by DictatorHater

The promise of skyrocketing food costs is being kept by the New World Government. Whether it will be a result of commodity futures speculation, crop blights, biofuel production, rising energy costs or inflation from printing money from thin air, rest assured that we will all be paying more for what we put on our dinner tables as time goes on. So again, I urge you to grow as much food as possible and store as much food as possible. There is no such thing as growing too much food or having too much food in storage as long as it is properly rotated. If you think you have too much food coming from your garden or have more food stored than you can consume before it expires, then share some with those less fortunate than yourself.

This is my third year of vegetable gardening and I am pleased that each year my tiny plot is more productive. I’ve learned that growing plants that continue to produce for many months is very important in order for me to be able to feed the people who live in this household. Personally, I don’t like growing things that are one time only producers, the ones that when pulled from the ground or pot ends the plant’s production. If you have a larger growing area, then by all means plant as many different types of veggies and fruits as possible. Since I am an urban prisoner with a very small area in which to grow, these are the crops I am concentrating on these days and why:

Okra
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Squash (winter and summer types)
Peppers
Asian Long Beans

Okra loves hot weather and the sun. It grows in just about any type of soil and requires little care, other than picking the okra every couple of days once it starts producing. Picking encourages more production and okra can be pickled for long term storage. Six well producing okra plants can keep four people abundantly supplied for many months with some left over for pickling.

Eggplant is not a vegetable that stores well, so if you choose to grow it, expect to eat it fresh. Three Japanese eggplants, the type that produces the long, purple colored type of fruit, will supply a family of four for many months. As long as you have sun and warmth, the eggplant will continue to produce. Eggplant must be harvested often to encourage production, if your climate is mild and the plant survives your winter, you will not have to plant more eggplant the next year. Just fertilize and water and it will produce again.

Cucumbers are easy to grow and produce prolifically and quickly. There are even bush hybrid types that can be grown inside pots that do not require trellising. Six cucumber plants will keep a family of four in fresh cukes for months and there will be plenty left over for pickling for long term storage. Almost any type of cucumber can be pickled, not just the ones recommended by seed companies. The Lemon Cucumber, which is an heirloom, can be pickled the same as any elongated green cucumber.

Indeterminant tomato vines will continue to produce until frost kills them. Twelve tomato plants will produce enough tomatoes to feed a family of four with fresh fruit for many, many months and there should be plenty left over for canning if you choose the variety based on heavy yields. There are hundreds of different types of tomatoes and every one of them can be used to make sauces, catsup and salsa, not just the roma types, though roma types have fewer seeds and are usually sweeter than other types. My point is that you do not have to have a different type of tomato for every use, you can use the same ones for sauces, etc. that you enjoy sliced and served fresh on the dinner table. Determinant tomatoes are plants that have a pre-determined number of branches and will stop growing and producing at a pre-determined time. Examples of determinant tomatoes are the Patio Tomatoes and most determinants are small and compact hybrid plants for growing in very small spaces. However, I am growing two types of deteminants, Koralik and Pearson Improved heirlooms, that are very large plants, so there are exceptions to every rule, it seems.

Summer squash will produce lots of fruits and will produce all summer long. Freezing squash is about the only option for long term storage, though some types may be pickled. Winter squash will produce abundantly and can be stored for many months if kept in a cool, dark and dry location. Winter squash may be frozen or canned, but do find a good recipe specifically for canning as pureed squash is not recommended for canning purposes.

Banana peppers, sweet or hot are great, long term producers. The more you pick, the more the plant will produce and a shot of fertilizer when the plant seems to go dormant will bring it back to blossom and fruit. Four sweet banana pepper plants will keep a family of four in peppers for many months and you may want to grow a few more if you wish to pickle some for long term storage. Bell peppers are more difficult to grow and are not as productive as the banana pepper plants, in my experience. Pepper plants are perennials, meaning they will live from year to year, so if your plants can survive your winters, you will not have to plant new ones each planting season.

Asian long beans will produce for months. They are similar to green beans, but have a much milder flavor and grow to outrageous lengths. These vines can be trellised and are great space savers. You can do anything with the Asian long beans that you can do with green beans, they may be frozen or canned for long term storage. The plants are quite small and seven of these bean plants can be grown in a five gallon pot. Twenty of these plants will keep a family of four in beans for the entire spring and summer season if well cared for. There should be some left over for freezing or canning as well.

With just these seven different plant species, you can have fresh vegetables for many months and if Mother Nature cooperates, you will have food for the winter as well.

Food independence is the best way to fight back against anything or anyone that threatens us. Job loss, natural disasters, illness, inflation or even martial law are no match for those who are prepared.

