One time, about 6 years ago, I grew some basil.
Not from seed…
Does it still count?
I planted about 8 basil plants in a container and made pesto all summer long. It was the first time I’d grown food and the last…until I bought a homestead.
Here’s the deal – I don’t WANT to grow my own food. I don’t have a deep desire to work in the dirt. I don’t want to prune, re-pot, fertilize, till, or do any gardening activity.
I WANT to eat a variety of healthy, garden fresh fruits and veggies.
And I just happen to live in a climate where, if I play my cards right, I can grow food outside all year long. Take that New York!
Our new house has ample outdoor space for growing fruits and veggies plus a large hoop house. We can easily grow as much or as little food as we want.
Actually, I take that back – we already have a bunch of fruit trees and berry bushes, I think we’ll have lots of food no matter what!
Mmmmmmmm…I can’t wait 🙂
So, I’m not in love with the idea of working in the garden but I am in love with producing our own organic food for ourselves and for our community. We have dreams of hosting community dinners and serving delicious food from the farm. In order to do that we need to dig in, literally.
A few weeks ago we visited a locally owned garden store and met David. He hosts weekend talks at the garden store about growing organic and creating “living soil.” At the garden store they have a large garden of raised beds where they grow outside year round. We wanted to bury our faces in his lettuce patch and eat ‘em all up. They were the most appetizing veggies I’ve ever seen!
We came back for his hour long talk and I feel like he catapulted us two years ahead on our garden learning curve and saved us a ton of time and money!
Here are my notes from the talk:
- Buy Pro-Bio – it helps you create living earth. It’s like a probiotic for the soil with lots of good bacteria. In a glass bottle (1 gallon), use one capful and feed with agricultural molasses, keep feeding daily until looks like original bottle (usually 5 days or so). Spray on plants when watering. Use 1:1000 dilution.
- Agricultural Molasses – activates Happy Frog soil. Use Happy Frog as a top dress when planting and then sprinkle Agricultural Molasses over it to activate the bacteria in the soil.
- When starting seedlings – start soil with Mycostim (wear mask when using) and Bio-Ag.
- Use a top dress and sprinkle with Mycostim and then add Black Castings once the plants start to come up.
- For our Texas clay, dip tomato roots in calcium (dolomite) before planting.
- Spray beneficial nematodes on your crops as a natural pesticide.
- For blueberries, you need to add acid to the soil (in this part of Texas). Plant them in straight peat moss. Dig the hole twice the diameter and exactly the right depth. Pack the peat moss in there around the plant. Water and mulch the top. Over time, when you see the plant start to sink, pack more in – pack it HARD and then water and mulch on top.
- Add molasses to Happy Frog when you plant. Use Happy Frog as a top dressing when you plant and then sprinkle molasses on it and feed monthly.
- Buy organic compost in bulk. Get a “good garden blend.” Use that to plant in and then top dress with Happy Frog and Agricultural Molasses.
- No tilling anymore – only for new beds to get compost in the soil and then start adding bacteria to the beds. Once you do that and get a good bacteria colony, you don’t want to till again – ever!
- For compost use Bokashi, sprinkle each layer with it. Can also use on decomposing animals. Breaks stuff down quick.
- Use Happy Frog fertilizer for plant food. Feed every 6 weeks if you use Pro-Bio. Look for 5-5-5 if you’re not sure what you need. You can never go wrong with 5-5-5. The first number is for leaf health, then roots, and finally blossoms.
- For container gardens us Salamander or CocoLoco as soils.
- Easy bug control? Plant tobacco! The bugs get addicted to it and will leave other plants alone.
- For raised beds, build a rectangle with (2) UNTREATED 2x6x8s. Till in compost into the soil and then top dress with Happy Frog and Agricultural Molasses. Rotate what you plant to keep the soil rich.
