#grow your own food

[allthingssoulful-garden]

Another weekend, another tomato harvest.

[christenhelm]

📸 The Seasonal Homestead

[reality-detective]

I'll be trying this 👆 out 🤔

[turtlesandfrogs]

New gardeners in urban areas, are you concerned about soil pollution?

Read this, it's got some useful information and advice:

Also this:

And always wash your produce, because soil isn't the only source of pollution.

[hedgewitchshit]

Just a little chicken enjoying the greenhouse on a sunny afternoon 💫

[ryanscabinlife]

The meal I’ve been waiting for the whole year! Well, I always make this spaghetti, but not with stuff from my own garden! Today, I finally had enough ripe and semi-ripened cherry tomatoes to make a serving. I also used one of my garlic heads, which, by the way, are curing nicely. I even managed to pull oregano, thyme, and a bit of basil. Sadly, the onions are not yet ready, so I used a store-bought one. The basil that I managed to harvest is not enough, so I had to use dried basil from the shelf. It’s such an easy, quick, and wholesome lunch. I think my non-existing Italian ancestors would approve. 17-Aug-2023

[homeiswherethewitchcraftis]

[natureisthegreatestartist]

If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need. -- Cicero

[planty-ankylosaurus]

Focaccia bread with tomatoes and herbs from the garden.

[ahedderick]

MY strawberries are blooming, which makes me think back to this photo from when I was doing a major "update" of the beds. I hope we have BUCKETS of them this year. This was 2019. The next year we were into the pandemic, and nothing has ever felt the same.

I had supervision and help. Of course. Always.

[ID: A woman in tank top and shorts, kneeling by raised beds of strawberries. There are several trays of new plants to be planted, and everything looks springlike and green. The second photo is a folded piece of black landscape fabric. Two large white paws and a tabby tail sticking out of the folds are a cue that there is a concealed cat.]

[allthingssoulful-garden]

Gorgeous, shiny currants.

[nitrogen-fixing-cartel]

Tomatillo seedlings

[themightyfoo]

What a difference a month makes! You can grow quite a bit of food in a converted sunny hellstrip.

Before: June 3rd 2023 After: July 7th 2023

[turtlesandfrogs]

A basic starter project if you want to start growing your own food but have no money & no experience, assuming you like perilla/shiso, basil, mint, sage, or other herbs that have a square stem*.

1. Get a stem or five**, and pluck all the leaves off, except for the smallest. I worked with perilla/shiso this time, and started them in water, but often you can start them straight into soil. Here's one that's started to root in water:

2. Prepare your container. Someone I know had an excess of water jugs, so I cut it in half, poked a few holes in what was the top half, and then put it upside down inside of the bottom half. Ta-da, pot with drainage & saucer:

Be careful, obviously, because hurting yourself makes this go from a free project to a possibly rather expensive one. Soil can gotten for free, see the green onion version for more info on that.

3. Carefully make holes and plant your cuttings. I put a bag over the top to help increase humidity, because basil and perilla both seem a little fussy.

4. Put in the brightest light you have, and keep the soil evenly moist until you see new growth. These I'm starting inside but with the intention to plant outside in the summer. Obligatory check what's invasive in your area because someone told me perilla was invasive where they live. It's very much not here, it dies with the frost and I haven't gotten it to self-sow.

Tips:

Basil and perilla like it warm (above 50f/10c) and are best started indoors. Rosemary, sage, mint, etc, I've found easy to start outdoors. Keep shaded, moist, and cool until well established.

*for a fun project, look up how many culinary herbs are in the mint family! Lamiaceae will haunt your dreams!

** the first time I tried this, it was a stem of basil from take out, and I was so excited that it worked.

[amelia-rate]

July 29, 2023

Rainy Saturday

This cherry tomato plant was a gift from the man I buy seedlings from, it's a variety that a friend of his created. "The best cherry tomato you'll ever taste" and while I haven't sampled every single cherry tomato variety in the world, these are really very good to snack on. And very photogenic.

[wildrungarden]

9/19/23 ~ Hydroponics at school. Those cucumbers grew super fast 😳 and some Romaine Lettuce!