Homesteaders

[newbie32]

You should rotate your plants every couple of years at the least. There are a couple of reasons that this is suggested.
1.) If you plant the same thing every year in the same place, eventually the soil will become deficient in the nutrients that that specific plant uses and needs to perform best. For example, tomatoes use more potasium and less phosphorous; while a cucumber needs more phosphorous and less potasium for a good crop. By rotating the crops every couple of yeasr, you can keep the nutrient levels form building up too high or getting too low.

more importantly though:

2.) By planting a different plant in a spot, you will break the disease/pest cycle for that soil. If you plant tomatoes every year in the same spot, you will have a build up of the virus/bacterium in the soil that cause tomato diseases. And the pests lay eggs in the soil, so in the spring, right off the get-go, you will have insect pests eating your seedlings. If you plant carrots in that spot the next year, then the tomato diseases don't have a host to live on and will die off. Planting the same plant year-after year-after year the diseases and pests will really build up in the soil until the plants cannot survive without massive doses of chemicals to treat those problems.

Oh this is the first time I have heard about the disease thing. All I have ever read was rotate such and such crop with such and such because of nutrient imbalance. That's it! Thank the lord I have you guys on here to ask questions to! I never even figured out what rotation meant entirely until ChickensAreSweet answered. I might have a college degree but I need to have things flat out explained to me sometimes! Thank you guys for answering my questions. Hopefully someday I will have a beautiful garden.

I still want to know where ChickensAreSweet keeps the poo for a year

 

[naadarien]

So I now have 9 jars of whole tomatoes, 4 small bags of diced/sliced carrots put up so far, but grandpas garden is still puking every time I turn around. any ideas on what to do with my monster banana squash? All I can think of is chunk it up and freeze it.

I take all of my summer, Bennings, and butternut squash, and steam and puree it. Pour it all into pint sized ball jars and freeze. Then, periodically over the year, I pull one out and add that veggie to my meals (just about any and all of them). That way I am (and my family is too) always eating my veggies even if I am eating a meal that doesn't ordinarily have veggies. We use a few while they are fresh for grilling or whatever is going on at that moment, but after that, I puree and freeze everything. HTH.

 

[newbie32]

I take all of my summer, Bennings, and butternut squash, and steam and puree it. Pour it all into pint sized ball jars and freeze. Then, periodically over the year, I pull one out and add that veggie to my meals (just about any and all of them). That way I am (and my family is too) always eating my veggies even if I am eating a meal that doesn't ordinarily have veggies. We use a few while they are fresh for grilling or whatever is going on at that moment, but after that, I puree and freeze everything. HTH.

Oh how wonderful! Pureed squash would be great in a spaghetti sauce!

 

[naadarien]

Oh how wonderful! Pureed squash would be great in a spaghetti sauce!

Spaghetti, lasagne, eggs, omelets, muffins, waffles, pancakes, a wide variety of pies and muffins, on chicken tenders (replace the milk with squash for the crust), soups...the list is just about endless.

 

[naadarien]

Yes I have found the charts that break down which ones (most) that need to be cross pollinated. But they don't say with which varieties. Does it matter which ones they are cross pollinated with?

Hmmm...they may not mean cross-pollinated with other plants (although that is certainly always possible if you know the honey bee

), but maybe just with themselves.

Our apple trees are cross-pollinated which is why they are grown in pairs. It is just general knowledge around here that a single apple tree (or say a single blueberry bush, which is another example) will not do well on its own (they generally do not flower or bear fruit). It needs another apple tree nearby for cross pollination. I read that my corn needed to be planted in a certain pattern to have a similar effect.

 

[newbie32]

Spaghetti, lasagne, eggs, omelets, muffins, waffles, pancakes, a wide variety of pies and muffins, on chicken tenders (replace the milk with squash for the crust), soups...the list is just about endless.

yummy! you are making me hungry!!! Omelets=

Can I puree avocados and freeze? I LOVE them but sometimes they brown before we can eat them all. I always put them on my freshly cooked eggs. YUM!

 

[newbie32]

Hmmm...they may not mean cross-pollinated with other plants (although that is certainly always possible if you know the honey bee

), but maybe just with themselves.

Our apple trees are cross-pollinated which is why they are grown in pairs. It is just general knowledge around here that a single apple tree (or say a single blueberry bush, which is another example) will not do well on its own (they generally do not flower or bear fruit). It needs another apple tree nearby for cross pollination. I read that my corn needed to be planted in a certain pattern to have a similar effect.

Huh. So how exactly do they help each other? I know, I know I ask a lot of questions-curious

. I wouldn't mind having 2 apple trees because they provide apple sauce and such. 2 apple trees, a nut tree (any), a cherry tree, and a raspberry bush would be great for me! Unfortunately the apple and cherry trees have to wait because I live some where that they don't grow

 

[naadarien]

yummy! you are making me hungry!!! Omelets=

Can I puree avocados and freeze? I LOVE them but sometimes they brown before we can eat them all. I always put them on my freshly cooked eggs. YUM!

I don't puree avocado, though I am sure you could. I merely take it out of its skin whole and mash it into a jar as tight as I can (as few air pockets as possible), put a piece of parchment on top (inside the jar) to seal it in, put on the ball jar cap, and freeze. Most of the time the avocado saves perfectly, but every now and then there is a fleck or two of brown avocado. If it is really small, I leave it. It isn't enough to change the flavor overall (and it's not spoiled, just oxidized). Otherwise, I spoon the small amount out and use the rest.

Another way is to take the whole, peeled avocado and soak it for 5 mins in a (sea) salt water solution (it is something many Mexicans have done for generations because avocados would go bad quickly in the heat of Mexico). The salt preserves the avocado, adds little to no flavor, and, for me, the avocados last for 3-4 days before the color changes. I did this for a chocolate and mint avocado candy I made. It allowed the avocado to stay green while we slowly ate the candy (which was delicious BTW).

 

[naadarien]

Huh. So how exactly do they help each other? I know, I know I ask a lot of questions-curious

. I wouldn't mind having 2 apple trees because they provide apple sauce and such. 2 apple trees, a nut tree (any), a cherry tree, and a raspberry bush would be great for me! Unfortunately the apple and cherry trees have to wait because I live some where that they don't grow

Apples are funny. They can't grow from seed. They are "created" from crossing the genetic material of two different kinds of trees so that may make their needs a bit different, but here is a simple write-up on their cross-pollination. We do have two different types of tress on our property, though at my previous home the two trees produced very similar fruit so I guess I always assumed they were the same type of tree, but maybe they are just different enough. :-D

 

[newbie32]

I don't puree avocado, though I am sure you could. I merely take it out of its skin whole and mash it into a jar as tight as I can (as few air pockets as possible), put a piece of parchment on top (inside the jar) to seal it in, put on the ball jar cap, and freeze. Most of the time the avocado saves perfectly, but every now and then there is a fleck or two of brown avocado. If it is really small, I leave it. It isn't enough to change the flavor overall (and it's not spoiled, just oxidized). Otherwise, I spoon the small amount out and use the rest.

Another way is to take the whole, peeled avocado and soak it for 5 mins in a (sea) salt water solution (it is something many Mexicans have done for generations because avocados would go bad quickly in the heat of Mexico). The salt preserves the avocado, adds little to no flavor, and, for me, the avocados last for 3-4 days before the color changes. I did this for a chocolate and mint avocado candy I made. It allowed the avocado to stay green while we slowly ate the candy (which was delicious BTW).

I like to salt my avocados anyways so that is a great idea. I never knew they did that