Gelswood

I just read an article that said that they had been tracking the cost of food and it has risn 12-49 percent in the last three months. I think that we are all going to have to be frugal in our lives in order to ride this out . Does this include frugal quilting? HMMMMM

Ms Elaine Va

I have lots of quilts to keep us warm. I'm also taking advantage of cotton fabrics when on sale. Our LQSs have gone up to $11 to 12 on their fabrics. I don't throw any of the scraps away I try to use every little bit of fabric. Our cotton is shipped somewhere else to be processed - so it would be less expensive - what happened to that theory?

Krystyna

I think that the stocking up has become more important than ever especially with the awful news that Fukushima is now at level 7 - the same as Chernobyl. It may become worse. The radiation forecasts are grim. I wonder about the safety of growing vegetables now and of foraging. The Pacific Ocean is poisoned and I'd be very careful about where food comes from. It is all so horribly sad.

PurplePassion

I have 2 raised beds, made from landscape timbers. They cost about $2. each ;used 18 total for 1 bed. Filled it with a mix if compost, black dirt, leaves. keep adding veggie scraps to it. No tilling , no bending. not much weeding. I can pack alot of plants in them.

Ms Elaine Va

Having friends has paid off. A man that we have permitted to bow hunt for deer on our property has a plow. (The friend donates the meat to shelters) He is going to come plow a garden for us free. Now how big should it be, and if I want to can about 35 quarts of tomatoes how many plants will I need -and what kind? I did not have much luck with green peppers so what kind do I plant? Southern States is not very knowledgeable about gardens. Unless I can find an experienced person. I'm so excited. I grew up on a dairy farm but I never paid attention to the garden. Counld not understand why we didn't just go buy the canned stuff...

PurplePassion

Do you have any greenhouses or nurserys around there? People that work there would be the best to ask about good varieties. I start my own seeds in my kitchen window. and always have too many.

Krystyna

I use Roma tomatoes to make sauce, but put everything else in there, too, including cherry tomatoes. I stay away from anything but open pollinated. No GM's for me, thanks. As for how many plants, it depends on how intensely you are going to prune which determines yield. I usually grow about 20 plants in 5 gallon tubs and another ten or so in the ground. By the end of the season, I am wishing canning would be just a memory. You can get by with 10 plants for what you want.

redkimba

If you can't have a 200 x 200 ft garden because you live in a city, you can also check out 'urban homesteading' resources.

If you can't bend down to garden, I can't remember what it's called, but you can basically make tables for gardens.

Aurora

Right, if you purchase heirloom varieties, you can save your own seeds. So you only buy seeds once. There are large Heirloom Grower groups on Yahoo, they are like this board, very generous and trade seeds all the time. Your vegetables will taste better and you won't have to purhcase new seeds every year.

Krystyna

We live next to the sea on a barrier beach island. Our house, a tiny cottage, is situated on a plot that is only 40' x 100' and that doesn't leave a lot of room for growing considering that there is also a driveway and garage there, too! Nonetheless, I've grown enough to fill my cupboards and freezers. You really don't need a lot of space. I turned half of the front lawn into a fruit and veggie garden. We pulled out all of the shrubs that don't yield food (except for a butterfly bush that was a mother's day gift) and replaced them with blueberry, goosberry, jostaberry bushes and raspberry canes. There are daylilies in the front border - but we eat them, too, in a tempura batter. These are interplanted with jalapeno and habanero peppers. There is a huge strawberry patch that is interplanted with onions. I also grew cabbages, eggplant, zucchini, accidental pumpkin and banana peppers there. Lots of folks stopped by to look and some asked how to do it in their yards. With water costing as much as Perrier in this town, I have to wonder why I would pay to water grass when I can be watering food!
In the backyard I have lots of 5 gallon buckets where tomatoes grow. My husband built two side by side bins made from pallets. I alternate them each year - one side is compost and the other side is where I grow potatoes. We have grape vines, fig trees, more rapsberries and blackberries and there is plenty of room for peas, green beans, squash, spinach, kale and salad greens, not to mention more tomatoes. I do succession planting to make the most of the space.