DiscussMormonism.com

Got me ole tomatoes (the small candy like tasting ones), chard (coming up!), onions (WALA WALA SWEET), peas, beans, squash and vittles - GRIN! No, I made a super cool natural fertilizer concoction tonight, we shall see how it goes in a few days. Put the old tomatoes, lettuce, banana peels, some dandelion greens, (two or three plants of just the greens, no stem, no seeds either) orange peels, egg shells (crushed small), and handfull of dry leaves (deciduous ones), and mashed it all together with my hammer in the 5 gallon bucket. Mushed it into a pulp I tells ya! Put in two and half gallons of water. Stir twice a day (morning and night) until it smells earthy and then add epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate, phenomenal magnesium for the soil!) and blackstrap (not regular molasses! Blackstrap is processed more and is a much more useful food for the microrganisms who are gonna be eatin our equivalent of rib eye steak and eggs for breakfast! They say after this process there will be a billion of 'em per teaspoon full of dirt! WHOA! An they don't even do polygamy and they multiply beyond Abraham's wildest imagination) molasses as the superfood for all those little organisms that are going to enrich the soil spectacularly!!! I will let it sit for two days that way, (it's much, MUCH faster than letting it all decompose in just the dirt which would take weeks) then I'll sift out the solids, and dilute the brew with another gallon of water and feed the plants! I will keep the solids to put around the plants since they still have nutrients also and is all part of the compost. It's an old farmer's recipe they all swear by from the good ole days before it was outlawed and we are forced to buy the system's junk that ain't nearly as good and way, way, WAY too expensive. F*** that, Mother Nature is the best fertilizer not all those idiot manmade chemicals that are only half as effective. I'm looking forward to all this! Sort of part of my prepping and I enjoy good fresh veggies besides!

That's great Philo. It's never been high on my list but I have recently thought about trying tomatoes. I go through a fair amount and recently it's seemed like it's hard to consistently find good ones. Might be just regional or something. but I had been considering trying to grow them. You're in a green area, but even under ideal conditions, how many months of the year can you keep production going?

Congrats, Philo! Gardening and landscaping has always been at the top of my hobby list. Please share photos of your harvest!

Congrats on your garden endeavors for this season, Kerr! I think it's awesome to get your hands in the dirt and do something "real". Are you planting in ground or what? Raised bed? I plant in Earth Boxes and since the tomatoes I longed for only ripen by the first SNOW I gave up and now it's all flowers which do fabulous in Earth Boxes! I've got 6 of them now!

I do grow and dry basil and mint. Basil for cooking and I make mint tea in compostable tea bags. Who even am I?

You are so right about growing your food. Once you have your method and soil figured out, it'll save you money in the long run with the first year being the greatest investment. But it's SO good to grow our own!

You should see the way gardeners rig up their systems out here to fend off hail and wildlife. Green houses, hoop gardens, all sorts of stuff...hail cloth, shade cloth...for this high desert we live in. Many do seed starts in their basements under grow lights. I do have an indoor greenhouse with grow lights but it's for my interest in house plant propagation. The kids and I trade out our propagations for other types of plants. It's like a propagation underground around here. I mean...above ground.

I want to comment back specifically to your post...

Black strap is now being used here amongst gardeners as a deterrent to the grasshopper plagues we get since our usual deterrent which is produced here went out of business. Something about raising the Brix level in plants helps them to be grasshopper resistant. Sugars or something, I forget.

Kerr are you using the liquid or dry mix for black strap? Forgive me if you stated it in your post, my focus is lacking today.

Also good (if anyone wants to try it) is banana peel tea. Put your peels right into a pitcher of water in the fridge and let it steep. If you let it steep outdoors you're probably going to end up with wasps in there. Water your plants (indoor/outdoor) with it. Holy smokes! That stuff is amazing!

Or you can direct compost the banana peels right into your soil. Also produces super good results!

I've had great success with worm compost as well.

I think many or most of us prefer organic. Good for the planet, good for us!

I love your enthusiasm! I haven't seen you light up and throw sparks in a really long time. This world doesn't lend itself to that lately but we can search out what feeds our souls. Keep Growing!
Jersey

Shut. the. heck. UP. Jersey.

No.

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2026 6:51 pm

Congrats, Philo! Gardening and landscaping has always been at the top of my hobby list. Please share photos of your harvest!

Will do absolutely!

Jersey Girl wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2026 9:35 pm

Congrats on your garden endeavors for this season, Kerr! I think it's awesome to get your hands in the dirt and do something "real". Are you planting in ground or what? Raised bed? I plant in Earth Boxes and since the tomatoes I longed for only ripen by the first SNOW I gave up and now it's all flowers which do fabulous in Earth Boxes! I've got 6 of them now!

I do grow and dry basil and mint. Basil for cooking and I make mint tea in compostable tea bags. Who even am I?

You are so right about growing your food. Once you have your method and soil figured out, it'll save you money in the long run with the first year being the greatest investment. But it's SO good to grow our own!

You should see the way gardeners rig up their systems out here to fend off hail and wildlife. Green houses, hoop gardens, all sorts of stuff...hail cloth, shade cloth...for this high desert we live in. Many do seed starts in their basements under grow lights. I do have an indoor greenhouse with grow lights but it's for my interest in house plant propagation. The kids and I trade out our propagations for other types of plants. It's like a propagation underground around here. I mean...above ground.

I want to comment back specifically to your post...

