Tag Archives: Guerilla gardening

Grow your garden in pots

Grow your garden in pots

 
We live in a harsh environment to grow gardens.  The soil is a clay consistency and does not have many nutrients for growing plants.  So, we grow most of our food in pots.  We are also the hail capital of the United States so our plants get damaged right from the start. We have been growing food in pots for years now and winter some of our plants over inside.  We have kept basil and pepper plants going for 5 years. And we have moved quite often so we just empty the pots out and take them with us, they stack nicely.  Each year we try and purchase more pots to keep adding to what we have and have started purchasing the little dollies that have wheels on them for the larger pots that are too heavy to move when full.  As we get older the pots are nicer to work with than getting down on the ground when there is a possibility that we have a difficult time getting up.  We have changed out the soil some and others we add kitchen waste to and that helps give the soil more nutrients. It is also a good idea if you find worms put them into your pots so they can take care of breaking down the kitchen waste.
 
To start the seeds we use cardboard egg containers and starter soil mix water well and cover them with saran wrap and place in a dark place. When the seeds start sprouting then we uncover them and put by the window or put a grow light over them. This way we can baby them until they get larger. When the plants get large enough we transfer them to the larger pots. Then as the days get warmer we can place them outside during the day and bring them in at night. And when we get hail we can bring them in also or at least cover them. You can also plant new seeds during the winter months and keep the plants either in the window so they get light or have a grow light on them.
 
Some veggie plants are not as pretty as flowers, however, they will feel just as pretty when you start getting food off of them. Although the chive, radish, okra, parsnip, rhubarb and Black Eyed Peas to name a few that also have pretty flowers.  Also you can plant flowers in with the veggie plants. Some varieties of flowers are also good to eat in salads such as Nasturtiums, day lilies and carnations. Also one of my favorite ways of planting in pots is to put a tomato or pepper plant in the middle of a large pot and then plant herbs around it.
 
If you plant heirloom seeds then make sure at the end of the season that you let some of each go to seed so you have seeds for next year.  Then some of the plants you can winter over indoors and they will continue to provide food. The rest of the pots you can either cover during the winter or just put them out of your way. Speaking of heirloom seeds they are the ones you should be using because you can save the seeds and they will produce the exact same plant. With the non-heirloom seeds you may get a totally different plant and veggie. So, it will be better if you start using the heirloom seeds and get use to saving your seeds for the next year. This will also cut the cost of gardening when you do not have to pay for seeds year after year.

Sprouts

When you hear the words “bean sprouts”, what picture comes to mind?  If it is the white bean sprout you buy at the store to use in Chinese or Japanese cooking, that is normal, as it is all that most of us have seen. These white sprouts are made from the Mung bean and are grown in darkness. But all bean sprouts are not created equal. You can have yellow or green sprouts depending on the bean or pea that you use and how much sunlight you expose the sprouts to. You can sprout all kinds of dry beans such as pinto, black, kidney and navy.  You can also use peas such as black-eyed peas or the green English peas, grains such as alfalfa, wheat and sunflower seeds. Mustard, Radish, Almonds also make good sprouts.  Bean sprouts are a food rich in amino acids (proteins), vitamins and minerals, and fiber.  The vitamins that are in bean sprouts are all types (A, B, C, D, E, and K). Folic acid along with minerals iron, potassium, copper, selenium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc. Sprouts, being alive have needed enzymes too. I bring up bean sprouts because with long term food storage you may not get the required vitamins you need, but when you add the bean sprouts to your diet it makes your diet more complete and nutritious than without them. Have you ever heard of scurvy? It is what the sailors use to get when they were out on the ships for months or a year at a time. By 10 weeks their stores of Vitamin C in their bodies had been depleted and they would start showing signs of scurvy. They did not have fresh fruits or veggies and had never heard of sprouting. By 10 weeks all of the fresh fruits and veggies would either be eaten or moldy. And scurvy was a fatal disease.  As time progressed the sailors did learn about citrus fruit juices and started stocking that which helped treat scurvy. The English often stocked lime juice and from that we get the term ‘limeys’.

Bean sprouts have a crunchy texture and a nutty flavor.  They can be put in salads, on sandwiches, in soups and in stir fry or you can add them to breads. For best results eat the sprouts raw.

This will add freshness to your food storage and variety to your meals, plus many of the all necessary vitamins you need.

It takes about 1 week to sprout beans to the size that you will want to use.  But then they need to be eaten rather quickly to avoid mold.  So it is best that you grow in small portions and start at various times in rotation.  You have to have a bottle or a tray that is just started and then in 3 days start another and in 3 more days start another.  By the time you start the 3rd tray the first should be eaten. Plan on using about 1 to 2 ounces dry weight per day per person, start with less and see how well they get consumed.

Sprouting trays and jars can be bought as a special purpose item. Or you can re-purpose items. What you are looking for is a container which will hold water [and the seeds] to soak them at the beginning AND such that you can drain the water out, reserving the sprouts along with letting air circulate too. Do not discard the sprout water! Instead use it to water your plants or for use in soups and stews OR as the basis for drinks.

guerilla gardener in South Central LA

Hopefully this video will be contagious and spread like  a pandemic…… There is no good reason for the hunger here in America. While we are about this, let us not forget all the wild food that grows—like dandelions, milkweed, purslane to name but a few.
BTW you can contact your local County Extension Agent at the court house, to find out about the Master Gardener program- in Cheyenne area that would be Catherine Wisner- JJ and I have had her classes before and I can not think of anyone who does a better job. If you are or will be traveling near Denver CO you can contact Kate Armstrong of www.WhatGrandmotherKnew.com for information on wild edible plants. AND you may consider this a personal recommendation for both of these ladies.
Guerilla gardening is the practice of growing food stuff in un-conventional ways or locations such as what is depicted in the video. This is of course from a modern civilized standpoint. Down through the ages this was actually the normal way of doing things. An example would be the American
Indians even as late as the 1970’s
Your kids and grandkids would benefit greatly from learning this sort of thing— and so will you.

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