Subsistence Gardening

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Indiana

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    Since spring isn't quite here yet...

    My grandparents had a BUNCH of irises (flowers) at the highway side of the garden (north facing) that drew in pollinators like crazy.
    I first thought it was because they were depression era people that didn't put much stock in jewelry or big houses, but later I realized it was to draw in pollinators for the garden, and were perennials and didn't take much care volunteers every year.

    Petunias in with onions, tomatoes asparagus and beans works as a repellent for mexican bean beetles, asparagus beetles, leaf hoppers, tomato worms, aphids, and a host of other insects that attack crops.

    Keep in mind this is MUCH cheaper ($$$) than chemical insecticides, and is 100% safe to humans, and are stupid simple to use.

    There is even a song about petunias in an onion patch, and like all the old child stories, there is some truth in it.

    A Mother Earth News article on companion planting & crops that should/shouldn't be grown together,
    https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw

    Anyone else care to share what they do for their gardens?
     
    Last edited:

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    The next idea in gardening, produce that grows/competes with weeds.
    These patches don't need to be weeded!
    It saves (weeding) time, and also hides your produce from others if that is an objective.

    Once established, they hold their own with weeds, which if you were hiding or going for low observability, this would be something to consider.

    Climbing beans against an existing fence. Pay a board or piece of sheeting on the ground under the fence to kill off existing plants in the fall.
    When planting time comes, move your ground cover and plant with very little spacing.
    It doesn't hurt to have natural climbing vines, or even briars close so people aren't inclined to look too close or to try to cross the fence at your plants.
    Leave some space between plant stems & mulch (cut weeds are fine for mulch around stems) and let them grow, only getting them climbing when needed.
    Water occasionally, and otherwise let them go.

    Some tomatoes are VERY hardy and hold their own against weeds.

    Potatoes hold their own against shallow root grasses, but will need water from time to time.

    Melons just need a start and they will spread out and kill off weeds around them, could care less about weeds.
    Several types of squash & cucumbers will grow like crazy on nothing more than a fence, but you will have to thread some vines as they extend.

    Many grain head crops can be grown in patches without notice, before modern herbicides there were often patches of 'Volunteers' in clumps, beans in corn fields, wheat in bean fields, etc.
    To the casual observer these are just 'Weeds' in the intended crop field, and will still look like 'Weeds' in a weed field/pasture gone feral.

    Let's not forget fruit & nut trees.
    No sense in planting 'Decoratives' when they could produce food.
    'Sticker Patches' & 'Briar' patches make for security as long as providing high sugar good that's fairly easy to preserve.
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    I'm turning over the compost piles since we are getting more rain than freezing/snow.
    Turning insulated compost bins makes it generate more heat, and parking the hot beds on top the compost bins allows for very early starts, like a heated greenhouse without heating costs.

    The earliest local produce sells for more $$$, and on average (not every year) I can usually start around Feb. 28th which means I'm the first with local early produce.
    Some people just MUST own the first of everything, and I'm happy to charge them a premium for that 'Privilege' without getting their hands dirty...
    Anyone can do it, you just have to get dirty maintaining compost bins & planting.
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    OK!
    Hinges fixed on hot beds, lubricated, sanitized, ready for plants.
    Don't exactly want green creeping crud in my seed starts!

    For ME... This is what I DO FOR MYSELF (so someone doesn't chime in with what they do in a jungle or artic circle or some other right angle tangents),

    I start on the old zodiac calenders.
    Around Feb. 28th the days get long enough (effective sun hours) and the sun is direct enough to keep plants warm.
    Sitting the plant beds on top of the compost beds (concrete block surrounds) provides more heat without costing anything.
    In do insulate the sides of the compost piles in winter to retain heat the compost produces, this keeps the composting active during winter since it can take up to three years to compost some vegetation, this saves time getting a useable compost.

    Since it takes three times longer to grow anything in winter (shortage of sunlight) I don't find it productive to try and grow anything much in winter, I opt for March to start instead.
    Then it's a question of heat, keeping starts from freezing, keeping seeds warm enough to germinate.

    Usually emergence indoors, then climatize for outdoors in the hot box.

    Some seedlings just won't grow early, others are slow starting, others take right off!
    How I sorted this out was buying seeds early and trying a little of everything, since I'm WAY down south in Indiana, I don't want to give specifics that will waste someone's time up north...
    The rest of the seeds got planted later on, so no real waste there, seed are cheap.

    If you start indoors, the sprouts/emergence will tell you when they are ready to go, don't expect all seedlings to sprout at the same time,
    Just climatize and move outside as they emerge.
    This is nature, and nature has its own time table!

    I have exactly ONE thermal glass pane hot box, everything else is salvaged single pane, aluminum frame storm windows.
    It's a window I mis-ordered for the house and I didn't want to waste it.

