Skirret (Sium sisarum)

Skirret is a perennial root vegetable with a taste somewhere between carrots and parsnips. It yields several four-to-sixteen-inch misshapen roots with colors varying from white to light brown to gray, depending on the varietal and growing conditions. Widely grown in the Far East, skirret has not been common in the United States since the American Revolution. The most difficult challenge to growing skirret today is finding seed, but at any one time, there are usually one or two online seed companies offering it. The good news is that once you’ve grown it, you won’t need seed again because skirret can be propagated by root division. In northern climates, direct seed skirret shallowly about one month before the last frost date. In southern climates, sow it in the fall so that it can grow through the winter. After germination, thin seeds to about a foot apart, so the plants have room to grow up to four feet tall. In the north, mulch skirret for overwintering. Skirret is best harvested after two years. In the north, skirret flavor will benefit from frost. Also, skirret after the second year is less woody with improved taste, regardless of frost exposure.

Skirret can be braised or boiled, and complements potatoes in a mash. Depending on the growing conditions and varietal, it may have a tough inedible core. Remove this after cooking.

Scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica) and Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)

Scorzonera and salsify are biennials that are easy to grow, provide a refreshingly different taste, have few disease or pest problems, and can be eaten from the root up to the flower. With all these advantages, try growing a few along with your carrots.

Scorzonera is originally from Spain. Also known as black salsify or black oyster plant, it produces carrot-sized roots with a rough black skin over white flesh. As one of its names indicates, scorzonera tastes similar to oysters. Scorzonera is another one of those root vegetables that Americans grew before the advent of large-scale mechanized cultivation.

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Scorzonera grows best in cooler climates, although I’ve successfully grown it in California’s hot central valley and it’s also been grown in Florida with moderate success. One to two months before the last frost date, direct seed 1/8-inch deep a few inches apart. Once established, thin plants to six inches. If you’re a vigorous weed hunter, be careful because recently germinated scorzonera looks a lot like grass. This root vegetable can be harvested after six months, but I’ve found these to be small and wasteful of garden space. Since scorzonera retains its flavor over winter, harvest in year two for bigger roots and a better crop yield.

I’ve had trouble harvesting scorzonera. If you try to pull it out of the ground like a carrot, the root often snaps near the base, leaving much of the stubborn root buried deep in the ground. Instead of yanking it out, gently dig around the scorzonera root and then carefully pull it out.

Unlike carrots or skirret, do not eat scorzonera raw because it has a bitter taste. Rinse off the roots but do not remove the skin (which contains much of the oyster flavor) before cooking. Boil the roots for eighteen to twenty minutes, let them cool, and remove the skin. I like to drizzle them with béchamel sauce, but they can also be mashed with butter for a tasty alternative to mashed potatoes.

Another great reason to grow scorzonera is its versatility. All parts of the plant are edible. The young leaves complement other greens in a salad. During the second year, overwintered roots produce shoots that can be prepared as an asparagus substitute. Flowers from the plant have a cocoa aroma that spices up salads.

Salsify is similar to scorzonera but has light-colored roots. Its advantage over scorzonera is that you can harvest the roots after about four months. However, it also has a couple of disadvantages. It can spread and become a weed, so your cultivated varietal could cross with previous varietals that have become weeds in your part of the country.

Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa)

Although not as rare as skirret, scorzonera, or salsify, parsnip is another neglected root vegetable. It has white roots that resemble a fat carrot. Although you can grow parsnip in many parts of the country, it has a very bland flavor unless subjected to a cold winter. Parsnips are grown, cultivated and eaten like carrots, but have some advantages to those living in the north. First, if you’re a seed saver (and we should all be) parsnips are similar to carrots, so you can grow it like a white carrot without worrying about seed purity. Second, parsnips can survive very cold winters in areas where carrots won’t without the tedious process of digging them up, storing them over winter, and replanting them.

Parsnips do have a few disadvantages to carrots, however. First, they are slow to germinate and do so somewhat inconsistently. You need to overseed and thin. Second, parsnip leaves may cause some people to break out in unpleasant skin rashes. Finally, parsnip seed is good for only a year, so you must be diligent in your seed storing efforts. Overall, however, parsnips complement carrots in the garden and are worth planting in a northern garden.

Conclusion

Over the past couple of hundred years, Americans have narrowed the variety of plants in their gardens. This is especially true with root vegetables. Expose yourself to new tastes and valuable food sources by trying one of these tried-and-true alternatives to today’s more common root vegetables.

How much your garden is affected by disease depends partly on your climate. Gardens in dry climates with cold winters suffer fewer disease problems than warm, moist climates. This is one aspect of gardening that you don’t have much control over. Fortunately, how you tend your garden also plays a big role in controlling disease.

Disease prevention starts with careful planning and garden preparation. Vigilance during the growing season can ward off major problems. Healthy, vigorous plants are much less likely to suffer from disease problems than struggling ones. If you find that you must use fungicides to control diseases, opt for those labeled safe for organic use and apply them early in the season, when appropriate. Below are more tips on maintaining a disease-free garden.

Before Planting

• Plan your garden location carefully. Place your garden in an area that gets at least six to eight hours of sunlight each day. In most areas, the south or southwestern area of your yard is an ideal spot for the vegetable garden. In the south, you can probably get away with a northern or eastern location. Place the garden where it has easy access to water.
• Amend the soil. Poor soil accounts for more than 80 percent of vegetable garden failures, yet it’s one of the few aspects of gardening that you have control over. Vegetables need fertile, well-draining loam. In clay, the roots can’t get oxygen and drown. Plants are also more susceptible to root rots and other diseases. In sandy soils, water and nutrients leach too quickly out of the soil, causing drought stress and nutrient deficiencies. Here’s an easy way to amend the soil: make raised beds out of wood, rock or other materials. You can even make raised beds if you prefer. When adding soil to the bed, alternate regular garden soil with layers of compost, dried leaves and peat moss. Then, annually, add an additional 2 inches of compost to the soil surface. Add in a balanced fertilizer every year before planting, based on your soil type and fertility.
• Choose disease-resistant plants. Whether you start seedlings yourself, buy nursery transplants, or seed directly in the garden, good plant selection is vital to keeping a healthy garden. Talk with a county extension agent or visit your state’s master gardener site to learn about plants that are adapted to your region. Look for plants or seeds that are known for their disease resistance. Tomato varieties, for example, might be labeled VN or VNF, which indicates the plants are resistant to specific diseases. Buy transplants that are short and stocky and avoid those that are leggy. Avoid any that have pale, yellow or blemished leaves. Heirlooms are particularly hardy because they’ve stood the test of time.

