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[QUOTE=BobbyOrr1965;1028692073]Jelly of being able to grow a garden. Top floor apartment with no access to back yard. That is for first floor tenant. Could grow on balcony though this is the city of racoons and squirrels. There is a shared garden space about 2.5 miles from here so that might be possible if not all the space already claimed.[/QUOTE]
As a guy who makes "Synergy" for a living, growing a garden, is as much therapeutic as it is practical.
Sure there's a practical side in that I save thousands of dollars every year because I grow my own seasonal produce, and that number is only going to go up as the Asparagus patch and Orchard mature. (Still adding onto the Orchard a little bit each year actually!)
In 5 years time I can just picture my Daughter sitting on my knee at the Farmers Market helping me sell fruits and vegetables grown as surplus off the land.
But it's also therapeutic in that so much of what I do is trying to put 1 and 1 together to make 3.14... And sometimes it makes 1.34... Gardening, I put in 1 unit of planning, I put in 2 units of work and I get 3 units of delicious food for the table so fresh and vine ripe that you can't get it that good at the grocery store.
The Garden always turns a profit or a savings... That kind of Hands-on approach to my lifestyle soothes the hangover of enervation that I get from being a Synergy-Maker by the day!
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Okay, I have them in a seed tray with the cover on a heat mat. I should take the cover off?
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[QUOTE=Nainoa;1028753733]As a guy who makes "Synergy" for a living, growing a garden, is as much therapeutic as it is practical.
Sure there's a practical side in that I save thousands of dollars every year because I grow my own seasonal produce, and that number is only going to go up as the Asparagus patch and Orchard mature. (Still adding onto the Orchard a little bit each year actually!)
In 5 years time I can just picture my Daughter sitting on my knee at the Farmers Market helping me sell fruits and vegetables grown as surplus off the land.
But it's also therapeutic in that so much of what I do is trying to put 1 and 1 together to make 3.14... And sometimes it makes 1.34... Gardening, I put in 1 unit of planning, I put in 2 units of work and I get 3 units of delicious food for the table so fresh and vine ripe that you can't get it that good at the grocery store.
The Garden always turns a profit or a savings... That kind of Hands-on approach to my lifestyle soothes the hangover of enervation that I get from being a Synergy-Maker by the day![/QUOTE]
I am a peace maker and bring calmness and joy to where I go. I am also known as a teacher. Just finished power walk in icy winds, outside Yoga/meditation. Could not do plow pose because stomach too full lol.
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[QUOTE=Hartski;1028773603]Okay, I have them in a seed tray with the cover on a heat mat. I should take the cover off?[/QUOTE]
No... You need the cover on to keep the soil from steaming out.
The bottom heat helps them germinate, by helping to speed up the metabolic processes that convert the dormant starch reserves in the seed into sugars the young plant will use to sprout and make it's initial growth.
The concern with heat after germination is that it will cause them to get "Leggy" Meaning they will stretch higher and taller faster than their roots can support.
Legginess is far more common in Tomatoes and Annum Peppers (Poblano, Jalapeno, Bell etc...) Than it is in Chinense peppers, which have a tropical origin.
So when they germinate, just take them from "Inside" the dome to being "On Top" of the dome... So they still get a little heat. but not a ton... Then pot them up into your biggest seedling pot within the week.
A Little more on Peppers and Chinense (Chin-Enze) Peppers.
Bhut Jolokia, Habanero, Aji Dulce, and actually any pepper with the word Aji in front of it, all originate from one Birdseye pepper from the Amazon basin. For centuries the people of the Amazon grew the pepper, when Europeans first made their way into the Amazon (What the Spanish called "The Green Hell") They traded/plundered goods and got their hands on this Birdseye pepper, which the Amazonians were using to cure and preserve meat without refrigeration etc...
Like they did with all seeds from the new world the spanish took them out and started growing and trading them, and they moved into other trade networks.
What the Europeans didn't realize is that the Birdseye Pepper was a promiscuous pollinator... Actually that pepper is more like a dirty slut cheerleader at a gangbang under the bleachers at a football game, with video streaming live to YouTube.
:eek:
Once exposed to different climates and conditions the hearty pepper started adapting, changing, and re-cross pollinating with each adaptation until it became a whole new family of peppers.
For instance it's eldest son the Habanero, just means "Grown in Havana" (Cuba) That Habanero was brought back to Venezula, where it was selected against heat and became the Aji Dulce. Chinense peppers that went east became the Bhut Jolokia (And a whole Family of peppers now only found in Africa)
All the Naga Viper and Scorpion peppers are "Eager Beaver" Hybrids...
