Steve Solomon was/is a professional gardener and nowhere is this more apparent than in his discussion on seeds. He also continues to demonstrate his understanding of the importance of gardening in our lives and it is in this context that he presents his knowledge of seeds, saying:

“It (gardening) is life itself. It is independence. It is health for my family. And for people going through hard times, a thriving veggie garden can be the difference between painful poverty and a much more pleasant existence.”

The author begins the chapter, topically, with a presentation of “The mail order seed business”. Here he explains the seed business and the development of various seed and seed types from the point of view of the professional seedsman, the retailer and the home gardener.

With the foregoing information in mind he moves on to recommend to the home gardener, in his “Adapted to the region” section, this:
“When you purchase seeds, you have a far higher likelihood of a successful result if the supplier’s trial grounds are located in roughly the same climatic zone as your garden.”

He then continues by presenting and explaining key climates with their individual characteristics until he comes to “Who to buy from”. Here, he presents recommendations for seed buying, based on his years as a seedsman , by climate types. Here is an example for “Warm climates”:

“Park Seed Company: Virtually every variety the company offers represents the finest breeding attainable, entirely appropriate to its semi-tropical climate….It’s as good as it gets.”

Mr. Solomon then briefly discusses importing seeds and follows with his “Making seeds come up” section and intro into a series of discussions of seeding techniques. This series includes germination, watering, and thinning of your garden plants. This a serious discussion providing not just techniques but the all important “Whys”.

The author then moves on to “Growing your own” . Here he discusses topics like “Dry and wet seed “ and “Seed from hybrids” and other seed varieties (i.e., open – pollinated) with an informative chart on “Vegetables by method of pollination”.

There’s a small section in about the middle of this chapter we’d like to call particular attention to: “Saving on seed purchases”. In this little gem-of-a-section, Mr. Solomon not only tells you how to save money in buying your seed but explains the nature of the seed itself and then gives the home gardener clear and concise instructions on how to simply and inexpensively save/preserve your seeds at home. Invaluable!

Chapter 5 would rate as a valuable reference piece for the home gardener all by itself but , fortunately, it is surrounded by a lot of equally important gardening information in the preceding and successive chapters. We plan on reviewing Chapter 6 in the coming days. Stay tuned.

Until next week; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

• “I suspect there will be some seeds you just won’t be able to buy if you wait (to order your garden seeds) too long on it,” said Bill Hart, the wholesale manager in charge of seed purchasing at Chas. C. Hart Seed Company in Wethersfield, Conn.
• “The problem is primarily due to soggy weather last year that resulted in a disappointing seed crop. European seed growers also had a bad year, leading to a big increase in orders for American seeds.” (Please note that this means that American home gardeners are competing with their European counterparts for available garden seed during difficult economic times both in the US and the EU/PH) Demand for seeds in the U.S. soared last year, as the poor economy and worries about chemical use and bacteria contamination prompted many people to establish gardens.”
• “Kathy Gocke of Bondurant, Iowa said she orders early for herself and her county’s master gardener’s program and advises others to do the same.”
• “Burpee Seeds in Warminster, Pa., bills itself as the largest provider of home garden seeds, and Chief Executive Officer George Ball said the company’s huge reserves mean it will have plenty of seeds. But Ball said he understands why others might have limited supplies after a big spike in demand in the past two years.
• “It was unlike anything I’ve seen in the past 30 years,” he said.

PH Comment: What if Mr. Ball’s estimate -“plenty”- of his company’s “huge reserves” of seed are wrong and/or demand from Europe and the US far exceed his expectations? What about next year? Have you noticed the weather in the US this year?

• “ Barbara Melera, owner of D. Landreth Seeds of New freedom, Pa., expects carrot seeds to be especially hard to find because of big orders from Europe, which had a poor crop last year. Also, fewer farmers are opting to grow seeds, she said. Many now have switched to growing corn for the biofuels industry. “In this country farmers who grow things for seed are becoming an endangered species,” Melera siad. “The farmers producing things for seeds is reduced significantly, and in the past two or three years they can get more money for growing corn for ethanol plants than carrots for seeds.”

