Do you grow your own food?
Answer:
I have done in Many places ,now in the Humid tropics its mostly fruit trees.bananas ,Guañabana ,pine apple,vanilla vines ,camottes,nanchis,mangos etc
but here is some info on home grown food.
ORGANIC VEGETABLES
At home you can grow vegetables intensively and quite cheaply using your own wastes and by products and plantig for mulch
MULCH
The best in the world is the manure that comes from earth worms,if you mulch your garden you will get worms automatically
All manure is good to add ,cow,rabbit, and horse is the mildest and you can put it on directly.
Chicken is more acidy and is best to mix with saw dust or earth ,
You cannot put too much manure in your garden,it will just get richer and richer,
But to prevent smell mix it well with the ground or with something else before you put it on, like sand or earth or sawdust
Uric acid or nitrogen is good ,this is animal urine,
Farmers now put gutters in their stables to collect it and put it on the land especially for the grassy type species.
Cut down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,
You can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way,for the quality of you soil.
To prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).
What you do is to cover the ground with mulch which is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
The top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.
Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil
The humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.
The mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land
Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and, lay it open to wind erosian.
do not use chemicals because the water will wash them into the ground and if enough people did that, you would be guilty of helping to contaminate subteranean water suplies that other people could be pumping up to drink
COMPOST
make a compost heap to accomodate al the organic rubbish that you end up with ,both from the garden and the house,all organic material is good for compost,eggshells,wood,
paper,bones,leaves,pine needles
sawdust,old clothes ,the dead cat,toilet paper
etc.
70 %of contamination comes from organic wastes that are mixed with the plastics etc.
HOW
Dig a shallow hole ,bowel shaped about 2 or 3 square meters ,have it in a shady place,like under a tree or built a little roof.
Keep the compost moist,have it near a sprinkler or regularly wet it with a garden hose ,dont saturate with water because the worms will leave
or die.
You can add a little lime at times,cover it with leaves or plastic to keep the moisture in.
We add red earth worms(californiana)which are surface eaters,the more worms, the quicker the decomposition and the richer the compost.
ORGANIC PESTCONTROL
IN AFRICA we had camelions in the kitchen to keep down the flies
In Mexico we got a sort of small lizard that lives on the wall ,and sit near the lamps ,and eat mosquitos all night,
In the mango orchards we release laboratory bred wasps to attack and kill the caterpillars that go for the mangos
There are small chickens, called a silky or bantom or chaparito which are all small chickens that do not scratch ,but run after ,jumping and walking insects,they take care of about 70 percent of all garden pests.
Feasants,guinyfowel,partridge will do the same work
Iguanas kill grashoppers and all kinds of flying insects
Birds we also dont kill
when the passion fruit is ripe ,a little black caterpiller comes and wants to destroy them,luckely a little finch type bird turns up and eats the black caterpillars.
In Mexico we have let mazacoas,which are, python type snakes in to the garden to take care of the rats.
In Africa we released mole snakes into the garden and field to combat the plagues of Norwegian rats that were destroying the fields
Ant eaters and armadillos take care of leafcutting ants that can destroy a large tree in a week.and eat beatles and such
Potbelly pigs and deer and normal pigs are good in an orchard because they eat fallen rotting fruit which breeds a lot of small flies.
In our water reservoirs we put fish to eat the mosquito larvas.
Ihave bred tree frogs from eggs and released them in the garden to eat mosquitos and horse flies.
You can keep a barrel of water and throw in everybodies sigarette buts
this can be used for getting rid of ants
A mixture of green liquid soap with garlic and terpentine also gets rid of a lot of leaf eating pests
Lavendal is good for moulds
and there is a great variety of weeds that acts as pest repellents when ground up (such as Khki boss in South africa )
Marigolds and similar looking flowers around vegetable keep bugs a way
So does garlic ,mint ,spring onions ,oregano ,thyme
when planted near Tomatoes
WATERHARVESTING
In Permaculture the rule is to harvest rain water to the point of Zero runoff.
This means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.
By building dams,ponds or swales, with interconecting ditches,
If there are enough of these ;the places ,where before the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,(in a matter of hours or days),
It now runs into absorbant dams or swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subteranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.
Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.
And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbant one and turning the area in to a sponge.
In Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence,One can find many remnants of Waterharvesting,such as aquaducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.
In Arabia ,on a large scale ,land has been shaped to catch and lead,rain water into sandy areas or to agricultural lands.sand is almost as good as dams because it absorbs water and holds it.(swales)
PERMACULTURE
Permaculture is a world recognised earth friendly movement and tends to include people that practice the concept and are active in the field.
The Permaculture designers manual by Bill Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.
and is the best all round book you can get,on Environmental design,.(tagiari publishing, tagariadmin@southcom.com.au)
Some other writers that are on the internet are
david Holmgren
Larry Santoyo
Kirk Hanson
Masanobu Fukuaka has written ,
One-Straw Revolution
The Road Back to Nature
The Natural Way of Farming
http://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/fukuok...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanobu_fu...
Simon Henderson
and Bill Molisson.
a representitive of the concept in USA is
Dan Hemenway at YankeePerm@aol.com
barkingfrogspc@aol.com
http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames.
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalo...
No, I don't grow my own food. Occasionally though, I will grow tomatoes or green onions.
I live in Ohio.
There are many things to grow in California because it is almost always warm there. Almost anything will live if you grow something. Why don't you grow some fruits or vegetables that you like?
Canada in the city and yes my mom grows some herbs and tomatoes/onion/green beans and my grandpa grows FIGS...yum!
