PATRIOT GARDEN MEGAPOST - Please compile gardening tips here for your Patriot Garden
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Many have asked for it, please put patriot garden tips here so everyone can find them.. If you have posts from previous articles that you think would be helpful com up please repost here so they're all-in-one place.
Best Organic Pesticides: Neem Oil & Diatomaceous Earth
Excellent, ty!
OP I love your yard! tho its more LAND, but us suburbans say yard
Yes! This should be stickied. Will it be tho? I mean we know its a war, and theres a monopoly on resources for basic living, with the few conglomerates who run everything either controlled or controlling. So not surprising shortages is one of their evil strategies. Self sustainment is a mighty defense right now. And any help from knowledgable patriots sharing their knowledge further strengthens us individually and collectively. I hope everyone shares their knowledge. Some of us have trouble growing and we are trying our best!
HERES MY SMALL CONTRIBUTION--My main attempts, good and bad
ROMAINE: In cooler months, Ive grown nice romaine and leafy green lettuce in 5 gal buckets. My romains is starting to bolt bc its in the 90s here. Im going to cut it all and keep in refrigerator where it stays crisp a long time, much longer than store bought.
TOMATOES; I have grown tomatoes, with some success. 2020 decent, but more foliage than fruit, still did get some and they were good. 2021 terrible, blossom end rot, I cried and said forget it. 2022, trying again, learned about Ca deficiency, overwatering. So far this year I tired sweet 100s which was opposite of 2020, went crazy producing fruit on scrawny limbs. Right now, romas look like they may do ok.
FRUIT TREES: Ive planted literally 9 dwarf trees. So far, my 3 apple are the only ones that show some growth. Minimal, but its there. 3 citrus trees I let sit in pots too long, then planted in a rush. Naturally they died.
1 dwarf gala from Lowes, doing the best Id say. Nothing major but its alive, has some new leaves coming in. 2 dwarf fuji and gala, from online, doing fine. Theyre alive at least. 3 other citrus, alive but dont look like they may be for long. Green still, but no growth at all, lost some blossoms.
FRUIT BUSHES AND VINES:
Blueberry, blackberry, grapes. LOL. Pretty pathetic. Online ones seemed poor to start. Lowes bought, meh. Not dead but literally no growth.
HERBS
BASIL: 2020 IT WAS GLORIOUS. delicious, gorgeous. 2021 and 2022, emaciated shriveled awful
CILANTRO: 2020-2021 lousy, weak. 2022: was really good, lots of growth, great taste. Just needed to plant more bc we go thru cilantro fast
PARSLEY: Mediocre every year
One odd event, have this oregano plant from 2021 that I ignored bc after the tomato fiasco I wouldnt go near garden. Anyway it stayed green thru hot summer everything without water or any attention. So I started watering it this year, and its really big now. So this may be a desert friendly herb.
I also am experimenting with a bird forage garden and grass. I took the side of my house and my son and I have gotten amazing workouts removing many, many landscape rocks. Still have some but in meantime, tried a patch of grass to make a cool area for birds, chipmunks whatever. Grass actually grew. I had to cover it with the basement well grate cover so birds wouldnt eat all the seed. But it did grow ok. Working on doing more.
Next to grass patch, Ive scattered so many chicken forage seeds. So far almost no growth. I did rush tho, and regret it. I should have broken up the hard ground more and mixed in soil and whatever else (someone recommend please) but def was too hard. I wanted to just get seeds in ground and start growing, bc Im impatient. I regret that
Other misc: wildflowers blends, bird & butterfly blends (both sprouting, seem to be going somewhere, planted in front yard); dandelions, (oddly this 'weed'--NOT a weed to me, also its medicinal--but oddly not growing yet) lavender, (nothing yet) sunflowers (they seem to grow pretty easy).
QUESTIONS So my first hopeful question: Is there anyone, at all, in zone 8-9, desert hot climate, successfully growing? PLease for the love of God share any and all tips and secrets
Talk to me about COMPOSTING. Can I just throw everything that IS COMPOSTABLE in a compost tumbler bin? As long as its compostable, do I need to keep track of how much for ratios?
MULCH: I may sound stupid, but to a store buying raised girl in the burbs who never had a houseplant until 2020, I hear 'mulch' in so many ways. I see 'mulch' on this bag I buy at lowes but have no idea if Im using right, Someone, please ELI8, MULCH. what, how, why, etc.
