A World On A String

[THE PABLOS]

My go to seed people: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at rareseeds.com

I've been a customer for many yrs...watched them grow out of practicably nothing...into what they are today.

* They are very proactive...believe they are involved in the lawsuits pertaining to Monsanto. I've educated myself quite a bit with some of the help...coming from Baker Creek

Carrots:

I consider myself a connoisseur carrot cultivator. I grow..on average..7 different varieties of carrots. My wife and I juice them mostly. When you juice...you need lots of veggies to keep the juicer loaded. What looks like a lot in the garden....amounts to very little in the juicer. My observations.

The key to carrot growing is: keeping a healthy blended compost...as rock free as possible. The more loamy...the better. Like most everything requires...it needs to drain well.

Most people have trouble with carrots due to clay or rocky soil.

I harvest and replant carrots almost the entire yr...but winter carrots are painfully slow...and not near as good. Mostly I grow them in winter..just to grow something.

** Like Madjag....I'm getting heavily into Garlic. Now is the time to order your bulbs. I order from Seed Savers...have them delivered just before the October planting season. I plan to grow connoisseur grade garlic as well. My harvest this year was very nice...but all it did...was make me want to expand my varieties and the amount I will plant. My harvested garlic is rockingly awesome.

 

[Infinitesimal]

save the bees!

save the bees!

what would we ever do without them...

Harvested Cosmic Purple carrots

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=32929&pictureid=924617&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

A bee doing my squash cross pollinations

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=32929&pictureid=924616&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Rolling big time in the veggie/fruit gardens

gnarly lookin carrots... I dont care much for carrots but those look interesting... they kinda look like radishes

 

[THE PABLOS]

Beets and carrots

Beets and carrots

Here's a different juicer harvest



The beets are a very ancient variety (Crapaudine)...the carrots are...hum I have to remember...I think are St Valery

I think harvesting beets and carrots before they get too big....is key to flavor. Harvesting them young also opens up space...and is a better use of the time in a season. I've experimented with this concept over the yrs...and found it is the way to go

 

[THE PABLOS]

what would we ever do without them...


gnarly lookin carrots... I dont care much for carrots but those look interesting... they kinda look like radishes

Cosmic Purples do really well for me. I've been growing this variety for many yrs now. I believe in carrots as a sun food. I'm in the sun all the time...so I eat the hell out of carrots. Might be all in my mind...but that's how I see it.

 

[Madjag]

Grow Soil, Not Plants

Grow Soil, Not Plants

Love heirloom veggies. I got my original garlic, 4 strains, from Jesse and family at a local organic garden called "Our Garden" just outside of Tucson in Catalina. They're totally adjusted to this climate. Now I run just the two strains that did best in my yard.

Carrots. Love juicing.
The beta-carotene protects your eyes, especially eyes in the sun. The beta-carotene is transformed into Vitamin A in the liver and Vitamin A is transformed in the retina, to rhodopsin, a purple pigment necessary for night vision.

Vitamin A is also a detoxer. Falcarinol is a natural pesticide produced by the carrot that protects its roots from fungal diseases. Carrots are one of the only common sources of this compound. A study showed 1/3 lower cancer risk by carrot-eating mice.

Some old-timers believe that the color of a veggie indicates what it's good for. Purple carrots....purple night vision pigments??

 

[THE PABLOS]

Love heirloom veggies. I got my original garlic, 4 strains, from Jesse and family at a local organic garden called "Our Garden" just outside of Tucson in Catalina. They're totally adjusted to this climate. Now I run just the two strains that did best in my yard.

Carrots. Love juicing.
The beta-carotene protects your eyes, especially eyes in the sun. The beta-carotene is transformed into Vitamin A in the liver and Vitamin A is transformed in the retina, to rhodopsin, a purple pigment necessary for night vision.

Vitamin A is also a detoxer. Falcarinol is a natural pesticide produced by the carrot that protects its roots from fungal diseases. Carrots are one of the only common sources of this compound. A study showed 1/3 lower cancer risk by carrot-eating mice.

Some old-timers believe that the color of a veggie indicates what it's good for. Purple carrots....purple night vision pigments??