It's all some guy futzing around in his basement with the promiscuous trait of the Chinense pepper, mixing in the Bhut Jolokia genetics for extreme heat with other peppers that have a lower water volume in their fruit, to get more capsacin density per gram to be able to call it the world's hottest pepper.
The Problem here is that when you plant any of these Naga variation hybrids, IF a bee goes from one of their flowers, to one of your Bhut Jolokia or Habanero flowers, it will pollinate... The pepper will be just like the mother plant this summer... BUT any seeds you save from a pepper that has been pollinated from Naga to Heirloom, will give you an invalid Mule in 90-99% of it's seed.
Meaning you'll have to reorder seeds again next December (To be able to plant in January) instead of being able to save your own.
So if you intend to save seeds... You want distance from your Naga's to your OP's and heirlooms.
They say 400 feet. But I had zero problems 2 years ago at 150.
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Hartski,
Here's a break down of how I time my seed startings... (With some minor tweaks I've put in place this year) And then just keep in mind that you have a 1-2 week better buffer than I do because you're more south.
January 1st... I plant the True Tropical Peppers... Aji Dulce, Bhut Jolokia
(I have started them as late as Jan 25th before and had a good season, I just like having the buffer)
Feb 1st: I start all my slow growing herbs like Greek Oregano, Italian Parsley and the first wave of Basil (My Wife is crazy about basil ALL summer long)
Feb 14th-15th, I plant all other peppers
Pepproncini, Jalapeno, Poblano, Bell, Cayenne.
(After you did so well with Cayenne last year I figured I'd add it to my arsenal) ;) :)
March 1st, I start all my Husk Tomatoes (Tomatillo and Ground Cherry)
*Note I could start these with the regular tomatoes, but 2 weeks early doesn't hurt anything, they are just ahead of the game for early picking, as they are not as day length sensitive and it's one less thing to have to wrestle in the seed tray.
March 14th Start all tomatoes
As soon as the ground thaws enough to turn it, I plant the snow and/or snap peas (They'll handle cold down to 20F, but bolt to starch in summer heat) This is also a good time for Radishes and Spinach, onion (sets) and Spring greens like Mesclun.
As soon as the first leaf buds on the Lilacs have the slightest hint of green, I plant the potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets etc...
Once the Flower buds begin to open on the Lilacs I put the tomatoes, husk tomatoes and non-tropical peppers in the ground
After Memorial weekend, I put the Tropical peppers in the ground.
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Awesome info. I'm expanding the variety in my garden quite a bit this year. Crap, that reminds me. I need to get a lilac bush....
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[QUOTE=Hartski;1028820883]Awesome info. I'm expanding the variety in my garden quite a bit this year. Crap, that reminds me. I need to get a lilac bush....[/QUOTE]
Yeah there are no Lilac's out here, so I stole some sprucelings from my old place the day before we closed. The Lilac thing is an old German farming trick.
All these old German folk would bring sprucelings with them as they moved along because it's buds and it's flowers tell you key soil temperatures.
I know there is also a similar thing with Tullips and Rhubarb, but the old German Gramma's who passed the knowledge down to me only told me the Lilac thing.
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Something else to keep in mind if you are thinking of starting ANY squash, whether it's summer squash like Zuchinni or Yellow Crook neck... Or Winter Squash like Pumpkin, Butternut or Acorn... Or even off shoots like Cucumber...
I always make note to start them on Mother's day (sooner for you) and I start them in peat pots.
Squash (Just like Corn) DESPISE being transplanted, the act of even gently removing them from the pot they germinated in kills damn near half of them... So I start them in the seed tray in peat pots filled with potting soil, removing them as soon as they sprout. (Literally try to plant them on a Saturday night, so they'll germinate the next weekend and you can grab them out as they break the surface. (Otherwise they sprout strong enough to raise the lid!)
Water them with warm water... Once the Lilac flowers have been open for a few days, just place the peat pot in the soil on the morning of a warm day... (Watered with warm water)And their roots will naturally grow through the peat pot over the course of a week, without any transplant shock.
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Strong gardening knowledge is strong. :cool:
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[QUOTE=BobbyOrr1965;1028865763]Strong gardening knowledge is strong. :cool:[/QUOTE]
I have the ability to absorb information on contact.
When I was 15 I wiped out on my bike and hit an encyclopedia salesman!
But seriously...
When I was growing up the elderly Italian immigrants who baby sat me, lived out of the garden seasonally, as did my mother who was born and raised on a farm. I grew up on the edge of town and country and for the first 16 years of my life my best friend lived on a massive family run farm.