At the end of a review and commentary on Chapter 4 of Steve Solomon’s book “Gardening when it counts – Growing Food In Hard Times” a short time ago, we recommended that the home/family gardener obtain their seeds from a regional seedsman or one with a climate similar to their own. Please let us amend that recommendation now to: buy seeds for your garden from any reliable seedsman – again with emphasis on those varieties that do well in your area (If you have any questions, check with your county ’Ag’ agent of state university), buy enough for two full gardens MINIMUM, and buy them NOW.
We plan a review with commentary on Chapter 5 – Seeds, of Mr. Solomon’s book next week. Please stay tuned.
Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

It is because of the serious nature of gardening and providing food in hard times that the author wants to provide information on the gardening center. His goal here is to aid the home gardener avoid the pitfalls and mistakes abundant in dealing with these centers. He’s very aware that most of us family gardeners get our seeds and vegetable transplants from this/these sources and with that in mind he reminds us:

“… the garden has to be given the same degree of attention that other enthusiasts give to selecting the right fishing lure, modifying their automobile, or refining their golf swing.”

Mr. Solomon begins with  the topic of “Transplants ” and by identifying some of the vegetables that are very difficult to transplant and some that transplant relatively easily.

He continues his presentation by discussing the problems of seedling mislabeling and poor variety choices along with what to look for when choosing seedlings for transplant. By way of further guidance he offers this; “… make sure you can trust the seller.”
The author then moves on to the topic of growing your own seedlings and presents an easy way to do so; beginning with having the right soil for growing seedlings and then proceeding on with how to use it in various containers.
Fertilizer for seedlings comes next, in a careful discussion combined with recommendations  that include the all-important “whys and how’s”. Here’s a brief example concerning the use of coffee grounds:

“Used coffee grounds are a seed meal that hot water has been passed through. Judging by how coffee makes leap forward, I would reckon the grounds to be about half as strong as chicken manure. … They could also be put in a compost heap in place of chicken manure.”

“The garden center seedrack” gets its own section with this critical seed-choice guideline: “… I learned that every product or service could be compared to a three-legged stool with the legs being price, quality, and service. If lowered one leg, you had to lower the others accordingly or the stool tilted…”.
Commercial quality seed is discussed as well in this chapter along with the critically important aspect of vigor. These areas of discussion are enhanced with an excellent two-page “Germination standards” chart that shows a number of common garden seeds with their germination standards/rates from the USDA, a high quality seedsman, and commercial quality seeds. Also presented is a column that gives seed-storage longevity graded in years.
Lastly, “Regionality” is presented as an important aspect in seed choice that allows the home/family gardener another way to improve gardening results.

PrudentHome Comments: Mr. Solomon’s Chapter 4 reminds us, directly and indirectly:

1. Choose your garden seeds from a regional seedsman or one with a climate that is similar to yours.
2. One of your gardening reference BOOKS should be geared to gardening in your climate and your micro-climate if possible.
3. The serious gardener/food producer must keep good records. Like all long-term sustainability: it has to begin, operate, and end with a pencil and a notebook.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

Chapter 3 – Tools and tasks: If Mr. Solomon’s book title and his first two

Photo Credit: Marc Smith

chapters left you with the slightest doubt about his seriousness concerning gardening in hard times then his ‘Chapter 3’ on tools and tasks will dispel that doubt.  His first section begins:

• “The basic three and a file – To handle a garden up to a quarter acre (1,000 square meters) in size, if are minimally fit (I said “minimally fit”; I did not say male nor did I say huge), only four tools are essential: an ordinary combination shovel, a common hoe, a bow rake, and a 10- to 12-inch long (25- to 30 centimeter) metal file (with handle) to periodically sharpen the  shovel and hoe. … “
• “Please do not buy cheap discount store tools. If you are what Australians call ’skint’ (broke). You will do better pawing through secondhand shops until you find good ones. Where can you find quality new tools? I suggest a visit to a commercial hardware store, landscapers or nursery supply company, or contractor’s supply store and inspect what they sell to trades people. … Quality tools aren’t cheap, but they work out to be the least costly in the long run.”

