Preparedness Week 5

Well, if everyone is keeping up, we should have our spot for the garden picked out, decided what we would like to plant, and have reviewed what types of soil we will need for our garden.  I have bought me some seeds and some seed starter soil.  I am going to try to start my seeds in an egg carton and then plant the seedling in the "garden".  Denise has already planted her garden, so we need to get busy to keep up with her.  I just love looking at all of the sites on the internet.  Again this week, I have been checking out the seven years of plenty blogspot.  ( www.sevenyearsofplenty.blogspot.com )  She has a post in here to help us decied what we should plant.  Of course, now we should go with the warn weather crops.  She also offers advice on fertilizer, insect control, water, and specific tomato plant advice. 

If you are not planning on planting a garden, scroll down past the information on planting for this week's preparedness tip.

Warm Weather Crops

Planting Schedule

Warm weather crops will be hurt by

frost, and must be planted after the last frost.

Beans

Celery

Corn

Cucumber

Eggplant

Okra

Squash

Tomatoes

Peppers

Pumpkin

Sunflower

Sweet Potato

Swiss Chard

Some crops take so long to grow, it is best to transplant them. Examples of these are tomatoes, cabbage, and peppers.

7 WEEKS TO LAST FROST

Start seeds of tomatoes, hot peppers, and early basil indoors.

4 WEEKS TO LAST FROST

Plant potato eyes

1-2 WEEKS AFTER FROST

Plant sweet potato slips

Seeds

If your seeds are stored properly, they can last for up to 5 years.

Ideal Storage is a cool, dark place. The refrigerator in a jar keeps the seeds fresh.

The older the seeds get, the germination rate goes down.

Insect Control

Insects can be very damaging to your garden.

Remove insects by hand, wash them off, or kill them with insecticide.

If you use an insecticide, you must wash the food before eating it.

Dawn Dish Detergent mixed with water in a spray bottle is an great bug spray.

Fertilizer and Compost

Mel’s Mix:

(Square Foot Gardening Expert)

1/3 vermiculite

1/3 peat moss

1/3 compost

Water

Plants can absorb nutrients in soil faster and grow better

when soil and water are at a warm temperature.

Tomatoes

Farmer’s Advice

Pick the leaves on the stem of the tomato once the tomato starts growing.

This will give the tomato nutrients instead of the leaves.

Tomatoes need nitrogen and calcium in the fertilizer. An excellent way of achieving this is digging a two foot hole next to the plant and bury a raw fish head in it.

If the bottom of your tomatoes is black, this means it means your plant is calcium deficient. Be consistent with watering to make sure the plant is getting consistent nutrition. It is good to give the tomato more fertilizer every three weeks.

Non gardening preparedness tip:

Keep at least a three-day supply of water per person. Store a minimum of one gallon of water per person per day (two quarts for drinking, two quarts for food preparation and sanitation). Store water in plastic containers such as soft drink bottles. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. (I personally love my big 55 gallon plastic drums.  I got these at Sam's club in 1999.  I wish I could find some more unused drums like these.)  A normally active person needs to drink at least two quarts of water each day. Hot environments and strenuous activity can double that amount. Children, nursing mothers, and people who are sick will also need more.  You will need to keep this written down in your notebook.  This water in these containers will need to be changed out periodically.  Keep plain "Clorox" on hand.  Adding 1/8 of a teaspoon (8 drops) of fresh liquid household chlorine bleach (5-6% sodium hypochlorite) to every gallon (4 liters) of water will kill most microorganisms.  Only household bleach without thickeners, scents, or additives should be used.  The use of bleach does not address toxic contamination.  
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site provides additional information about water purification.

President Spencer W. Kimball said: “Now I think the time is coming when there will be more distresses, when there may be more tornadoes and more floods, … more earthquakes. … I think they will be increasing probably as we come nearer to the end, and so we must be prepared for this” (Conference Apr. 1974).

He also said: “Should evil times come, many might wish they had filled all their fruit bottles and cultivated a garden in their backyards and planted a few fruit trees and berry bushes and provided for their own commodity needs...And should the trucks fail to fill the shelves of the stores, many would go hungry” ( Conference Oct. 1974).

Wow, he said this in 1974. 

I think he may have been

talking to us?