I'm leaning toward container gardening as well - as a practical issue since deer graze on nearly everything before we get a chance, omitting only the area where our five dogs abide.
I get a lot of my spices from Indian, Middle Eastern, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese markets - much fresher and pennies on the dollar compared to grocery stores. With a coffee grinder as dedicated spice grinder, spices are always fresh.
-----Original Message-----
>From: Jim Swayze <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Jan 15, 2010 4:40 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Gardening
>
>Need any help eating all that, Wally?
>
>
>Jim Swayze
>www.fireholecanyon.com
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>On Jan 15, 2010, at 3:13 PM, "Day, Wally" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>> And yes, I am somewhat of a throwback in my approach -- I think
>>> there is
>>> value in doing things by hand, and being closer to the land and the
>>> food.
>>
>> I can relate to what Robert is saying. Which is why - when I did
>> maintain a "garden" - it was almost entirely done using mulch
>> gardening methods. I rarely used any gardening tools other than a
>> forked metal weed tool on a long stick. With enough mulch (old
>> cardboard, old periodicals, straw) the amount of weeds is minimal
>> and the watering needs reduced. I do have a rototiller, but it
>> hasn't been started for about 10 years (I doubt if it even would
>> now :)
>>
>> That being said, about 3 years ago I abandoned the larger garden in
>> favor of containers. Now everything I plant goes into old whiskey/
>> wine barrels filled with dirt and manure. Paleo? No. Easy? Yes. I
>> can plant a container and pretty much ignore it until the plants are
>> ready for harvest. It looks nice, there is no "hoeing between the
>> rows", and I can pack quite a few companion plants into one
>> container. For instance, I might have tomatoes growing in the
>> middle, greens around the edge, and cucumbers trailing over the
>> sides. It works great and provides me more than enough time to
>> ignore it :)
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