So being close to the soil is in my blood and something I've worked on and learned along the way.
I even save my own seeds from generations old heirloom tomato and pepper plants...
I grow tomatoes from Russia, Italy, France...
Herbs from all over the Mediteranean
Squash and Zuchini from Italy and France, two of which date their origins back to the 1600's
Peppers from India, the Amazon, caribbean & Italy and Mexico
I've spent years building my collection from seed networks and farmers markets... Of course now it's a lot easier to get these seeds off the internet. I found the Best Sauce tomato (San Marzano) the best Late season slicer (Brandywine) the most prolific grape tomato (Rosalita)... The list goes on...
Then over time I try some new ones... Like for instance this year I'm reducing the amount of Russian Black Krim and instead trying an Abraham Lincoln tomato to see if i like it better in the "Early Slicer" role in the garden. The Black Krim has very poor disease resistance, but is a cool purple and green tomato with great flavor. The Abe Lincoln is supposed to be good flavor and have great disease resistance, so it's got the inside track!
Since they are heirloom/open pollinator seeds you can save them from one generation to the next.
I have a marking system, so that each year I pick the best seeds from the best plants... Some plants might germinate and grow quickly, some grow slowly but have superior flavor... Others might have better blight resistence. I try to pick the best traits and then those are the plants I save seeds from for the next year.
So I'm slowly taking all these plant varieties and adapting them year after year for life at MN's lattitude.
At the same time I'm expanding the Orchard out here... By the time my Daughter is 5, everything should be at full maturity, and I planned it out so that from Early June to Mid October there will always be 1, if not 2-3-4 things coming ripe, so if she wants a snack, she can go pick it from the orchard or garden, instead of unwrap it from a vending machine!
;)
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[QUOTE=Nainoa;1028877383]I have the ability to absorb information on contact.
When I was 15 I wiped out on my bike and hit an encyclopedia salesman!
But seriously...
When I was growing up the elderly Italian immigrants who baby sat me, lived out of the garden seasonally, as did my mother who was born and raised on a farm. I grew up on the edge of town and country and for the first 16 years of my life my best friend lived on a massive family run farm.
So being close to the soil is in my blood and something I've worked on and learned along the way.
I even save my own seeds from generations old heirloom tomato and pepper plants...
I grow tomatoes from Russia, Italy, France...
Herbs from all over the Mediteranean
Squash and Zuchini from Italy and France, two of which date their origins back to the 1600's
Peppers from India, the Amazon, caribbean & Italy and Mexico
I've spent years building my collection from seed networks and farmers markets... Of course now it's a lot easier to get these seeds off the internet. I found the Best Sauce tomato (San Marzano) the best Late season slicer (Brandywine) the most prolific grape tomato (Rosalita)... The list goes on...
Then over time I try some new ones... Like for instance this year I'm reducing the amount of Russian Black Krim and instead trying an Abraham Lincoln tomato to see if i like it better in the "Early Slicer" role in the garden. The Black Krim has very poor disease resistance, but is a cool purple and green tomato with great flavor. The Abe Lincoln is supposed to be good flavor and have great disease resistance, so it's got the inside track!
Since they are heirloom/open pollinator seeds you can save them from one generation to the next.
I have a marking system, so that each year I pick the best seeds from the best plants... Some plants might germinate and grow quickly, some grow slowly but have superior flavor... Others might have better blight resistence. I try to pick the best traits and then those are the plants I save seeds from for the next year.
So I'm slowly taking all these plant varieties and adapting them year after year for life at MN's lattitude.
At the same time I'm expanding the Orchard out here... By the time my Daughter is 5, everything should be at full maturity, and I planned it out so that from Early June to Mid October there will always be 1, if not 2-3-4 things coming ripe, so if she wants a snack, she can go pick it from the orchard or garden, instead of unwrap it from a vending machine!
;)[/QUOTE]
TLDNR!!!
:D
Did not know of the Tomato varieties and info. I studied Herbs before but never grew. I live in an area where they are easy to get. I used to add Maca to my shakes and use Rhodiola Rosea for anxiety (Adaptogenic). Need to look at problems south of the border lately. Cassacara sagrada would get things moving but only short term. May just go Metamucil :/
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[QUOTE=BobbyOrr1965;1028882523]TLDNR!!!
:D
Did not know of the Tomato varieties and info. I studied Herbs before but never grew. I live in an area where they are easy to get. I used to add Maca to my shakes and use Rhodiola Rosea for anxiety (Adaptogenic). Need to look at problems south of the border lately. Cassacara sagrada would get things moving but only short term. May just go Metamucil :/[/QUOTE]
Yeah back when I was on the road for business a lot I would take a lot of generic forms of Immodium AD, because when you're running from meeting to meeting in these far flung country towns, the last thing you want is that cheap gas station taco you ate coming back to haunt you... And before you know it you're in a full suit trying to blast an evil ass dragon in a construction site porta potty!
