Knowledge Weighs Nothing

The Ultimate Tomato Growing Post — A Round-Up Of Experts’ Growing Tips

May 21, 2020

The Ultimate Tomato Growing Tips

This post is a round-up of smaller posts that were previously featured on Knowledge Weighs Nothing. (I am slowly going back through KWN and tidying things up and removing lots of old/dead posts etc). I have compiled several older tomato growing/preserving posts here in one place to make it simpler to find these excellent tomato growing and preserving tips and tricks. Take your tomato growing to the next level!

DIY Self Watering Alaska Grow Buckets

The Alaska Grow Bucket is the easiest self-watering container system that anyone can use to grow their own food. Alaska Grow Buckets use capillary action of a soil-less grow-medium to draw water from below up to the plant roots. The good thing about this design is there is no pumps, no electricity and best of all, you grow your own food. Become more self-reliant and build one this summer. Find out more here.

How To Grow 50-80 lbs Of Tomatoes Per Plant

That’s right – 50 – 80 pounds of tomatoes PER PLANT! That’s amazing, you could grow a huge amount of tomatoes in a really small space. This is useful for everyone regardless of how much space they have for growing food, but it is especially useful for people with limited growing space. Watch the video above and see how it’s done.

One Man’s Genius Idea For Growing A Huge Tomato Crop

tomatoesbumper

James over at hometalk.com has come up with an awesome way of growing bumper crops of tomatoes with very little effort. James came up with an innovative way to water and feed the tomatoes using a garbage bin. Not only does it result in huge tomato crops, but it is also a much easier way to grow tomatoes as you only have to water them every 2-3 days.

You could use this method to grow tomatoes outdoors or in a greenhouse (if you plant into the ground in your greenhouse). This method is genius in its simplicity, so head over to Home Talk on the link below and find out more… You could probably grow cucumbers and peppers using the same method too! Read James’s post here.

Combat Tomato Blight With Copper Coins

tomato blight

I refuse to use pesticide, insecticide and anti-fungal spray on my fruit and vegetables. If I want to eat foods containing these, I’ll just get them from the supermarket…

The problem is – my reluctance to use chemicals has cost me my entire tomato crop for the last two years! I also lost most of my potatoes last year as well. I lost both crops due to blight.  Most people don’t realize, but potato blight and tomato blight are exactly the same. The blight is the same fungus called: Phytophthora infestans.

Many people think that the coin/blight trick is a myth; I can tell you it is not. It works, but only if you use coins produced before 1982 as these have more copper in them and it is the copper that stops the blight. The copper/coin tip might not completely stop the blight, but it may slow it down long enough for your affected tomatoes to ripen. Read the post in full here.

Homemade Monster Tomato Fertilizer Recipe

Do you want to use natural fertilizer on your plants and vegetables? I know I do. I found a great article showing you the recipe for “monster tomato fertilizer” I know I will be trying this. It’s really simple to make and all-natural.I’m thinking about using this recipe on my flowers too, see if I can win any competitions. Find out more here.

How To Correctly Plant Tomato Plants To Get 8 Foot Plants

tomatoplant

I think it is fair to say that if you garden and grow your own food, you grow tomatoes. Problem is – if you’re like me, your tomatoes don’t always do as well as expected. Some years we have amazing crops of tomatoes and don’t know what to do with them all but last year, for example, we got hit badly by tomato/potato blight and we lost 90% of our crop.

Now whilst there isn’t a great deal you can do if it is a bad year for blight, there are things you can do when planting your tomato plants which will all but guarantee huge healthy plants with an abundance of fruit. Also, if you follow this method of planting, your tomato plants will be so much stronger and healthier, they may be able to resist the tomato blight fungus that little bit longer that could enable you to harvest the crop before it fails. Check out this link for this awesome tomato planting tutorial from ‘Love Apple Farms’.

How To Build The Ultimate Tomato Or Pepper Cage For Under $2….The Stake-A-Cage

The support of a 4′ long wooden stake – attached to an open-faced wire mesh grid. Strong and durable and cheap! It combines the durability of staking tomatoes with the ease of a cage.

