Just curious who else is living super frugal

[lazy gardener]

Current and future frugal gardening: cleaning up woods debris to make a hugelkulture bed. Ordered fruit trees, Siberian Pea shrub. Getting grape vines from a friend. (Informal trade of chicks for plants) Called local tree care company and invited them to dump all of their chipped trees in my yard. (I have about 1/4 - 1/2 acre that I'm going to deep mulch) Gardening, building, landscaping as a way to stay fit instead of using gas to drive to a gym. (functional exercise) I hate to plant carrots, b/c they are a pain to space correctly, and even more of a pain to thin. So today, I made about 25' of carrot seed tape. save paper feed bags to use as trash bags. Use the tarp type of bags to haul big rocks into the wheel barrow so it doesn't get all scratched up. Plan to use some of them for grow bags.

 

[alldembirds]

I was reading and they said if you plant radish and carrots in the same place at the same time, you can harvest the radishes first and that usually leaves enough room for the carrots to finish growing without much more additioal thinning if any at all

I hate to plant carrots, b/c they are a pain to space correctly, and even more of a pain to thin. So today, I made about 25' of carrot seed tape.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yeah, sensible plan. But for some reason, I have a loose screw when it comes to planting carrots. I never expect them to germinate as well as they do. or I might even plant some, forget to mark the bed where I left off, and go back and plant over it again! Carrots and I just can't seem to agree! I use radish for markers when ever I plant (unless, of course I happen to forget) So, this way, If I don't loose those seed tapes, I can go out and lay them out in neat little rows, toss on a bit of soil, and be done well before the black flies start to swarm me!

 

[Outpost JWB]

How is your service and where do you live, if you don't mind me asking.

Service is good. I rarely don't have service. Most people who come to my home complain they can't get service. We live in the country. Cincinnati, Ohio area.

 

[KentuckyMom]

@lazy gardener
Is there a particular kind of tape that you use for your carrot seeds? Something that will disintegrate, I'm guessing...I planted some carrot seeds in tires last year just to see what they'd do. Even without aggressive thinning they did very well. I plan on planting more in tires this year, as well as some onions.
Sounds like you've been and will continue to be busy. Now that the extreme cold and snow seems to have ended , I'm looking forward to doing more outdoors again. I lost quite a bit of weight last summer gardening, toting water, and such and hope to continue the cycle. It beats a gym any day and it doesn't cost extra!

 

[Hen-nah]

Hello!
It seems strange but I actually did deep container planting one time for my carrots for a joke...best carrots ever! Must have a large container, and looser soil, but darn if they weren't awesome! I would have never thought!

Amy

 

[KentuckyMom]

Hello!
    It seems strange but I actually did deep container planting one time for my carrots for a joke...best carrots ever!  Must have a large container, and looser soil, but darn if they weren't awesome!  I would have never thought!

Amy

I was very surprised at how well my carrots did in the tires. I had never had very good luck with them in the garden. The rows were always crooked because the seed was so small and the carrots were puny because I didn't thin enough. In tires, there weren't any rows to speak of and,
even with very little thinning I got plump, sweet carrots!
They weren't all the "perfect"size and shape, but all were very good!

 

[lazy gardener]

@lazy gardener
Is there a particular kind of tape that you use for your carrot seeds? Something that will disintegrate, I'm guessing...I planted some carrot seeds in tires last year just to see what they'd do. Even without aggressive thinning they did very well. I plan on planting more in tires this year, as well as some onions.
Sounds like you've been and will continue to be busy. Now that the extreme cold and snow seems to have ended , I'm looking forward to doing more outdoors again. I lost quite a bit of weight last summer gardening, toting water, and such and hope to continue the cycle. It beats a gym any day and it doesn't cost extra!

I used toilet paper: Pulled off 4' sections, folded them up on my quilt mat, and used the rotary cutter to cut the whole pile in half the long way. Unfold, separate the plys so that one half width length gives you 2 strips that are about 2" x 48". I then laid one out on the table, used a syringe to put a drop of glue (flour and water) every 1.5" down one side. Use a sharp pencil to pick up each seed from a plate, and deposit it on the drop of glue. It helps to keep a bit of water to dip the pencil lead so the seeds will stick to it, but, after you get going, you can then use any residual paste that you might pick up from the previous deposit. After a seed has been laid in each spot, fold the tape lengthwise, being sure that the paper adheres well at the "spots". Drape it in a safe place until it's thoroughly dry. Rinse and repeat.

I'm interested in your carrot tire. I plan to do some experimenting with tires this season. How often did you have to water your tire? I'm guessing that they did so well b/c the soil was nice and thick, and soft inside that tire. Did you drill any holes in the side wall of the tire that was against the ground? I'm wondering if, by not drilling holes, the side wall holds more moisture to keep things even. I'm definitely gonna have to go to the dump for some more tires. (Only a red neck gardener carries tires HOME from the dump. Hubby will not like that. I think that's a trip that I'll take alone, while he's at work!)

 

[Outpost JWB]

Hello!
It seems strange but I actually did deep container planting one time for my carrots for a joke...best carrots ever! Must have a large container, and looser soil, but darn if they weren't awesome! I would have never thought!

Amy

WELCOME TO BYC!!!

Every year I plant a row or two of carrots in the garden. I have yet to get a good or even fair harvest. I am going to try the tire method

. I have used the stacking tire method with potatoes and got a fair amount of potatoes. Not great, but fair. We just pile on composting materials and more dirt as the potato vine grows and stack more tires as needed. They taste SO MUCH BETTER than store bought.

 

[KentuckyMom]

When we moved to this property there was a shed full of old tires. They were all sizes and shapes. I figured there had to be SOMETHING we could do with them. My husband cut the sidewalls off one side, and we filled them with dirt( did not drill holes in the "bottom"sidewall). The first two years I planted tomatoes in them. The tomatoes flourished the first year but did not do as well in the second year.
( time to rotate crops) Last year I tried peas in them as well as carrots in one and onions in another. Left tomatoes in a few and green peppers in another. The peas did pretty well but needed more room so maybe I planted too many per tire.
I DID add a few more tires when my daughter bought four new tires for her car. Some people look at you a little strangely when you ask to keep the old tires to grow things in, but who cares? Gardeners think about it and wonder if they can implement it somewhere.
I really did not need to give the carrots extra water. I had composted in a lot of pine shavings and it seemed to hold moisture extremely well. I had to water the tomatoes, but not the carrots.
I tried potatoes in 5 gallon buckets last year and wasn't thrilled with the results. I'm wondering if the tire method will work better.I used store bought potatoes that sprouted eyes though and was told that THAT may have been the problem I should have used seed potatoes instead.
So much to think about and experiment with now that the weather is warming up...