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Learn the basics of crop rotation, implement these techniques in your home garden, and the increased health and production of your vegetables will make you glad to put the effort into doing so...

Good afternoon gardeners. I have been debating all day if I should post this week’s thread. And can’t help myself at this point. I do not like stepping on JADB’s ownership of the thread and I hope y’all and she understands. As many of you know my wife and I are moving from Meridian, Ms to Marshall, Tx and I was not sure I would be able to keep on gardening at the house we are leasing. Peggy has received a written approval letter from the owner for us to put in a small garden. So I will be trying...

The most important factor in determining when to plant a certain type of vegetable in your garden is the “Last Freeze Date” in the spring for your area...

Good morning fellow gardening Freepers. I'm in need of a good affordable garden tiller and was wondering what you folks think. I used to simply rent one but that option is pretty much out now since nearly all the rental places quit carrying tillers. The one place left that does rent tillers is prohibitively expensive. So, I'm considering just buying a smaller one. The Mantis XP fits my budget and they make a convincing sales pitch (good warranty, free shipping, Honda Engine) but I don't have a clue if they're any good. I'm open to any and all suggestions. I'm...

Champis, the sheep herding rabbit.

Good morning gardeners! Red Devil here. JustaDumbBlonde and her husband are on their way up to Montana for a well deserved vacation. She should be able to post the thread from her remote Montana location next week.  I am sure she will continue with her plans for a soil structure thread next week. Her Thread subjects are so informative and interesting. Although I have not been real active on the thread, I read each and every post. Y'all have been doing a great job!I should be able to get some sort of a  garden going this year, at our...

Complete planting guide for blueberries including state specific varieties, harvest dates, nutrition facts, planting, watering, fertilizing, pruning, insect and disease information...

I have a dear friend and neighbor who is elderly and not in the best of health. Day in and day out during gardening season she sits at her kitchen table and watches me work in my yard and garden, living vicariously through me. Once or twice a week I'll take her some vegetables and we discuss gardening, which was such an important part of her earlier years. You can see the love of gardening in her eyes every time we have a talk. I asked her one day to tell me the difference between dirt and soil. Soil,...

SUPPLEMENTAL VOL. 1 USDA Unveils New Plant Hardiness Zone Map The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released the new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map, updating a useful tool for gardeners and researchers for the first time since 1990 with greater accuracy and detail. The new map — jointly developed by USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Oregon State University's PRISM Climate Group — is available online at http://www.planthardiness.ars.usda.gov . ARS is the chief intramural scientific research agency of USDA. For the first time, the new map offers a Geographic Information System based interactive format and is specifically...

On January 25, 2012, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the new version of its Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM), the first major update since 1990. See the new map, detailed state specific PHZMs, as well as PHZMs for Australia, Canada, China, Europe, and Japan...

It was just a couple of weeks ago that I was really glad that the last of my garden had frozen. Being blessed with a long growing season is not always what it's cracked-up to be. You understand ... gardening is hard work! When it lasts from March or April until December, it can get tedious.Then, yesterday, my first order of seeds that I don't need came in from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. Four beautiful little envelopes that sound like maracas; Baby Lincoln Leeks, Tres Fine Maraichere Endive, Beaumont Broccoli, and Large Fruited Mixture Ornamental Gourds.I am stoked.Yep,...

A complete planting guide for potatoes including state specific varieties, planting dates, days to harvest, nutrition facts, fertilizing, watering, insect and disease information.

Good morning everybody! It is cold and clear here in NE Louisiana, zone 8a, we should reach 50° today under sunny skies. We've received several inches of rain in the past 3 weeks, so there will be no garden prep for a while yet, but the sunny sky has a way of getting me in the mood. In last week's thread we discussed our seed and supply catalogs. This week I intended to discuss saving seeds from our own harvests, and starting seeds indoors. In preparing, I actually found a couple of articles that are very informative and give good...

Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer, works on farming and developing his own seeds for 50 years. When his fields were contaminated, Monsanto threatened him, intimidated him, and tried to take his land away. He took them to court.