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During The Growing Season

• Plant seeds and transplants at the appropriate time. Cool-season plants like carrots, lettuce, spinach, and peas grow best in spring and fall. Plant them about four weeks before the last expected frost. Plant warm-season vegetables, such as beans, tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins only after the last expected frost. Planting these crops early often stunts their growth and makes them more susceptible to disease.
• Spread floating row covers over plants or use hoop tunnels. Floating row covers and hoop tunnels can keep out many insect pests. They also protect young plants in the spring from late frosts and chills. Remove the covers during the heat of summer and when the plants are blossoming so pollinators can reach them.
• Space plants according to the seed packet directions. Plants spaced too closely together compete for water and nutrients and are also more prone to disease. Air should circulate freely.
• Separate plants that belong to the same family because these plants usually carry and spread the diseases. For example, separate tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, as well as cucumbers, melons and pumpkins. Remember to rotate crops so they don’t grow in the same location from year to year.
• Keep the plants dry and avoid working in a wet garden because many diseases are spread by wet leaves. Use soaker hoses instead of overhead irrigation and water early in the morning.
• Mulch the soil with untreated grass clippings, straw, or black plastic. Mulch offers so many benefits. It keeps weeds down, which can harbor disease, and it also keeps the soil moist. Organic mulches build the soil as they decompose and they keep plants off the bare, wet ground.
• Control insects that spread disease. Many insects can spread disease from weed plants to the vegetable garden. For example, aster leafhoppers can spread aster yellows from dandelions to carrots.
• Remove diseased plants immediately and bury them away from the garden or bag them and dispose of them. Don’t compost them. In most cases, there is no cure once a vegetable plant becomes diseased. Your best bet is to remove it before it infects other plants.
• In moist, humid climates you may have to resort to fungicides to control diseases. Most fungicides work best to prevent disease, rather than to cure existing infections. If you know that your cucumber and melon crops always succumb to powdery mildew, for example, start a spray program mid-season, when powdery mildew usually appears.
• Water vegetable crops regularly. When plants are drought stressed, they are more susceptible to disease. They also suffer more non-pathogen problems. For example, tomatoes that are subjected to alternate periods of drought and overwatering might develop blossom end rot. Water two or three times each week, as needed to keep the soil moist 1 inch beneath the soil surface.
• Trellis or stake vegetables when possible. Fruiting vegetables that sprawl on the ground are more susceptible to disease. Trellis tomatoes, cucumbers and small melons. Try growing pole beans instead of bush beans.
• Harvest vegetables as soon as they become ripe. Don’t allow fruit to remain on the vine to rot, which attracts insects and makes your garden more susceptible to disease.

After The Harvest

• Remove every last bit of plant debris from the garden and compost it. Don’t add diseased plants to the compost bin, though, because the composting process might not kill the pathogens.
• Wash trellises and cages with hot soapy water if the plants suffered from disease. You don’t want these pathogens lingering around.
• Make records if you haven’t already of where you planted crops so you can rotate them the following year.

What are Vertical Gardens?

“Vertical gardening” is a loose term referring to any gardening technique that encourages plants to grow straight up, rather than horizontally across the ground. There are several different types of vertical gardens, and all are great techniques for growing nutritious and tasty food in places where space is tight. These techniques include growing on trellises or lattice, and even growing the plants from soil suspended on a vertical surface, rather than a pot parallel to the ground. Cheap and easy to make, these vertical gardens can create an attractive “living wall” of tasty plants such as thyme, nasturtiums, and cherry tomatoes.

Types of Vertical Gardens

Gardeners have several variations of the vertical garden to choose from, and all are very easy to care for. They can stand either on their own as a focal point or incorporated into established vegetable beds to increase production without the need to expand out.

Trellises are a type of vertical garden already used by many gardeners. Traditionally used for vines like peas and pole beans, trellises can also be used to support vertical growth for other veggies, including tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and melons. They can be made out of wood, rope, and wire at little cost, and can be used for plants planted both in the ground and in containers.

Pockets are simple containers made of sturdy burlap or landscape fabric that are hung vertically on a wall, rail or fence. Lightweight and portable, these vertical gardens can be bought online or made at home with a few metal hooks, fabric, and staples. They can be comprised of pockets numbering from just a couple to more than a dozen lined in rows. Pocket gardens are easy to care for, although they are prone to drying out, especially in direct sun. The pockets themselves come in a large range of sizes, limited only by the weight of soil and plants.

Pallets make great vertical gardens and cost little – if anything – to make with only a few simple materials. Like vertical pocket gardens, pallets are portable and attractive, and can grow delicious food with hardly taking up any room at all. These vertical gardens are also prone to drying out quickly. When well cared for though, pallets can last for multiple seasons and are real conversation-starters. When planted with showy plants or herbs, they can be stunning garden focal points.

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Benefits/Advantages

• Easier pest and disease control. By staying up and away from the ground, vegetables and herbs growing in a vertical garden avoid many common pests and diseases that thrive under leaf cover in the soil. The pests that do occur can also be noticed and dealt with more easily, since there aren’t thick masses of growth to block the gardener’s view. In addition, plants grown in soil above ground receive better airflow, reducing the chance of problems like rot and mildew.
• Easier harvest. Not only can you actually see all the ripe fruit that would normally be hidden under thick growth, you can also harvest them without the need to strain your back or knees by bending over.
• Space-efficient. Vertical gardens can be set up just about anywhere and are ideal for small spaces. Balconies, patios, and narrow walkways are all great locations for a vertical garden.
• Portable. Many types of vertical gardens, such as the pallet garden, are completely portable. Moving to a new house? Just load up the pallet and take your garden with you!
• Attractive. Even on large, spacious properties, vertical gardens can be a great addition to the landscape. They can brighten dull, boring walls, hide unsightly pipes or wires, and act as a living screen for more privacy.
• Cost-efficient. Making your own vertical garden is a breeze, and hardly costs a thing!

