What did you do in the garden today?

[akroberts1085]

gtaus I just checked out Harbor Freight for the ammo box and it's still on sale here so thank you for letting me know about it. I am going to try to get one maybe tomorrow or the next day.

 

[akroberts1085]

LOL. Danged phones are sometimes a pain in the brain and dirty back side.

 

[gtaus]

Paper envelopes should be fine. I would still put a couple of the silica packs in it anyway. You can not ever be too safe. I'm going to be taking a bunch of my seeds to my mom and all of them will be in pill bottles with a silica pack in each.

Thanks for the info.

 

[gtaus]

gtaus I just checked out Harbor Freight for the ammo box and it's still on sale here so thank you for letting me know about it. I am going to try to get one maybe tomorrow or the next day.

Those HF ammo boxes are a pretty good deal compared to other stores selling the Plano version of that same ammo box for $10.00 or more. I am using my ammo box for storing seeds, but I guess they can be used for lots of stuff. Some YouTubers use them for storing their seeds and seem to be very happy with them. I put all my seeds into the ammo box and still have half the box left. So, it may be quite a while before I need anything bigger.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Well, I am an RN as well. Gout is not my specialty, but I live with it. I guess that makes me an expert on how gout affects me. When I was suffering from gout attacks, I consulted with my doctor, and went with her recommendations. Taking daily medicine for gout prevention has greatly improved my life.



In general, I agree. I like to say that food is your first medicine. If we all ate better, we would be healthier.

Taking daily Allopurinol for gout prevention has actual positive effects such as preventing uric acid build up in the body which could lead to damage to the kidneys and formation of stones.



I decided to walk without pain. For a few months, I was almost bedridden with pain. My body was not clearing out my uric acid. I had to take Indomethacin medication for the gout flare up, and in a few days, I was walking again with little or no pain. After getting on the daily Allopurinol medication, I have been gout free for over 8 years.



Gout runs in my family. Almost all the men in my family suffer from it. True that some foods make things worse, but even on a good diet one can suffer from gout, especially if you are predisposed to the disease. At any rate, I am a living advocate of taking gout prevention medication for a healthier life and lifestyle.

Of course I didn’t meant to tell people “don’t take allopurinol” , what I meant that it is sometimes better to eat and exercise right if you can avoid taking pills.. just like diabetes, with exercise and the right diet, you can extend the period before you have to take pills or inject insulin, of course not everybody is affected by lifestyle changes the same way, or has the ability to do something about it, then pills of course are the way to go

 

[gtaus]

I can see a few carrots between the turnip rows. I just picked my best carrot ever. a Danver's half long that I planted way back in March or so. Hope it's not tough.

Going to stir fry that, a turnip, and the turnip and carrot greens for supper.

I did not know that you could eat carrot greens. I will have to try that if/when I ever grow some carrots.

Speaking of eating greens, why is it that we buy carrots, and radishes, in the store with the tops cut off if we can eat the greens? Probably other veggies too, like beets. Until fairly recently, I always thought those greens could not be eaten.

Why is it that in my old age I only now become aware of how much good food is wasted when we should be eating all parts of some plants? Maybe it's just my basic lack of food and nutrition background. When I was growing up, boys had shop class and girls had home economics. Never the two should mix when I went to school. But here I am, at 63 years old, and hearing for the first time in my life that you can eat carrot greens. Thank you for the info, but it really makes me feel that I had a poor food education growing up.

BTW, last year I watched a documentary on the way the French people teach their children about eating and nutrition. Their lunch hour is actually an hour long and they are taught about food like a regular class. They had a head school Chef (male, in the movie) who planned out all the meals and had assistants (male and female) who helped. Compare that to my school experience where we packed down as much food as we could in 10 minutes and then went to the gym to play. Our cooks were local mothers from the community. You never, ever, saw a male in the school kitchen. I hope that has changed.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Well, I did have home economics in school where I learned, among others, to sew, cook, bake, knit and crotchet, after 2 years of that I got so fed up I went to home hardware lessons, which I enjoyed, I am ( I think) a good cook and baker, but also used to enjoy working with my hands until carpal tunnel put a stop to that got operated on both hands, but they are not the same anymore

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Carrot greens are edible. You can make pesto with them. I too was fortunate to have home economics in public school. I learned the basics of cooking and baking, how to prepare for a tea party, and how to sew. Aside from the tea party these were basic skills everyone should know entering adulthood. DD did not have any of that training in her school but I made sure she knew how to cook, bake, basic sewing skills and the importance of basic nutrition and reading food labels when grocery shopping. She also learned basic home repair, plumbing and carpentry skills from me as well. If the schools don’t teach it anymore, parents need to step up and prepare their kids for life as an adult.

 

[TJAnonymous]

A few weeks ago I was asking the forum about different ways to organize and store seeds for the next year. I ended up buying a plastic 0.30 Cal Ammo box from Harbor Freight, which was twice the size of my current seed collection. The ammo box was on sale for $3.99.

View attachment 3634461

As recommended by some others, I did check out the Hobby Lobby and found the Photo Storage plastic case and individual boxes. I think that would make an even better storage and organizing system, but I don't have nearly enough seeds to fill but one or two the plastic cases in that system. Still, at $14.99, I thought it was a great solution for people with lots of seeds.

View attachment 3634449

Well, now that I have a storage and organizing system with the ammo box, I have been looking around to find some good clearance deals on leftover seeds at my favorite local stores. Guess what? Nobody has any seeds left in the store! It appears that all the seeds get sent back, or picked up, by the seed companies. Part of my idea was to buy seeds, for cheap, out of season, and save them for the next year. That's not going to happen!

What happens to all those seeds that were not sold this spring? Do they get tossed? Do they get repackaged for next year?

So when do you gardeners buy your seeds? Only when you are ready to plant? Sometime at the end of the season when seed prices go down by 50% but before they are taken out of the stores? I really need to rethink my seed buying strategy to maximize my money. Obviously, I waited too long for this year.

I typically pick up seeds about this time of year when stores put them out for pennies to simply unload them.

The seeds I pick up in the spring are usually impulse buys driven by magazine garden porn.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

On a side note, it’s raining again and we’re under a flood watch again. Wah!