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Any gardeners out there?

Time to get the juicer out and make some grape juice...

Update about halfway done processing now.... picked another 5 gallon bucket...


Winter arrives in Eastern WA on Wednesday.


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I have so much stuff that has cross pollinated in the garden.... I should try and save some seeds and see if they are viable next year. Any suggestions on same? I also need to order for next year, thanks for the reminder @Hobo Hilton .

What's the GVW on the Pumpkin-Squash cross breed mix wagon? :unsure:
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I have so much stuff that has cross pollinated in the garden.... I should try and save some seeds and see if they are viable next year. Any suggestions on same? I also need to order for next year, thanks for the reminder @Hobo Hilton .

What's the GVW on the Pumpkin-Squash cross breed mix wagon? :unsure:View attachment 8256236View attachment 8256237View attachment 8256238
A lot depends on the specific's for your growing environment. I have an organic farm across the road from me and have watched them struggle as they got their operation up and running. They are the hardest working people I have seen recently. Both of us get seeds from "Johnny's Seeds" for several reasons. One reason is Johnny's is located in a similar climate, Fairfield, Maine, to what we have here. It takes a lot of resources and luck to grow things in Montana.
Breeding wise, corn and potatoes have become my primary crop. Those two have also taught me the most lessons. Takes a gardner at least 5 seasons to learn to "read" what a garden is telling him. From the looks of your produce, it's time to focus a bit more on the more difficult things to grow that you would consume. I have been eating more stir fry meals lately so I will begin to cultivate stir fry type veggies. I do a lot of slow cooker meals during the winter so I will look more at growing the ingredients I consume. Just found a breed of carrots that will over winter or can be planted very early. I will experiment with them due to our short growing season. Staggering planting works "somewhat" here but a late spring frost and early fall frost makes for a short growing season. With all the things going on in the world, waiting until planting time to order could be risky. I focus on growing the amount I need to feed myself, can some and vacuum freeze some. My chickens enjoy what ever I don't consume.

 
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I am a modestly successful gardener, on occasions. Sometimes things grow and I get vegetables, other times I just get a headache.

I enjoy the ability to split logs and tend to a garden as a welcome break from having to be immersed in legal issues all day.

If you only know how to shoot, but not how to garden, butcher game, or tend to livestock, you're really only preparing to loot and raid other people. It is important to be well-rounded with the skills needed to sustain yourself, so you aren't even tempted to resort to looting or raiding. I don't want to wind up in a position to even contemplate looting or raiding other people, so I do try to improve my garden and my hand at gardening each season.

Folks should consider that, if your friends spend all of their time and energy/money on guns and shooting, with zero focus on gardening, homesteading, hunting, trapping, fishing, canning, preserving, guess what they are going to do when the nationwide food supply takes a hit.
 
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Reactions: DIBBS
I have so much stuff that has cross pollinated in the garden.... I should try and save some seeds and see if they are viable next year. Any suggestions on same? I also need to order for next year, thanks for the reminder @Hobo Hilton .

What's the GVW on the Pumpkin-Squash cross breed mix wagon? :unsure:View attachment 8256236View attachment 8256237View attachment 8256238
They will be viable. They may even be super vigorous, but the fruits they grow likely probably wont be what you saw this year. Unless some of the stuff is self pollinating. The big seed houses stay in business because they grow excellent seed. I always try to plant some summer squash pumpkin cross seeds. A few years ago I got one that grew all over the garden like pumpkin plant but made a yellow squash like fruit, it lasted all year from early to late, and the squash bugs wouldn't touch it. I tried some seeds form that, nope must have got some spaghetti squash from my cover bed. LOL.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DIBBS
A lot depends on the specific's for your growing environment. I have an organic farm across the road from me and have watched them struggle as they got their operation up and running. They are the hardest working people I have seen recently. Both of us get seeds from "Johnny's Seeds" for several reasons. One reason is Johnny's is located in a similar climate, Fairfield, Maine, to what we have here. It takes a lot of resources and luck to grow things in Montana.
Breeding wise, corn and potatoes have become my primary crop. Those two have also taught me the most lessons. Takes a gardner at least 5 seasons to learn to "read" what a garden is telling him. From the looks of your produce, it's time to focus a bit more on the more difficult things to grow that you would consume. I have been eating more stir fry meals lately so I will begin to cultivate stir fry type veggies. I do a lot of slow cooker meals during the winter so I will look more at growing the ingredients I consume. Just found a breed of carrots that will over winter or can be planted very early. I will experiment with them due to our short growing season. Staggering planting works "somewhat" here but a late spring frost and early fall frost makes for a short growing season. With all the things going on in the world, waiting until planting time to order could be risky. I focus on growing the amount I need to feed myself, can some and vacuum freeze some. My chickens enjoy what ever I don't consume.

You guys have it tough up there. You ever consider building a geothermal walapini? Your problem, I would think, is always going to be frozen ground and low ground temp in MT.
 
Love gardening...

We grow three types of tomatoes, two types of cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, and beets.

We grow thyme, oregano, basil, and chives.

We grow Jalapeños, Serrano, Habanero, and Anaheim peppers

And we have two fig trees

We just finished closing things down and canning and fermenting quite a bit.

It is a fun hobby
 
  • Like
Reactions: DIBBS
I am a modestly successful gardener, on occasions. Sometimes things grow and I get vegetables, other times I just get a headache.

I enjoy the ability to split logs and tend to a garden as a welcome break from having to be immersed in legal issues all day.

If you only know how to shoot, but not how to garden, butcher game, or tend to livestock, you're really only preparing to loot and raid other people. It is important to be well-rounded with the skills needed to sustain yourself, so you aren't even tempted to resort to looting or raiding. I don't want to wind up in a position to even contemplate looting or raiding other people, so I do try to improve my garden and my hand at gardening each season.

Folks should consider that, if your friends spend all of their time and energy/money on guns and shooting, with zero focus on gardening, homesteading, hunting, trapping, fishing, canning, preserving, guess what they are going to do when the nationwide food supply takes a hit.
Seemed like a non offensive sort, what did he do to get the hammer?
 
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Reactions: Hobo Hilton