How to Make Your Own Pallet Vertical Garden

Making a pallet garden of your very own is a fun and easy project. Below are the directions. You can also find more detailed instructions, complete with photos, on this container gardening blog.

What you’ll need:

• 1 pallet, in good condition
• Staples
• Landscape fabric
• Potting soil
• Young vegetables, herbs, or flowers – enough to fill in all the spaces

Instructions:

Before planting, check over your pallet. Make sure all the boards are sturdy and secured tight and that there aren’t any loose nails. Sand down any sharp or rough edges.

Lay the pallet face-down on the floor and carefully staple two layers of landscape cloth to the back, sides, and bottom (you will need to use a lot of staples so that soil doesn’t leak out).

Flip the pallet back over for planting. Start by planting your herbs or vegetables at the top of the pallet, making sure there aren’t any empty spaces. Once the top plants are secure, begin filling the pallet with potting soil, pushing it down to keep everything level.

Once the pallet is filled with soil, begin planting the rest of the plants, starting at the very bottom, pushing soil tightly around the roots as you go – the idea is to stuff the plants tightly together, or else the soil may fall out once the pallet is set vertically.

Leave the pallet flat on the floor for a week or two, watering consistently, to give the plant roots a chance to grow and hold the soil in place. Once the herbs and veggies are established, carefully lift the pallet and place it in its permanent place.

Vertical Vegetables

Not all vegetables are ideal candidates for vertical gardening. Bush-type vegetables and large pumpkins are probably too unruly, and corn is probably out of the question (though it grows vertically just fine on its own). Many tasty herbs and veggies, however, thrive when grown vertically, either by winding up a trellis or planted in a pallet. The following are great performers in a vertical garden:

• Tomatoes (indeterminate or vine types)
• Cucumbers
• Small squash & melons (you’ll have to use slings for the large fruit)
• Peas
• Herbs
• Strawberries

Whether you live in a city where space is tight, need to cover an unsightly fence, or simply want to add a new dimension to your vegetable bed, growing vertically is a great solution with attractive and nutritious rewards. Get creative, and try more than one type of vertical garden, or experiment with different plant combinations. The possibilities are practically endless!

References:

http://lifeonthebalcony.com/how-to-turn-a-pallet-into-a-garden/

http://clark.wsu.edu/volunteer/mg/gm_tips/VerticalGardening.html

http://www.countryliving.com/outdoor/how-to-plant-a-vertical-garden#slide-1

Best Vegetables For Canning

Canning vegetables is the process of packing them in a glass jar and sealing them with lids that ensure no bacteria growth is possible inside of the jars. This is a very popular and effective method of preserving vegetables, although it is most often used in the average home for canning jams and pickles. If you have any questions about whether a vegetable is suitable for canning, simply take a look at the canned foods on your grocery store’s shelves. Most commercially canned foods can be easily replicated at home, which means that you could can any of the following vegetables yourself.

• Beans
• Carrots
• Peas
• Potatoes
• Asparagus
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Winter squash
• Beets
• Pickled onions
• Pickled cucumbers
• Cabbage

Some things can be raw packed, with just boiling water poured on top of them, while other vegetables are better first being blanched before they are canned. Tomatoes are an interesting choice because not only can you preserve them as whole blanched tomatoes and as pastes, but you can also create your own pasta sauces and can jars of your delicious red bounty for enjoyment year-round.

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It is essential to follow the strictest methods of ensuring your workspace is pristine and that you are keeping things sterile throughout the canning process. While it is not unheard of for individuals to get sick from food they have canned themselves, with the proper sterilization methods, it is very unlikely.

You may already have some of the tools that you will need when you are canning your vegetables on hand, but others will need to be purchased.

• Large stockpots for sterilizing the jars and for the boiling water bath
• A lid lifter, which is essentially a magnet on the end of a plastic stick
• A jar lifter
• Stainless steel tongs.
• Dozens of glass storage jars and lids. The jars can and rings can be reused, but the lids need to be purchased new every year.

A pressure cooker is not always required when canning, but if you are going to be doing this on a regular basis and in large batches, then you’ll find it to be a superb investment in your family’s food stores. In addition, certain low-acid foods (like beans) will need to be canned with a pressure canner to ensure safety.

Best Vegetables For Freezing

Freezing a good portion of your harvest is an excellent choice, especially if you have the extra freezer space. A lot of gardeners purchase second and third freezers just for the sole purpose of storing their food reserves! Here are some of the best vegetables for storing in your freezer:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Corn
• Winter and summer squash
• Onions
• Asparagus
• Peas
• Artichokes
• Brussels sprouts
• Eggplant
• Mushrooms

Tomatoes are best stored in the freezer if they have already been processed. This means that your fresh whole tomatoes might just simply succumb to freezer burn, but your pasta sauces, purees, and pastes should store just fine in the freezer for up to six months. It is often easier to freeze your sauces, purees, and your pastes in ice trays first. Once the blocks have been frozen solid, you can pop them out and store them in the already dated and labeled freezer bags. This will let you simply pop out the exact amount that you need when you are cooking. This method is also useful for freezing eggs and things like vegetable stock or sauces.

Some of the tools that you will want or need on hand prior to freezing your food stores include the following:

• Various sizes of freezer bags
• A vacuum sealer, if possible
• A permanent marker
• Ice trays for freezing purees and sauces

The majority of your frozen vegetables should do just fine in airtight freezer bags, especially if they have first been blanched before you froze them. Blanching is the process of scalding the vegetables in steam or boiling water. It stops the natural enzymes in the vegetables from losing flavor and color, which could happen very rapidly once the vegetables have been picked. It can be a bit tricky to get the blanching times just right. If you under-blanch the vegetables, then you actually run the risk of overstimulation of the enzymes, which could result in rapid degradation of the vegetables. Over-blanching the vegetables will cause a loss of color, flavor, and also a loss of vital nutrients.

