Seed Swap!

[Smuvers Farm]

Placed another seed order.....

 

[Smuvers Farm]

I just bought a type of amaranth SIMPLY because I like the variety name.... and I have never thought about growing amarath, never read up about amaranth, and have eaten amaranth a total one 1 time.... yeesh

Never looking at the website again.... ::: this week :::

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Currently, we are up in the air about whether to make raised bed gardens while tilling and prepping the actual area we want for a regular garden (doing prep work so we can sow directly into the ground next year), or if we till and mix in enough compost, mulch, fertilizer, it would be ready to go this year and just skip the raised beds.

NOTHING has been planted on our homestead AS FAR AS WE KNOW since at least 2001.... but more than likely not since a LONG time before that as well. I am thinking it might be best to do a few 4x8 raised bed gardens in a closer area, and then doing a good years worth of tilling and mulching the 1/2 - 1 acre we want to do our serious planting on. Any suggestions?

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Any suggestions?

whats growing in your area currently?

is it mossy? sandy? shady? etc

 

[Smuvers Farm]

whats growing in your area currently?

is it mossy? sandy? shady? etc

I live in Hopkinsville KY.. the only thing we ever see growing is wheat and corn. Seriously. We don't have a local farmers market to speak of, as the last time we went it was LITERALLY 11 or so stalls, and only 1 person was selling any vegetables... and they looked sad and sickly.

We've only attempted to put purple sweet potatoes into ground (last year, a small patch), and then forgot about them. They grew, but into long and skinny sticks... almost the length of walking canes and the width of your thumb. This is due to us not tilling the ground far enough down I am certain of.

Going to do a soil test this weekend and see where we sit on loaminess. Until you just asked, I really didn't think about testing the soil for anything other than the Ph! So, thanks for that!

Oh, but we have no mossy, we can plant in areas with full sun or partial shade, and gonna check for the sand/clay situation by doing this: http://www.dummies.com/home-garden/gardening/urban-farming-how-to-determine-your-soil-type/ We're gonna use the jar method.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I can send you orange and/or white pumpkin seeds and warty red big squash that are like pumpkins but pointy on both ends.

I'm looking for orange pumpkins similar to the "Halloween" style you see (field pumpkins). I have some Seminole Pumpkin seed at the moment.

 

[Kusanar]

Going to do a soil test this weekend and see where we sit on loaminess. Until you just asked, I really didn't think about testing the soil for anything other than the Ph! So, thanks for that!

Do you know about the free way to test soil for sandy/loamy texture?

Take a mason jar (or any other glass container with a water tight lid), put some of your soil in it, add 1 drop of dish soap, then plenty of water (a good inch over the soil at least) and shake it.

Set the jar somewhere for 24-48 hours without disturbing it. You will see that the soil has formed layers as it fell. The sand is heaviest and will be at the bottom, then the silt with be next, and the clay will be the last to settle and will be on top. You can measure the layers with a ruler and see what percent of what you have in your soil.

Loam is 40% sand, 40% silt, 20% clay and is the ideal texture for growing.

Clay soils will be heavier, harder to grow root veggies in due to them having to shove the soil of the way to grow. Sandy soils will require watering more often and will not hold onto fertilizer so you have to fertilize more often for the same effect. Soils leaning towards sandy are fairly easy to deal with, just work a bunch of compost into it and you now have loam.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Do you know about the free way to test soil for sandy/loamy texture?

Take a mason jar (or any other glass container with a water tight lid), put some of your soil in it, add 1 drop of dish soap, then plenty of water (a good inch over the soil at least) and shake it.

Set the jar somewhere for 24-48 hours without disturbing it. You will see that the soil has formed layers as it fell. The sand is heaviest and will be at the bottom, then the silt with be next, and the clay will be the last to settle and will be on top. You can measure the layers with a ruler and see what percent of what you have in your soil.

Loam is 40% sand, 40% silt, 20% clay and is the ideal texture for growing.

Clay soils will be heavier, harder to grow root veggies in due to them having to shove the soil of the way to grow. Sandy soils will require watering more often and will not hold onto fertilizer so you have to fertilize more often for the same effect. Soils leaning towards sandy are fairly easy to deal with, just work a bunch of compost into it and you now have loam.

Yeah, that's what the link I posted showed...... I plan on doing the jar method from the link....

 

[Kusanar]

Yeah, that's what the link I posted showed...... I plan on doing the jar method from the link....

Oops... I totally missed the link. sorry.

 

[EggSTOREYdinary]

Tagging @EggSTOREYdinary for seed swap!

Hey guys!!! Thanks for The tag @Smuvers Farm - do you just say what you have as far as seeds? I’m
New to the actual swap sites but I have tulip bulbs available!! Lots of them Lol
Also mammoth sunflower sees