Gardening and Farming

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Comment by John Dilbeck on May 14, 2011 at 6:01pm

Tipper, I'll be taking photos as I grow stuff in the earth boxes. I have everything I need to plant them, but I gotta wait until I can get help getting the bags of potting soil out of my car. A nice young man at the store loaded them into the car for me.

 

I'm going to try my hand at growing herbs for the first time ever, this year.

 

Good luck with those tomatoes and apple trees. Mom and Pop never did too well with fruit trees around here, but they almost always had good blueberry and strawberry harvests. I want to plant some blueberries next year.

 

Not only do apple trees make something that tastes really good (especially when cooked into applesauce or apple butter), but the wood from the trees (when you prune them) makes a nice fire. Smells good and burns with different colors.

Comment by Tipper on May 14, 2011 at 4:21pm

John-hope you'll let us know how your homemade boxes do. We haven't planted any tomatoes yet-but we have plenty in the green house. This year I'm most excited about my new apple trees. My mom n law bought me 3 for mother's day. I know it'll be a while before we have apples-but I'm so excited to just have the trees : )

Comment by John Dilbeck on May 14, 2011 at 11:23am

I got some herbs and tomato plants today at the farmers market. I'm going to try growing them in some home-made "Earth Boxes" this year.

I'm thinking of trying some upside-down gardening with squash, just for fun.

 

How's your garden coming along this year? 

Comment by John Dilbeck on April 12, 2011 at 1:09pm

From Cherokee County Cooperative Extension, "Not enough space for a garden? Raised beds have been built at the Cherokee County Farmer's Market in Ranger and are available for anyone interested. Call us at 828-837-2210 if you are interested!"

Comment by John Dilbeck on September 26, 2010 at 3:30pm

I can't tell you much about Brussel Sprouts. I've never tried to grow any.

You'll be nice and established when it's time to plant maters next year!

You're right about red ripe tomatoes right off the vine!

Comment by Kevon Hardin on September 26, 2010 at 10:51am

We moved in too late in the season to really have much of a vegetable garden this year. We are growing some 'cool' weather vegies though and they are REALLY taking off!!!

Are any of you haveing any success with your Brussel Sprouts? I hear that they are really stubborn in this area. We did plant a few and are not really sure if we will see anything from them. Wish we had gotten here early enough to have some of those FRESH maters that you were talking about J.D. Maters fresh off the vine.... mmmmmmmm.... nothing like them.

Comment by Tipper on August 28, 2010 at 7:04pm

Lovely thoughts about your Mom-John. Thank you for sharing them. It is funny when you love to grow things- you do begin to think of them as friends.

Comment by John Dilbeck on August 28, 2010 at 11:51am

You may be right about "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I've seen Mom and Pop take something that looked like a dead stick, soak it in water, and then plant it in a pot in the kitchen. At least half the time, it would root and start growing for them. They were amazing.

Mom knew more about plants than anyone else I've known. She could walk around the yard with someone and tell a story about all the flowers, herbs, fruit trees, bushes and grasses and even tell you where she bought them, found them, or who gave them to her. It was like each of them was a personal friend.

Every year, she would start talking about climbing the mountain to see the naked ladies. When I first heard that, I was interested, too. Then I learned that she was talking about little bitty flowers. I wasn't as interested after that. (grin)

When she got to where she couldn't make it up the mountain, and later not even into the yard, I'd help her into her wheelchair and take her outside to the ramp so she could see some of her plant friends.

When the jonquils started blooming, I'd go out and cut fresh flowers for her every other day or so, all through the growing season. Since she had planted so many different kinds, there was a parade of lilies, roses, mums, mountain laurel, and quite a few others.

I won't even get started on talking about growing fruits and vegetables, freezing, canning, drying, making jams and jellies, baking, and cooking all they grew, what their friends gave them, and what they bought. I don't know how they managed to do all they did.

Comment by Arleene Ward on August 28, 2010 at 11:17am

Maybe they got their green thumbs by planting by the signs! :)

Honestly, though, I do believe there is something to the old folklore. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Comment by John Dilbeck on August 28, 2010 at 7:39am

On her Blind Pig & The Acorn blog, Tipper wrote about the results of this year's Planting by the Signs test.

When I was a teenager, Mom and Dad claimed that gardens planted by the signs out produced gardens that were planted on the wrong days. So, I set out to test it. They planted on the good days and I planted some on other days.

Mom and Dad's part of the garden did much better than mine. But, I don't know if that was because of the signs, or if it was because they were always much better at raising plants than I've ever been. Both of them had green thumbs and loved growing things. I don't have a green thumb and barely manage to keep tender green things alive.

So, what do you think about growing by the signs?

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