My farming experiment

Discussion in 'Economics' started by peilthetraveler, Mar 21, 2010.

  1. A few months back I decided to try to grow some crops (lettuce) to see if I could do it in case the worst case scenario ever happened(total collapse) I used no fertilizer and just let the rain water my plants. All I did was clean the ground when any grass grew too close. I did this all in my back yard and did it in a way that every person who knows nothing about growing crops would do it. (planting them too close together, not tilling the soil before planting, ect.) Out of 11 plants, only 7 turned into heads of lettuce. Some reached a certain size and just stopped growing and some didnt quite turn into a head of lettuce. There were many bugs on the first few layers, but once I took those layers off, the lettuce was clean, fresh and edible, but very very small. I ate the lettuce a few minutes after picking it and it was the crunchiest, most fresh lettuce i ever ate. Here is what the lettuce that grew into heads looked like all cleaned up. Its pretty funny, but was a nice exercise on how city folks crops will look if we end up in a mad max type world one day.

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  2. you forgot to pray for rain.
     
    murray t turtle likes this.
  3. Bob111

    Bob111

  4. No, I only need lettuce thats big enough to fit my mouth. You on the other hand NEED the supermarket size lettuce to fit yours.
     
  5. no. unlike you i have a farming background. i know that you dont try to grow a crop like lettuce if you are concerned about feeding yourself. lettuce has almost no nutritional value. geeze.
     
    ElCubano and murray t turtle like this.
  6. Bob111

    Bob111

    yeah! pigs are way to go! :p
     
  7. Mercor

    Mercor

    You need smaller hands
     
  8. Ah...that explains it. I've met so many extraordinary intelligent farmers in my life...you must be one of the many...oh...wait a minute...Farmers are generally uneducated arent they? That would explain alot of your babbling about stuff you dont know.


    Anyways smart ass, since you obviously cant do math and figure out that there are only about 5 different crops you can plant in winter in Northern CA, maybe I will educate you. Brocolli,lettuce, garlic, onlions, spinach....and maybe peas too.

    What was your farming background in that you didnt know there are few crops you can grow in winter? Oh i know...probably picking up horse manure.
     
  9. Try a book called Square Foot Gardening. I just finished building 2 square foot gardens, my compost is cooking and I received my non-GMO seeds in the mail. I am getting ready to start some seeds under grow lights until it is warm enough to transplant the plants into my garden in a few weeks. I am also researching flowers (like marigold) and insects (like lady bugs and preying mantis) that I can put in my garden to protect against harmful insects. Home gardening is expensive to get started, time-consuming and more complicated than I realized. However, I am enjoying the experience and looking forward to healthy and tasty organic produce all summer. Hopefully, my lettuce will be bigger than yours! Incidentally, iceberg lettuce has very little nutritional value, but romaine and other greens are packed with nutrients.
     
    richie90 and murray t turtle like this.
  10. easymon1

    easymon1