SOIL: IDK if its sand or clay. Its super compact, dries on top almost instantly, but hold moisture underneath. So I think one pf my problems is overwatering roots get too much. So far part shade cover has seemed to balance this. So, WHAT can I mix with it? Be specific, ELI8 or even 5
FERTILZER: When I plant/transplant--and use 'fertilizer'--am I feeding plant or soil or both?
WORM CASINGS: I read about this often, and always as like the super game changing everything. ELI8 what, when, how
EDIT: Almost forgot-- CUT AND COME AGAIN HARVESTING: How is this done? On for ex romaine, herbs, tomatoes
I know Im losing a lot of $ bc I have too many failures. And Im not stupid or research challenged. Ive grown up buying everything from the store, live in the desert, am busy with limited time with kids that I homeschool. And for these reasons, live in the suburbs with barely a 6500 ft^2 lot so not the biggest land plot. Thats literally rock hard ground for soil.
Sorry so long, really hope to draw out some good contributors, some of us want your experience and knowledge.
thanks God bless you if you read and reply
Look into straw bale gardening. Simple, no weeding and excellent for people with small yards.
You may fish some here: https://greatawakening.win/p/15HvGLDV0H/x/c/
ALso when you guys share your success, can you mention your climate or growing zone and how your soil is? My post is really long I know so Im adding this separately hoping it wont be missed. bc really, the soil and climate is everything.
If youre in the desert like me, and you do well, you deserve the farmer/gardener crown. Please desert gardeners, share, help other desert dwellers.
BC honestly, like my husband says about where he grew up in GA--if seeds fall to the ground there, they grow. Period.
Here--they need soil nutrients, amendments, back rubs, therapy, good conversation, music, and a cheerleading squad. Not to mention water, fertilizer, ph additives. And then they might grow, if they like you.
I feel ur pain. I once lived in Florida. Was too hot and the soil sucked. Mulch mulch mulch. Also stick with crops that like heat for summer growing: tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, squash, melons and such. You will only be able to grow cool weather stuff in fall or spring, otherwise they will bolt or just wither and die. If it doesn’t freeze too hard in winter, you might try a winter garden. Lettuce, spinach, cabbage, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, chard and like that. I am in a northern climate and can grow all the cool weather stuff. Completely gave up on melons, sweet potatoes and peppers. I do always grow tomatoes but end up trying to figure out what to do with all the unripe, green ones in the fall. One can only stand so much fried green tomatoes! I did discover that they make a tolerable substitute for green chiles (which I can’t grow).
Thanks Takeback, good advice.
One more thing--talk to me about mulch--please, ELI8 bc the word is used in so many general terms, literally please someone ELI5 even. Simple what it is and what it does; how it works and why. How it benefits my rock hard ground.
Im pretty sure if you saw my desert soil youd think FL was incredible! I almost want to post a pic. Im glad you pointed out the heat loving ones, I will do that. Its good to realize that there are actually things I can grow here that maybe some climates cant as well--thats a good reminder. Yes, the lettuce does great here in winter, past 85 degrees and they bolt, but winter never freezes enough here, on the coldest day here they will do fine.
I grew basil one year in warm weather, going to try again, so far this year its done poorly. I did use shade tho that year so Im working on getting that back up.
I talked about mulch in reply to your first comment.
Basil might want some fertilizer. Nitrogen.
My suggestion would be to learn techniques that work without using any store-bought supplies.
HugelKultur
Permaculture
Back to Eden Gardening
Don't rely on internet articles, go to gardeners and garden shops in your area to find proper planting times for your climate zone. There are many valid tips from other zones, but you have to apply them at the proper season for where you live. Look at seed packets: they will say how long to germination (sprout) and how long until harvest. Do the math. If tomatoes don't set fruit after the temperature reaches 100, or cucumbers are sensitive to frost, your local weather service will have the historical averages and you can plan the best planting time.
So important, thank you!
A lot of ppl get stressed out about pH levels in your soil. Yes they are important to the types of plants you can grow, but especially if you have an active gardening scene, most people already know what the local soil is.
Used tea bags and used coffee grounds keep bugs out
Also adds nutrients for the soil, really good for gardens.
If you are willing to take the time, egg shells are a super way to add calcium (and IIRC ...potasium?). Rinse the stuff out after cracking, then bake @200 for 10-15 min. Break into pieces or grind into powder for faster absorption. Helps plants go a long way.
