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Growing Our Own Vegies & Fruit

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Forum Legend - founder
994 posts

Here you go vigusa, and any other members who have great knowledge in growing their own produce. Dont forget, you dont need a yard, you can plant herbs and small vegies in window boxes, you can grow carrots and potatoes in boxes in your laundry or garage, you can put up shelves in your garage and have rows and rows of boxes of vegies. Dont forget if you dont have a green thumb, buy from the local farmers.

Now if some of you ask how can this help?  One, it reduces transport emissions, if a lot of people buy local, there is no need for imports.. now this works for everything so remember that.  If you grow your own it also helps put more greenery on the planet which in turn helps with the carbon dioxide issue.  And dont forget, it also saves you sooooo much money and helps start to get us out of the dependance of this monetary system.

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Forum Legend - moderator
552 posts

How can we grow veggies in our garages without windows? Is this possible?

Tell me more about growing in boxes. I've never heard of this.

If we each grew a couple of crops each, then shared with our neighbors they may get encouraged to grow a couple of items and then entire neighborhoods may be growing veggies for the community.

This sounds exciting!

Chatterbox - member
118 posts

Two years ago my youngest son (now age 6)
watched a cartoon about growing veg..
So he asked if we could grow veg in our garden.
A week later we had dug out a veg patch in our garden
and sowed Potatoes & Carrots..
A litte later we added Spring onions, Lettuce and Tomatoes.
All grew very sucessfully!! He was so pleased with himself.
I entered some of his vegies into a local gardening competition
And he won 1st place out of the whole County!

If I and a 4 year old can do it...ANYONE CAN :D
Here's a link to growing in pots:
http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/a/ContainerVeggie.htm

I will just add home grown veg tastes MUCH better than shop bought veg!

I'm also adding a great tip:
We had a problem with slugs eating our veg :(
Instead of using dangerous pestacides...
sprinkle salt around the borders of your veg patch.
Salt burns slugs so they won't cross it & your veg is safe :)

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Forum Legend - moderator
552 posts

 

Thank you so much 12Isaiah.

Do you have any problems with rabbits? If I planted in pots I wouldn't have to worry but if I wanted to plant in my back yard rabbits would be an issue.

It's so nice to have these ideas gathering in one area. I'll check out the link you provided. I feel so blessed and excited!

Chatterbox - member
118 posts

You're welcome Sunbeam.
We don't have trouble with rabbits but I came across these
tips to keep rabbits away from your veggie patch.
http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/frederick/2002/rabbits.htm

We had 2 hens for a few years also which gave us a fresh supply
of eggs every day!..My kids gave the hens names 'Nugget & Explorer'
I left the gate open one day after feeding and the fox got them :(
We didn't ever replace them..they were very tame almost like pets..
So it didn't feel right to just pop out and get more.

It's something that I'm considering doing again though...
It's very easy to keep hens!.
So long as you remember to keep the gate shut!!

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Forum Legend - moderator
552 posts

 

Wow, you are the best!  I can't wait to get started.

I envy you with the hens. If I tried that in my neighborhood, I'd probably have them confiscated. So many restrictions placed on people who live in communities. I'd like to see us get away from those ridiculous rules.

Again, I thank you.

guest poster

woot Isaiah! :))))

I basically do the same... forgot about the chickens gonna think about that :P

and your son is OMG soooo sweet :)))

it is amazing but there is nothing like having a fresh grown vegie in your dinner dish LOL

It tastes YUMMMMMMMIEEEEEE

Your song must be an indigo child as well as many of us are from the old gang :PPP

God bless you all :)))

Forum Legend - moderator
689 posts

Hens are great. Full of personality and fun... I loved mine, I still haven't 'replaced them' since a fox got them. :(

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Chatterbox - member
118 posts

Ohh sorry to read the fox got your hens too :(
They are fab.. If you get them young enough..
They become very very tame and just like pets.

Sunbeam if your neighbours keep cats and dogs..
There's no reason why you can't keep 1 or 2 hens.
It's not like your starting up a battery with hundreds
of hens.
You should look in to it. :)

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Forum Legend - moderator
552 posts

 

I'm definitely going to look into it. How do you keep them warm in the winter? We sometimes get below freezing in the winter.

I have a shed in my back yard but I think it might be too cold for little hens.

What do you do in cold weather??

