:old If society melts down, it might be easier to make soap... and the dogs would never stand for any sort of bath. Rolling in mud is all the cleaning they need.
Among the tomatoes you have tried, which roma-types (for canning) do you like?
Locally, I have heard the hybrid varieties produce as much as three times the weight of fruit per plant. For me, that is very important, as I must put up a year's supply (about 100 quarts) by the end of the summer...
Thanks for this. Right now, we are picking the CPBs off the eggplant by hand. It has been good enough in the past, although time consuming. So far, no flea beetles this year. I will look into Spinosad.
Hi Carol,
We do not have the Japanese beetles here, I am happy to say, and no troubles with the vine borer (yet), but our climate is so different from yours, I suspect, so we have different pests. I smashed a potato beetle just about an hour ago. They are a plague, along with the...
Sand is tough, perhaps the toughest, I hear, but with rain (and probably a longer season), you might be able to grow all the carbon and nitrogen that you need, although it could take a couple of years just growing your amendments. I am not expert in the subject... sort of learning as we go...
Ah, that furrow that is filled in over time is a brilliant idea.
This year, I tried 6x6 foot sunken beds with mulch on top. It seems like a related technique. I will need to give some thought to the mechanics.
I am tempted, next year, to put depressions within the sunken bed. I like to...
Yes, Painted Mountain, which is a great variety, takes a little too long here to grow on natural rain fall.
Thanks for the pointer to Bear Island Flint. I will start searching for that now.
Concerning my planting time, I can plant in the last week of June in anticipation of the rains...
I prefer the 1000 pound vegetarian Elk to the carnivorous variety... ;)
BTW, hunting licenses for elk are close to a thousand dollars here (New Mexico), or so I am told, and you have to win a lottery or own more than 100 acres to qualify to purchase one.
Oh, I forgot to mention gophers, who have killed a few trees while they were still saplings. I keep an eye out for them. The worst of it is that they can get through fences.
Elk! They are beautiful, but curse them! They should be called Orcs. ...no great love for the Colorado Potato Beetle, the Blister Beetle, or the Flea Beetle, all of which have been problems here.
Hello Thistlebloom,
Thanks for the greeting!
I am looking for seed to plant in the coming spring, between 100 and 200 seeds (that much is required to maintain genetic diversity, I have read). I would certainly be interested in some seed from your crop this year (knock on wood that all goes...
Hello Hal,
Ah, well, where I live, it is very difficult to grow a flour or flint corn on natural rainfall. Our rains start on July 4th and end shortly before first frost, which is usually in mid September. For most of the past ten years, we get little or no rain in April, May, or June. This...
Hello,
I am looking for a US supplier of Gaspe Flint Corn. I think I found a Canadian source that will ship to the US, but they require a $30 minimum order (not sure as the message was in French and seemed to indicate an error of some sort) and that is too much for me.
Kevin