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What a lot of people don’t know is that there are a number of fruits that can also be frozen really well, beyond strawberries, raspberries, and peaches. If you have some bananas that are turning over-ripe rather rapidly and you don’t have the time or need for banana bread right now, then you can easily slice the bananas and freeze the slices until you are ready to use them. Some people even run the frozen banana slices through a food processer and refreeze the puree for a dairy-free frozen treat that everyone can enjoy!

Canning Versus Freezing – Pros And Cons

So just how do you determine whether you need to freeze or can your vegetable bounty? Naturally some vegetables are just better suited for canning, like the pickled onions or dill pickles that are a favorite in just about every household. Here are a few pros and cons of each method so that you can come to a decision about which one will work best for your unique food preservation and storage needs.

Pros To Canning

• Canned food has an incredibly long shelf life. Some produce can last up to five years and taste as fresh as the day it was packed into those jars.
• In the event of a power outage, you do not need to worry about losing your entire stockpile of food.
• It is easy to share canned food with friends and neighbors without being concerned about thawing during transport.

Cons To Canning

• It can take a long time to put up several pounds of vegetables.
• It can be a backbreaking task.
• A lot of tools are required for effective and efficient canning.

Pros To Freezing

• Freezing your vegetables is easy and relatively quick.
• Freezing requires fewer supplies than canning.
• It is typically easy to tell if frozen food has gone off, and the most you’ll have to worry about is freezer burn.

Cons To Freezing

• Freezers can be costly to run, especially if you have several of them and are trying to conserve power.
• In the event of power loss, you could lose all of your food stores.
• Freezer burn is very possible after as little as three months, even with proper methods used.

Keep in mind that a lot of your root crops and your winter squash don’t need to be frozen or canned. Butternut squash, acorn squash, and pumpkins, for example, can last up to six months if stored in a dark and cool location like a cellar. Potatoes, onions, and garlic are other types of vegetables that will do well if stored in a dark and cool spot.

Determining whether you can to freeze or can your vegetables should also depend on the amount of storage space that you have to devote to each of the preservation types. A cellar is typically a great place to store your canned food, and your basement can also serve the same purpose. Freezers can be placed anywhere in and around your home, but they can sometimes be a bit on the costly side to purchase and repair if something does go wrong with them.

It is recommended that you sit down prior to the spring growing season and make a list of the vegetables that you would like to grow in order to keep your family fed during the fall and the winter months. With this list of vegetables in hand, you’ll also be able to determine which storage method will ultimately be the best choice for you and the space you have to dedicate to food storage. The crops that grow best in the cooler months can be planned towards the end of the summer so that you are assured of a continual year-round harvest from your garden.

While things like cucumbers and lettuces are great to enjoy during the summer months, it is often suggested that gardeners try to limit the number of these that they grow. This is because these vegetables do not freeze or preserve well at all. You can certainly make pickles from immature cucumbers, and enjoy lots of fresh salads, but the growing space is often better reserved for beans, tomatoes, or squash that can sustain your family during the cooler growing months.

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Vegetables

Vegetables are usually the first thing that people plant in their gardens. They grow the best, have the most variety, and you can eat them. There’s no downside to planting veggies, but you have to plant them with plants that encourage growth, or else your garden is going to look a little pathetic and taste just as bad.  It is possible to force your garden to yield a healthy crop despite not using companion gardening, but that requires a lot of manmade fertilizers and chemicals that stimulate unnatural growth. If you want an organic garden, then you have to rely entirely on your own mulch, compost, and companion plants.

The first step after tilling up your garden for the spring or getting your raised beds ready is choosing what you want to plant. Then, it’s just a simple matter of looking up what neighboring plants will help the ones you want grow. A good crop of vegetables that appear in common dinners and lunches are tomatoes, various types of beans, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, carrots, and maybe another type of root vegetable like turnips or beets. This is a good variety, and it’s not too many; so when the companion plants are paired with them, you will have a pretty good haul of vegetables come harvest time.

Starting with tomatoes, you want to clear a good section off. Tomatoes, unless they’re the hanging variety, take up a lot of space. So you should plant them with one companion plant because you won’t have much room for more. Really, sunlight and right type of soil mixture will help tomatoes the most. When they get growing, they don’t stop unless they aren’t in a lot of direct sunlight. Companion plants for tomatoes are onions, chives, and carrots. None of those take up too much space, and since tomatoes grow above ground, there’s plenty of space for root vegetables. If you were going to plant carrots anyways, this is a good match. If you want some onions in the mix, then go ahead with those.

Beans come next. They pair well with corn and potatoes, and this goes for almost any type of bean including bush, pole, regular, and soybeans. They also go well with cucumbers. What you don’t want to plant next to beans are onions, garlic, or chives.

Cucumbers should be planted next to beans, corn, or peas, but they shouldn’t be planted next to potatoes. Most vegetables can be paired up like this so you don’t have to plant a whole other garden just to be companion plants.

Potatoes grow best paired with beans and corn, but you should avoid planting any type of squash, cucumbers, or tomatoes nearby. Turnips grow well next to peas, but even though beets are related to turnips, you should plant beets next to onions and avoid beans and peas.

Herbs

Fruits generally grow well together regardless of what type they are, but that’s generally not the case with herbs. Herbs grow a lot like vegetables, and they can be paired with companion herbs to stimulate growth and flavor. Like vegetables, you might want to grow a moderate-sized herb garden and fill it with typical herbs you use for cooking and flavoring common dinners and food. Let’s say you want to plant rosemary, thyme, basil, chives, dill, garlic, mint, and maybe some horseradish.  These are typical herbs unless you’re looking to open your own apothecary, and in most cases, these herbs can be grown pretty close to your vegetables, even among some of your vegetables.