Well...when I slice carrots and look at their centers...they look like eyes/the sun. I'm old fashioned...go with my gut instinct...and my gut says..."P3...sonny boy..you need to eat lots of homegrown carrots...if you want to remain healthy..and unblocked...under the sun."

I gave up wearing sunglasses (except indoor gardening) and recently stopped putting zinc oxide on my face. The sun block was only worn on my face...but after I gave up sun glasses..I decided I didn't need it anymore. I feel that...I'm designed for heat and full sun. I don't bother worrying about skin disease...I will it away. love my sun.

* I get seeds from where ever I see interesting plants. I'm crossing gourds and pumpkins here in a couple weeks (q-tip hand pollinating)....and I've been cross pollinating squash for the last month. My gardens never look the same...from season to season..or even...during the season. I enjoy the plants for a while..harvest off them...then move on. My compost pile beckons for my culls.

** Think I grew 3 strains of Garlic this yr...ample harvest. I've ordered 5 new strains for the upcoming season. I prefer the smaller..more colorful varieties. I've taken the tasters test with a couple friends as testers....my homegrown garlic proved itself every time. Homegrown garlic is the bees knees. I don't give much away.

I just love growing stuff...I don't even care what it is...as long as it's interesting to cultivate. I enjoy different methods...different pruning techniques...different training techniques etc...no matter how my time gets consumed...I'll make the time to grow

EDIT: I actually have a pretty good following (locally) and I say the same thing "Grow your medium...don't try to grow plants...plants grow themselves"

 

[THE PABLOS]

Ants and Aphids

Ants and Aphids

This morning...while training some Blackberry canes into a fence....I came across Ants farming Aphids. Very organized cultivators...dedicated to the cause



...nice tidy harvest I brought in this morning as well: couple varieties of Beets and a cross pollinated squash. At this time...harvests like this...can be had every day. The gardens are running wide open. Having a most excellent August

 

[budman678]

we are growing okra for the first time....its beautiful, apparently you harvest the second year...its absolutely gorgeous

i have a passion for outdoor gardeing and i have been really interested in permaculture recently...there is a good book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One-Straw_Revolution

 

[THE PABLOS]

we are growing okra for the first time....its beautiful, apparently you harvest the second year...its absolutely gorgeous

i have a passion for outdoor gardeing and i have been really interested in permaculture recently...there is a good book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One-Straw_Revolution

I have some okra seeds...yeah believe they are a 2 yr investment. I'm experimenting with different Blackberry varieties...another project that takes at least a couple yrs to get going...it's total dedication keeping things flowing through. I work at all hrs.

I'll check out the book

 

[budman678]

oops, not okra... asparagus...

 

[THE PABLOS]

Yep...nope...looking at my pack of okra seeds..they are 1st season crops. I didn't start them in spring...so probably too late now. I have fucking seeds everywhere..not a bad thing. I was shaking flowering corn stalks today...spreading the dust

I was actually thinking about Artichoke. I'm stoned...but that's what I was thinking...okra-artichoke whatever...lol.. but looking at a pack of artichoke seeds presently. Long season plants that don't over winter well...sketchy for me then. I'm a short season gardener...without greenhouses. a shame...I could rock a greenhouse garden

Think I grew okra a bunch of yrs ago..but was unsuccessful? Some crops need humidity to be grown proper. I have limited success with collards...and I think it may have been...the same with okra. Soul food plant ingredients...are humidity foods imo. I'm more down with the south western twist..as environment dictates

This herb I'm smoking...it's pretty damn good...out of a big mixed jar...I rolled many joints. Many joints...but hell...I only need a few hits to reach "quite elevated" I'm happy with all the stuff I'm growing...weed wise..I mean..don't know what else to say

 

[unclefishstick]

im seriously looking at tearing my breezeway down and replacing it with a sun room.i will need to build a reflecting wall since its in between two buildings,but it should make a nice houseplant/tropicals/ fishpond room...but next year,an outdoor veggie garden,getting a compost pile together,looking to get some gravel delivered soon,cooling off enough to think of yardwork

 

[THE PABLOS]

Gardening veggies is a life style. Gardening period...is a lifestyle.

