What did you do in the garden today?

[CedarLane]

I would argue that not a problem for the poor, at least in this country.
Foods highly processed are shown to cause/inflame gout.
And highly processed foods are cheap and readily available.
In fact, there was a study here a couple months ago showing the increased rate of gout in teens.

I wondered about that.

 

[CedarLane]

Today's garden haul - 6 cherry tomatoes. We dropped below 50 last night.
@CedarLane
meat is naturally higher in purites, but canned/tinned meats or/and processed meats have added nitrates.

So my home canned meat shouldn't be any worse than other meat I cook as I only add a low amount of salt and no nitrates or other ingredients? One of the things I like about canning as much as I can is that I am able to control the ingredients in our food. (And canning takes the space pressure off my freezer...and my stress about losing electricity and losing food in my freezer. Still hoping for a Generac one of these days!)

 

[WthrLady]

@CedarLane I would think that home canned meats are a different kettle of fish

I only use the minimum of sodium chloride (non iodized salt) and no sodium nitrate for color like companies do.

 

[akroberts1085]

Watermelon loves a sandy soil. I am still trying to determine what sand makes the best soil for them but I would give it a shot.

This spring, I met an older couple that was picking up free pallets at one of the places I have gotten lots of pallets from for my gardens. I asked them if they make raised beds, and if so, how high they make them.

Turns out that the wife just had hip surgery and could not bend over without pain. They intended to use the full pallets to make raised beds. That would be a full 43 inches high. It was the only way she could continue to enjoy gardening given her health.

Evidently, I must have had a surprised look on my face because the husband quickly added that he had a tractor with a large bucket to fill the pallet high raised beds. He was just going to dig up a bunch of topsoil from elsewhere on the farm and put it into the new raised beds.

I asked him if he was going to use the hügelkultur method to fill the bottom of the 43-inch-high raised beds. He said he was familiar with the hügelkultur method but was not going to use it because it was just easier for him to dig up topsoil with his tractor bucket and dump the topsoil into the bed.



I was wondering what you were talking about "bury all the wood" but then I remembered that some people dig out a hole to put the hügelkultur wood in, and then top fill it with the soil.

I don't dig a hole in the ground to bury the wood in.

My raised beds are 16-inches high. I simply put my logs, branches, and twigs directly on the ground, without digging, and layer it on for the first 8-10 inches in the raised bed. Then I add an organic green layer of leaves, grass clippings, etc... Finally, the top 6-8 inches is a mix of high-quality topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1.

I live on a lake, and my topsoil is full of sand. Nothing good really grows in that sand. When I say that I use a high-quality topsoil, I mean topsoil that I have to buy at our local nursery for about $50 a trailer load. Although it runs against my principles to pay for "dirt," the reality is that topsoil is worth it. Mixed with my chicken run compost 1:1, the cost per 4X4 foot raised bed is about $12.50 for the topsoil. Since I make my raised beds out of free pallet wood, my total cost, per raised bed, is still less than $15.00 completely assembled and filled with topsoil/compost, ready to plant.



You can certainly get some good deals on cull lumber from Home Depot. I would think, if you want that type of raised bed, then you could probably make a number of trips to Home Depot over the winter and get enough cull wood for your project.

Having said that, I make my 16-inch-high 4X4 foot raised garden beds from free pallet wood. Here is a picture of my most recent pallet wood raised bed, on the far left, before I filled it. It cost me less than $2.00 for the screws and nails used on that project.

View attachment 3633606


And a closeup of that same raised bed after I filled it....

View attachment 3633617

 

[akroberts1085]

Try using salt. You apply it and wait an hour and remove the salt then do it again. For the mushy part I would try thinner pieces or maybe making them as steak fries.

 

[akroberts1085]

TJanonymous I got the seeds today in the mail. Thank you so much. I will add photos next year so everyone can see

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Nothing in the garden for the past 2 days We got over an inch of rain on Sunday and over night. Yesterday we got over 3 inches. The town just south of me got over 8 inches. Massive flooding, fast water rescues, giant sinkholes. Good grief. They’ve been declared a disaster area. My sump pump ran constantly yesterday evening and all night. Just a little flooding in the section of the basement not serviced by the sump pump. We’re having a break today with another round of heavy rain forecasted for tomorrow. And the good news is, the repairman was able to maneuver all the road closures and damaged bridges to make it from New Hampshire to my house. All the burners on my stove are now working. I’m looking forward to canning. I’m hoping to get enough cucumbers to make a few jars of pickles. And I’m down to my last jar of homemade jam so peach preserves from last years harvest can finally be made. I have 9 pounds of peach slices in my freezer. That should free up some space.

 

[akroberts1085]

I hope you and your family are safe. Hopefully the rain won't be too much in such a short time.

Nothing in the garden for the past 2 days We got over an inch of rain on Sunday and over night. Yesterday we got over 3 inches. The town just south of me got over 8 inches. Massive flooding, fast water rescues, giant sinkholes. Good grief. They’ve been declared a disaster area. My sump pump ran constantly yesterday evening and all night. Just a little flooding in the section of the basement not serviced by the sump pump. We’re having a break today with another round of heavy rain forecasted for tomorrow. And the good news is, the repairman was able to maneuver all the road closures and damaged bridges to make it from New Hampshire to my house. All the burners on my stove are now working. I’m looking forward to canning. I’m hoping to get enough cucumbers to make a few jars of pickles. And I’m down to my last jar of homemade jam so peach preserves from last years harvest can finally be made. I have 9 pounds of peach slices in my freezer. That should free up some space.

 

[jerryse]

Got 1/4 inch of rain yesterday. Busy day.

 

[Smokerbill]

Finally got a bit of rain today. A very small bit, but better than nothing.