Great, but only if the plant likes acidic soil!
I have been gardening for 15 years, and I am a certified "Master Gardener." I have provided a large portion of my own calories for the past 5 years now, and I am happy to share my knowledge with you!
Survival Gardening:
I have been working on a “SHTF” garden in the woods on a piece of land that I lease for hunting. This garden has been grown using no power tools, irrigation, or chemicals. This year is my 4th year with this particular garden. Here are some of the things I have learned. This is a work in progress, and does not represent even a fraction of the knowledge I have to share. If you are interested in learning more, just ask me!
Tools:
Broadfork: get a broadfork now before SHTF. They will last practically forever if used properly. If you haven’t heard of a broadfork, look it up. Meadowcreature makes the best one.
Scythe: Mulch will be the fuel for your garden, and a scythe is the best way to harvest large amounts of it quickly.
Spade: A good shovel is always needed.
Hoe: Use a how for shallow weeding, and to help form rows.
Axe: You will need to chop down small trees.
Machete or kukri: this is for clearing land a scythe can’t handle.
Ensillage Fork: A good fork is necessary for moving hay and manure.
JADAM inputs: Advanced gardening inputs can be manufactured using JADAM techniques. https://en.jadam.kr/ JMS: JADAM Microbe Solution. This increases microbial life to prevent pathogens from overtaking. JLF: JADAM Liquid Fertilizer: This is a fertilizer made using jadam techniques. Castille Soap: This can be made with jadam techniques also.
Prepping the garden: Start prepping your garden now, now is the best time to start. If you really need to get it started quickly, you will want to burn off the area to be planted. This will help fix the pH, assuming you have an acidic soil. If you have access to manure, now is the best time to add it. You can also spray JMS down to jump start your soil life. After burning, and adding manure, you can loosen the soil with the broadfork. Next, you will want to cover the area with mulch. Almost anything can be used for mulch. If you live in an urban environment, people usually leave mulch by the side of the road for garbage pickup. They even bag it up for you to make it easy to grab! Try and get nearly a foot of mulch on new sites. This will prevent new weeds from coming up, and it will break down to increase the organic content in your soil. This carbon will hold water and nutrients for the plants to unlock as they need them. This style garden grows best after a year or two. move the mulch to plant and put it back as the plants grow. Replace the mulch at the end of each grow season, and as needed. Hand pull weeds.
Planting the garden:
What to plant? Calories, ease of growth and long-term storage are the most important factors when choosing what to plant in your garden. I live in the SE USA, so I will give recommendations that work for me.
Winter squash: This is great for a first-year planting. This can be planted directly in manure and mulch and will break through hardpan soils. Winter squash is extremely easy to store and will last for over a year on the counter if cured properly. Winter Squash is also resistant to the most pesky and persistent pests.
Sweet potatoes: sweet potatoes are packed with nutrition. They also store very well and grow great in hot humid environments. The foliage is also edible and makes a great replacement for greens!
Okra: Okra is hardy and grows with ease. The pods make great pickles, and the leaves are edible replacements for greens. The pods can be allowed to mature, and the seeds can be roasted and make a great flavorful coffee replacement beverage!
Garlic: Garlic has so many uses, from flavor to medicinal, as well as for making garden inputs. The foliage also helps repel pests, and when planted in a circle around the garden, they will even keep out small rodents.
Collards: Collards grow all winter long in my area and will sustain you in the hard times. They can be planted in late fall and you will have almost no competition with pests.
How to plant? Always try and align your garden North to South. Plant three dimensionally. Consider for the height and spread of plants and their roots. Taller plants should be planted in the north-west corner of the garden. Plant short plants under tall plants. Plant root vegetables among all of it.
How to keep out deer: Deer are skittish animals. Bury tall saplings around the garden spaced out 15-20 feet. Tie clear monofilament fishing string up at 1-foot intervals around the perimeter of the garden up to about 6 feet tall. The deer will feel the fence and get scared. They will not jump it because they don’t know how tall it is.
Seed saving- always save your seeds for replanting. Make land-race crops by planting multiple cultivars nearby and keeping the seeds of your best fruit for several generations.
Soil and prep--give me your best advice
-rock hard dirt ground, desert zone 8/9 climate. Dirt is so hard, in trying to break it up sometimes you think its a rock, literally, and its DIRT.
-small areas, maybe 15 -50 sq ft each--multiple, in different parts of front, back and side yard in suburbs, not rural unfortunately.