I've decided that I'll be renting a jack hammer. I have a project underway that involves moving massive amounts of granite. I've done what I can with a 16lb sledge and a dig bar...just taking waaaaay too long. "Hands are bruised from breaking rocks all day"

 

[Infinitesimal]

sounds like your working on old prison labor farm, O'Berta work song in a texas prison

 

[THE PABLOS]

The reality...or one of them...is that I'm a mule. I'm stubborn. Actually enjoy breaking rocks...but it is killing my schedule. I find it amusing...that to complete a project...roughly 3 more need to be started. That's where I am....wading in the waters of project...on a fucking schedule.

* I'm a hydroponic machine. We all are. 80% water...think about that. I juice when I can...I constantly flush my system with apple cider vinegar and honey....deep into conversions in liquid foods.

Since giving up meats...and training my body to veggie regiments and fluids...I feel so much different. I see things much differently. Through the diets and because of...all the time spent on the trails..living an active..physical lifestyle....I feel good.

It's fallacy that we need to rest on our paths...fallacy and excuse

 

[Infinitesimal]

But I like my rest...

Im in the same boat with the project thing... I have to get two or three projects done just to get started on what I want to do and my insomnia has been getting in the way at every opportunity. Even though I am awake... I am so out of it sometimes!

I got a decent nights sleep last night (after some shots of jager with a friend), and woke up at about 5 am this morning so I am feeling decent today... hopefully I can finish some chores that I've been meaning to do! like getting my grow thread back u and going!

I could never give up meat... I would like to eat more fresh fruits and veggies, cut back on fatty red meat... eat more fish/poultry and game meats... but I don't have many connections for free range poultry or game meats where I live... so the transition will be a slow one

I need to drink more water thats for sure... I've been working on that, I used to be really athletic so drinking tons of water used to be a natural habit.

 

[Madjag]

Heirloom Carrots and Desert Acclimated Veggies

Heirloom Carrots and Desert Acclimated Veggies

Since 1980 this local Tucson lady and her company have specialized in much the same quality seeds as Baker's:

http://www.westwindseeds.com/category_s/40.htm

 

[unclefishstick]

i get even crankier than usual if i dont get my sleep...luckily i almost never have any problems sleeping,but i also dont own a car,which means at least a half hour in the saddle every day,most days an hour or more...and water is good,i guzzle it like its going out of style...and mostly live on chicken, rice and heaps of veggies...my wok sees an absurd amount of usage...

 

[Infinitesimal]

..my wok sees an absurd amount of usage...

I love mongolian BBQ... I could eat good stir fry at least twice a day! every day!

broccoli, snow peas and mung bean sprouts... mmm... its is nearing lunch time!

 

[THE PABLOS]

I'll get back with you dudes. I'm into a muggy day...overcast and threatening.

Listening to James Gang...Miami album. Fucking awesome stuff..."Sleep walker". Going for a run....I'm having trouble working out the sciatic nerve on my left side...motherfucker aches within 5 miles of hills. I'm stretching it...rolling on tennis balls (in a sock)...been going on for months.

I'm always hurting somewhere...bruised feet...whatever man...to play in the outdoors should come with great cost. Running through cramps and pain is the discipline. Yet...I'm growing wiser...less the egotist...so modifying the runs with stopping points....for stretching and push ups..more like cross training...less the steadiness of running in constance.

Blasting out of the gate...say the 1st 3 miles...burning sugars...weakening legs...panting lungs...wincing core. Then stop...push ups....stretching and breathing exercises for a few minutes...

then back into the run...pushing in bursts...cooling back in places...getting into a fat burning mode at this stage. Stop after a couple miles...same thing...push ups..stretching and breathing exercises for a few minutes...back to the run...pushing now to get to the stages of exhaustion.

Anyways...I'm changing up on my training....as the body is cluing me to do. I'm working on strength and speed...on top of endurance. Parking my vehicle so that it's always within 2.5 miles...so I don't need to wear a water belt...can stop at the vehicle as I pass it in a loop. This lightens me...and allows me to go hard without having to worry about making it back.

EDIT: I am conditioned now to run 10 miles of hills in triple digits and not need to drink. I couldn't do that last year. I'm learning more..how to nose breathe and calm/slow my body rate down through breathing exercises...as I run. To concentrate on breathing is to be present. Try it...you will see what I mean. Concentrate on breathing.