Category: Preparedness

So we're into February. Of 2012. Are we all ready for December 21st? No? Not quite? OK, I'm just giving you a hard time.

February is the perfect time to plan what you are doing with your garden, with your seeds, with your gardening tools. Some of you have probably been gardening for years, some not so much. Others may live in an apartment or condo, and have been thinking of doing some container gardening.

February is the month to do the pondering, the planning, the dreaming. For me, I need to replace my raised beds, and bring in all new garden soil. I have some seeds from the last 2 or 3 years (and some from 1993 when I bought a whole lot of seeds – some still sprout, some not quite so much). Now is a good time to take stock of your gardening implements – your shovels, rakes, hoes and other favored tools. It's a time to gather up all the hand tools that may have become scattered around various places on your property.

If you are crazy-efficient, you could clean all your tools. Take wire brushes and get all the dirt (and rust if any) off of them. Sharpen the shovels or take them to the lawn mower shop and let them sharpen them. You could give the handles of your shovels, rakes and hoes a light sanding and a coat of linseed oil (I have been meaning to get to that for YEARS!).

So, this month, I will be drawing out a plan for the raised beds I am going to build. I have to use raised beds because I live on a gravel pit. Some people have deep loamy soil that they can rototill. Not me. I have rocks, rocks and then a bit of sand between more rocks (but I have excellent drainage :o) So I go with raised beds. The thing is, almost anywhere is the perfect place to grow some kind of garden, even if it is very small. The experience is priceless and is very fulfilling

And I haven't done a "major" seed purchase in a while so I am double due on that front: first off I need a full supply of seeds for this year, plus I also need a bigger supply for storage. Because if some of the potential scenarios go down in 2012/2013, I am going to want to be able to supply most of my own produce for a while (as in years).

Here is a question for you long time gardeners: Sure you have your shovels and rakes, your hand shovels and other tools. You have a garden hose or 2 or 3. You have clippers, trimmers and wheel barrows. And where are these things at? Probably in your garden shed, or tool shed, or wood shed, just awaiting spring so that you will come back and use them again in that wonderful garden.

But do you have shovels, rakes, hoes, hoses, buckets, hand shovels and other garden tools in your UG or shelter? Ewww.... at least a shovel, yes? If it is December 20th (or if it is a wicked storm in November), are you really going to stop and hose off the garden tools (then let them drain a bit, or dry them off) and then take them with you into your shelter? I don't THINK so... (remember in an earlier article I asked the same question about underwear and sox. If you aren't going to stop long enough to grab underwear and sox, you certainly won't be grabbing shovels and rakes on the way out of Dodge).

So, on a day this month that is sunny (or at least not raining), grab a lawn chair and go sit in front of your garden tools (this may require moving the chair to more than one location), and in front of your garden area. Make a list of all the tools you use throughout the growing season. Go sit in front of the garden and imagine a day in June or July – the whole day – and your interaction with your garden. It starts with the early morning walk through the garden seeing what's up, what's coming, what needs weeding (pick that slug and fling it over the hedge). You weed, water, fluff, deadhead.

So you come up with a list of all the implements you use during the course of the garden season. You need a carbon copy of all those implements in your UG. If all those tools should disappear for whatever reason, you will have to garden with a stick. Dig with a stick. Rake with a stick. Weed with a stick.

And you should have more than one shovel. And more than one rake. You're probably good with a couple of hoes, because they don't get stressed like shovels do. I spoke with a long time gardener today about the concept of having a duplicate set of tools in a shelter, and for things like shovels having several top-side and several below (in the UG). This person said that just very recently 2 of their shovels broke (and they couldn't find their 3rd one). Do they sell shovel handles at Home Depot or the True Value Hardware store? Uh... probably.... But you sure wouldn't want to come up out of a UG, and have to grow all your own food, and have only one shovel and it break. Boy would THAT suck, since there's not much chance of the Home Depot being open (or any way to get over to the city to find out).

See what I mean? This is where The Department of Redundancy Department comes in handy. You have all your gardening stuff above, in or near your garden. Then you have a whole other set in your storage of supplies. And you have a couple extra of the critical things like shovels.

And while I'm on the subject of how redundancy is a really good idea – Hammers. How many hammers do you have? All you who have more than 4 hammers, great. (how many are in your UG? Uh-oh....) A lot of you probably bought a house that was all built and finished and nice and tidy. You moved your clothes, food and TP in and Viola! You were home. You might have needed a hammer to hang pictures. (and you can pound those kinds of nails with small, light weight, cute little hammers).

But everyone should have some basic tools, and a hammer is one of the most basic. That and some nails. We can go into Basic Tools That Everyone Should Have some other time. But 2 hammers - like a 16 oz one for every day ladies use for hanging pictures and such, and a 21 oz one for pounding in those 16 penny greasy green sinkers. You non-builder types, think of the hammers this way: a regular and a large one (but ask for the 16 oz and the 21 oz one).

And nails: big nails and medium nails (or 16d non-galvanized nails aka 16 penny green sinkers, and some 10d nails which are pretty much medium sized). Also: there are the nails with "heads" on them and ones that are just a straight nail with no flat round part on top. The kind without the flat round part on top are called finish nails. Don't get those ones. Get the ones with the flat round part on top. (The builder guys are probably rolling their eyes about now. Oh well ;o)

How many nails? A good start is to go to Home Depot and get one of the 5 gallon orange buckets they sell for only $2.78. Then go to the nail aisle. Fill the bucket 2/3rds full with boxes of the 16d nails, and 1/3rd full of the 10d nails. Then get the lid for the bucket and 2 hammers. GREAT START!!! Put this with your storage stuff.

BACK TO GARDENING

So you now realize you need to have the above ground set and the below ground set of everything needed to pull off a garden. Good.

Here's a question: does anyone need a list of what to get because they haven't done a lot of gardening? Let the MC2020 or me know, and we can do a list here in one of the next couple of issues.

OPEN POLLINATED SEEDS

You will also need seeds. It is really important to get OPEN POLLINATED seeds, not hybrid seeds. This is because with Open Pollinated seeds, you can let some of the plants go to seed rather than eat them, then you will have seeds you can plant the next year. It's OK to have some hybrid seeds but you want to make sure that for anything you like to eat, you have at least some varieties that are open pollinated.

Here's another thing to take into consideration: carrots, as an example, take 2 years to go to seed. So you really need to have a minimum of 2 years of carrot seeds. You need to plant some to eat this year, then plant some extra ones that you will let go to seed next year. Then more to plant next year to eat. And some to plant next year that you will let grow until the following year. Other seeds you can plant a bunch, and eat some and let some go to seed and harvest the seeds the first year. If you aren't already familiar with how to do this with all your veggies, it's a good idea to get a book like Seed Sowing and Saving (Learn when to harvest the seeds of more than 100 vegetables, herbs, and flowers, as well as how to dry, store, and test them for viability for the next growing season.).

Another idea, which I'll speak more about later this month is storing seeds that might not be for your current climate. For example, possibly we in the Northwest US might consider storing seeds for a tropical garden. Haven't we been told that we could see our climate go sub-tropical? If that happened, just WHAT kind of things could you grow? Night blooming jasmine, avocados, mangos, papayas, limes, Oh My! More on this topic coming soon to a MastersConnection2020 near you.

Teri Simpson
www.OptimumPreparedness.com