 Better yet, by keeping the wire grid flat and not making a true cage – you can tie your tomatoes easily to the grid – and when it comes time to pick – you won’t have to reach through the cages to get to the goods. Click here to see the full article and see how you can make your own ” Stake A Cage”

Very Quick & Easy Way To Make Homemade Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Sun-dried tomatoes are delicious and they really do bring dishes and snacks alive. I am sure more of us would eat more sun-dried tomatoes if it wasn’t for the fact they cost a fortune at the store. Sure, some of you live in climates where you can actually sundry your tomatoes outdoors in the traditional way, but this method takes quite a bit of effort and takes days to completely dry out the tomatoes.

There is an easier way! You can make sun-dried tomatoes in a food dehydrator or an oven. Wait I hear several people shouting that these aren’t sun-dried tomatoes… Interestingly around 90% of sun-dried tomatoes from the store are not actually dried in the sun! I guarantee you that if you follow this tutorial, you’ll end up with the most delicious sun-dried tomatoes you have ever tried, AND you’ll save an absolute fortune over buying them from the store.

Dehydrating Tomatoes 101

tomatos
Dehydrated tomatoes taste amazing!  The problem is when you grow your own tomatoes the year usually goes like this – nothing, nothing, nothing and then loads of tomatoes in one go!

Tomatoes are so healthy, tasty and versatile it is a crime to ever waste them. Sure you can make sauces etc but I think one of the best ways to preserve tomatoes is to dehydrate them. If you don’t have a dehydrator because you think they are too expensive, then get one of these at just $35. For the price it has amazing reviews…

Here is an awesome tutorial on how to dehydrate tomatoes from Bev Cooks, check it out and the next time you have a glut of tomatoes or they are on offer at the store, get dehydrating!

(Original Images –Bev Cooks, Wikipedia, Love Apple Farms, Muffet, TheWalden Effect, Home Talk, LDSPrepper, oldworldgardenfarms.com, chateau-listeur.blogspot.ca)

Filed Under: A.K.W.N, Growing your Own, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency

Grow Over 300 lbs Potatoes WITHOUT Digging, Watering Or Any Real Effort…

April 23, 2020

No dig potatoes

No matter whether you grow some vegetables in your back garden as a hobby or you grow vegetables on a larger-scale on your homestead, you will almost definitely grow some potatoes…

Growing potatoes in your garden on a small-scale is simple enough and fun. However, if you harbour any aims of being more self-sufficient you need to grow potatoes on a much larger scale and this can quickly become a whole load of effort and hard work. First, you must dig and prepare the soil and then plant all the seed potatoes, all of which is back-breaking work if you are planting lots of potatoes. This is only half of the work though… When the potatoes are ready, you have to then dig them all up!!!

Thankfully, there is an easier way. Much, much easier…  And the news gets even better as the good folks at Back To Reality have created an excellent video detailing how to this. I have included the video down below, so give it a watch.

They managed to grow over 300 lbs of potatoes with minimum effort. No digging/planting, no watering, and no digging/harvesting. All that is required is some hay. Tip –– you can often get hold of old or spoilt hay from local farmers for zero charges. They will likely just be happy for you to take it away. Additionally, if you ask and you are lucky, they might also be happy to provide a ready supply of manure or soiled animal bedding as well.

My recommendation – if you are not convinced by this method of growing potatoes — set aside an area to try it out this year. Grow your main crop of potatoes in the usual manner but try this no-dig, hay method on a smaller test crop. The results should speak for themselves.

BTW – after you have watched the video below, I highly recommend subscribing to Back to Reality’s YouTube channel. They produce some great homesteading, gardening and DIY videos.

Filed Under: A.K.W.N, Growing your Own, Homesteading

How To Grow Garlic From A ’50 Cent’ Supermarket Garlic Bulb

April 23, 2014

Growing garlic from store garlic

Ok, this is fairly simple, but it always surprises me how many people don’t know this, and also how many people don’t do it…

Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow, as long as they don’t sit in soggy, wet ground, they rarely have any problems. Garlic does take a fair while to grow, but this is countered by the fact you can grow a year’s worth of garlic in around a meter square. Also once cropped and dried, garlic will keep for up to ten months.

