Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Playing Devil's Advocate here. If the idea is to save on grocery costs,
growing anything in containers is a losing proposition, esp indoors with
gro lights. Few people will count the cost of heat or light, potting soil
and deep containers, and do the math. Furthermore, carrots are not the
easiest thing to grow. Those little pots are really too hard to keep evenly
moist; they dry out too fast. Tiny seeds are harder to germinate well and
they need to be barely covered and kept moist for a couple weeks or less. I
know; I've grown carrots. I'm planting carrot beds this month tho we're two
months away from last frost. I have ten rows, 3 inches apart, in each three
foot wide bed and fabric cover laid over the bed frames with 2x4s holding
the cover in place. I'm trying to water lightly at least once a day, in
between drying wind gusts. Hoping the covers keep the surface warm enough
to germinate. 

Cracking can be due to uneven watering. But forking is usually blamed on
rocks or undecomposed organic matter in the soil, or raw manure. Bad idea. 

The list of early and late crops is very useful. We have to double crop to
make the most of our market production. And it helps to know that top 15 in
economic value. We vary from that list ourselves tho. I can't tell if they
mean economic value for large monocultures selling to the middleman or
selling a diversity to local market customers. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 3/17/2008 at 9:36 AM Douglas  Willhite wrote:

>Hi Folks,
>
>      Ever since wildfires ravaged thousands of acres and over
>fifteen-hundred homes here in southern California last autumn much of my
>energy here in the mountain-valley where we live has gone toward trimming
>trees and bushes that were never trimmed, removing chamise (or greasewood)
>and sage brush; stacking dead wood and dry brush where the ground is
>sloped and bare and mulching it with a bush hog to prevent erosion; and
>making certain all structures are as fire safe and resistant as we can
>make them.
>
>      Meanwhile, food and fuel prices continue skyrocketing. For a glimpse
>of how desperately unstable the U.S. economy and dollar have gotten
>recently check out the headlines on this page:
>
>      http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/BreakingNews.html
>
>      Let's not count on the next presidential election to save our butts!
>That's reckless and irresponsible. If you're aware of how shaky the
>economy is getting and you're still making no efforts to grow your own
>food, it's time to get started with a small container garden, a water
>purifier, and a few egg-laying hens. Personal responsibility is the key.
>Surely you're not waiting for the proverbial Titanic to go under before
>you begin work on your family's and community's lifeboats.
>       
>      Some of us are going to need to use every trick in the book to
>provide ourselves with as much food as possible in the years ahead. Now
>that Spring is near, here is the first of this season's instructional
>gardening articles. I think carrots are one of the easiest foods to grow
>and it seems like everybody likes them too.
>
>      Hope this helps.
>      All the best,
>      Doug
>
>      p.s. If you prefer not to receive instructional emails let us know
>and we'll remove your name from our list.
>
>
>      Container Carrots
>      From "The Apartment Farmer" by Duane Newcomb.
>
>      Cool season crop.  Rated excellent for indoor and outdoor
containers.
>
>      Carrot are probably a near perfect plant for containers.  They take
>little space, they really aren't fussy about temperature (even though
>they're rated a cool season crop), and they'll stay in the ground a long
>time without spoiling.  You can just go and pull one up at a time.  In
>addition, carrots come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  You can grow
>long, slender carrots (Gold Pak, Imperator); medium, fat carrots (Royal
>Chatenay, Spartan bonus;) middle, slender carrots (Danvers Half Long;)
>short, slender carrots (Little Finger;) and short, fat (Ox-Heart.)
>
>      How to Grow
>
>      Plant by scattering the seeds across the container surface, roughly
>1 inch apart.  Cover with about 1/2 inch of soil.  After a few weeks, thin
>to 2 inches apart (use the young carrots in cooking or eat raw).  In large
>containers, plant half the crop ten days before you plant the other half.
>      Caution here. If the carrot tip touches the bottom of the pot, the
>carrot will not develop to maturity.  Simply make sure your container is
>deep enough for the variety you intend to grow.
>
>      For indoor containers, plant any time.  Outside you should plant
>carrot seed on the approximate date of the last frost in you area.  You
>can then continue to plant up to about sixty days before the first frost
>of fall.  You can grow carrots all summer long except in the hottest
>areas.  If the summer sun is exceptionally hot on the patio (above 90
>degrees), provide some shade.
>
>      4-inch Pots  (this means width of the pot, make sure your container
>is deep enough for the kind of carrot you are planting). You can grow
>Little Finger or Ox-Heart in 4 inch pots.  Limit the pots to three to six
>Little Finger carrots, two to four Ox-Heart.
>
>      Under Lights.  You can easily grow carrots with two 40-watt
>fluorescent tubes.
>
>      Typical Problems. My carrots cracked badly. This is a watering
>problem.  If you let the soil dry out and water infrequently, the roots
>will crack open as they start to grow again.
>      My carrots didn't come up well from seed.  You didn't keep the soil
>wet during the germination period. Try again. (Also, this can be caused by
>using seed that's too old or was improperly stored).
>
>      Harvesting Tips. Start harvesting your carrots as soon as they reach
>finger size.  They're delicious at this stage.  Large carrots often become
>woody.
>
>     
>           
>
>     
>http://www.gardenguides.com/how-to/tipstechniques/planning/successi.asp
>
>      Perennial Crops:
>
>      Asparagus
>      Rhubarb
>      Chives
>      Horseradish
>      Winter Onions 
>
>      Crops that occupy the ground only the first part of the season:
>        
>      Early Beets
>      Early Cabbage
>      Lettuce
>      Onion Sets
>      Peas
>      Radishes
>      Early Spinach
>      Mustard
>      Turnips 
>
>      Crops that occupy the ground the major portion of the season:
>
>      Bush and Pole Beans
>      Lima Beans
>      Cabbage
>      Celery
>      Sweet Corn
>      Cucumbers
>      Eggplant
>      Muskmelons
>      Okra
>      Peppers
>      Potatoes
>      Pumpkin
>      Squash
>      Tomatoes
>      Watermelon
>      Swiss Chard 
>
>      Crops to be planted in July or later for fall and winter gardens:
>
>      Bush Beans
>      Beets
>      Broccoli
>      Chinese Cabbage
>      Carrots
>      Cauliflower
>      Endive
>      Kale
>      Kohlrabi
>      Radishes
>      Spinach
>      Turnips
>      Collards
>      Lettuce
>
>
>      TOP 15 VEGETABLES IN ECONOMIC VALUE & intensive spacing guide 
>      http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-335/426-335.html#L3
>      http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/intensive.html 
>
>      Tomatoes 
>      Beets
>      Green bunching onions 
>      Carrots
>      Leaf lettuce 
>      Cucumbers
>      Turnip (greens + roots) 
>      Peppers
>      Summer squash 
>      Broccoli
>      Edible podded peas 
>      Head lettuce
>      Onion storage bulbs 
>      Swiss chard
>      Beans (pole, bush)
>
>      1 Values based on pounds produced per square foot, retail value per
>pound
>      at harvest time, and length of time in the garden. 
>
>     
>
>
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