;)
Problem was I took so many of them for so long that once I stopped taking them, if I took one it would bind me up for DAYS. I tried a lot of ways to get more fiber in my diet, but to do it 100% all natural you damn near have to become a vegetarian to get 150% of daily fiber.
Finally I settled on the generic version of fiber one bars.
When in doubt, when you need to loosen things up there is a spectrum to choose from starting with stupid/bad ideas at the top, and good one's at the bottom.
Bad Ideas
Eat 1 Bhut Jolokia Pepper
Spend a Saturday night eating Chili and drinking cheap beer
Old Milwaukee's Best
Eat real barley (Same probiotic properties as Activia, for a fraction of the price and you don't have to feel like you're eating Lesbian Yogurt!)
Metamucil
2 Fiber One bars per day
Raspberry leaf tea
Good Ideas
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Thinking of Metamucil but will look into Raspberry tea. I was a vegetarian before. But it was a case of Muchos Gassy Ass for the first while. Did it for close to a year and went back to meat. Feel better on meat/flesh. Though I had more energy for a little while not having it.
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[QUOTE=BobbyOrr1965;1028898083]Thinking of Metamucil but will look into Raspberry tea. I was a vegetarian before. But it was a case of Muchos Gassy Ass for the first while. Did it for close to a year and went back to meat. Feel better on meat/flesh. Though I had more energy for a little while not having it.[/QUOTE]
While I love my vegetables and go through the effort to grow them in family scale gardening... I love meat more... In all forms... And in fact specialize in doing great things with cheap ass cuts.
I can also say as a board certified War Donkey of a Human Being, who's had a handful of friends go vegetarian over the years, that I've never met a Veggie that can keep up with me.
I also have friends who believe the only vegetables worth eating are sauteed and placed ontop of a burger.
I can tell you for a fact that neither the Meaty's nor the Veggie's can split an entire cord of firewood in a single session without gassing out before the job is done.
So like always... The best path is somewhere, balanced, in the middle.
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[QUOTE=Nainoa;1028903803]While I love my vegetables and go through the effort to grow them in family scale gardening... I love meat more... In all forms... And in fact specialize in doing great things with cheap ass cuts.
I can also say as a board certified War Donkey of a Human Being, who's had a handful of friends go vegetarian over the years, that I've never met a Veggie that can keep up with me.
I also have friends who believe the only vegetables worth eating are sauteed and placed ontop of a burger.
I can tell you for a fact that neither the Meaty's nor the Veggie's can split an entire cord of firewood in a single session without gassing out before the job is done.
So like always... The best path is somewhere, balanced, in the middle.[/QUOTE]
That is me I think. I endeavor to balance everything out. Even sometimes moderation in moderation ;)
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[QUOTE=Procta;1028725273]Sorry Al Swearengen is not in this thread[/QUOTE]
Lulz
[img]http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/551510_481940265200154_1855815924_n.jpg[/img]
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That's why we're omnivores. We need meat and veggies to be okay.
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[QUOTE=Hartski;1028954663]That's why we're omnivores. We need meat and veggies to be okay.[/QUOTE]
Actually we are more designed, physically, metabolically and developmentally to eat Bone Marrow more than meat.
The thing we are least designed to do is drink milk after infancy. We're the only mammals that do, and some anthropolgists say that the ability to digest milk after infancy is our most recent evolutionary change, developed inside of the last 5,000 years.
Really makes you wonder how a cave man would interpret seeing us drink a tall glass of milk!
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3 weeks ago I saw some Asparagus seeds on sale in a rack for $2. I planted 10 crowns last year... But I figured what's 2 bucks...
Bought them, started them...
And for three weeks they just sat there in the soil doing nothing. Last night I started thinking "Well this is probably a bust, no sense in them taking up precious green house space... Maybe I'll pitch them tomorrow.
Get up this morning and 9 of 12 settings have sprouted and run deep tender little roots. So if all 12 do germinate, I'll have 22 Asparagus...
I can already see June 2017... "Asparagus Fest"
:cool:
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[QUOTE=Nainoa;1029231443]The thing we are least designed to do is drink milk after infancy. We're the only mammals that do[/QUOTE]
Millions of cats beg to differ.......:D
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[QUOTE=Hartski;1029243793]Millions of cats beg to differ.......:D[/QUOTE]
Actually... Sort of not...
