Are you prepared? Trying to be more self sufficient

I've put elderberries in my beer secondary a few times. Pretty astringent.

I think you meant diuretic, not diabetic.

 

Diabetic was in regards to the fig leaf tea.
Google will list it's said benefits.

 

Purple tomatoes make the best pasta sauces and salsas, lower acidity than red tomatoes. We plant Cherokee purple.

 

Not complaining, but this heat has really put our okra in overdrive. Have to pick it twice a day. Good thing I love okra.

 

I only got my first blossom. I think I've used bad dirt. I happened on a sale to get rid of summer stock in the fall, and it's garbage.

 

I usually buy dirt on sale once a year, 60-80 bags at a time and use it throught the year. It stays good for a couple of years.
Water your plants with Miracle grow and sprinkle some Osmokote.

 

I've got in-laws that buy big bags of dirt. They come in those white, nylon bags that are probably 4X4X4. But they are in the big city and I doubt delivery to where I am would be affordable. I had some raised beds with rough sand in them from a gravel pit and they would grow a garden like mad. The bagged stuff from the local Ace garden shop was a mistake.

 

My mix for the new raised beds (4 layers of 4x4 high, about 14" tall?):

0. I line beds with double layer of landscaping fabric to keep soil in, bugs out.
1' or so gravel, for drainage
1. Next is leaves, small sticks for carbon, 3" or so.
2. Then fill dirt to about half way:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Evergreen-1-cu-ft-Organic-Top-Soil/999911449

3. For the top layer a mix of better soil, manure, moss, water pearls:
a) https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sta-Green-Vegetable-and-Flower-Garden-Soil/5014304477 As many bags as it takes to fill 2" short of the top (Used in steps below).

b) mix pit moss with water, add soil from a), put in the garden, about 25% moss to 75% soil mix. Make sure it is sphagnum, acidic moss. Most veggies like acidic soil.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sphagnum-Peat-Moss-3-cu-ft-Organic-Peat-Moss-Moisture-Control/50339650

c) 2 bags of manure for a 4'x8' bed, after 3" of b) mix are put down. Rake the soil mix smooth, empty the manure,rake it smooth,
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Black-Kow-1-cu-ft-Organic-Compost-and-Manure/1000875388

d) another 3" of mix from b)

e) add prepared Soil Moist. I do 3 runs, 2 by the sides and 1 in the middle. 1 measuring cup will absorb 5 gal of water. Mix several days in advance, stir daily, let it sit and absorb the water. Each granule will swell up to a dime or penny size.

$68 JRM Chemical Soil Moist Granular Pail 8lb

https://www.amazon.com/JRM-Chemical-Soil-Moist-Granular/dp/B00Q3N08TQ

f) add another 3" of mix from b)

g) Pine shavings for mulch, to keep moisture in.

In the fall I turn over the top 3-4 inches. Every spring add Soil Moist (3" from the surface, dig trenches with a gardening shovel) and top off with soil from a).
Every plant gets a generous shake of Osmokote, after it is planted.

After a few rains the new soil settles, so it is OK if soil in the new raised bed is close to the top.

 

No garden centers that sell dirt by the yard near you?

 

No... I'm a hundred miles from nowhere. I'm just going to go get some of that sand that worked so well in my raised beds before, and work it into this garbage commercial mix for about a foot... and then top it with 6/8 inches of straight sand. Pretty sure it'll work just fine.

 

Sand encourages water drainage. If you have problems with lack of water (seeing you are in UT), be careful with sand.

 

I don't buy dirt. I just plow up a section in the back for the garden. Try to rotate the spot slightly from year to year and also rotate crops. Compost, manure, and that's about it. The back yard was a pasture for 40+ years and has great dirt. When I do use fertilizer, standard Nitrogen for planting but low Nitrogen once plants start producing. Really don't do much fertilizing though as it grows well. The chickens and ducks add their own fertilizer at will.

 

I'm probably missing the compost and manure. I turned over some of the back lawn, which is more moss than lawn. my test garden is not doing great. and the smaller rabbits are getting through my deer fence.

 

We just let the area winter normally and plow it up late spring with whatever is growing on it. Put the compost and manure on before plowing it up. The nice thing is the area was a cow pasture/hay field for a long time and just has good dirt to start with.

Biggest problem I have is the ducks are infatuated with half ripened tomatoes. Thankfully they mostly concentrate on one Roma plant and leave the others alone.

 

We have solid clay past the top 2", 4" here. Impossible for a good garden, no drainage, plus July thru August it is in high 90's, and we are on the well. Not enough water for inground garden.

 

Try raised garden beds.