We planted Spaghetti Squash this year in the interest of saving money....
-
given the $2.50 - $2.99 price per pound for a 2-4 pound squash can run us up on $$, we decided to plant the seeds.... I should post photos next weekend, the plants are taking over the side of the yard we test planted them in... we have about 10 squash growing right now from 8 plants, one is larger than anything ever seen in the store and its still green.... (maybe I shouldn't have used the gardening tools made from the metal from the Roswell crash site).... We probably have $100+ of squash and the vines are still growing everywhere.... Next year we're going to do it right.... run drippers up to a raised rock area at the back of the yard, and plant them a good portion of the 80foot of yard.... Still, I think its going to be a good year for Spaghetti Squash! :-D In the beds we're using for squash now, I'll clean them out and plant carrots and onions.... Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
given the $2.50 - $2.99 price per pound for a 2-4 pound squash can run us up on $$, we decided to plant the seeds.... I should post photos next weekend, the plants are taking over the side of the yard we test planted them in... we have about 10 squash growing right now from 8 plants, one is larger than anything ever seen in the store and its still green.... (maybe I shouldn't have used the gardening tools made from the metal from the Roswell crash site).... We probably have $100+ of squash and the vines are still growing everywhere.... Next year we're going to do it right.... run drippers up to a raised rock area at the back of the yard, and plant them a good portion of the 80foot of yard.... Still, I think its going to be a good year for Spaghetti Squash! :-D In the beds we're using for squash now, I'll clean them out and plant carrots and onions.... Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
That sounds awesome - need pics! :D I've been gardening for much of the last 15 years, and I never tire of it. This year I got married, and true to form, my wife and I planted a (rather small) garden (10x10 ft) in our new place before we even moved into it. We planted corn, squash, tomatoes, melons, peppers, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, and various herbs. The squash and melon plants were all eaten in a few nights by cutworms (too fast for me to launch a counter-offensive!), but other than that, everything is thriving and loaded with fruit. There is nary a speck of disease on any of my tomato plants and it looks like we will have far more than we can eat. We harvest about a cucumber a day, and we picked the most juicy multi-color corn the other day. I have everything set up on drip irrigation - didn't have much to spend, but some soaker tubing, t-barbs and well-placed 1/4" feeder lines worked really well. Next year I'm going to grow a bigger garden.
-
given the $2.50 - $2.99 price per pound for a 2-4 pound squash can run us up on $$, we decided to plant the seeds.... I should post photos next weekend, the plants are taking over the side of the yard we test planted them in... we have about 10 squash growing right now from 8 plants, one is larger than anything ever seen in the store and its still green.... (maybe I shouldn't have used the gardening tools made from the metal from the Roswell crash site).... We probably have $100+ of squash and the vines are still growing everywhere.... Next year we're going to do it right.... run drippers up to a raised rock area at the back of the yard, and plant them a good portion of the 80foot of yard.... Still, I think its going to be a good year for Spaghetti Squash! :-D In the beds we're using for squash now, I'll clean them out and plant carrots and onions.... Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
It's really just a cost-time-value equation. Gardening takes a lot of time to do right. Even a relatively low wage earning in the States could work a few hours of overtime a year and come out ahead by buying the crops. I know this for a fact because I recently cleaned up the front garden on my house. It took 4 solid days, several bags of fertilizer, and a lot of labor. I even sub'd out to two neighborhood teens who learned very quickly as well that the payout wasn't worth it. To top it all off, I had to go to Maine and my tomatoes died!
