Knowledge Weighs Nothing

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

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…

DIY Self Watering Alaska Grow Buckets

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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.

I think these self-watering buckets will be excellent for growing tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and peppers

DIY Self Watering Alaska Grow Buckets

(Picture Credit: chateau-listeur.blogspot.ca)

11 Gardening Secrets You Won’t Learn From Books

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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)

How And Why You Should Plant Fruit Trees In The Fall

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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)

How To Grow Coffee Beans at Home

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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)

How To Get Rid Of Fire Ants

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Of all the ants in the US, none is feared or loathed as much as the red imported fire ant. Fire ants can ruin a garden in no time at all, they are aggressive, they have a painful sting (especially if you are stung multiple times), but the serious problems start when they begin entering your home….

There are lots of supposed ways to kill/get rid or imported red fire ants, but most are ineffective or simply don’t work. If you want the methods that truly work, give these a go, you won’t be disappointed.

How to get rid of fire ants in the garden

Many folks believe that pouring boiling water over a fire ant colony with do the trick. This might work for a small colony, but the problem is that as the boiling water passes down through the soil, the temperature drops dramatically. What usually happens is the ants at the top get killed, but the ones at the bottom survive, and the colony will bounce back in no time.

The most effective way to get rid of fire ants is to make the following mixture and then drench the colony. Mix 1 1⁄2 ounces of orange essential oil, 3 ounces of liquid dish soap and 1 gallon of water. This will kill all ants that come into contact with it, and unlike boiling water, this method will continue to work over several hours/days. This method works because orange essential oil (actually all citrus oils) contain an extract, d-limonene and this extract kills imported red fire ants. To make this method even more effective you can try adding a few handfuls of molasses, as this will entice any ants to the mix, that were initially missed by the drenching.

Orange oil can be expensive, so another way to make this mixture is to use orange peels. You can actually also throw in some lemon and lime peels as well, but I would say go for at least 50% orange peel. To make the fire ant killing mixture, simply fill up half a 1 gallon container with the citrus peels and then top up to 1 gallon with water and leave for 4-7 days. Then just strain the mixture to remove the peels, add the liquid dish soap as above, and you’re ready to go. This method does require a lot of citrus peels, you’ll need to save them up, or you could ask a local restaurant or better yet, a juice bar, to give you their waste peels.

Another effective way to get rid of fire ants is to dig up the colony and remove or destroy it. To do this – dig out the colony, making sure you dig down below it to be sure to get them all. The usual method is to have several buckets ready to put the colony into so it can be removed/destroyed. Be sure to coat your shovel with corn starch or baby powder to stop the ants from climbing up. Also, you might want to tuck your pants into your socks!

How to keep imported red fire ants out of the home

The most important thing to do is to not give them a reason to enter your home in the first place. Don’t keep your garbage by the back door, and be sure to keep your floors and surfaces clean. Other than this, the most effective way of keeping imported red fire ants out is to use diatomaceous earth. Actually diatomaceous earth will also kill and prevent Spiders… Other Ants…Fleas…Cockroaches…Bedbugs…Earwigs…Silverfish…Millipedes…Centipedes… Diatomaceous earth kills all of these insects when it come into contact with their bodies. It effectively binds to them and dehydrates them. Most will die within 24 hours, although cockroaches can take a few days.

When buying diatomaceous earth or DE, you want to make sure you buy ‘food grade’ diatomaceous earth as other grades can contain additives which can be harmful. Food grade diatomaceous earth is harmless to humans and mammals, so it is safe to use around children and pets.

To use diatomaceous earth, simply sprinkle it in the areas the ants are entering and gathering in the home: doorways, windows, air ducts and behind cupboards and furniture. Keep this topped up and your home should be ant free in 24 hours or so. If not, you are not putting the diatomaceous earth in the right locations. I should add that diatomaceous earth loses its effectiveness when it gets damp/wet, therefore it is not very effective when used in locations which are either damp or wet.

How To Can Pretty Much All Fresh Beans

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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)

Self-Sufficient Goat Keeping 101

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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)

How To Grow Spirulina At Home

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)

Combat Tomato Blight With Copper Coins

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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. See the post below for more details ( read the comments too!).

Fighting tomato blight with pennies?

Related Book: All New Square Foot Gardening

(Photo from: The Walden Effect)