Tips to Homesteading

Posts Tagged ‘planting’

This Tuesday’s Tip to Homesteading is: Sometimes ‘going with your gut’ is good.

What exactly does it mean to ‘go with your gut’?

Well, it’s like this, the almanac has said we should have our peas in the ground weeks ago. I’ve been anguished over this date on the calendar for quite some time. My ‘gut’ says: DON’T PLANT YET!  While trying to shake the  feeling of being a lazy-good-for-nothin’, I’ve just sprouted some for transplanting soon. When is soon? I hope by the posting of this entry – it already happened but I am going with my gut.

You see there is a time to rely on what you feel and a time to push through (that’s another Tuesday’s Tip, pushing through) what you feel.

Does the land feel ready for planting? Did you have a snow/freeze in April last year? These things play into your gut reaction to what to do around the homestead. The list of what should be done when may not always be accurate. It may often be timely but sometimes, you just *know* what needs doing even if it’s out of order, or not doing, because you just know the time isn’t right yet.

Don’t be afraid to ‘go with your gut’ on some things. What’s the worst that could happen? You’d learn something? Or you’d learn that in THAT situation – go ahead and push through (see the next week’s tip!)

Best Blessings and enJOY the journey!

Donna Miller

Donna Miller is a work-from-home wife and mother. She delighted to share her trials and triumphs of learning to homestead anywhere. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.

Technorati Tags: homestead, planting, rain, tips, weather

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Fall Vegetable Gardening Provides New Challenges even for the experienced homesteader with a green thumb.  Many people completely ignore the Fall garden because of the challenges, and focus on preparing the bed for the Spring planting.

For most garden enthusiasts, the arrival of fall means a harvest and a long rest for the vegetable garden beds. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. With a bit of careful planning and appropriate timing, you can enjoy a second harvest of cool weather crops throughout the autumn months with fall vegetable gardening. There are a number of vegetables that will thrive in the cooler months of fall, like root vegetables and leafy greens and a variety of cabbages. To select the best fall growers, check packages for descriptions like “cold hardy” or “quick maturity”. This will ensure that the plants you select for your fall vegetable gardening will give you the harvest that you are hoping for.

Timing

Timing is truly everything when it comes to fall vegetable gardening, since you will want to beat the first hard frost to ensure that you get a good, healthy crop. Some plants don’t even survive the first fall frosts, so they would probably not be good choices for your fall vegetable gardening efforts. To find out what the frost calendar is for your area, you can contact your local extension office. They can give you the best ideas of dates to plant for fall vegetable gardening, as well as a list of potential crops that will work well this time of year.  Some plants actually like the shorter days and cooler temperatures of the autumn months, and will reward you with sweeter tasting veggies than you would enjoy in the hotter summer harvest.

Protection

Some of the crops that you choose to plant in your fall vegetable gardening will require some protection to survive the frosty nights of this season. This means that you will need to keep your eye on the weather reports during the months of September and October, and be prepared to cover those vulnerable plants when the temperatures begin to threaten to drop to frost point. You can purchase protection for your plants, or you can construct your own out of old milk bottles or worn bed sheets. By protecting your plants through the colder nights, you can allow them to thrive during the warmer days, and extend your harvest by a few weeks. Some plants will even continue to grow through hard frosts if they have proper protection at night.

Fall vegetable gardening will allow you to enjoy your favorite hobby past the warm weather months, and give you a crop of sweet vegetables that you might be able to enjoy all the way to Thanksgiving with a bit of luck in some areas. Happy fall gardening.

Technorati Tags: fall vegetable gardening, Growing Vegetables, homestead garden, planting, vegetable garden beds

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