I have two gardens, each 25'x50'. I usually grow tomatoes, an assortment of peppers, egg plant, squash, zucchini, potatoes, corn, pole beans, cantaloupes, lettuce, other greens, usually collard, and a **** ton of herbs. I eat good all summer long! Now only if I had room to raise cattle, pigs and chickens, I could say goodbye to the grocery store for at least half of the year.

 

I've noticed. Pay me and I'll do it.

 

mesquite wood
Jack Daniel's Whiskey Barrel Charcoal Briquets & Smoker Blocks
Are what I like to use for smoke.

Make sure to salt/pepper the meat 1-3 days ahead of time with that big flakey salt. Before you grill wash the salted meat off with a rinse under the faucet then season again. The salt helps break down tough fat, absorbs blood, seasons the meat.

Season with paprika, oregano, garlic, cummin, and cavendars yellow bottle. Very common South Texas way to do it.

 

without getting too political in the gardening thread...

genetic engineering has been done for millenia in the form of selective breeding to get desirable traits.

the bad genetic engineering is when the super-mega-giant-corporations like Monsanto start patenting breeds of corn that are pest resistant and designed to work with Round-Up ("Round-Up Ready"). Then when these plants happen to float on a breeze over to Farmer Earl's little farm and grow, Monsanto comes and sues Earl's pants off for infringement even though the plants naturally propogated to his farm.

Also when pharmacrops are grown near regular crops and you end up with high levels of whatever their crop is designed to produce cross breeding with Budweiser's beer rice and you end up drinking beer with carp growth hormone in it. wiggity what?

(my wife is a scientist who works on food production and ag practices)

Go ahead and cross peppers with heirloom tomatoes to get spicy tomatoes. that's awesome.

 

Actually, I picked my first Morel mushroom today off of the cabin island. It was about the size of a twinkie. Mine aren't up yet at home. Probably 1-2 more weeks.

 

Is a Morel mushroom edible or 'medicinal'.

I have a few mushrooms growing that I have heard are edible, but I just do not have the ***** to try it unless an expert can identify them. I love to eat wild edibles, but I am scared shitless of mushrooms. Some of those can hurt you in a bad way.

 

Yes, these are wild edible. We usually end up with a couple of half grocery sacks over the two weeks or so that they are around. They sell for about $12-15/lb here.

 

ever use the miata to roto-till for a garden? makes a mess but lots of fun

 

... feed millions of starving children. Look up golden rice and read about the estimated 124,000,000 children in the world who are vitamin A deficient. Golden rice saves lives but the hippies in Seattle don't like it for some reason and fight against it. Makes me want to scream.


I'll keep my comments out of the political realm on this subject from now on. Just wanted to get my point across. Sorry for the hijack...

 

I will have my wife get the lowdown on golden rice to satisfy my curiosity. She said she didn't think it was available yet but wasn't sure. But it does raise the question: why not teach people how to grow carrots or some other food rich in beta-carotene?

....

speaking of roto tillers, has anyone used one of the tiller attachments that fits on a standard weed whacker?

like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Poulan-PP2000T.../dp/B000E176D4

curious if it's good for breaking up non-compacted soil.

 

NSFW:

 

I have a Mantis for the small tilling jobs. I can't see how the weed whacker attachment will work that well. Seems to get good enough reviews though.

I've got tomatoes growing this year in Topsy Turvys off my deck. Got some flower beds and am doing rock border when I get back from vacation in a couple weeks. I spent the last two weekends digging up overgrown **** in my back yard.

Bunch of gay Miata owners with flower beds and gardens.

 

Anybody think selling fresh herbs would be profitable in a farmers market sort of setting? (no, not that herb) I can never help but notice how "fresh" basil in a small plastic package at WalMart costs something like $4, and you only get maybe 6-8 leafs. Just one of my Sweet Basil bushes last year was around 5' tall and probably had well over a thousand large leafs on it. Surely one could sell fresh herbs by the quart size ziplock bag for maybe $5 a bag, to be used right away or dried for future use. Also grew **** tons of Cilantro/Coriander, Oregano, Parsley and Rosemary. I found them to require almost no maintenance, and they grew like crazy with no fertilizers or attending. Easy money if one could sell the stuff. At a busy market, if you only sold 20 bags at $5 each, thats still $100 simply for a few hours of "work".

 

Post up pics guys.

 

I am not a fan of those. You never see pros using them. Quality hand tools will do just as good a job, with the same amount of labor. Different story when doing a big job. We use tractor driven rototillers.

When I talk about gardening or landscaping, I always give this advice. Buy two tools first.

The first is a simple scuffle hoe that you can get at Lowes and Home Depot. A traditional hoe drags soil along with the weeds, so there is an additional step in grading the soil back. The scuffle hoe (or action hoe) has a thin metal strap that cuts in both directions. It also allows soil to stay in place. You just lift out the weeds that are cut from the roots. There are a few pro versions, but I never buy them.

The other is a pony shovel. It is a very heavy shovel that has a cast cutting blade that you can sharpen, and a solid fiberglass handle. The weight does all of the cutting work, and it is also easier on your joints. Try stabing a regular shovel in the ground with your arms, it hurts. I am fond of the Kenyon version. They are expensive, but can last for years.

I have more pics that I will post later. I do not have much in the way of edible gardens. Some of the wild natives I plant are used as edibles, but usually for the die hards.

 

I roll big. We have a $25k 4WD Kubota diesel to do two 25'x50' gardens. The tiller attachment kicks *** though. Five quick passes each way and it's ready to go.
My family is a bit crazy. We have 3 tractors, and only about 1.5 acres of land total.

 

I have chili pepper plants. Well just one right now and it is indoors.

 

I disagree, I've used an attachment just like that one and it worked great. Granted it didn't do so well in the hard red clay, but it tore up the normal top soil just fine.

 

The last time I tried to take photos of our operation, my camera got smashed so you'll just have to trust me. It's pretty legit.

 

Everything is coming in good.