PH Comment: Here we would add a fifth tool; a “file card” to clean the file’s grooves after use each use and before a coat of oil is applied to prevent rust in- between filings. Also, consider -since there are only four basic tools- having a reliable back-up for each of these important four. Too, the standard “T” rake works very well for us in place of the bow rake (later in the book, Mr. Solomon acknowledges “I could do it with a “T” rake …”) and is easier to find.

Each of these ‘basic three and a file’ are discussed thoroughly, including their application, from the beginning with ’How to start a new garden” through  several types of gardens, including ’Raised beds and raised rows’ and ’Making hills’. Mr. Solomon keeps it clear, simple and workable

The author has a very special and brief section in the chapter called “Hills and survival gardening“.  Here’s just a small piece:

• Imagine this : It is spring planting time, but nothing has been dug and you urgently need to make a garden. There is sod. You have a shovel, some seeds and not much else. What do you do? Garden like the Native Americans taught us … . Don’t even consider growing any demanding vegetables. You’ll grow easy stuff: winter squash, corn, sunflowers, … tomatoes … .”
• Mr. Solomon then goes on to tell us how to prepare the soil, plant, fertilize and expand the garden under difficult conditions. Here also, he gives special attention to the potato and it’s growing.
• The balance of the chapter contains some expanded gardening instruction, tool selection, tool use and tool maintenance as well as an excellent chart on measuring soil amendments.
• There is then a section on miscellaneous tools such as the wheelbarrow, sprayer, small kitchen knife and bucket. As with the ’basic three and a file’, all are thoroughly, if briefly. discussed as to types, acquisition, use and maintenance.

Then the final section: ’Care of tools’. It’s here that the author shows us a brief glimpse of the complete gardener: “Once tools were expensive, valued, and cared for. … people have forgotten how to care for valuable tools.” Mr. Solomon reminds us of the value of tools: the value in using them well and maintaining them well especially under conditions where they might be hard to come by.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

Chapter I, con’t: “Size of your garden”

• “As a rough gauge, take the 2,00-square foot wartime allotment plot in the United Kingdom. Britain’s cool and frequently cloudy summers mean that most vegetables grow more slowly than they usually do in the United States or southern Canada. But on the plus side, the mild English winters allow gardeners in many areas to harvest frost-hardy crops year-round. The wartime British were not expected to make a complete family diet pot of 2,700 square feet of vegetables. Their staff of life was bread from the local baker. … Probably during the war years vegetables, including potatoes, did not make make up more than a third of the family’s total caloric intake.”
• “ … If your goal is to produce not half, but nearly all the calories and nutrition needed year-round, and your family can depend on the ordinary potato as their healthful staff of life, then you can add more land in order to produce sacks and sacks of nutritious spuds or sweet potatoes. … The good thing about potatoes is that working plots of this scale (from 500 t0 750 square feet per each adult depending on water conditions/SS) can be done entirely with hand tools. To produce the same amount of nutrition by growing cereal grains would require five to ten times as much land per person. The healthful potato is really the thing for getting through hard times.”

PH Comments: We are in strong agreement with Mr. Solomon in his comments regarding the nutritional value found in both Irish and sweet potatoes (and recommend growing both where possible) but again we part company as regards his method of gardening requiring relatively large amounts of land.

Based on our own experience, our observation that the average homeowner/gardener in America has significantly less land to work with than Mr. Solomon proposes,  and at least two major gardening methods that require relatively little land and have proved reliable/productive here and around the world: we support/advocate the more intensive gardening systems found in John Jevons’ “ ‘How To Grow More Vegetables’ “ and Mel Bartholomew’s “Square foot Gardening”.

We plan to continue reviewing Mr. Solomon’s excellent book (and to continue commenting where we think appropriate) coming up as he has produced a wealth of gardening information and insights for dealing with gardening in hard times.

Until a little later then: keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

An Apology: We have missed a full week “plus” of posts due to illness within our family. Our health concerns seem to be diminishing with this brief time in treatment and we hope to have all well and about soon.