Rosemary actually pairs well with several different kinds of vegetables, and most of them are in the hypothetical vegetable garden previously mentioned. Rosemary goes well with carrots, beans, and corn, and drives away carrot flies and beetles that attack beans. Thyme doesn’t need to be planted in the vegetable garden, so it can be grown alone in its own little planter or with a variety of other herbs. It does drive away cabbage worms though, so it you plan on planting cabbage or kale, plant it near thyme. If you plant basil next to tomatoes, it will improve the growth and flavor of both the tomatoes and the basil. Basil also repels mosquitoes and flies. Chives we already know are good for tomatoes, but you can also grow them next to carrots to improve their growth and flavor as well. Dill is only good for cabbage, so unless you’re growing cabbage or kale, you can grow thyme and dill on their own or next to each other in a separate herb garden. This also goes for garlic. Mint is good for tomatoes as well, but be careful about planting them next to each other because they both spread out like crazy. If you plant horseradish at the corners of your potato section, it will help drive away potato bugs and allow you to harvest a larger crop.

Flowers

Besides herbs, there are also some flowers that can help stimulate growth in herbs and vegetables and also repel garden pests of all kinds. The main flower that acts as a general natural pesticide is marigold. If you plant a ring of marigolds around your entire garden, it will keep away almost every single kind of harmful bug and insect that wants to munch on all your hard work. Marigolds also keep out slugs, which can be one of the most destructive forces that invade gardens. You can also place a ring of salt around your garden, but salt can sink into the soil and harm plant growth.

Petunias protect beans, and nasturtiums help keep the aphid population down. A smattering of flowers around your vegetable and herb garden also makes it aesthetically pleasing and gives a splash of color among all the green. Henbit is also a general insecticide, and small amounts of dandelions increase the aromatic properties of most herbs. If you can believe it, stinging nettle is good to grow around most herbs and vegetables because it makes them hardier and more resistant to disease and spoiling. It also increases the essential oil content in many herbs. This is especially good if you are harvesting a large amount of herbs for their oils.

A garden is designed to work together, again, just like people are designed to work together. Sometimes we don’t all do so well when we’re crammed into one space, but given the option to be around the people we like, they often help us grow, thrive, and maybe they improve our flavor a little as well.

To be truly self-sufficient, though, requires a more intensive approach. Several years ago, my husband was unemployed for an extended period. During this time, we relied mostly on our food storage to feed our family. From this experience, we learned two things: we needed to store at least three times the amount of food we thought we would need; and we needed to store a wide variety of foods to fend off boredom and nutritional deficiencies.

As it turns out, a large kitchen garden isn’t nearly enough to feed a family. To become truly self-sufficient, you’ll need at least an acre of intensely cultivated crops. This endeavor takes some careful planning. How do you determine exactly how much you’ll need? Write down a typical monthly menu for your family. Multiply the ingredients in the menu by nine to twelve months and you’ll have a basic idea of what you need to store. Pull out your favorite canning book or visit the USDA’s site to determine how many pounds of produce you need to can your favorite staples. Finally, a gardening site can offer insight into the potential yields of various crops. This might seem like a lot of work, but if you do it right the first time and take good notes, you won’t need to do it again. With trial and error, you’ll soon have an instinctive feel for how much food you need.

Grains And Legumes

The first crops you’ll want to incorporate are grains and hard corn for making flours and feeding livestock. Unless you have a lot of animals, you won’t need a large patch. Plant some barley and rye for variety and don’t forget oats. Traditional oats are very difficult to hull, so look for “naked-seed” ones with softer hulls.

Save room for several rows of legumes. In the grocery store, your choices are usually limited to four or five types—black, kidney, pinto, or navy beans. Check any good seed catalog, though, and you’ll find hundreds of interesting beans.

If you have a lot of animals, you’ll need at least an acre for growing grain for feed. This might seem like a big step, but it’s actually fairly simple. For a small farm operation, you won’t even need a tractor. Instead, buy a pair of moderately sized workhorses and a plow. Horses don’t require a lot of care or maintenance, and their manure fertilizes the field. Additionally, your kids will love them! As far as equipment goes, check farm sales for old plows and tillers. Amish country is probably the best place to go for finding horse-drawn equipment.

Perennial Vegetables

Next on the list are perennial vegetables. These crops don’t take up a lot of room, and they come back year after year with almost no help from you. Asparagus takes two to three years to start producing a good crop. Plan on a row at least twenty feet long, or more if you really love asparagus. Rhubarb grows quickly and tolerates a bit of shade. Two or three plants is more than enough for most families.

Onions And Root Vegetables

People tend to forget about these humble vegetables, but they’re essential in the homesteader’s garden. Dry onions and garlic flavor winter dishes and can be stored for months. Root vegetables, including carrots, turnips, beets, parsnips, and potatoes, are simple to grow and keep for up to six months in cold storage. In mild climates, leave root vegetables in the ground and cover them with straw.

Tender Annual Vegetables

Tender annual vegetables, such as tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and sweet corn, take up the most space in your garden. They also require the most care. Most families need between ten and twenty tomato plants to provide enough tomatoes for sauces, salsas, and soups. You’ll also want several rows of sweet corn and green beans. Grow a few chili plants for adding flavor to meals. Don’t forget cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, and winter squash.

Greens

Greens are a valuable source of nutrition, and they grow very quickly in limited space. You can even grow many greens indoors under grow lights during the winter. Think kale, collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, kohlrabi, and lettuce.

Small Fruit

No homestead garden is complete without a few small fruit plants. Small fruit add sweetness and variety to the homestead diet and they are remarkable versatile. Freeze them, dry them, can them or make them into jams and syrups.

Most small fruit crops are perennial and require little care. Raspberries, for example, live thirty years or more and require little more than annual pruning and regular watering. Some make fine landscaping shrubs, providing shade and shelter for wildlife. Depending on your climate, try grapes, gooseberries, currants, elderberries, raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries.

