We'd Love To Hear From Visitors and Guests

[kevin8715]

Hi there.
I been lurking for a bit when I heard about it on another forum. Really love the stuff on here because of all the breeding projects happening here. This year is the first time I'm doing lots of breeding project (before I just a saved seeds informally). Some of you one here already know me from the other forum. Below is the link to my profile for the other gardening forum.
idigmygarden.com/forums/member.php?u=37945

[freeholder]

Well, I guess I should post something here. I really enjoyed reading about the project in China.

I'm an experienced gardener -- I grew up on a homestead in Alaska (the old prove up on 160 acres kind), and have been gardening all my life. But this high desert climate has proven a bit tricky. Complicating matters, the one and a half acre lot we are living on right now is on a fairly steep slope, and is very rocky. I'm having to utilize small patches here and there that are level enough to grow on, which makes keeping everything watered difficult!. I will probably eventually do some terracing, and if we stay here long enough (I have about 3 1/4 acres of bare land, with a well on it and some better soil for growing, less than a mile from here that I hope to be able to build on in the next couple of years), I'll do some permaculture plantings as well.

Last summer, I fenced a small patch, only about 22' diameter, near the front door, for a kitchen garden. I've also got a couple of 4' X 12' beds prepared on the south side of the house, and plan to add more there. This year, I'm going to finish fencing two more flat areas. One is 18' X 28', inside an old barn foundation. There are rocks, but also quite a bit of soil. The down-side is that it's next to the hay shed (which used to extend over the old barn foundation) and is mostly shaded in the mornings. The other patch is about 20' by 40', well-fertilized by my goats who currently have access to it, but also very rocky. I don't think either plot can be tilled, so I'll have to either do no-till, or hand dig them.

I plan to continue growing salad greens and such in the little kitchen garden. The beds next to the house, on the south side, need to be protected better from the chickens (I don't free-range them, but once in a while some get loose), and then I'll probably use them for working on adapted varieties of tomatoes and peppers. I'm also going to put a small greenhouse up against the house on that side, for tomatoes, peppers, and sweet potatoes. I've got the frame, just need to get some greenhouse fiberglass to cover it with (plastic won't last in our high winds).

The two new patches will be for potatoes, beets, rutabagas, storage cabbage, soup peas, onions and garlic, and experiments with winter squash, dry beans, and adapted corn (I've got Painted Mountain -- we don't eat much corn, but can use a little cornmeal and flour, and need feed for the goats and chickens).

I've saved seed from a few things before, but haven't ever done any real breeding -- I have plenty to do without adding a bunch more paperwork to my life! So I have been following Joseph's threads on land race breeding with interest. I think I can do that, LOL! And I'm hoping to be able to get some seeds from him soon, which will give me a head start as his growing climate is pretty similar to ours. (I am in Oregon, but we are on the dry side of the state, at 4,500' elevation.)

Kathleen

ETA:  I'm really looking forward to getting a house and barn built on my other land, so we can move over there.  That piece is lower than this one, and has at least an acre of river-bottom, which will be much better for growing stuff!

[mich]

Hi everyone. I was referred to this site by RichardW (thanks Richard ) and what a wonderful place it is to while away several hours at a time!!

I live on a 4.5 hectare smallfarm in New Zealand, breeding Polwarth sheep and trying to grow as many veges to supplement our needs as I can. Prior to 2012 I grew mainly summer crops on an "as I could be bothered" basis but since then my job moved cities without me and I've tried (not entirely but mostly successfully) to have food and herbs growing all year round to try and cut costs. Getting into the rhythm of when things need to be sown and being consistent about planting small amounts regularly has been my main challenge but, thanks to advice from fellow online gardeners, blogs and library books, I'm coming to grips with it all and making good progress. I wish I'd discovered my love of vege gardening many years ago, but better late than never - and you can't beat that feeling of achievement and pride at being able to put something you've nurtured from seed on the table.

I have 4 long waist-high raised beds, split into 13 1.2 x 1.2 metre plots, plus a glasshouse, 3 compost plots the same as the raised beds and a nice little orchard with limes, lemons, oranges, mandarins, apples, grapefruit, peaches and feijoas. Down the centre of most of the raised plots I've got lavender growing, which brings in lots of bees. Late in 2012 I developed another fairly decent sized L-shaped raised plot which has grapevines and blackberries in it, and which I'm also using to grow perennial flower picking borders for the house. This last plot is still very much under development, but over time it should all look quite pretty. Next on my wish-list of projects for my husband to do ( ) is to build several framed cages with white butterfly-proof netting that can be moved around the vege plots as the crops alternate, so that I can grow brassicas without going on a caterpillar safari in summer.