Tell me what to do to plant anything.
Also, raised bed with store bought soil mixed with store bought bark. Tell me what to do.
A-Z
Rock Hard Dirt / Ground
First, test your soil. You will need to adjust pH first and foremost. If you have sodium issues, amend with gypsum.
I have been fighting this one in my wilderness garden. It happens when the sand/clay mixture dirt we have gets dried out and compacted. The broad fork will break it, but it takes time and lots of effort. Your best bet would be to let nature do the work. This will take a whole season or more, but you can use deep mulch and either plants or animals to do the work for you.
Plants: If you want to go the edible route, you can plant daikons, cowpeas, sunflowers, or brassicas in a thin layer of added topsoil. These plants will break through the hard compacted ground. as the plants grow, mulch around them until the mulch layer is about a foot thick. When they are done growing, cut them off at ground level and let everything rot. This adds carbon into the soil which keeps it from getting compacted.
Animals: You could raise chickens in tractor style coops, keeping deep mulch in the areas and letting the chickens work the area for a season or more until it's ready.
You could just let earthworms do the work. Layer a few inches of composted manure followed by a foot or so of mulch like hay, leaves, or grass clippings. After a season or two the ground beneath will have loosened up.
Broadfork: I have had success with turning rock solid ground into productive garden in less than a month. You will want to get about an inch of composted manure down in the area you wish to plant. you will want to water the area a few times until the ground beneath starts to soak it up a little bit. After a day or two of watering broad fork the area. It should be significantly easier to work. The manure will add carbon into the soil and keep it from re hardening.
Some other tips for dry gardens desert. Plant windbreaks. Plant some kind of native tree or shrub around the property to block wind and stop your topsoil from being eroded.
Try inverted hugelkulture. Basically bury logs underground to slowly rot and hold moisture.
Carbon: add carbon to the soil carbon holds onto moisture and nutrients to be released when needed to the plants. You can add carbon through mulch or compost, but the best way is with cover crops and perennials. Living plant roots constantly die and regrow. The roots that die are left behind to decay in the soil. Always keep life in the garden, and never pull roots out.
If you have land, the absolute best way to build soil is through ruminate livestock small pasture daily rotation. This style of husbandry mimics the large buffalo herds that once roamed the area. small areas were grazed, trampled, and fertilized by the daily habits of the herd. They would move on and wouldn't come back until the area had time to recover. Modern husbandry practices don't allow for this recovery, and don't concentrate the excrimates enough to mimic this process. Joel Salatin has done great work in this area.
wow thanks, you know your stuff.
I have no land, small 6500 sqft lot in the suburbs. But do have a large feral flock of pigeons that Im trying to make side area a forage area for, I planted some forage which they also called crop cover seeds. Starting to see some breaking thru, I admit I didnt work soil hardly at all, just rushed to get seeds in, was impatient so very grateful anything is breaking thru at all.
My soil has been just slightly acidic, almost neutral 6-7 depends on area.
Interesting about leaving roots! I will do that, I usually pull them but have thought why am I doing this, felt instinctively wrong.
In the front yard where we have grass, wen digging we had a lot of earthworms and the soil is better. The back and side are are taking more bc they had rocks. So Ive been using buckets for growing.
I have a built in rock planter tho that I need to be using since Im limited in space--what would you say is a good soil recipe for a raised planter bed.
Will you give me the exact breakdown of what you would do if yo had a raised rock planter, about 25 x 2 ft so ~50sqft in an L shape.
Exactly what you would put, if buying it since I havent been composting but need something now.
Thanks for your advice
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to you. Your best bet, for such a large quantity is to find a wholesaler who will deliver a truckload to your house. You will need 3 cubic yards if your planters are 2 feet deep, or 4.5 if you go 3 feet deep. This is based on your assumption of a 50 square foot planting area. A cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet, if that helps. A standard pickup bed can hold about 1.5 cubic yards easily, if you have a truck and want to save money on delivery.
You are looking for a locally owned landscape supply store. They will usually have giant piles of mulch and rocks and whatnot that you can see from the road. These stores will sell a "garden mix" of some sort that will be absolutely perfect for what you are trying to do. This will by far be the lowest cost and simplest option. Being in a dry environment, you should be using lots of mulch to help conserve moisture. Make sure you plan that into your design.