    Cost is nearly nothing from the recycle stores and they work fine without extra expense.
    Rough carpentry built the box frames, and the only thing I purchased new was hinges at the farm store hardware section.
    Plain old blue foam board for insulation, rough built but look OK and didn't cost a fortune like the 'Mini Green House Boxes' sold on the internet.
    Farmers/gardeners have been doing it this way since glass panes were commonly available, it worked then & still works without a trip to the 'Garden Center' for seedlings.

    I also get to keep my 'Heirloom'/'Heritage' plants since I'm growing from seed, instead of those thick skinned, bland tasting, GMO seedlings from the garden center!
    No sense in spending time growing something that tastes like cardboard or worse, has the texture of wet cardboard, and either doesn't have a smell, or smells like garbage on a hot day!
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    What used to be March/April floods in the river bottoms is happening in February....

    At least it's washing more rock into the gravel beds, nothing like creek/river rock for drainage projects!
    Taking the shovel & buckets along on the fence check today to see what's washed in but not still underwater.
    Free is free, even if it takes a little work!
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    Thanks for the good words.

    I try and reduce it to most simple terms & common sense.
    I tried a plastic sheet greenhouse, the maintenance/expense exceeded what I wanted to put up with.
    The hot boxes are more durable and do what I want.

    Expense & work are a big deal, storms kept tearing up the plastic sheets. If it had been (much more expensive) glass it would have faired better, but I don't do exotics.
    Energy is a big deal to heat large air volume of a greenhouse during late cold snaps and that takes out of your pocket so again, expense.

    Concrete blocks & foam insulation board for compost bins are cheap and not even weeds go to waste with compost bins,
    Hot boxes are fairly cheap & durable, but it would depend on what you wanted to grow (common or exotic) and your volume.
    If I freeze out some common starts once in a while, it's not catastrophic, just nature.

    Nature is the other thing, she has her own game plan,
    The river is up, the temp is down, but I have a couple trees trying to bud out already so it's not far off, time to get off my behind and do something...
    And to be frank about it, I'm ready to get dirty in the dirt and see things turn green!
    The older I get the less I like the winter slow season.

    Some guys just don't like the slow pace, some don't like getting dirty, others don't care for manual labor...
    It's not particularly hard work, and I get to do it at my own pace.
    I really enjoy home canning, I took a volume, mechanical approach so I 'Invested' in the correct tools, and found a 'Process' that works for me.
    The end result is exactly what I like, from catsup to Apple butter, from pasta sauce to salsa...
    From soup to nuts... Literally.

    Since it's not 'Tacti-Cool' in green mylar packaging, it's probably not 'Prepper', but it's good, filling, nutritious food that stores a long time and replentishes itself if you leave some plants go to seed.

    The other 'Up' side is the excess sells for cash money & tax credits.
    The first & the 'Prettiest' sell for a cash premium, while just plain excess get big tax credits at the food bank.
    Since SHTF hasn't happened, and might not in my lifetime, the cash & tax credits come in pretty handy!
    Only a fool wastes money, so planting/selling some excess makes sense.
    At least I won't be eating cat food in my old age...

    Nothing says you can't cash in on the city folks,
    Decorative plants (like day lilies) sell well and all it cost you was some seeds & dirt.
    My wife dries weeds & makes arrangements, and those are stupid money as 'Decorator' items.
    Weeds man! Zero investment to grow, just make a trip to the river bottoms and cut them for free!
    Like $150 to $700 for WEEDS... Makes me wonder why people take chances growing pot...

    We run out of Apple butter, spicy catsup & white sweet corn every year, the neighbors & relatives carry off as much as they can get.
    The big secret of 'Spicy' catsup is a hand full of 'Red Hots' in a batch.
    The secret of Apple butter is dried apples & a blender. Nothing much to it, but they loose their minds...
    White sweet corn is REAL sweet & tender, but since it's not GMO the ears & kernels are smaller, so you need to process more.
    When growing white sweet corn, and you want to keep your seed line pure, you can't grow other corn around it, it cross pollinates and you will get yellow in the ears.
    Good stuff, but not big volume.

    The other secret is RUN, don't walk from field to kitchen!
    Pull the ears and Immediately process to stop sugars from converting to starch.
    MUCH better this way.

    I scored a bunch of plain brown cardboard yesterday, new 'Spring' stuff is coming into stores and I snagged the shipping boxes.
    These are GREAT for laying on the ground around plants to stop weeds & bugs.
    A water drip line next to plants, some ground cover to keep weeds out and to keep rain from pounding the ground hard as a rock.
    It also keeps rain from washing the fertilizers out of your growing soil (soil being different than 'Dirt'), and it's free most times.
    Till it into the soil in the fall and it rots down by planting time in the spring, or in the fall you can throw it into the compost bin.

    It's not rocket science, but it takes time & common sense.
    Our grand & great grand parents had it, they survived depressions, the dust bowl, every imaginable natural disasters, etc.
    Keep in mind that 'Country Dumb' feeds the world... Not so 'Dumb' after all...
     
    Last edited:
    Top Bottom