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AuthorTopic: Self Sufficient Garden? (Read 3,328 times)
monica
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Self Sufficient Garden?
« Thread Started on Sept 14, 2004, 8:29am »
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Hey there,
I am very interested in growing a garden next year that will feed my family through the winter and spring months. I have lots of room, a small greenhouse, and free summers.

I would love to know any ideas, tips, and know how on anything from starting seeds to how much to grow. Need lots of info on short growing seasons. We usually can't plant until Memorial Day and usually will start frosting soon. Corn is a no go. I do have an apple tree and I think they are transparents :-/. Would like to know what I can do with them.

I dream the homestead life, but work from 7:30 until 3:00 in the afternoon.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry if I wrote a short novel, but I am really excited about this.

Thanks
Monica
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Bre
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Re: Self Sufficient Garden?
« Reply #1 on Sept 14, 2004, 4:50pm »
Hi Monica, welcome to the board!

Sounds like we have the same kind of growing season, very short, lol!

I work a full time job and a small yard so right now I have a 8' X 8' raised bed and numerous containers.

Having a greenhouse is a great start, you can start your seeds in there before the ground warms outside. I start my warm season veggies inside (tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, etc.) about 4-6 weeks before expected last frost. There are some varieties of corn available now that only take 65-70 days to mature for short season gardeners.

I sometimes cheat and buy already started plants from local greenhouse too. I bought tomato and pepper plants this year. They're usually quite a bit further ahead than one's I started myself.

I grow a majority of cool season veggies: lettuce, peas, beans, carrots, radishes, etc. They can all withstand light frosts in spring and fall, too.

Where you looking at putting up enough food in the fall or growing through the winter season? A good book is Four Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman, that shows number of ways to extend season by using cold frames, greenhouses, hoophouses, etc.

Here's two websites with lots of good articles & info:
http://www.gardenguides.com/forms/search.htm
www.organicgardening.com (there's an article index that you can search)

Here's a catalogue from up here that shows planting dates and length:
http://www.goldenacregarden.com/gguide/vegetables/vlist.htm

At the bottom of this link, http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/guide.html, there's a chart about how much to plant per family member for fresh eating and canning/preserving.

Hope some of this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Bre


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andy
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Re: Self Sufficient Garden?
« Reply #2 on Jan 15, 2005, 11:39am »
you might also want to try my site http://www.selfsufficientish.com all the advice is for organic soulutions to gardening problems and there is other self sufficient advic on there too. Hope that helps.
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