Orchard Fruit

Orchard fruits have a reputation for being difficult to grow, and certainly, commercially grown fruits are heavily treated with pesticides and chemicals. In the homesteader’s orchard, though, your goal is not cosmetically perfect fruit. A few worm holes or blemishes are no cause for concern. With such a reasonable approach, you’ll find growing orchard fruits to be a simple, rewarding project. In general, most fruit trees need only minimal pruning in late winter and an application of manure. Semi-dwarf and dwarf trees produce fruit earlier and are simpler to maintain than standard varieties, but they may not fare as well in bitterly cold winters. It’s also important to choose orchard fruit varieties suited to your climate. In my Colorado orchard, late May frosts are not uncommon, so growing early-blooming fruit such as peaches and apricots is almost impossible. Hardy apple varieties and sour cherries are a better choice.

Tips For Success

People often think they need acres and acres to grow enough food for their family, but this simply isn’t so. One secret to using space efficiently is to replace ornamental plants in your landscape with edible ones. Apple trees make fine landscaping trees. Replace large shade trees with pecans or English walnuts. Plant shrubs that produce edible berries, such as elderberry, serviceberry, or even chokecherry.

Try succession planting, which is the technique of growing multiple crops on the same land. In early spring, grow peas, radishes and lettuce. Use the same area to grow tender annual vegetables during the summer. In late summer, plant broccoli, lettuce, and kale.

Plan for success. Some plants naturally grow better in your particular climate than others. Grow these plants in large quantities in your garden. You can still grow more challenging plants, but they’ll need more maintenance and attention. Grow them in smaller quantities to reduce your risk and the amount of time you must spend in the garden.

Plant open-pollinated varieties, rather than hybrids. These plants are naturally hearty and often taste better than hybrids. Most importantly, you can save the seeds of open-pollinated plants, which is usually not an option with hybrids.

©2012 Off the Grid News

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There are several gadgets that, through the hydroponics process, will allow you to grow cherry tomatoes on your kitchen, in your living room, or even in your office at work. However, while these gadgets certainly do have their novelty appeal, they can be very costly and also limit you in what you can actually grow. There are other options, however, so read on!

Indoor Growing Requirements

Naturally there will be different requirements for the various plants that you are growing, but the majority of them will require at least six hours of sunlight a day. There are five essential factors to growing your vegetables indoors, and they are as follows:

1. Levels of light
2. Growing medium
3. Levels of humidity
4. Air circulation
5. Temperature

If you have a room in your home that receives a constant amount of light during the day, then this could be your best choice. Another alternative is to do some good research into growing lamps. Grow bulbs are available at most home improvement stores and can fit into any lighting fixture; however, they may not provide your plants with all of the light that they need. These grow bulbs are typically best suited for keeping your orchards and African violets thriving indoors. The amount of light and the intensity of the light will determine how long your plants remain active and will ensure that photosynthesis is taking place at an acceptable rate. Light intensity has a marked effect on how the plant grows, flowers, and fruits; the intensity of the light is dependent on how close the plant is to the source of light.

Vegetables that produce fruit, like cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, will have much higher light requirements than salad greens, herbs, and root vegetables like carrots and beets. Compact fluorescent lights can serve you very well if you are growing greens, sprouts, and herbs, so long as the source of light is no higher than four inches above the plants.

Your growing medium is just as important for your indoor plants as it is for your vegetables grown outdoors. If the soil is not providing the plants with adequate nutrition then you will have just as many problems indoors as those you face outdoors when your soil pH levels and nutritional values are off. Before you plant your seeds, do a thorough test of the soil that you plan to use, and you can effectively avoid problems that would hamper your growing progress.

Levels of humidity are important to keep an eye on, otherwise you face concerns with overly dried out plants or plants that are developing fungal infections and rot. During the winter months, we tend to heat our homes using forced-air heating systems that are incredibly effective at drying out everything in our homes. To maintain a good humidity level, you may need to consider investing in a simple cool mist humidifier that can counteract the forced air dryness.

Air circulation is also an important consideration because a nice breezy atmosphere can help to prevent the growth of molds and fungus and also help to ensure that the moisture in the air is getting evenly distributed throughout your indoor garden space. Numerous options are available for providing adequate air circulation, but a nice quality fan that rotates slowly will do the job really well.

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Temperature is something that you also need to closely monitor, especially if your indoor garden space is in a shed, garage, or other space that is not insulated. If temperatures dip too low during the overnight hours, then you run the risk of your plants succumbing to the freezing temperatures. On the other hand, you also run the risk of your tomatoes not setting blossoms if their overnight temperatures do not go below 85 degrees F.

Once you have addressed the five major requirements of growing vegetables indoors, you can move onto the actual seeding and growing process.

Best Vegetables To Grow Indoors

There are some vegetables that are simply not going to be a good choice to grow indoors, mostly due to the space and light requirements that they have. Corn, squash, peas, beans, and melons like cucumbers or watermelon may not thrive indoors, but that doesn’t mean you can’t necessarily attempt to grow them. If conditions are right and you can afford the space, then you may be able to have good luck with them.

Here are some of the best choices for growing vegetables indoors during the winter months:

• Carrots
• Beets
• Onions
• Garlic
• Herbs
• Tomatoes (cherry and mini varieties)
• Lettuces
• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Potatoes

Several intrepid gardeners have taken the steps to create a trellis in their indoor growing space so that they can grow peas year-round. Peas prefer cooler temperatures, so they might be a better choice to attempt versus heat-loving beans that tend to thrive during the summer months.

Limited space need not keep you from growing things like potatoes, especially since you can grow them vertically. Potato towers and bags are exceptionally popular with gardeners who have space limits. Not only can you grow several pounds of potatoes in less than a few square feet of space, but you can also make harvesting them a lot easier than needing to go dig through several hundred feet of growing space outdoors.

Your potato tower or bags can be reused outdoors during the summer months to ensure a year-round harvest of this very versatile and nutritious vegetable that also stores beautifully.

