Thursday, September 24, 2015
The last twenty years have seen more and more people engaged in the activity of survival gardening. With new gardeners, it is a hit-or-miss situation as to whether or not they are successful, and unfortunately some will give up even before they begin. It is important for new gardeners to ask the right questions, like how can you pick asparagus the first year.
The answer to that question simply, is yes, but also no. These spears are a plant which will winter over nicely and come back stronger and better each year. Experienced gardeners will tell you that first-year spears can be harvested for about two weeks, then allow the rest to mature in order to have an even better harvest for the next season.
Broccoli is totally different, as it will die and only come back through the gathering of seeds. If one does not harvest the florets religiously, then it will make pretty yellow flowers and go to seed, but there will be no more floret to harvest. If the seeds are not harvested, then it is possible there will be no new broccoli in that area the next Spring.
In the South, sometimes broccoli will come back from seed the next Spring, but not always. Apparently the harsh summer months followed by at least one hard freeze in winter kills the seeds which might have come up the next year. One can harvest seeds, but only if your vegetables are an heirloom variety and not a GMO hybridized plant.
Chickens and vegetable gardens go hand-in-hand, as the chickens can be allowed to roam outside the area of the vegetables and they will eat the pests that eat the crop. It is a great way to allow the chickens to road, so long as the run is fully enclosed in chicken wire to keep the chickens out of the vegetables, and also to protect them. The chicken waste can be collected and saved for fertilizer the next year.
It may sound like they are not free-roaming, but guinea hens in the wild have a small territory. Chickens do not need to have acres of space to roam in, but the average back yard will do. Should one live in an area where such farm animals are forbidden may want to stick with hens and have no crowing roosters, and a privacy fence is also a good idea.
Most gardeners are doing so because they want to be able to feed their families in a crisis, and this is an excellent and noble reason. Some people do it so their children will have the experience in their childhood. However, the most informed of the people are growing their own food because they know the GMO foods in the grocery stores may not be as safe as the FDA would like people to think.
Most commercial farms pick fruits and vegetables green and have them ripen in transit. It may have been a good idea, but in practice it has caused our foods to have less flavor than they used to. Young people do not even know what vine-ripened food tastes like, as their tomatoes, peaches, and potatoes do not have any real flavor, and are not as nutritious.
The answer to that question simply, is yes, but also no. These spears are a plant which will winter over nicely and come back stronger and better each year. Experienced gardeners will tell you that first-year spears can be harvested for about two weeks, then allow the rest to mature in order to have an even better harvest for the next season.
Broccoli is totally different, as it will die and only come back through the gathering of seeds. If one does not harvest the florets religiously, then it will make pretty yellow flowers and go to seed, but there will be no more floret to harvest. If the seeds are not harvested, then it is possible there will be no new broccoli in that area the next Spring.
In the South, sometimes broccoli will come back from seed the next Spring, but not always. Apparently the harsh summer months followed by at least one hard freeze in winter kills the seeds which might have come up the next year. One can harvest seeds, but only if your vegetables are an heirloom variety and not a GMO hybridized plant.
Chickens and vegetable gardens go hand-in-hand, as the chickens can be allowed to roam outside the area of the vegetables and they will eat the pests that eat the crop. It is a great way to allow the chickens to road, so long as the run is fully enclosed in chicken wire to keep the chickens out of the vegetables, and also to protect them. The chicken waste can be collected and saved for fertilizer the next year.
It may sound like they are not free-roaming, but guinea hens in the wild have a small territory. Chickens do not need to have acres of space to roam in, but the average back yard will do. Should one live in an area where such farm animals are forbidden may want to stick with hens and have no crowing roosters, and a privacy fence is also a good idea.
Most gardeners are doing so because they want to be able to feed their families in a crisis, and this is an excellent and noble reason. Some people do it so their children will have the experience in their childhood. However, the most informed of the people are growing their own food because they know the GMO foods in the grocery stores may not be as safe as the FDA would like people to think.
Most commercial farms pick fruits and vegetables green and have them ripen in transit. It may have been a good idea, but in practice it has caused our foods to have less flavor than they used to. Young people do not even know what vine-ripened food tastes like, as their tomatoes, peaches, and potatoes do not have any real flavor, and are not as nutritious.
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