We have just a couple of post’s planned for this week with a full schedule beginning the next week. Thank you for your understanding.

Continuing Book Review – “ ’Gardening When it Counts’ “ by Steve Solomon: Introduction/Chapter I-  con’t:

“The coming hard times”

• “We are soon going to base our civilization on something other than oil … or else we aren’t going to have much of a civilization left. Soon, everything made with oil is going to cost a lot more; gasoline, food, clothing, transportation, heating of houses, etc. And after that, if oil is still the basis for almost everything we do, then everything is going to cost even more.”
• “… those practicing raised-bed intensive methods will discover that intensive use of land requires large quantities of water, manure/compost, and fertilizer.’
• “Water has become scarce in many places. … watersheds are becoming ever more degraded, lessening the recharge of groundwater.”
• “Chemical fertilizers and many organic ones too, are made with petroleum or natural gas, so they are going to become more expensive.”
• “This book is for people who must have a good result.”
• “The successful home gardener must start with strong seeds and truly healthy transplants of varieties that are dependable and productive.”
• “Actually, to veggie garden successfully you only need a few hand tools, used properly.”

PH Comments: We agree with most of Mr. Solomon’s statements. We sincerely question his observations/conclusions however regarding the use of raised/intensive planting beds as requiring “large quantities“ (what are “large quantities” here and how does that square with these intensive techniques being taught/used successfully in some of the most difficult terrain, climate and poorest countries in the world? – Check out and follow up on some of this work being done via Bountiful Gardens catalog) of  “…water, manure/compost, and fertilizer.”

Again, we are going over Chapter I carefully to establish where Mr. Solomon is coming from in his observations and conclusions. There’s plenty of room, in our view, for honest yet differing opinions as to what might work well or best in particular situations. We have an open mind.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weather’s changing fast.

We’re going to do something a little different here at PrudentHome, as regards more traditional book reviews; we’re going to do a running book review and commentary. Each mid-week post over about a two month period of time (we plan on building in a couple of “open’ weeks within this time frame in order to allow for information that may be of urgent interest) we’ll present our continuing review with commentary.

Here’s why, because Mr. Solomon’s gardening book is one that deserves our special attention as it’s written especially for our times (and beyond?): hard times.

Here’s the beginning: Introduction -

“These days I feel fortunate to have retired to one of the world’s most remote places, Tasmania, a temperate south pacific island with a climate that is a lot like Oregon’s. From here I can enjoy a slight sense of detachment as I watch how the planet is going. But Tasmania is not self sufficient, so I am not nearly as detached as I wish I could be  about the hard times I foresee coming. I have the feeling that I should share some gardening knowledge I’ve accumulated with those who are probably soon going to need it, which is why I wrote this book.”

Here’s some of Mr. Solomon’s history, perspective and viewpoint:

• “I had a five-acre (two-hectare) homestead …”
• “In 1979 I created Territorial Seed company, …
• “During the 1980’s, when intensive (gardening) had become the standard practice, several things came together to teach me it was not the best way. Because I was running a seed company, I had to do a variety of trials. … Trials require that you grow plants far enough apart that each can develop to its full potential. One thing I noticed from doing this was that my trial plots didn’t need nearly as much irrigation as my intensive veggie garden. Another was that these well-separated plants got much larger; they tasted better than crowded vegetables did when they weren’t harvested promptly; and many vegetable species grown that way yielded more in relation to the space occupied, not less as I had read in books by intensive gurus.”
• “… I researched the nearly lost art of vegetable gardening without irrigating at all, which is mainly done by putting plants extremely far apart.”
• “These days I no longer raise my vegetables using the extreme intensive method that is still advocated by Everybody Else. And I irrigate much less than most people. If I did not have irrigation, I could still grow my garden. I believe I’ve worked out methods that best suit the coming hard times.”

PH Commentary: Please note here that Mr. Solomon has five acres of land on which to  plant his garden, he speaks very much from the viewpoint of a professional seedsman who has become disenchanted with the method (intensive gardening) used by “Everybody Else”  for some specific reasons: irrigation, harvesting-timing concerns and eventual yields, to name three..