It’s hard to believe that spring is just around the corner and that it’s time to start planning or even planting your Victory Garden depending on your gardening zone. Perhaps you would prefer to call it a Recession Garden or even a Depression Garden, goodness knows we all need to grow as much food as we can with the promises of higher food prices in our near future.

If you have a very small area in which to grow plants, like I do, don’t fret. You can grow much more than you ever thought you could with some new and innovative types of vertical gardening containers and with grow bags.

For me, gardening is anything but tilling up a patch of ground and planting seeds. Everything I grow must be grown in containers of some type. The first few years of container gardening can be a bit expensive, but most of the items you will need to buy can be used year after year.

The first thing that must be dealt with when container gardening is, of course, containers. Then there are the issues of growing mediums, fertilizers, watering systems and pesticides. I strive to be as organic as possible and I guess some will say either it’s organic or it’s not. I am not a purist, though I strive to be. I will tell you how I am doing my container gardening and it is, of course, up to you to do what is best for you.

This year, I wanted to grow many more veggies and fruits than last year. The problem of buying all the containers I needed put me in quite a conundrum regarding expenditures. Containers are not cheap if you have to buy them at the nursery, even the ugly black ones can present quite an outlay if you need a few hundred of them. The cost of growing mediums can also present a problem to the container gardener. I found everything I needed and wonderful advice at http://www.instagarden.com Bob Workman is the owner and is very helpful and knowledgeable about container gardening. All the products I am going to talk about here can be found at his website except for pesticide delivery systems (sprayers) and Dolomite Lime.

He introduced me to the five gallon grow bags which cost a mere fifty cents apiece plus shipping costs. These growbags can be used year after year and take miniscule space for storage between uses. At this price, your gardening horizons have just expanded exponentially when you compare the cost of a grow bag to the cost of buying a five gallon sized pot. Five gallons is sufficient space in which to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and just about any other garden veggie you can think of. If you have access to free, food grade, five gallon sized buckets (that did not previously contain harmful chemicals), those work just fine, too. All that is needed are a few holes drilled in them for proper water drainage and they work great as a planter. The grow bags are pleated and sit flat on the ground with sufficient drain holes incorporated into the design. They also come in smaller sizes if you prefer. Here is a short and very far from complete list of what types of veggies and how many of each plant you may fit into one of these five gallon sized grow bags:

Tomatoes 1 per bag
Bush Beans 6 plants per bag
Cucumbers 1 plant per bag
Bok Choy 3 plants per bag
Snowpeas 8 plants per bag
Peppers 1 plant per bag
Squash 2 plants per bag
Zucchini squash 1 plant per bag (Yes, you can even grow this in a container!)

So, now that we have taken care of the container problem, what is a person to do about filling up all those grow bags with growing medium? Instagarden carries coconut coir, which is an organic growing medium and comes in 5kg compressed blocks, which when hydated with water (about 10 gallons is required per block) in a wheel barrow or other large container, expands enough to fill three of the five gallon growbags with some left over. This medium is organic and is a renewable resource. You may also use any good potting soil mix in the grow bags. The advantage of coconut coir, when used as the sole growing medium, is that it can be used for several gardening seasons before it breaks down. I have chosen to use some potting soil amended with the coconut coir for a nice fluffy growing medium for some of my plants because I had several bags of the potting soil left over from last year. For others, I am using straight coconut coir. Coconut coir is cheaper than even Walmart’s potting soil, even with shipping included if you buy several 5 kg sized blocks at one time. These blocks are also much easier to move around than the bulky bags of potting mixes.

The next thing on our list is fertilizer. If you are using straight coconut coir, it is essential that you use a complete fertilizer like this one http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=12&productId=8 This is a water soluable type granulated fertilizer that contains everything your veggies will need to not only survive, but to thrive. This fertilizer must be applied daily and you will need a combined water/fertilizer delivery system that will accomplish this task. You may instead use 10-10-10 fertilizer in granulated form to fertilize your veggies in the coconut coir medium inside the grow bags. Dolomite Lime in granular form only is also recommended if you are using the 10-10-10 granulated fertilizer with the coconut coir in order to meet the plant’s need for uptake of calcium. Dolomite Lime can be purchased at most plant nurseries or stores that sell gardening supplies. When using the 10-10-10 fertilizer with the Dolomite Lime, the water system I chose is quite efficient. (See paragraph below for more information on my irrigation system.)

There are several different ways to deliver water to your containers, this is the irrigation system that I chose. http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=8&productId=4 I am growing several hundred plants in containers this year and to try and water all these by hand is a daunting task. It comes with a timer so you are not a slave to the water hose. Of course, if you have only a few plants to worry about, handwatering is the best option due to expense. Consistent watering in the correct amount is essential to a successful garden. Tomatoes are especially cranky about being watered inconsistently, if they are allowed to dry out, a sudden drenching can cause the fruits to crack.