That being said. If you are looking on advice on rock planters in a survival SHTF type scenario, I would say forget planters, especially in a hot dry environment. They get hotter and drier than the regular ground. You want to be planting in "ditches" and low spots, if that makes sense.
I like no til gardening, lasagna gardening and growing some things through black woven fabric. I also just shove seeds in the ground. It all depends on time and ability.
We need to start a gardening and homesteading .win!
There’s one called preppers who’ve helped me with my indoor garden!
Any tips for taking care of Liberty Trees?
Same as normal, water liberally with the blood of traitors. 😁
The one and only thing I know about growing, is that tomatoes do better if they think they are not getting enough water. Lol.
I'm no green thumb but want to be. only tips I might be able to off are:
growing kale is fairly maintenance free aside from harvesting the crop, so I recommend this as a fairly easy crop with proper prep; and
if you need to protect your garden from deer and other wildlife I recommend finding free wooden pallets around and building a barrier/ fence with them for fairly cheap
beyond this I need help! I don't dedicate the time to a garden I'd like so that's part of the issue and finding good help these days is near impossible
Kale is a fairly decent replacement for TP in a pinch.
If you don't have much space or have problems with the physical labor involved, try fabric grow pots. They're inexpensive, can be moved around and are reusable. My back deck is loaded with tomatoes in 10 gal bags right now. Bought vacuum sealer to freeze sauce rather than can,
Diatomaceous Earth. Google it!
Nice picture! For some reason I thought there'd be a Pepe in it, with garden tools in hand. Also, very useful information for all of us not-so-great gardeners.
I know, should have done that! Hindsight and all.... In truth I meant to make this earlier and was in a rush trying to get to work, so I snapped a quick shot and there you go.
No shade from me. After I typed that I thought, who am I to tell someone sharing useful information, what I thought it needed.
Bookmark 2. Garden infos
I'm a barterer, my crop is for later in the evening and improves the soil with each grow.
It’s spring now but I started a garden indoors to start learning. I’m in the NE and grew indoors over the winter. It can be done if you don’t have land or want to move crops indoors. Here’s my post..
https://communities.win/c/GreatAwakening/p/142BF4lrmN/with-all-the-prepper-threads-wan/c
Just got all the trellis's in yesterday myself. Sugar snap peas already heading up it this morning.
I planted my very first garden all by myself, (husband usually does it), and so far it's held up. I pull grass everyday. We just bought a composter for $30 at Aldi and hope it yields good compost later on. I think birds and squirrelsnwill be the biggest threat once the plants start to fruit.
Someone on another post gave a homemade spray formula with hot sauce to keep deer and squirrels away. (Same idea works to keep squirrels out of bird feeders. Mix cayenne pepper powder in with your bird seed in feeders. Birds can't taste the heat but the heat keeps the squirrels from your feeders.) Looking for the post now to attach but the recipe was (best I can recall) found the post2 gallon garden sprayer full of water, mint oil, several TBS of ghost pepper sauce, (and I would probably add a couple tsps of dish soap to get it to stick,) then spray on plant leaves in late afternoon to deter deer and squirrels.
spez: Also, could purchase (a little expensive) dried coyote urine to sprinkle around your garden (or at least your expensive shrubs) to keep deer away.
Thank you! I will try the pepper for the squirrels. We live in a city and don't see deer, but we do have small critters other than squirrels that could try to eat my garden.
Another good idea is to plant a small forage area, Ive come across this a lot in reading on all this stuff and those who do it say it keeps the critters happy and away from the main garden. Ive read this also about managing insects this way
I throw out old bread and scraps for the birds and squirrels and they seem to like it. ;)
Check out the group Victory Gardens on gab.
"Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew
For inexpensive "raised bed" planters, you can use storage totes. I drilled a few small holes in the bottom for drainage. For most things you'll only need about 5-6" of soil, for which I use potting soil. My native soil is clay - I'm working on improving it to plant more in the ground in coming years. So, to fill them up I put some pine cones in the bottom 4-5" or so, since I have a large pine tree that drops more than enough. Then I add a few inches of last year's grass clippings on top of that and leave about 6" for soil. Shake it up a little before you think you're done, because those bottom layers will settle over time anyway. I can get 2 tomato plants and a small pepper plant in one of the 18 quart totes. This year I'm going to try adding some carrots to grow in between them and put peppers in their own planter.
We have the same problem with our soil, mostly clay. If you add pellettized gypsum it is supposed to help convert it to decent soil in a year or so.