El Corazon wrote:
Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
-
given the $2.50 - $2.99 price per pound for a 2-4 pound squash can run us up on $$, we decided to plant the seeds.... I should post photos next weekend, the plants are taking over the side of the yard we test planted them in... we have about 10 squash growing right now from 8 plants, one is larger than anything ever seen in the store and its still green.... (maybe I shouldn't have used the gardening tools made from the metal from the Roswell crash site).... We probably have $100+ of squash and the vines are still growing everywhere.... Next year we're going to do it right.... run drippers up to a raised rock area at the back of the yard, and plant them a good portion of the 80foot of yard.... Still, I think its going to be a good year for Spaghetti Squash! :-D In the beds we're using for squash now, I'll clean them out and plant carrots and onions.... Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
El Corazon wrote:
I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
You're not alone in that... I can see me doing the same, but I'm going to have to find someplace cooler to do it. Everything died this year, except the peppers, and they're about to expire. Not for lack of water, but simply the intensity of the sunlight. It's only 120°F, but the sunlight is so hot that surfaces often reach 250 or higher, and there's just no way to keep things alive. :sigh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
-
Uros Calakovic wrote:
Not knowing what Spaghetti Squash was, the first thing I thaught when I saw the title was this.[^]
I don't know anything about the spaghetti tree hoax.... but the damn desert Jackalopes[^] are annoying, they get into your crops and eat almost anything.... they love the squash plants....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
It's really just a cost-time-value equation. Gardening takes a lot of time to do right. Even a relatively low wage earning in the States could work a few hours of overtime a year and come out ahead by buying the crops. I know this for a fact because I recently cleaned up the front garden on my house. It took 4 solid days, several bags of fertilizer, and a lot of labor. I even sub'd out to two neighborhood teens who learned very quickly as well that the payout wasn't worth it. To top it all off, I had to go to Maine and my tomatoes died!
El Corazon wrote:
Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
It's really just a cost-time-value equation. Gardening takes a lot of time to do right. Even a relatively low wage earning in the States could work a few hours of overtime a year and come out ahead by buying the crops.
True, but you have to have the ability to add the overtime. And after putting myself through school as a gardener for an apartment complex... I find I miss gardening at times....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
given the $2.50 - $2.99 price per pound for a 2-4 pound squash can run us up on $$, we decided to plant the seeds.... I should post photos next weekend, the plants are taking over the side of the yard we test planted them in... we have about 10 squash growing right now from 8 plants, one is larger than anything ever seen in the store and its still green.... (maybe I shouldn't have used the gardening tools made from the metal from the Roswell crash site).... We probably have $100+ of squash and the vines are still growing everywhere.... Next year we're going to do it right.... run drippers up to a raised rock area at the back of the yard, and plant them a good portion of the 80foot of yard.... Still, I think its going to be a good year for Spaghetti Squash! :-D In the beds we're using for squash now, I'll clean them out and plant carrots and onions.... Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
My grandfather still grows a lot of fruit and vegetables in his garden and he is 91 now. It’s amazing how many tomatoes, onion, carrots, strawberries, peppers, peaches, apples, figs, grape/four different types/ etc. etc. etc. can be harvested from just 600 square meters not very generous soil.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
-
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
It's really just a cost-time-value equation. Gardening takes a lot of time to do right. Even a relatively low wage earning in the States could work a few hours of overtime a year and come out ahead by buying the crops.
True, but you have to have the ability to add the overtime. And after putting myself through school as a gardener for an apartment complex... I find I miss gardening at times....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
On the plus side it makes it easier to be a serial killer. Always some fresh ground to bury bodies without suspicion.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
-
Uros Calakovic wrote:
Not knowing what Spaghetti Squash was, the first thing I thaught when I saw the title was this.[^]
I don't know anything about the spaghetti tree hoax.... but the damn desert Jackalopes[^] are annoying, they get into your crops and eat almost anything.... they love the squash plants....
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
El Corazon wrote:
they love the squash plants
As long as they leave the spaghetti alone ...
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
-
On the plus side it makes it easier to be a serial killer. Always some fresh ground to bury bodies without suspicion.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! someone will ask where my 2nd ex is!
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
El Corazon wrote:
they love the squash plants
As long as they leave the spaghetti alone ...
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
Uros Calakovic wrote:
As long as they leave the spaghetti alone ...
I wouldn't know, I only have the squash and plums at the moment... They aren't large enough to get at the plums, so they've only become annoying recently. Nothing a few foot traps and a handy gun won't solve. Then you have some meat for the sauce.... Jackalope taste more like their cousin rabbits than venison, but that isn't too surprising.