An alphabetical listing of 40 sources of Seeds, Transplants, and Bulbs for Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers, Grains, Grasses, Ground Covers, Vines, Fruits, Sprouting, Trees, Wildflowers, and much more. Many are Open-pollinated, Non-GMO, Organic, and Heirloom varieties. Most offer a Free Catalog.

January is not the most hospitable month of the year to be sure. If you're like me those cold dreary days are best spent curled up in a chair (for the guys that don't *do* curl -- sit there very manly) with a cup of tea (insert the manly beverage of your choice) and a stack of garden catalogs that you need a front-end loader to move (got you with the front-end loader, didn't I?).I've got to hand it to the catalog people, the covers are exceptional this year and, by golly, with all of the $25 to $100 coupons...

Are you ready for the vegetable census? Yesterday I received the “2012 National Agricultural Classification Survey” from the US Dept. of Agriculture. It was accompanied by a cover letter stating (in large, bold font) that my response is required by law; and, if I do not reply, I “may be personally visited.” I am not and have never been a farmer or rancher. My land has never been farmed or ranched. I do, however, have a vegetable garden that I built in 2009. This garden is private and noncommercial. There is no illegal activity whatsoever on my property. The survey...

A heap of dead bees was supposed to become food for a newly captured praying mantis. Instead, the pile ended up revealing a previously unrecognized suspect in colony collapse disorder—a mysterious condition that for several years has been causing declines in U.S. honeybee populations, which are needed to pollinate many important crops. This new potential culprit is a bizarre—and potentially devastating—parasitic fly that has been taking over the bodies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in Northern California.

Jerry Dimitman, a retired professor of plant pathology at Cal Poly Pomona who regularly caused an uproar when he showed up to sell his exotic fruit at the Alhambra farmers market, died Dec. 14 of a stroke at his home overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. He was 91. Such was the mystique that he cultivated, along with some of the state's oldest, largest and rarest exotic Asian fruit trees, that he and his family always insisted that his home's location remain unspecified to deter intrusions by overzealous fruit lovers. Many of his crops, such as lychees, longans, pummelos and mandarins,...

A Swedish woman's recent toiling in her garden turned up a rather unexpected harvest when she pulled a carrot out of the ground 'wearing' the wedding ring she had lost back in 1995. After 16 years, Lena and Ola Påhlsson, who reside near Mora, Dalarna, in central Sweden, had given up hope of ever finding Lena's lost wedding ring. The ring, which Lena had designed herself, went missing after she had put it on the kitchen counter in midst of a holiday baking session back in 1995. The couple engaged in a frantic search for the ring, even checked behind...

Granny Ruth departed this earth for her heavenly home sometime over the Christmas weekend. Heaven's gain is Free Republic's loss. She was a wonderful freeper and friend to many.

OTTAWA, - Despite being the second largest land mass in the world after Russia, Canada imports millions of dollars more in fake Christmas trees than real ones it exports. Statistics Canada said Canada exported $28.4 million worth of real conifers last year while it imported $44 million worth of artificial trees. Of the exports, 1.77 million harvested trees, or $26 million worth, went to the United States, with the balance going to Aruba, Bermuda, Netherlands Antilles, Panama and Venezuela, the agency said. China was the source of $42.7 million worth of imported artificial Christmas trees, with the remainder coming from...

Excerpts: In accordance with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Codex Alimentarius scheme for global food control, the NZ Food Bill, if passed, will essentially transfer primary control of food from individuals to corporations under the guise of food safety. And unless massive public outcry and awakened consciences within the NZ government are able to put a stop to it, the bill could become law very soon. According to NZ Food Security, a group working to protect the food freedom of New Zealanders, the bill will turn growing and sharing food into a government-granted privilege rather than a human right. It...

I've been looking on the web for a good vendor or vendors of food for long term storage. I'd like some feedback from you fellow FReepers as to your experience with the various companies out there....

Good morning gardeners. I hope all of you are doing well and wish you a Merry Christmas. Today’s thread will be the last one I post as the host of the gardening thread. Thankfully the thread will continue to be posted by Freeper JustaDumbBlonde. Not only is she is a very experienced gardener, she and her husband run a large acreage family farm growing corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans and various other crops. Her large kitchen garden is so successful she has set up a roadside stand to sell her produce. I am confident the Gardening Thread will be in very...