High water use in intensive gardening is a very controversial conclusion as we understand it.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weather’s changing fast.

Chapter Three – More Musing On Plants: Here are a few of the chapter’s high points:

• “Indicator Plants: … rather than fighting Nature, select plants that inherently do well on your soil classification.”
• “Seed Saving; There are a number of fairly complicated seed saving techniques — … .
• However, humans had been saving seed for thousands of years before the advent of refrigeration and high tech accessories. … Seeds have two requirements, they should be cool and dry, with emphasis on dry.’
• “Crop Rotation:  … in early 1700’s England, the modern four-field rotation pattern emerged where turnips, clover, wheat, and another grain were rotated continuously with no fallow fields (Sabin 15).
• There are as many rotation schemes as there are farmers; however, it is imperative that each of us discover what works for us.”

Chapter Four: Beyond Plants In The Holistic Garden: Here are a couple of the chapter’s key points:

• “Animals: … By necessity the holistic garden must focus on those animal resources. If desired, that yield their premium bounty in the smallest of spaces.
• Easily the most practical choice of animal for the vast majority of holistic gardens is the chicken. … Six hens can supply an abundance of protein in eggs alone.
• It should be mentioned that animals, except for the microscopic, are not a necessity in a holistic garden. Ultimately, all higher animals depend on plants, not the other way around.”
• “Tools: … Number one, for me is a good, sturdy long-handeled spade shovel.
• After the shovel, I use a garden trowel more than any other tool. A common garden rake, … A good pruner … a sickle … .”
• “Soil & Health: … Every great civilization has slid into oblivion when it has undermined its indigenous food source and tried to rely on imports. … Each civilization tends to believe it is immune from the basic laws of economics.
• There are two worrisome trends that should be on everyone’s minds. One trend is that the human population is increasing each and every year. The other is that the arable land on this planet is decreasing every year.”

Epilogue: ‘If we continue far enough back in time, we eventually will reach th key element that all our modern civilization rests upon, the invention of agriculture.”

Conclusion: Mr. Kraft’s small book is a valuable survey and primer for the growing of some of the most nutritious plants (and animals) available within a small space.  There aren’t many books available today that concentrate on both of these critical aspects of preparedness gardening.

It should be in your home library for these reasons and because of its modest price: $5.95 + shipping from the Bountiful Gardens 2009 Catalog (Item # BGE – 1330) at:

Tel: (707) 459 – 6410

Web Site: www.bountifulgardens.org

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

We’ll go right to our guide book in just a moment but first it might be useful to look at some context Charles Hugh Smith provided for us yesterday at his Of Two Minds website (oftwominds.com) in his post “Grain, Drought and Systemic Risk”. Here’s some context from that article:

• “Nobody realizes that only 1% of the US population are real farmers. 70% + of our food supply is grown by them in a relatively small area of the Midwest between Southern Minnesota to Texas and Eastern Nebraska to Ohio. So most of our food, the only thing we need every day to survive, is grown by 1% of the population in the middle of the country whereas most of the population lives within 20 miles of the coasts.”
• “There used to be a lot if grain stored up courtesy of the government, but that was all gotten rid of in the 80’s so that the money used for it could be spent on social programs. So now we have no contingency plan for this occurrence. Currently we are long overdue for a drought in that part of the US. If we get one there you can make your own conclusions as to what will happen.”
• ” … the global supply chains for the two necessities of industrialized civilization –oil and grain– are precariously balanced on a few large suppliers, a situation commonly termed as ‘systemic risk, ” meaning it is not temporary but an integral feature of the supply chain.”