Literally a dollar or two, and 10 minutes planting once a year, will provide a whole year’s worth of garlic! Also, you’ll never need to re-buy garlic bulbs to plant, as you can replant some of last years crop.

If possible, I recommend that you purchase organic garlic bulbs (to plant) from the market or supermarket.  If you can’t afford to buy organic garlic, don’t beat yourself up. Just get the regular garlic you can afford. We have had great success growing with cheap 50-cent garlic bulbs from the supermarket.

How To Grow Garlic With Garlic From The Supermarket

  1. Take one garlic bulb and pull off all the individual cloves. Each one of these cloves will grow into a whole new garlic bulb!
  2. Take the separated cloves out to the garden, to where you will be planting them. Make a hole in the soil with your finger that is just a tiny bit deeper than the garlic clove is high.
  3. Pop a garlic clove into the hole, with the pointy end of the clove pointing upwards. This is very important! If you plant the garlic cloves with the pointed ends down, they will not grow.
  4. Now just pinch the soil in around the clove and firm in a bit.  When done the top of the clove should be just below the surface of the soil.
  5. Now repeat the process, but leave a space of around 10 cm (4 inches) between each planted garlic clove.
  6. Water the garlic well, and now just wait for it to do its thing!

The best time to plant garlic is October/November, but you can also plant in the Spring. In fact, we have planted garlic at various different times and it usually grows pretty well, as you can pull and use garlic at any stage of its development really.

Additionally, if you ever find some store-bought garlic is starting to sprout in the cupboard, don’t throw it away, try to plant it up and see what happens…

Filed Under: A.K.W.N, Growing your Own, Homesteading

11 Gardening Secrets You Won’t Learn From Books

October 18, 2013

growingfood

Let’s not beat around the bush – gardening is a constant struggle, you struggle against the elements and you struggle with all the bugs and critters who want to eat your prized vegetables and plants…

You can never know enough tips and tricks to tip the balance of this constant gardening battle in your favour. Below is a post sharing 11 secret tips that you won’t get from the experts or the people who sell you your seeds and plants.

11 Secrets You Won’t Learn From Books Or The Garden Centre

(Photo from:  Free for Commercial Use)

Filed Under: General, Growing your Own, Self-Sufficiency

How And Why You Should Plant Fruit Trees In The Fall

October 25, 2018

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If you are going to be truly self-sufficient, you are probably going to want to plant some fruit trees.  Apple trees are a great choice as apples are so versatile, many varieties store well and stay fresh for months, they can be eaten fresh, cooked, canned, made into cider and hard-cider, you get the picture…

If you are thinking of planting some fruit trees, it is usually the case that they will want to be planted in the Fall. This will give the tree the best chance of establishing itself and getting its roots out before the growing season the next year. Click the link below to find out more on how and why to plant fruit trees this Fall.

How And Why You Should Plant Fruit Trees In The Fall

(Photo from:  highbury orchard community)

Filed Under: Growing your Own, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency

How To Grow Coffee Beans at Home

October 22, 2018

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Almost everyone loves coffee. In fact most of us NEED that morning cup of coffee to get us up and out the door… From a preparedness and homesteading point of view, I see two problems with coffee.  Firstly it is getting more and more expensive to buy, and secondly, if there every is a total collapse or a SHTF incident, we are all going to miss our coffee badly – whatever coffee which may still be available will likely be poor quality and astronomically expensive.

If you live in the right climate, or you have a large greenhouse, you can actually grow your own coffee plants at home.  Coffee plants are actually pretty easy to grow, their main pet-hate is frost. It’s processing the coffee beans which takes a bit more work, but even then, I think the rewards make it well worthwhile! Get planting now, as it can take between 2-4 years before the coffee plants start to develop any usable quantities of cherries.