The Tea Party Was Born Under This Flag America's First Flag… The Liberty Tree Flag

Revisiting the resilient lifestyle… Things finally collapse, and you go to the basement, start digging out survival gear and freeze dry food. You gather the family around the radio, shotgun in hand and begin worrying about how long the “stuff” will last. OR You get up at six AM as usual, open a bag of your favorite coffee, mixing it 50/50 with the chickory root you gathered in the summer. Opening the spout on the Big Berkey water filter, you fill the percolator you picked up at a yard sale, for 2 bucks. You set the coffee on the woodstove...

The Donald's hair is his!

Good morning gardeners. As many of you may know, my wife is a manager at a Wal-Mart Superstore. About a month or so ago she was approached, via email, by Wal-Mart, informing her that there was a position opening up in one of their stores in Shreveport, La. and they wanted to do a phone interview with her if she was interested. She agreed and did the interview. Well last week they called her back and told her the position was hers if she wanted it. We were given an hour to make the decision. Job wise this is a...

Good morning gardeners. I can’t believe it is already December, Brrrrrrrrr! It is 27 this morning in East Central Mississippi and is forecast to be in the mid 60s this afternoon. There are no plans to do any outside work for this gardener today. What needs to be done can wait until Saturday and Sunday when it is supposed to be in the high 60s and into the 70s. Just waiting for Spring now. If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in...

The Gloria Steinem generation convinced women that they were not doing jobs. Women were told they were being slaves to their families, and not getting paid for it. In lousy economic times, these newly learned old skills give women a bigger choice of where to spend money. They can cut corners by mending, canning, and growing a garden. They have the power and flexibility to fill their pantries and not depend on the government or stores in difficult times.

Good morning gardeners. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. My day was nice, quiet and lazy. Mrs. RD had to go to work at one pm and did not get off until two this morning, so we will be having our Thanksgiving feast this afternoon. We are having a roasted Turkey breast with the typical side dishes. We usually have a Ham but Mrs. RD wanted Turkey this year so Turkey it is. It is forecast to be in the low 70s today so I may get out and gather up some leaves for the compost and some...

Good morning gardeners. Thanksgiving is next week and I hope all Freepers enjoy a bountiful feast with family and friends. Don’t forget to give thanks, it can turn a meal into a feast. A reminder for those of you who have a frozen turkey, for every 4 pounds of turkey it will take a day to thaw in the refrigerator. A 20-pound turkey will take 5 days so you need to start defrosting it tomorrow. If your turkey will not fit into your fridge defrost it in an ice chest with ice. If the turkey is allowed to thaw at...

Body of thread (REQUIRED)

Good morning gardeners. Remembering Veterans Day. Here is a big Thank You to all who have served our Country. Just wondering how many of you gardeners are Veterans? It is a Chilly 29 F here in East Central Mississippi. I have been trying to keep up with the leaves falling off the trees and I am hating the pine needles more and more everyday. I don’t use them in my compost pile because they take to long to break down. I pile them by the roadside and the county comes by once a week and vacuums them up. I hope...

Does anyone have recommendations for treating heavily wooded property for ticks? My one-year-old basset hound (Sophie) is an indoor dog, but she has free access to a little over an acre of heavily wooded property. (300+ oaks and pecans.) I've tried every treatment I can find to put on Sophie to prevent ticks, but I'm still finding them on her once every few days. She sleeps on my daughter's bed, so I'm worried about a tick dropping off in the bed. She's a lemon basset hound so the ticks are easy to see unless they're really small. Is there anything...

Nearly 15 percent of the population -- 45.8 million people - were on the food-stamp dole in August, the Wall Street Journal reported. How come? According to the paper, it's all because of the horrible economy, with the number of people on food stamps having risen 8.1 percent in the past year. What the WSJ doesn't mention is that the exploding use of food stamps has much to do with changing attitudes over the years about what food-stamp recipients are entitled to -- and that now includes junk food and sugary drinks. In addition, soaring levels of fraud have helped...