My one big and embarrassing disappointment this year was not organising myself enough to sort out a suitable area for tomatoes outside. I planted many varieties of seeds, but because I didn't get my act together, they languished without being planted out. Last year I used the glasshouse but because I had so many seed varieties this year I needed more space. That'll teach me!

I'm really looking forward to learning a lot from you all and sharing the love of gardening.

Cheers, Mich. 

[richardw]

Hi Mich,great you that you've managed to join up

[mich]

Thanks for the welcome, RichardW. I must tell the group that Richard is a very generous and helpful person. In response to a bleat from me on another forum about my inability to grow beetroot, he recently shared some of his seeds to try. I'll be crowing to you all if they work for me, LOL.

[philagardener]

Yes, I also recently joined up after "just visiting" for a few years. Folks have been very welcoming and generous here. I am in awe of both the individual and collective knowledge and experience that is being shared so freely. I particularly appreciate the efforts of those long-term members who have shaped this forum into what it is today. Thanks to all of you for making this a great place!

I also want to shout out special greetings to those of you logging in from the Southern Hemisphere. Hearing about your trials and harvests during a snowy and cold North American winter keeps me thinking of what I'll be growing in the coming months (and the challenges we all face with what seems to be increasing variability in all the seasons). You literally bring new, different and interesting varieties to the table!

[richardw]

Jan 26, 2014 4:09:21 GMT -5 mich said:

Thanks for the welcome, RichardW. I must tell the group that Richard is a very generous and helpful person. In response to a bleat from me on another forum about my inability to grow beetroot, he recently shared some of his seeds to try. I'll be crowing to you all if they work for me, LOL.

Thank you Mich,i'm not sure if you have already started a thread on your beetroot growing problem yet,but i'll certainly be interested to see if fresh seed grown without any artificial inputs makes difference.

[richardw]

Jan 26, 2014 7:53:02 GMT -5 philagardener said:

Yes, I also recently joined up after "just visiting" for a few years. Folks have been very welcoming and generous here. I am in awe of both the individual and collective knowledge and experience that is being shared so freely. I particularly appreciate the efforts of those long-term members who have shaped this forum into what it is today. Thanks to all of you for making this a great place!

I also want to shout out special greetings to those of you logging in from the Southern Hemisphere. Hearing about your trials and harvests during a snowy and cold North American winter keeps me thinking of what I'll be growing in the coming months (and the challenges we all face with what seems to be increasing variability in all the seasons). You literally bring new, different and interesting varieties to the table!

I find the same too when its winter here,rather enjoy looking at photos of northern hemisphere gardens while its wet and cold outside.

[templeton]

Welcomeaboard, free, mich, kev, and phil. The international mix is great. Dare I mention the word globalisation ?
T

[Penny]

Welcome.

[oldmobie]

I've been lurking around long enough that I'm starting to feel as if I know a few of the regulars, but I just registed a few minutes ago.

I just learned a few years ago that gardening can be less of a chore and more fun. Since then I've expanded a bit each year. I'm up to about 12' X 50'.

Last summer I stumbled onto Joseph's blog on Mother Earth News and learned about landracing and common sense breeding and seed saving techniques. Now I'm all about seed swapping (even started a tiny seed library), and my wife is getting sick of sentences that start with "Joseph Lofthouse says..."

So here I am, at the first forum I've discovered where the members share my new hobby/ obsession, even if most of you are more advanced than me! Hopefully in time I can learn a lot, and maybe even contribute.

Thanks for having me!

[richardw]

Welcome oldmobie and great to have ya here,so what part of the world do you inhabit??

[oldmobie]

Mar 26, 2014 2:18:46 GMT -5 richardw said:

Welcome oldmobie and great to have ya here,so what part of the world do you inhabit??

Southwest Missouri.  Hot summers and variable winters, but always several hard freezes, sometimes long lasting freezes.

[starry]

Mar 26, 2014 0:30:12 GMT -5 oldmobie said:

I've been lurking around long enough that I'm starting to feel as if I know a few of the regulars, but I just registed a few minutes ago.

I just learned a few years ago that gardening can be less of a chore and more fun. Since then I've expanded a bit each year. I'm up to about 12' X 50'.

Last summer I stumbled onto Joseph's blog on Mother Earth News and learned about landracing and common sense breeding and seed saving techniques. Now I'm all about seed swapping (even started a tiny seed library), and my wife is getting sick of sentences that start with "Joseph Lofthouse says..."

So hear I am, at the first forum I've discovered where the members share my new hobby/ obsession, even if most of you are more advanced than me! Hopefully in time I can learn a lot, and maybe even contribute.

Thanks for having me!

welcome oldmobie! so funny...my wife would agree with yours...hahaha

[blackox]

Welcome to HG oldmobie! Jump on in, plenty of old threads to read!