Kona coffee bean trees are one of the best suited to home growing, you can purchase Kona seeds and plants from Amazon – you can purchase Kona coffee bean seeds (15 tree seeds) for less than $5, or you can purchase 2 Kona coffee 8 inch plants for just less than $15

How To Grow Coffee Beans at Home

(Photo from: CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture)

Filed Under: DIY, General Prepping, Growing your Own, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency

How To Can Pretty Much All Fresh Beans

October 13, 2018

beansfilling

If you grow your own beans, once they have been cropping for a while, it doesn’t take too long before you feel you have had enough of a good thing, and your mind switches to thinking about preserving the beans for future use. Some beans dehydrate well, others freeze well, but all are suitable for canning.  If you want know more about canning Green & Yellow beans and also Lima beans, Broadbeans, Snap beans, Pole beans, Runner beans, etc, today is your lucky day!

If you check out the link below, ‘Pick Your Own’ have created an awesome, detailed photo tutorial on how to can fresh beans. If you are growing beans, I highly recommend you check it out!

How To Can Pretty Much All Fresh Beans

(Photo from: Pick Your Own)

Filed Under: General Prepping, Growing your Own, Homesteading, Recipes

Self-Sufficient Goat Keeping 101

October 12, 2018

goats

When folks first start off with homesteading and self-sufficiency, they usually start off growing their own fruit and vegetables.  Once they start growing, they soon realize that to be fully self-sufficient, they need to learn about preserving their produce. When they feel they have a handle on growing their own food, their attention usually turns to keeping chickens for eggs and meat.  I think this is a fairly natural progression. But the thing is, most folks stop there, but I am here to encourage you to consider keeping some goats!

If you have the space, and you actually probably need a lot less space than you might think, I highly recommend getting some goats. Goats are hardy, low maintenance and if you have breeding goats, you can have a constant supply of milk, cheese, yoghurt and of course a protein rich, healthy meat. Check out the great goat keeping resources below.

Self-Sufficient Goat Keeping 101  & more here

(Photo from:  avlxyz)

Filed Under: General Prepping, Growing your Own, Homesteading, Hunting & Fishing

How To Grow Spirulina At Home

October 11, 2018

How To Grow Spirulina at home

A while back I was watching Doomsday Preppers and there was this guy, I think his name was Ryan Croft, who was growing spirulina in some tanks at home.  Ryan believed that as spirulina is so nutritionally dense and complete food, he could all but feed his family with it, with a few additions (earthworms were one I believe…). BTW – duckweed is another crop to consider growing as well.

I did a little research! For those that don’t know – spirulina is a green algae that is incredibly high in protein and other nutrients.  It is a full protein in that it provides the full range of essential amino acids required for health. It is also very high in iron and B vitamins. Many people suggest it is a complete food, and you could survive on just spirulina and one or two other foods to meet your nutritional needs. I’m not so sure about that. If nothing else, I don’t want to survive on algae alone!

I think growing spirulina is a good idea for preppers and folks that want to be more self-sufficient. Whilst it looks complicated, once you are set up, it’s not really.  Also, you can grow a huge amount (enough to feed a family) in very little space.  You do not need any outside space or land to grow spirulina. You could grow all you would need to fulfil your protein requirements in an apartment!

If you are interested in learning more about growing spirulina, the Algae Industry Magazine has written a great post detailing the equipment needed, plus instructions on how to grow spirulina.

Additionally, below is a very detailed video tutorial all about growing spirulina at home.

(Photo from Algae Industry Magazine)

Filed Under: A.K.W.N, General Prepping, Growing your Own, Homesteading

13 Uses for Cucumbers That Will Amaze You

October 4, 2018

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The Simple cucumber–it sits patiently in the crisper drawer while its flashier cousins are being scooped up and devoured for dinner. The cucumber just waits and waits in all of it’s watery, melon-tinged mild manner.

Maybe someone will make some pickles, maybe Mom will slice off a few rounds for her tired eyes…but really, aside from pickles and eye treatments, what is a cucumber’s claim to fame? See 13 amazing uses for cucumbers below

13 Uses for Cucumbers That Will Amaze You

(Picture Credit: La Grande Farmers’ Market)

Filed Under: General Prepping, Growing your Own, Health/Fitness, Homesteading, Self-Sufficiency

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