Tomatoes are pretty easy; same with green peppers (maybe jalapenos, too); I've even grown potatoes and watermelons, but not great success with those. And corn.
Are we talking the sunnier part of California? I would think you'd need to take into account how much sunshine your spot can get, how it's going to get water and the soil make up - loosen it up and add fertilizer (or compost). Check for pests (grubs, rabbits, birds, even deer) and see what you can do to keep that threat down. Also, don't let the weeds take over.
I actually ran across a book called Organic Gardening. I haven't gotten into it much yet, but definitely the way to go. I've also started looking into canning, too, so I'd have good stuff (and healthy stuff) all year round!
On the backs of packages of seeds it will show states in different regions and the growing season, so that's a start. It's hard work, but tasting the sun in a tomato on your sandwich makes it all worthwhile.
I just have a small vegetable garden. It's a great way to skip the pesticides on store-bought food, plus it is less expensive!
i live in california.
there are alot of great things to grow.
In the summer alot of vegetables that contain high water content such as tomatoes, squash and melons are great.
Also try green onions. They grow great during this time of the year.
Hope this helps!
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my boyfriend and i have a small veggie garden in Texas. we grow tomatoes, potatoes, 6 different pepers, zuccini, cucumbers. As for california, i'm sure that there are MANY possibilites. I suggest a whole lot of organic compost and a whole lot of questions for your local nursey.
My Aunt has a little garden, and I help her with it almost every other week. A little more.
yes i grow my own food. corn tomatoes beans strawberrys rasberrys potatoes peppers all herbs im from ohio
I live in a townhouse which means I have a very small yard, but I am able to grow quite a few things despite my small yard. I grow tomatoes, tomatillos, chili peppers, poblano peppers, pears (I have a pear tree) and a bunch of herbs. (oregano, cilantro, several varieties of basil, rosemary, thyme and mint) I find them all very easy to grow, mostly you just have to remember to water them.
Hope this helps!!
In California I think you'd be able to grow just about anything, but I know that peppers would do really well there for sure, as they love hot weather, and don't need a lot of water. You can also grow herbs in your house, I haven't done this yet..but I know that a lot of people do.
Yes.
Grow Edibles, instead of Ornamentals. Get rid of the Lawn, plant the "Three Sisters", then, when you have extra, trade with others for what they have too much of.
We are in the So.Cal.Desert.
Yes. Just starting out.
I live in Ohio, by the way.
Last year:
I just grew a poblano pepper on my stoop (didn't have a yard) and a few herbs that I use pretty frequently (basil, rosemary, cilantro, chives). They did really well in the summer. But if you do the herbs, be careful to keep them pruned even if you aren't eating it. Once they flower it is out of control, and the herb flavor won't be very good anymore. I found that out the hard way. I also started honeydew melons and bell peppers from seed I harvested from store-bought produce we had eaten, but it was too late in the season, so I never got to see if they would fruit or not.
This year:
I have a yard. I have a small garden (8'x12') in the back now. I am growing some flowers that are edible from a plant sale, three kinds of peppers (poblano, Hungarian carrot, and orange bell), three kinds of tomatoes (Italian heirloom, Picardy, and Arkansas Traveler), cherry tomatoes, cabbage, broccolli, spring mix greens, eggplant, zucchini, baby pumpkin, cucumber, beets, spinach, carrots, and several herbs (mint, lavender, lemon balm, dill, basil, rosemary, cilantro, and chive). I guess it sounds like kind of a lot, but there is just a little bit of everything.
It all looks great so far. I don't see why you couldn't grow this in California. I am in zone 5, so if you are in that zone you are good.
I had to thin out the carrots, beets, and spinach that were started from seed a few days ago. When I pulled the young seedlings we just rinsed them off and served them with a balsamic vinegraitte. It made a delicious salad! We can only hope that everything keeps going this well. Good luck on your garden, too!
i wish!! but i dont own an house thus meaning i dont have a backyard or even a balcony! but if i did i would totally fo it! its fun!
I would more if I wasn't renting as with renting I it always feels like I am staying temporarily.
Although we have 2 chickens, that gives us more than enough eggs for our sharehouse of 4 people...
no
Yes I grow some of my own food in Southern California. The weather is prefect for a variety of plants. I grow heirloom tomatoes, green peppers, poblano peppers, jalapeno peppers, eggplant, green and purple pole beans, zucchini, cucumber, radish, beets, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, dill, and mint. I grow it all without chemical fertilizer or pesticides. To control pests, I use a soap spray and for fertilizer I use worm poop from my vermicompost bin. We eat tons of salsa, ratatouille and eggplant parmesan in the summer and it feels great!
There are some good answers here already. I live in the southeast so the growing season is nice and long. When I was young we always had a garden that occupied an entire acre. Now I used a raised garden bed with a mixture of sawdust, dried chicken poop, sticks, eggshells,newspaper shreddings, coffee grounds (in other words,compost), and good dirt. The bed is about 15 feet lang and 5 feet wide. I also use large inexpensive pots (sometimes old tubs, funky containers) and grow herbs and tomatos in those. There are some cool upside down planters that can be used for tomatos and strawberries but I have not tried them yet. Last year a pumpkin vine grew where I had tossed one out into the yard after Halloween! The old country way was to plant about 20% more than you needed so that the birds and squirrells, etc. would also have something to eat. If you have good dirt and worms, you're set! The worms produce great fertilizer and keep your soil turning. Pull the weeds.
Only tomatoes in a planter. I live in a city where the council has nothing better to do than pass ordinances against the taxpayer, so I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it's illegal to plow up your backyard to plant a vegetable garden!
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