Chatterbox - member
118 posts

I kept mine in the corner of a small shed.
I put a shelf up for them...about two foot off the ground
(They like to be off the ground).
I bought small bags of hay in a pet shop and lined a cardboard box
with the hay..they were happy safe and warm.
Mine where like clock work..
They laid around 10am every morning..
(before I let them out otherwise I'd never find where the eggs were and/or
magpies would get them before me)
And in the evening they went back into bed by themselves!
Just make sure they have air holes in the shed..
don't leave the window open. & plenty of fresh water.
You can buy chicken feed but mine loved left over vegtebales and bread.

When I got them I asked how long they would lay for?
I was told anytime up to 18 months
My two were still laying at 2 & a half years old..
before the fox got them :(
As the hens got bigger so did the eggs.
There is no egg that tastes better than one laid fresh that morning!
You'd never get them like that..properly fresh.. in the shops.

They were so friendly and would run to me when they saw me.
Ever see a hen run?.. It's very funny!!

Miss them :(

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Forum Legend - moderator
552 posts

Oh, it makes me really want to do this very much now.

Are you in the UK, Isaiah?

In the US, we have stupid government rules that won't let us have "agricultural" animals if you live in a neighborhood. Chickens would fall under that category but I might try it and see what happens. Hopefully, my neighbors won't rat me out.

Sorry about the fox - must have been related to the grays :)

Forum Legend - moderator
689 posts

Yeah, I raised mine from babies. One of them I raised from the egg and was there for her hatching. She was a bit strange in the head though... but I loved her. She would stalk me when she was older. lol Chase me around the yard, then when I went indoors she'd stand on the windowsill of the room I was in at the time.
And she'd try her best to crow. It never worked well.

If you provide them with straw and good dry places to sleep, with no drafts, they should be all right. It depends on how cold it gets though.

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Chatterbox - member
118 posts

Not in the uk sunbeam. I'm in Ireland in the south east.
I did have a rooster but my neighbour said he'd shoot it
because of the early morning doodleing noise he made :(
I loved to hear him in the morning.I had to rehome him :(..
shame I couldn't rehome my neighbour instead ;)
You could bribe your neighbours with fresh eggs to keep them quiet:)

That post made me laugh Cory..
The thoughts of a hen watching you from the windowsill..lol!
Maybe she thought you were her mum..like in the cartoon.
Did she ever try to get in to the house to you?

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Forum Legend - founder
994 posts

the thing with local covenants stopping you from doing things in your home could be fought with your constitution and your amendment rights.. I do not know the u.s constitution but I bet if someone had the time they could go through it and find a way to over ride the local law in accordance with your fundamental rights.

Another alternative if you cant grow your own veggies and have your own hens, could be to start a local co op with your neighbours and find people outside of the covenant area who may already have hens, and room to grow veggies and get together and everyone buy a few hens and plant their vegies in that persons property and all work together and then you can go maybe twice a week and pick up your eggs and vegies, everyone would contribute to the costs and everyone could have turns in doing things like cleaning the cages, etc. Its also another way of learning to work together.

Another form of co op that works also is if you cant find somewhere to grow it, get together with some freinds and go to an already existing wholesale market or local farmer and buy in bulk, spreading the cost between your group, you will find you save around 50% of the retail price and get better, fresher vegies. For those of you near the sunshine coast in queensland, we have the farmers market every saturday at the Big Pineapple in woombye. Also there is the huge markets down in brisbane at rocklea, the rocklea ones are wholesale and you have to buy by the box or crate but if you have a group of you it saves soooooo much money.

 

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Forum Legend - moderator
552 posts

I'd love to fight these covenants but they are pretty air tight. I know because I work in that field. People give up their rights when they agree to live in a covenant controlled community. The funny thing is, when I bought my house I was told by the seller that my neighbor was a "voluntary" covenant community. If you wanted to use the amenity area, you would pay a yearly fee; if you didn't want to use, then no fee. All of a sudden, the board took the covenants to a local attorney and we were all told we had to be members and abide by the rules; plus pay $300 a year in maintenance fees.

I suspect that very soon a class action suit will get underway because people will want to plant vegetable gardens, install solar panels and maybe get a chicken or two.Laughing

These ludicrious rules must come to an end - just another means of control. That is one of the reasons I am trying to quit my job and find another. I just cannot support this insane business any longer.

Thanks to all of you for the great ideas and information.  The co-op sounds like a great idea, Lissa.

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