Black strap is now being used here amongst gardeners as a deterrent to the grasshopper plagues we get since our usual deterrent which is produced here went out of business. Something about raising the Brix level in plants helps them to be grasshopper resistant. Sugars or something, I forget.

Kerr are you using the liquid or dry mix for black strap? Forgive me if you stated it in your post, my focus is lacking today.

Also good (if anyone wants to try it) is banana peel tea. Put your peels right into a pitcher of water in the fridge and let it steep. If you let it steep outdoors you're probably going to end up with wasps in there. Water your plants (indoor/outdoor) with it. Holy smokes! That stuff is amazing!

Or you can direct compost the banana peels right into your soil. Also produces super good results!

I've had great success with worm compost as well.

I think many or most of us prefer organic. Good for the planet, good for us!

I love your enthusiasm! I haven't seen you light up and throw sparks in a really long time. This world doesn't lend itself to that lately but we can search out what feeds our souls. Keep Growing!
Jersey

Shut. the. heck. UP. Jersey.

No.

Here is my first video on it! It's only 13 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffexhhVsKIk I talk about compost piles and bucket gardening! I use the liquid blackstrap. YES! banana peel tea is superb, as also rice water if you let it ferment! I'm a pourin' mine tomorrow on the kids and they gonna squeal with delight! It's like givin' ''em steak and eggs for breakfast! I put banana peels in with the rice water and its gonna be potent and impotent - er.....important - LOL! If sometimes you haven't eaten them soon enough and bananas go black, NEVER throw them away! That is pure gold for your plants. Just slice them up and mash ''em up into a slop and either spread that over the top of your soil with your favorite plant and lightly cover them, or put ''em in water for three days, they ferment, and you got gabillions and billions of good bacteria that will help your plants thrive.

Gadianton wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2026 6:42 pm

That's great Philo. It's never been high on my list but I have recently thought about trying tomatoes. I go through a fair amount and recently it's seemed like it's hard to consistently find good ones. Might be just regional or something. but I had been considering trying to grow them. You're in a green area, but even under ideal conditions, how many months of the year can you keep production going?

Yeah our weather is not conducive for long tomatoes, although I can get them from May to October without a greenhouse. I am sorely tempted to make one now with the up coming world wide food shortage and disastrous price hikes we are all going to have to endure for a year or two thanks for Donald Trump. With a greenhouse I can have some year round veggies and I do believe tomatoes are one of them. The Bonnie small ones they call them are my favorite. Like eating candy! I will be trying several techniques on several veggies that will increase their production so well I never have to purchase any again. Eternal food! Literally.

Philo Sofee wrote: ↑

Thu May 21, 2026 3:56 am

Got me ole tomatoes (the small candy like tasting ones), chard (coming up!), onions (WALA WALA SWEET), peas, beans, squash and vittles - GRIN!

To what plant is the nickname "vittles" referring?

Dr. Shades wrote: ↑

Mon May 25, 2026 8:07 am

Philo Sofee wrote: ↑

Thu May 21, 2026 3:56 am

Got me ole tomatoes (the small candy like tasting ones), chard (coming up!), onions (WALA WALA SWEET), peas, beans, squash and vittles - GRIN!

To what plant is the nickname "vittles" referring?

I just threw that into the mix for a more mixed salad.....

Dr. Shades wrote: ↑

Mon May 25, 2026 8:07 am

Philo Sofee wrote: ↑

Thu May 21, 2026 3:56 am

Got me ole tomatoes (the small candy like tasting ones), chard (coming up!), onions (WALA WALA SWEET), peas, beans, squash and vittles - GRIN!

To what plant is the nickname "vittles" referring?

The vittler ones.

So I planted the rest of the new bedding plants today. I'm lying, I'll end up buying more. Teeny tiny rotten little reddish brownish microscopic devil ants biting the crap out of me! I think they're pavement ants. Let's just say that words were said and I'm glad there were no witnesses to hear them.

I've got the dried version of the molasses coming and a sprayer. This in the hopes that I can discourage the annual grasshopper plague since NOLO bait (magic) is no more.

With my luck, the devil ants are going to thrive on the molasses. And more words will be said.

Jersey Girl wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2026 12:41 am

So I planted the rest of the new bedding plants today. I'm lying, I'll end up buying more. Teeny tiny rotten little reddish brownish microscopic devil ants biting the crap out of me! I think they're pavement ants. Let's just say that words were said and I'm glad there were no witnesses to hear them.

I've got the dried version of the molasses coming and a sprayer. This in the hopes that I can discourage the annual grasshopper plague since NOLO bait (magic) is no more.

With my luck, the devil ants are going to thrive on the molasses. And more words will be said.

I am practicing some water sprouting ideas as well, learning to grow micr greens, as it is called. I'm rather late on planting all together so this year is a learning year, although if I take great care of them, I could get some good tomatoes, squash, beans, and kale, along with some lettuce. I am tinkering with celery and actually sprouting some popcorn right now! I shall let you know how it goes. I put the mung beans in to soak tonight and start sprouting them tomorrow. I have some clover, 3 part salad seeds, and alfalfa to sprout as well. I just gotta get my weight down, my joints are chattering at me...... I'm eating boatloads of Romaine lettuce, a salad daily, and using the cut off bottom part in a jar to soak and it grows out again with more lettuce! REALLY COOL! I'm sprouting carrot tops also and those will give me lots of seeds I can then plant. I'm gonna sprout flax, chia, and pumpkin seeds also, so it's going to be a fascinating year of growing food now. And I've got my compost pile a brewin! It's actually coming along pretty darn good!