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Forum Post: Planting A Garden Of Love

Posted 10 years ago on April 21, 2013, 12:04 a.m. EST by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Bought 100 seed packs for 20 bucks flowers and veggies. Think I may buy a few fruit bushes maybe some grape vines they are just 10 bucks a piece. Boy the look from the home owners association is going to be pissed.

16 Comments

16 Comments


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[-] -2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

Suggest a community food garden, QM.

The home owners assoc. might be right into it.

Is there a vacant lot, or some commons nearby?

[-] 1 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

i was considering just making some seed bombs and hitting some vacant lots that way. the more i get into gardening the more bewildered i am that there is not food growing everywhere. exit ramps, vacant lots, giant lawns. it makes no sense. i guess everyone just likes the way suburbia looks.

[-] 1 points by Nader (74) 10 years ago

Agreed. Though I think well kept gardens are very nice looking.

It always amazed me how popular our local Whole Foods is. Between hunting and gardening, my family eats food that is light years better than anything even Whole Foods sells for about 1/10th the cost.

Not sure why others haven't caught on. I can see it being tough to hunt and garden in urban areas but those in suburbia and especially rural areas can do these things very easily.

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[-] 1 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

in regards to hunting and gardening i guess most people don't think they really can. i happen to think hunting, fishing, foraging, and farming are the preferred methods of attaining nutrition. the food is healthier and more nutritious. most people don't realize that the nutrition in food is way down due to hybridization for size and transport. heirloom and natural vegetables and fruits are far more nutritious. they like to leave that out when talking about organic vs. non organic foods. my dream would be to buy like 40 acres abutting a large national or state park so that i could exploit the natural abundance of wild game and natural foodstuffs found in many such places. plus have enough land to employ the full scale and variety of permaculture farming techniques.

[-] 1 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

a well kept garden can be attractive but so can a field of various flowers and food stuffs. i can go both ways a well manicured garden is nice but i find a natural looking setting ala sepp holzer or masanobu fukuoka just as attractive. obviously if you prefer tilling and working the soil and pulling weeds have at it. i prefer the sepp holzer/masanobu fukuoka way. the neighbors probably not so much.

[-] -1 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

Yes, and if you look into "companion planting" certain flower crops work with your food crops to deter pests. Marigolds are very useful for certain crops, and I remember growing climbing beans on my corn crop. The two go well together because the beans fix nitrogen from the air, and put it in the soil.

[-] 2 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

you can also grow a squash with corn and beans. they are known as the 3 sisters. the squash is a ground cover preventing the growth of weeds. companion planting is tried and true proven technique to increase yield and decrease work.

[-] -2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

I love eating golden squash, so I'll give that a go for sure.

Thanks.

[-] 1 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

there is a vacant lot around the corner but its over grown with kudzu. i need some goats they could fix that problem in a few days if that.

[-] -2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

Goats can be good and bad.

They get sick if they eat the same thing every day, and it's a myth that they will eat anything. The last goat I tended was very particular about his tucker.

There's a method of gardening that requires no digging. Just lots of newspaper of waste cardboard, and some bales of lucerne or chaff, and some compost.

Here's a link, but there's plenty of variations on the no-dig principal. It's my experience that if a patch of ground is weed-infested, simply cultivating and mulching will bring those weeds back faster than your plants can grow.

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s867068.htm

[-] 2 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

yeah i am aware of some of the different needs of livestock. there are a bunch of no till methods. check out straw bail gardening. http://strawbalegardens.com/

[-] -2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

I grow chat potatoes in straw bales.

They come out clean and crisp.

Strawbs work well in bales as well.

I'm on the move at the moment, so I'm doing sprouts, which is something anyone can do in any kind of dwelling.

[-] 1 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

sprouts have a higher nutrition density i highly recommend them.

[-] -2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

And a fast turnover time.

You can even sprout food while backpacking.

There's so many things that we really need to bring back into the classroom environment. Practical, useful things, that anyone can do.

[-] 0 points by quantumystic (1710) from Memphis, TN 10 years ago

i agree, my return to education has been quite an eye opening experience. while i will always support the class room environment there needs to be more integration of technology and field trips damn it. half or more of a class could be out of class application.

[-] -2 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

When I was teaching indigenous people, it was accepted practise to have more than half of the lessons as hands-on practical instruction. As long as the lesson could be described as being in a "structured learning environment" then anything could be taught. I used a camera to record the "environment" and never photographed anyone who didn't wish to be on camera.