Growing carrots indoors is something that often comes as a surprise to even the most seasoned gardener. While carrots do well growing outdoors, many gardeners have discovered that they tend to thrive in large containers or buckets as well. Whether planting the mini varieties or the full-sized carrots, you’ll find that with nice loose soil that is rich in organic material, along with the right light requirements, you can grow amazing carrots even in the dead of winter.

Some types of fruits also grow really well indoors, assuming you can meet their growing requirements. Lemons and strawberries, for example, can thrive in your greenhouse, shed, or basement garden if you just give them the light and warmth that they need.

Knowing where to start can sometimes be the most baffling aspect of growing vegetables indoors, so consider starting small. Get a few compact florescent bulbs and grow a few varieties of lettuce. Once your lettuce is thriving, you can branch out towards spinach and even those juicy red cherry tomatoes you’ve been dreaming of.

It might take a bit of time and a bit of a financial investment, but with the right gear and the right setup, you won’t hesitate getting your vegetables growing indoors when everyone else is staring at barren winter fields.

©2012 Off the Grid News

What is hydroponics?

Hydroponics is a type of hydroculture. Hydroculture is growing plants without soil. In hydroponics, plants are grown in water with a nutrient solution that provides the minerals that they normally get from soil. Hydroponically grown plants may have their roots directly in the water or anchored by an inert medium like gravel, diatomaceous earth, clay, perlite, or coconut husk.

The discovery that eventually led to hydroponics occurred in the 1700s. Scientists found that plants absorb nutrients as ions dissolved in water. When plants grow in soil, the nutrients are only absorbed by roots when there is water available. The soil itself contributes nothing to the process of absorption. For this reason, just about any plant can be grown without any soil at all as long as adequate nutrients are provided in the growing medium.

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What are the benefits of growing hydroponically?

As with any gardening technique, there are both pros and cons to hydroponics. On the plus side:

• You need no soil to grow plants this way.
• Water can be recycled and reused in hydroponics, so you need far less water overall than you would use for traditional gardening.
• You can control the amount and ratio of nutrients that the plants get.
• Pests and diseases are less of a problem, because they often persist in soil.
• You will not release any pollution into the soil via fertilizers.
• Hydroponically grown plants grow faster and provide a larger yield than soil-grown plants. This may be because the roots in hydroponics have more access to oxygen, which helps them grow more and absorb nutrients faster than those in soil. Another idea is that because the plants need not use energy to find and break down food, they can use that energy to grow.

Are there any disadvantages to using hydroponics?

The advantage list outweighs the disadvantage list, but hydroponics is certainly not a perfect technique. To get started in hydroponics, you will need to invest time and money in equipment and learning how to use it. You also risk killing your plants quickly if anything goes wrong. Out in the garden, your plants have a better chance of survival, but in a hydroponic set up, they are completely reliant on you to get it right. Although in general hydroponic plants are less susceptible to diseases and pests, they are vulnerable to fungal infections because of the moisture levels.

Should you use a solution culture or a medium culture?

There are two main ways of growing plants hydroponically: with a medium on which the roots grow, or without. Without a medium, the roots of the plant go directly into the nutrient solution. Solution culture can be further broken down into static and continuous-flow types. For a static culture, the plants grow in containers full of nutrient solution. These could be glass jars, plastic tubs, buckets, or some other type of container. The roots are partially in the nutrient solution and partially exposed to the air to ensure they get enough oxygen. For a continuous-flow solution culture, a pump circulates the nutrient solution so that it constantly flows past the plants’ roots. Although the equipment is more complex, the continuous-flow method produces a greater harvest.

Medium culture hydroponics involves anchoring the roots in some type of inert medium. This technique uses the capillary action of the medium to get the nutrient solution to the roots. In other words, the medium absorbs the nutrient solution and transfers it to the roots. Advantages of using a medium include giving the roots a structure on which to grow, providing the roots with adequate oxygen, and reducing the chances of root rot developing.

What are the choices for a growing medium?

You have many different choices when it comes to selecting a medium for hydroponics. They differ in terms of porosity, ability to absorb water and nutrients, water retention, and cost.

• Expanded clay aggregate. These are baked clay spheres or pellets that are inert and do not have any nutrient value in themselves. The pellets are lightweight and porous. They are sustainable because they can be sterilized and reused.
• Coconut fibers. The fibers from the outer shell of a coconut make a good growing medium for hydroponics. It is natural and contains a fungus that actually helps roots grow. It can store and release nutrients to the plant roots as well.
• Rock wool. Also known as mineral wool, rock wool is the most commonly used medium in hydroponics. It is made from molten rock that is spun into fibers. It is very efficient at absorbing water and nutrients, but it is a suspected carcinogen.
• Perlite or pumice. Both are volcanic rocks that are light and porous and absorb water and nutrients well.
• Gravel or sand. Gravel and sand have the advantage of being very inexpensive and easy to find. On the other hand, they are very heavy and dry out easily. Sand must be sterilized between uses.

What about the nutrients?

To grow your hydroponic plants, the nutrient solution is essential. You must provide the same nutrients that are found in soil. You can create your own solution by mixing chemicals into water until you get the right ratio, but this is not easy. You need to find the right recipe, the ingredients, and mix them together correctly. It is possible to make your own, but it is much easier to by a premade nutrient mixture from a hydroponics supply store. These typically come in a concentrated form, and you measure a certain amount into your water.

Another important aspect of your nutrient solution is the pH level. For hydroponics, the water should be between 5.8 and 6.8, with 6.3 being the ideal reading. You should test your solution weekly with a simple pH meter or testing strips and adjust accordingly to maintain the right level of acidity.

Your nutrient solution is just the right environment for algal growth. To avoid it, use a container that is opaque, or wrap a clear container in black tape to keep light from penetrating the water.

Should you make or build your hydroponic system?

That depends on your ability level, your tool availability, and the amount of time you have to spend on a project. If you have the time and the inclination, make your own. You can find plenty of designs and directions for building a hydroponic system online and in books on the subject. By making your own, you get to control every aspect of your system and save money. You can use spare bits of materials you have lying around to construct an inexpensive system. Of course, if you can’t even make a birdhouse, you probably will struggle to build your own system. Hydroponic suppliers are easy to find, and, depending on where you live, there may even be a brick and mortar store not too far from you. At the least, you should be able to find a variety of system for purchase online.

©2012 Off the Grid News

Asparagus is a hardy perennial and grows wild all over the country. If you plan your asparagus bed well, it will keep coming back for up to thirty years. Besides being very tasty, this vegetable is a great source of nutrition for your family. Asparagus is low in calories and fat and high in vitamins A and C, folic acid, potassium, and fiber.

Varieties

Before starting your asparagus plot, you will need to select a variety or a few to grow. Typical types of asparagus that are easy to find include Martha Washington, Mary Washington, and Waltham Washington. You may also be able to use newer varieties like Jersey Prince, Jersey Giant, and Jersey Knight.

Not only do you need to select a variety, you also will choose between male and female plants. Asparagus plants are either male or female. Both types produce shoots, but the female plants produce fewer as they expend energy making seeds. The also drop their seeds, producing a clutter of seedlings in the garden, which can become a problem. To get the greatest yield and to avoid the need to weed seedlings regularly, you will want to get all male plants.

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Preparing the Bed

The first step to creating a successful asparagus patch for years to come is preparing the bed. Asparagus likes to grow by itself without intrusions by other plants, so set aside a separate plot just for this vegetable. The foliage from the asparagus plants will remain in place throughout the summer and fall, so place the bed on the side of the garden next to plants that might prefer a little shade. The size of the plot is up to you and depends on how many plants you want and how much asparagus you hope to harvest once the bed matures. Each plant, when fully mature, will send out about fifteen or twenty spears. Put in enough plants to feed your family, but also consider growing enough to harvest and store extra asparagus. The spears freeze and can well. The plants will need to be about a foot apart.

Cultivate the soil very well before you get started growing asparagus plants. Weeds can get the better of this plant, so it is imperative that you dig them all out ahead of time. Double dig the soil to get to every last one of them. With the weeds out, you should enrich the soil. Use compost if you have it, but rotted leaves or manure will work as well. Asparagus responds very well in rich, organic soil, so take your time on this part to ensure your bed will produce for years.

Planting

It is possible to grow asparagus from seed, but it is tricky and time-consuming. Most people start their beds with plants that are one-year old, called crowns. This cuts down on one year of growing time with no harvest. When you start from seed, you waste a year getting the seedlings to mature into these one-year crowns. If you do choose to go with seeds, you will grow and tend to the seedlings as they mature into crowns. The seedlings are spaced about an inch apart, but must be transplanted to the bed after one year and spaced on foot apart.

If you choose to grow from crowns, you are one year closer to your asparagus harvest. You may see two-year crowns advertised, but they will not give you an advantage. They tend to suffer from shock after transplanting and do not produce spears any sooner than the one-year crowns. Make sure you buy your crowns from a reputable seller to ensure that you get healthy and disease-free plants. Ask around to find a good place to purchase your crowns.

Dig a trench in your established asparagus bed. It should be six inches deep and twelve inches wide. Some swear by soaking the roots of the crowns in compost tea before placing in the trench, but it is not necessary if you have enriched the soil. If you do soak them, leave them in the tea for about twenty minutes. Place the crowns in the trench about a foot apart from each other and cover each one with two inches of soil. Add soil to the plants throughout the season as they start to grow. You don’t want to rush this process as you run the risk of stifling the plants. After the initial layer of soil is put down, you should not need to add more for another two weeks. Eventually, by the end of the season, you should have leveled the trench with soil or created a slight mound.

Water your plants once a week if it does not rain. It is important to not overwater to avoid the formation of crown rot. Do not cut off any shoots that form for the entire first season. You will not get a harvest this year— another good reason to start with crowns rather than seeds. Allow the plants’ foliage to grow and die on its own. This provides valuable food for the growing roots. At the end of winter, cut the dead foliage away. At the end of the second winter, only cut away the larger stalks.

Maintain your asparagus throughout the season by hand weeding and adding compost to keep the soil rich with organic material. Avoid the main pest, asparagus beetle, by keeping the bed clean. If you see any, you can pick them off by hand. Also be sure to get rid of the post-winter foliage because the beetles will lay eggs in it. Rust, another issue with asparagus, is avoided by selecting a resistant variety to plant.

Harvesting

By year three, you will finally be rewarded with delicious asparagus spears. Harvest any spears that are six to seven inches tall. Snap them off while the spears are still tender. Do not use a knife to harvest the spears, as you run the risk of damaging smaller spears and buds. Spears that are not harvested may begin to fern out. This means that the tips of the spears loosen up and fibers form at the bottom. Once they have ferned out, the spears are tough and not good to eat. They also are great places for asparagus beetles to lay eggs, so remove them from the garden and throw them out.

Enjoying

Asparagus is a fantastic vegetable to eat in early spring. Once your bed is mature, it will be one of the first, if not the first vegetable to harvest. Fresh asparagus wilts quickly, so eat it right away or prepare to preserve it. To make it last a day or two in the fridge, place the spears upright in a glass of water.

If a portion of the end of a spear is tough, snap it off. It should easily snap at just the right spot where the toughness meets the tender portion. Some people like to peel the skin from the bottom inch or two before cooking. This is not necessary, but if you choose to do so, use the peelings in homemade stock. They add a delicious flavor to soups.

Many people assume you have to cook asparagus, but it tastes wonderful when chopped into small pieces and tossed into a salad. To cook the spears, you can use just about any method. They retain more of their flavor when steamed, grilled, or roasted. The spears will taste great when combined with many different flavors, but a simple preparation lets their flavor shine. Try grilling or roasting spears and serving with olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, and salt and pepper.

To preserve your extra asparagus, try canning them. They also hold up very well when frozen. To freeze, clean, trim, and blanch for two minutes before storing in a freezer bag. Canning robs much of the flavor from delicate asparagus spears, but it is a valid way to preserve them. Consider pickling and canning for more flavor.