Good morning gardeners. I hope all of you are doing well this first week in November. Daylight Saving Time officially ends in the U.S. and Canada, at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6th, when clocks are moved back one hour. We have had some nice weather with lows in the mid to high 30’s and up into the mid 60’s for highs the last couple of days. Forecasts are calling for lows in the 40’s with Highs in the low 70’s for the next week. I hope all your Fall gardens are prospering. If you are a gardener or you...

Applying mulch around your trees, shrubs, garden, and landscape beds is one of the easiest and most effective ways of not only keeping plants healthy, but also reducing water usage, preventing weeds, minimizing mowing...

A laser powerful enough to tear apart the fabric of space could be built in Britain. The major scientific project will follow in the footsteps of the Large Hadron Collider and will answer questions about the universe. The laser will be capable of producing a beam of light so intense that it will be similar to the light the earth receives from the sun but focused on a speck smaller than a pin prick. Scientists say it will be so powerful they will be able to boil the very fabric of space and create a vacuum. A vacuum fizzles with...

This is an archive of the saga of Gary and Harriet, two snails in love. Gary was a wild and crazy guy who met Harriet, and as a consequence, settled down to married life with children. He has stepped up to the plate and become a caring father and a great husband. Harriet is a happy mom who loves her family dearly. We follow their journey using their own family photos, and look forward to each new entry with happy anticipation. But the story isn't here; it's in the body of the thread in pictures. They are, of course, Conservative,...

Good morning gardeners. We had our first frost last Friday but the weather has been beautiful ever since. I have been gathering leaves and other yard waste to add to my compost pile, which has grown nicely over the last few weeks and it is heating up and cooking nicely. I hope all your Fall gardens prosper. If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and...

Good morning gardeners. We have had the first frost of Fall this morning in East Central Mississippi. It will warm up into the 70s the next few days and possibly even up to 80s by Tuesday. Not much gardening will be going on for me until next Spring. I hope all your Fall gardens prosper. If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels...

In his book God Knows, Joseph Heller perfectly described the manipulative, power hungry bored first lady. Bathsheba, in his telling, is a constant meddler, jockeying for power and, desperate to have her son, Solomon, made David's successor to the throne. She spends her free time in creative activities like inventing pantaloons because she is way too narcissistic to play second fiddle even to the king. We should be so lucky. The last two Democrat First Ladies cost us a bundle in their effort to be co-Presidents. Hillary ("two for the price of one"), with hair styles changing weekly, mucked about...

I apologize for the vanity posting, but I am at the end of my rope on this. And that leads me to ask this question to the smartest people in the world, the people that read and post articles to the Free Republic website. You cant buy fresh "off the tree" olives anywhere, that I can find, in California. And they are everywhere. I was up in Napa and Sonoma Valley last week, and there are olive trees everywhere. We drove all over the place, to every produce stand we could find. Nobody sells uncured olives. The thing is, I...

I apologize for the vanity posting, but I am at the end of my rope on this. And that leads me to ask this question to the smartest people in the world, the people that read and post articles to the Free Republic website. You cant buy fresh "off the tree" olives anywhere, that I can find, in California. And they are everywhere. I was up in Napa and Sonoma Valley last week, and there are olive trees everywhere. We drove all over the place, to every produce stand we could find. Nobody sells uncured olives. The thing is, I...

Good morning gardeners. The October weather here in East Central Mississippi has been nothing but amazing this past week. We have had a few rainy days that have helped keep my compost pile moist as I am still working on building it up. It is satisfying to see the steam rise from it when I give it a turn on these cool mornings. If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of...

A Massachusetts family got the Halloween scare of a lifetime by getting lost inside a dark and creepy Salem-area corn maze and had to call 911 for rescue. Danvers police say they got a call of distress from a mother of two about 6:32 p.m. Monday. The woman alerted the 911 operator of their situation in the Connors Farm in Danvers, a short distance from Salem... He said a Danvers police with a tracking dog quickly plunged into the depths of the maze with a farm manager to search for the disoriented dad, mom and two young kids. Within a...