So, now you have your plants all tucked into your growbags with coconut coir and fertilizer, the watering system is online, everything is looking beautiful and then you notice that a demonic force in the form of aphids, spider mites or other pests is trying to undo all your hard work. The best thing to do about pests is to not let them get a foothold in your garden in the first place if you can avoid it. The way to avoid it is to strike pre-emptively with a product that will not only kill the detrimental insects, but preserve the beneficial ones. I am using Stylet Oil, it is an organic, highly refined mineral oil and can be used as often as needed. I’ve found it to be especially effective against aphids, I am spraying my plants two to three times per week and I started spraying them before I saw any bugs at all. As a side note, please consider buying a sprayer as a delivery system for your pesticide (these can be obtained at just about any large store such as Lowe’s or Home Depot). The sprayer enables you to reach the areas where many foes hide, which is underneath the leaves and it is much better at controlling exactly where the pesticide goes. I tried using a quart spray bottle with a pump and it is not efficient at all. I bought a twenty dollar sprayer at Lowe’s and now I am able to get to those hard to reach places easily and finish the chore quickly. The Stylet Oil is odorless, clear and is mixed with water. A gallon of the Stylet Oil will last a very long time. It not only kills many types of pests, but acts as a fungicide as well. It will not kill slugs or tomato horned worms, but it is a very efficient miticide when used religiously, if you can stop the bugs from biting into your plants, you can also avoid many diseases these insects carry from plant to plant.

Vertical stacking pots are a great alternative for anyone who has a garden space problem. I planted ninety chives and bunching onion plants in this stacking pot system with ten trays http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=14&productId=27 It has a footprint of merely one square foot. There are others available with larger planting areas. I am using coconut coir and a complete fertilizer in these stacking planters, but you could use any good potting mix the same as with any other pot. The larger pots are big enough for just about any vegetable plant you could hope to grow.

Vertical and container gardening might also open up the possibility of disabled persons being able to garden again, since the containers can be set up at a height that is wheelchair accessible and makes it possible for others who find it difficult to bend, squat and kneel to work in a much more comfortable position.

I believe that growing plants for food and for beauty is part of the human essence. There’s nothing else quite like it.

Happy container gardening and here’s to a cornucopia of fresh goodness on your table.

By Dictator Hater for the Corbett Report

Credit card holders across the nation are receiving documents from their credit card companies which are called Change In Terms Notices. Do not make the mistake of just blowing this off and tossing it into the trash.
Doing so could easily devastate you financially.

What many of these notices include are huge interest rate hikes on current and future balances on credit cards. I’ve talked to people who have seen their interest rates hiked to 30 percent for no apparent reason. The only way to not pay these rates is to close your account, that is the only option. Others are receiving notices that their minimum payment is being raised as high as 5 percent of the balance of their card, again for no apparent mistep by the credit card holder. There is no negotiation on the card holder’s part whatsoever. It is either take it or close the account.

Congress passed the Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights, but instead of this law which prohibits the shenanigans being played out all over the country as I write this taking effect immediately, they allowed the credit card companies until the year 2010 to have their way with the American people.

Much, if not all of what is happening to credit card holders right now will be illegal once that law takes effect.

This is another outrageous example of the government and corporations conspiring against the American people.

Do you believe Congress had your best interests at heart when they allowed this disgusting window of opportunity to be left open for the credit card companies to do what they are doing?

Call your Senators and Representatives today and let them know that their attempt to appease the credit card companies while making it appear they were actually working for your best interests is a farce that is going to further erode the middle class in this country. Let them know you can see through this charade.

The slaughter in Gaza is made possible by lies. Those lies rely on one thing to be successful. Our ignorance. Do not let one more innocent life be snuffed out because of our ignorance. Learn the truth. Once you know the truth you can no longer give your support to our corrupt politicians who continue to give life to the lie, if you do, then blood is on your hands,the murder of children is on your hands.

We all know that the reasons given for destroying Iraq were lies,told to us by the people that we elected to power. They lie, lie, lie. It’s what they do. They lied then and they are lying now.

Your taxes -taken from you at the point of a gun - yeah let’s not pretend that you pay them voluntarily, you pay them because you know the consequences of not paying, those taxes allow the gun to be pointed and fired at others. At children.

None of us are safe when ruthless murderers are in power.

Boycott all prodce of Israel. it’s easy, just check the label of your produce, if it says Israel put it back and ask the store manager to stop purchasing produce grown in the blood of children.

2 videos follow. One is an address by a former Israeli who renounced her citizenship when she discovered the truth. The other is a longer look at the reality of living and dying in occupied Palestine, of desparate, terrified people trying to save their precious children. Take a couple of hours and watch them, take the time to learn.

We owe it to those people, because it is our money that supplies the weapons that kill them.