion for growing my own food.
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AK Seabee
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2015 08:05pm
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hattie
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# Posted: 19 Mar 2015 01:04am
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There's nothing more rewarding then planting, harvesting and preserving your own veggies and fruit!! Great job!!
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 19 Mar 2015 10:08am
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got some peppers growing in the kitchen window now...
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TheWildMan
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# Posted: 19 Mar 2015 01:03pm
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I have over 400 seedlings started inside, heirloom tomatoes and chilli peppers
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hattie
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# Posted: 19 Mar 2015 01:03pm
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We decided to try something different this year. We have a raised bed garden that is just outside our back door and against our laundry room and greenhouse. We purchased some clear polycarbonate and cut it up in sheets. We leaned the sheets against the wall (used hooks to hold in place) and this will be a coldframe where we can start some of our veggies early. Our chives and garlic are up. We will wait until mid-April before we plant anything else but it (hopefully) will give us a big head start on things. Our growing season is pretty short so any jump-start we can get is good.
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Don_P
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# Posted: 19 Mar 2015 10:54pm - Edited by: Don_P
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We've been using various plant stands with flourescent bulbs to get a head start for quite a few years. This is the latest version I built a couple of years ago. The lights hang on chains that run up thru holes in the shelf above. Nails through the chains hold them in place so we can raise them as the plants grow. I built a second one a few weeks ago, the living room is getting pretty full. The shelves are just screwed in, by tomato time I've removed 2 and there are just 2 shelves full of tall maters ready to plant out.
Yesterday we got the main plastic pulled on the new high tunnel, woohoo!, still have the end walls to finish yet. It has roll down side curtains and roll up doors on each end. After talking to a number of growers, the roll down side curtains are preferred over roll up ones for venting on the edges of the season, the cool air enters above the tender plants rather than coming through them. We got it through a USDA NRCS grant. We invited the agent out to help pull the plastic yesterday (as well as several neighbors, a sheet that big is a handful!) He really enjoyed it, no one had ever invited him out to help and he was grateful to get to be on the construction end of the job. There is a healthy slope inside, we'll plant it as is this year but will work on terracing beds inside as we go. With the tunnel we should be able to beat our frequent late blight on tomatos and grow good crops of peppers, our season ends before we can reliably ripen them most years.
Hattie, I've been going round as to whether to put polycarbonate on the endwalls, where did you get yours?
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hattie
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# Posted: 20 Mar 2015 12:25am
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We picked it up at Ace Hardware. They had it in sheets 26 inches by 12 feet. I think the brand name is Tuftex. We also got one sheet of Seacoaster which was vinyl. It was not very good at all and I wouldn't recommend it. It is very thin and cracks when you try to cut it.
That is a huge set-up you have. Looks really good!!!!
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sho3360
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# Posted: 20 Mar 2015 11:48am
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Don_P , hattie beautiful pictures of your progress. Don_P that is a huge setup you have. I appreciate everyone's comments, because sometimes I do feel like my family is on this journey alone. It's good to know their are people all across this land that endeavor to
do the same. God bless each and everyone of you.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 20 Mar 2015 12:30pm
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I bought "legacy" seeds. Apparently the ones from the stores, the plants will not produce seeds. So you have to buy new each year.
If you start out with legacy seeds, you can then harvest your own seeds from that point forward.
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Don_P
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 07:40am
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I'm a big fan of heirloom open pollinated seeds whenever possible... I'd better not rant further
Our garden has been large and pretty much for us and friends for years. This will be the third year my wife has managed the local farmers market so we have been trying to produce more. The high tunnel grant is a really neat program. USDA is trying to help diversify food production and help small farmers do a couple of things, one is to protect the environment by controlling erosion, the other is to shorten our food chain, right now a disruption would not be a good thing, we need to spread out and harden up our food supply chain, it is very vulnerable. Third, we are growing real food and I imagine I'm talking to the chior there. Look into it if you have the space and time, they have some really good programs through NRCS. I think we have realized that Butz's "get big or get out" wasn't such a bright idea. For one thing with small ag communities are built, I was helping run compost into another high tunnel a week ago, I said the bill was that she has to come help my wife for a day, everybody is happy. Off to tackle those endwalls, we had rain all day yesterday but have been able to pick rocks and the soil inside is almost ready to till.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 08:27am - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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This is a project my cousin has worked on for a long time. You can go to the library and check out seeds just like you would a book. Harvest new seeds, they show you how and return the seeds to the library.
I've heard other libraries throughout the country are doing this. If yours isn't maybe you can help start a seed library.
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hattie
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 10:42pm
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I've never heard of a seed library silverwaterlady. This looks really interesting. I think I will have to check this out further! Thanks for posting this!!!
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2015 11:39pm
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Your welcome Hattie.
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