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
Uros Calakovic wrote:
Not knowing what Spaghetti Squash was
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
It's really just a cost-time-value equation. Gardening takes a lot of time to do right. Even a relatively low wage earning in the States could work a few hours of overtime a year and come out ahead by buying the crops. I know this for a fact because I recently cleaned up the front garden on my house. It took 4 solid days, several bags of fertilizer, and a lot of labor. I even sub'd out to two neighborhood teens who learned very quickly as well that the payout wasn't worth it. To top it all off, I had to go to Maine and my tomatoes died!
El Corazon wrote:
Now the irony.... When I was growing up, my great-grandfather had his entire back yard planted with vegetables. He rotated his crops, and harvested enough for himself and family. He had no back yard except his "garden". His wife canned and preserved anything that could not be eaten fresh. I used to think it all silly as a kid, when it was all at the store and you just had to buy it.... I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost
I guess it depends on whether you enjoy working in the garden, and if you're kept too busy with other things or not. The material cost of my garden is definitely substantially less than what I'll get from it over the season. However I have put in about 2 workdays of work on it, which after taxes and self employment taxes could have earned me a little over $200 - meaning a net negative. But to me the time spent was a refreshing break from my work - and I did most of the garden work during a period of time that was a lull between work projects, so I couldn't have been earning anyway.
-
Uros Calakovic wrote:
As long as they leave the spaghetti alone ...
I wouldn't know, I only have the squash and plums at the moment... They aren't large enough to get at the plums, so they've only become annoying recently. Nothing a few foot traps and a handy gun won't solve. Then you have some meat for the sauce.... Jackalope taste more like their cousin rabbits than venison, but that isn't too surprising.
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
El Corazon wrote:
spaghetti
El Corazon wrote:
meat for the sauce
El Corazon wrote:
taste
El Corazon wrote:
venison
Great, now I'm hungry.
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
-
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! someone will ask where my 2nd ex is!
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
El Corazon wrote:
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! someone will ask where my 3rd ex is!
FTFY.. The second was the bath tube, where she slipped on the soap.
-
El Corazon wrote:
I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
You're not alone in that... I can see me doing the same, but I'm going to have to find someplace cooler to do it. Everything died this year, except the peppers, and they're about to expire. Not for lack of water, but simply the intensity of the sunlight. It's only 120°F, but the sunlight is so hot that surfaces often reach 250 or higher, and there's just no way to keep things alive. :sigh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Roger Wright wrote:
but simply the intensity of the sunlight.
I have heard that spreading out a cloth under the squash help there.... I am thinking of trying that next year.
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
El Corazon wrote:
I can see me as an old man bent over harvesting my crops already.... oh the irony....
You're not alone in that... I can see me doing the same, but I'm going to have to find someplace cooler to do it. Everything died this year, except the peppers, and they're about to expire. Not for lack of water, but simply the intensity of the sunlight. It's only 120°F, but the sunlight is so hot that surfaces often reach 250 or higher, and there's just no way to keep things alive. :sigh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
-
El Corazon wrote:
spaghetti
El Corazon wrote:
meat for the sauce
El Corazon wrote:
taste
El Corazon wrote:
venison
Great, now I'm hungry.
The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
Uros Calakovic wrote:
Great, now I'm hungry.
I have a jackalope hunting license[^], want some jackalope meat?
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
Would planting your garden under a mesh sunshade to diminish the intensity help? What about planting adjacent to the north side of your house so they'd be in shadow during the hottest part of the day?
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
I've tried planting on the north side, but the house is situated such that there is no real yard there. Sunshade may work, and I will probably try it next year, but the monsoon winds here during the growing season run 40 to 70 mph; I'm going to need a sturdy frame. :doh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
-
Roger Wright wrote:
but simply the intensity of the sunlight.
I have heard that spreading out a cloth under the squash help there.... I am thinking of trying that next year.
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
I may try that. It's a toss up, though. Light cloth will keep the soil cool, but it will also reflect more heat upward into the leaves. I've been trying lots of mulch, but it has a dark color and I'm not sure it's helped much. This is the first place I've ever been where even zucchini shrivel and die in a mater of hours! I kept them well watered, but it didn't help... :sigh:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
