Garden Goals
Dec. 29th, 2017 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unicorndukeMy garden is going to be big and I've got a couple of different goals for it this year.
1. I want to grow my own food.
As of right now I have around $150 invested in it, with another $50 to go. I will also invest a ton of time and work in it but doing so should provide a huge chunk of my groceries in the months during and after. Beyond the actual monetary savings (and for me it would be saving money), I love love love my own produce. It tastes a ton better than what I can get in the store and I eat a lot more fruit and vegetables when I don't have to buy it. Besides that, I'm going to be making sauces and drying chilies so I can make things that work for my digestive system instead of buying sauce.
2. Maintaining varieties
I'm picking up a bunch of different varieties of various crops and I fully plan to grow them out at least a couple of years and distribute seed. One of the major issues I've run into with this crop plot is finding grain varieties. There are so few out there of each type. I feel like more folks should grow their own grains but that's a whole other thing. So I'm going to grow and maintain the varieties I can get my hands on
3. Plant breeding and adaptation
The growing season where the crop plot is, is around 140 days with a five day leeway on either side with risk of frost. I've got sorghum varieties that are 110 and 120 days. These are excellent producers and hardy but I don't know if they will grow in that climate. But I've found some shorter season grain sorghums. I'm going to simply evaluate all this year and then potentially breeding them to get shorter season varieties. I'm also just going to keep growing the seed stock out and choosing what thrives to adapt the varieties to my region. Maybe some will be useful to growers and gardeners north of me, maybe not. But I want to have crops and varieties that work in my area and for my tastes. Possibly I'll be doing some landrace creation work but only if I get sufficient seed stock.
1. I want to grow my own food.
As of right now I have around $150 invested in it, with another $50 to go. I will also invest a ton of time and work in it but doing so should provide a huge chunk of my groceries in the months during and after. Beyond the actual monetary savings (and for me it would be saving money), I love love love my own produce. It tastes a ton better than what I can get in the store and I eat a lot more fruit and vegetables when I don't have to buy it. Besides that, I'm going to be making sauces and drying chilies so I can make things that work for my digestive system instead of buying sauce.
2. Maintaining varieties
I'm picking up a bunch of different varieties of various crops and I fully plan to grow them out at least a couple of years and distribute seed. One of the major issues I've run into with this crop plot is finding grain varieties. There are so few out there of each type. I feel like more folks should grow their own grains but that's a whole other thing. So I'm going to grow and maintain the varieties I can get my hands on
3. Plant breeding and adaptation
The growing season where the crop plot is, is around 140 days with a five day leeway on either side with risk of frost. I've got sorghum varieties that are 110 and 120 days. These are excellent producers and hardy but I don't know if they will grow in that climate. But I've found some shorter season grain sorghums. I'm going to simply evaluate all this year and then potentially breeding them to get shorter season varieties. I'm also just going to keep growing the seed stock out and choosing what thrives to adapt the varieties to my region. Maybe some will be useful to growers and gardeners north of me, maybe not. But I want to have crops and varieties that work in my area and for my tastes. Possibly I'll be doing some landrace creation work but only if I get sufficient seed stock.