Now for a look at “The Holistic Garden For Small Spaces” by  Clinton R. Craft. Let’s begin with Mr. Kraft’s Introduction:

• “Try to look into the future and you may see such problems as dwindling world petroleum resources, rampant human population growth (the world has hit 7 billion souls within the last week/PH), decreasing arable land, increasing reliance on food sources from distant locations, the greenhouse effect, the ozone hole, and unpredictable climate change. …  But there is something we can all do whether we live on a farm, in the suburbs, or even an apartment — we can all plant seeds.”
• ” … I decided to conduct a personal research project devoted to finding  THE MOST NUTRITIOUS PLANTS THAT CAN BE GROWN IN A LIMITED AREA (caps/PH) in temperate climates. I started collecting anecdotes and researching the available literature. I soon discovered that one group of plants was held in high esteem by a number of references. This group of plants I refer to as “The Super Seven of Nutritious Plants.” Plants that were recommended by at least one researcher or knowledgeable informant became “The Honorable Mention Of Nutritious Plants.” All these plants have a wide range of nutrients and yield their bounty in a limited area over a relatively short period of time.”
• “I soon realized while researching these plants that many of the varieties of vegetables that are ideal for home gardens are rapidly disappearing in favor of ‘modern hybrids” … open pollinated varieties of vegetables can be found that will equal or excel the gardening performance of any hybrid variety. The secret is to keep trying different open pollinated varieties until a variety is found that does well in your micro-climate.”

Next time, at mid-week, we’ll continue by discussing, ‘The Super Seven Of Nutritious Plants.”

Until our current week’s end then: keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

Several months ago, some of us here at PrudentHome began thinking about raising chickens. Our thoughts were the product of a family friend firmly committing to continue raising chickens as a part of his family’s goal to increase food independence and also to become a source for neighborhood eggs and chicken(s) in the hard times he feels lie ahead.

Our thoughts ebbed and flowed until an article in the April/May, 2009 issue of Backyard Poultry Magazine tipped us from just thinking about chickens to actively investigating the possibilities of chickens for our own backyard. The article is entitled, “Is Raising Chickens The Right Option For You?” and it’s by Dr. Charles R.H. Everett, SPPA (Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities)  Secretary/Treasurer. Here is some of the article and some of our thinking and investigation on the subject too:

• First, Dr. Everett raises the most basic question “Do you know anything at all about chickens? If the answer is anything other than a straightforward ’yes” then you need to do your homework.”

PrudentHome agrees completely. We’re beginning by reading magazine articles that relate to the raising of a small backyard flock, say three birds (hens, as they’re generally quiet), and developing those as both a learning model and a base for future expansion if required or desired.

• Second, “Do the laws in your area allow chickens? If you live within any municipality in the United states then there is a good chance that there is some regulation on the books concerning the number of chickens you can raise, including the number of cocks you’re allowed to keep.”

Prudent Home’s “interested parties” have talked with county officials concerning chickens in our area. The bottom line is that although our county area (we live outside the city limits) doesn’t permit “poultry”, as long as no one complains, we can have a few birds. We consider this opinion  to be fragile, considering human nature, and before we actually brought chickens on our property we’d want to know whether we could keep a few birds as, say, “pets”; regardless of neighbor unhappiness as long as they were quiet and clean.

Here it might be noted that the city of Portland, Maine has recently passed an ordinance, to our understanding, that permits up to six chickens per family home property WITHIN the city limits. We believe that  this ordinance is at least partly in response to our current difficult economic times. It might be wise to keep an eye on similar ordinances or unofficial understandings on your area.

• Third, “Do you have room for chickens? Different breeds of chickens have different space requirements. If you are limited on your space you might want to consider bantams as an option.”

The “interested parties” here at PrudentHome have established some initial criteria for chickens on the property and they are as follows: healthy, hearty, able to be easily handled, at least moderately good egg producers, have moderate meat potential, and be able to provide a good bit of their own food should the need arise/be good foragers.  These are all initial criteria only and subject to change with additional information.

Here are some of our sources for further investigation into backyard chicken raising and we expect others to develop as we progress:

Backyard Poultry Magazine (Dedicated to more and better small-flock poultry)

And

“How To Raise Chickens: Everything You Need To Know (How to Raise…)
” by Christine Heinrichs (rated 41/2 stars at ‘Amazon‘)

Don’t forget your local poultry/farm shows or fairs (remember 4-H), your local/county ag agent, your state university and of course, your local library.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.