If you keep feeding a kitten milk on a semi regular basis it will indeed keep making the enzymes needed to digest milk.
(This is an off shoot of the fact that in order to husband dairy cattle we needed "Barn Cats" so they evolved at the Utter right along side us etc...)
BUT if you say take an adult cat and just start feeding it milk after it has been completely weaned, 80% of them will have the exact same response that we human's call "Lactose Intolerance."
When I worked an after school job for a vet, this was a really common call they got, from people who started using milk as a treat for an adult cat and didn't put 2 and 2 together as to why it was gassy and messing the hell out of the litter box.
I have a cat, that ironically is white with black splotches just like a cow, who begs for milk every time I pour myself a bowl of cereal, everytime I give in, I know I'll be paying for it later!
;)
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Well had my first cigarette dream. In it I found a pack of cigs in my pocket. There was a half smoked one so I thought of going outside to smoke it. In the dream my brain was telling me that would not be cheating. Lol wut? The cig was wet. As I looked at the pack it became cigars and I thought they must belong to someone else so I put them down on the table and walked away. Don't know why but not having lucid dreams as much. I had them everyday for months it seemed not too long ago. The things I would learn from that state.
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I thought about trying to smoke one of the half smoked cigs in the garage ashtray the other day.......
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[QUOTE=Hartski;1029306503]I thought about trying to smoke one of the half smoked cigs in the garage ashtray the other day.......[/QUOTE]
Do you smoke or was that just an odd craving? If you don't you would just get dizzy and light headed. The first time I smoked I was about 12 and my friends and I had some Navy Cut. We thought we were so cool lol. Smoked up on a hill and after some large puffs I think my face turned three shades of green while everything was spinning. Didn't stop me. Wanted to be cool. Oh the adolescent mind.
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Awesome! :)
I smoked for years and thought about quitting from time to time. I mean I practice Yoga/meditation and smoke? Cognitive disonance 101. I quit last summer for 8 days but went out to a bar on the weekend and drinking triggered me into smoking again. They went hand in hand. I quit them both. Actually saving money from that which will go in part to our sick kids hospital fund and sponsored child.
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How much is a new Thermal Frontier 2-man ice fishing shelter worth?
There is one here in E. KY for sale and know one really even knows what it is.
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Hell yeah!
Deadline week... I threw 10 hail marys this week.. and I connected on THREE of them, I am one more signature away from having enough comissions to pay an entire MONTH's worth of bills in under 4 days of work!
The way I live these days is a roller coaster... But Damn do I love the high parts!
:cool:
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[QUOTE=Nainoa;1029340633]Hell yeah!
Deadline week... I threw 10 hail marys this week.. and I connected on THREE of them, I am one more signature away from having enough comissions to pay an entire MONTH's worth of bills in under 4 days of work!
The way I live these days is a roller coaster... But Damn do I love the high parts!
:cool:[/QUOTE]
Keep sharing these kind of updates. I love your energy and your excitement over wins like this is contagious.
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[QUOTE=BobbyOrr1965;1029297203]Well had my first cigarette dream. In it I found a pack of cigs in my pocket. There was a half smoked one so I thought of going outside to smoke it. In the dream my brain was telling me that would not be cheating. Lol wut? The cig was wet. As I looked at the pack it became cigars and I thought they must belong to someone else so I put them down on the table and walked away. Don't know why but not having lucid dreams as much. I had them everyday for months it seemed not too long ago. The things I would learn from that state.[/QUOTE]
When you're making any kind of lifestyle change like this, especially a chemical addiction you can expect that your brain chemistry will be messed up for the first 6 months.
It's always been my hallmark that it takes 6 months in order to completely retrain your brain to accept that this new lifestyle is the new normal.
For all lifestyle changes like this I always advocate a system where you put away a dollar in a jar for something you want to buy... Something that is just a straight up pleasure for you that you're aching to own, that costs around $180.
Then when you get to that six month mark, cash out your reward jar and go buy it.
So far it has worked for me 100% of the time.
But you should still expect that your brain chemistry will be off for a while. In fact a lot of people who quit smoking (Even with non-smoking aids) often experience a depression.
When I quit my doc gave me a scrip for some new anti-depressant that was on the market.
I took it because at that point in my life I was blindly following Doctor's orders... It said on it "Do not take with Alcohol"
I sort of ignored that one friday night when I was hosting a bon fire party...
More than a few drinks in I blacked out.
Then I had a strange dream that Jabba the Hutt was drowning a Walrus in a bucket of Mayonnaise... I woke up from the dream and I was having a threesome with two fat chicks!
:eek:
