Category: Gardening

Jim, This site has a lot of how too books on many subjects and I have found their books too be first rate. http://www.storey.com/ In particular for vegetable gardening these two. Seed Sowing and Saving. The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible Even after 30+ years of gardening and 10 years with a greenhouse this is the book I still read in the winter getting ready and refer too all summer long. With the new bigger greenhouse and a small coal stove this coming winter will be the first time I will try to grow food all winter long. It will be fun …

No matter how deep our deep-freeze is or how well stocked our pantry, our food stockpiles are good for one thing: to keep us alive until gardening/bartering/hunter-gathering kicks in. Living as we do on the high, arid plains of Wyoming, my wife and I have been working to establish a system of gardening that requires little water and can produce crops in the sandy, alkaline soil. After several years and a myriad of techniques, we stumbled onto a system that works. For lack of a better term, it’s the Goodyear Garden. Here’s our tater recipe: Gather unto yourselves a few …

Dear Jim: I was wondering if any green thumbs out there have actually grown dwarf fruit trees indoors? Regards, – Rourke The Memsahib Replies: Yes, fruit trees can be grown indoors but each flower must be hand pollinated unless you have a house full of bees, butterflies, and/or flies. That means for each piece of fruit that you hope to produce, you must transfer pollen from one flower to another. Fruit will not develop unless the male pollen enters the female ovum. This can be done with the tip of a feather. If you have only room for one tree, …

Mr. Rawles: I recently attended a forestry conference where Doug Freedman of Harrisburg, Oregon was speaking. He is the owner of RCO Inc., a company that deals with varmint problems on an industrial scale. Here are some of the notes that were taken at his presentation: You start doing some of the math on the breeding numbers these guys could produce and it is flat scary. (Please note that if errors exist, it is due to my rapid note taking rather than a lapse by Mr. Freedman, who is an expert in his field. ) Pocket Gophers: Tunnels: are 80-800 …

Hi James, Spring has sprung and it is getting close to time to plan and start gardening prep. I am far from a green thumb and wondered if anyone has a solution for keeping moles and gophers from ruining the garden? Last year, 95% of my sweet corn was destroyed by these pests. Come time to count on the garden after TEOTWAWKI, I don’t want to watch my food supply vanish. I tried trapping these pests with no luck. Any info would be greatly appreciated! -The Wanderer JWR Replies:  Garden pests are typically just a “nuisance” in good times, but …

Memsahib: I have a question concerning heirloom seeds. My question is how long can a seed be stored in ideal conditions and still produce a viable plant? I am currently not at a position of having more then a very small garden, but I would like the security of a stockpile of seeds stored with me in case I need them in the future. what is a realistic storage time frame? and also what would be considered an ideal storing environment? Once the plants are harvested what is the best way to remove and prepare the new seeds from the …

Hello, Just a quick note to say Great Blog Column! Being prepared is important. Checklists help a great deal. We all need a little organization. Sometimes in our quest to prepare we forget about the immediate pressing details of ordinary life. Here’s an article I find helpful as they update with the seasons: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2002699796_checklistwinter24.html This last one is a little dated (Dec. 24) but still very much applies. Regards, – M.R.

Mr. Rawles, I am an avid gardener, motivated by a belief in producing as much of my own food as I can. There are many, many ways to devise your own greenhouse. Given a situation where you have limited supplies, this gets interesting. Being a cheap Yankee, I don’t like buying much unless I really need to. But sometimes it’s better to pay and have, than to wait for the time to make something you may never have. After researching quite a bit on the topic of greenhouses, I decided to go with a hoop house. (See: http://www.hoophouse.com/) I just …

James: I was looking over some of my old Mars proposals and wanted you to give a spin off to try in your colder area. This is an idea that popped into my head during my 105 minute bus ride as I thought about how most survivalists have no idea how to feed themselves or where they will live once they bug out. The idea is a double wall UV-transparent greenhouse with spacers between to make for good airspace insulation. Hydroponic tubing of a larger diameter would be connected to a curtained off outhouse toilet (and a runoff gutter rain …