Replace Pasta with Zucchini and Why People Started Locking Their Cars

J.C. Desclos, known as "thebossoftheswamp" on Youtube, always has some sage advice about life, well presented.

In the very enjoyable video below, he talks about how zucchini has replaced pasta in his diet and has improved his health, without reducing his enjoyment of his favorite foods. You may be surprised at what you can do with zucchini. I'm all in.

Indeterminate vs. Determinate Tomato Plants

Indeterminate tomato plants tend to make vines; determinate varieties tend to make bushes.

Indeterminate tomato plants tend to ripen their fruit a few at a time all during the growing season. Determinate tomatoes tend to ripen their fruit all at the same time, or nearly so.

In the video below, Marjory Wildcraft explains the difference and why it matters when you are deciding which type to grow.

What is a Tomato Plant Sucker?

A tomato plant "sucker" is just a side branching stem on the tomato plant that is growing between a leaf and the main stem. They are usually removed on indeterminate-type tomato plants to direct more of the plant's energy to the main stem and the fruit.

In the video below, gardener Gary Pilarchik will show you in about one minute how to identify suckers on an  indeterminate-type tomato plant.

Free Tomato Plants: How to Root Tomato Plant Suckers in Water

Gardener Gary Pilarchik quickly shows the simplest method for cloning tomato plants using plant suckers and a glass of water:




What is a tomato plant "sucker?"

Clone tomato plants using grow plugs.

Clone tomato plants using rockwool cubes.

Free Tomato Plants: How to Root Tomato Suckers Using Rockwool Cubes

Rockwool cubes are similar to grow plugs and make rooting tomato plant suckers easy. Rooting suckers creates a "clone" of the mother plant.




In the video, Youtuber "Sleestaksrule" shows how he performs rooting magic with rockwool cubes. The procedure is the same whether you are growing in containers with soil, directly in the ground, or hydroponically.

How to root tomato suckers with grow plugs.

How to root tomato suckers in water.

What is a tomato plant sucker?

Free Tomato Plants: How to Root Tomato Plants from Suckers Using Grow Plugs

Yes, you can just stick the freshly cut suckers into a jar of water and they will form roots, but here's a more "foolproof" method from "mhpgardener," a very popular Youtuber:

What the heck is a tomato plant "sucker?"



See how to root tomato suckers in water.

See how to root tomato suckers using Rockwool Cubes.

Hi Tech Urban Commercial Vegetable Production Using Shipping Containers (Freight Farm)

The Tampa Bay Times has published an article about two IT professionals in St. Petersburg, Florida who have cleared a junk lot and installed shipping containers to create a high-tech computer monitored "freight farm." Brick Street Farms currently has three shipping containers growing kale, herbs, and lettuce which they sell to local restaurants, and to the public several days each week.

The vegetables are grown with vertical hydroponic towers under LED lighting. The containers are climate controlled. Water use is very low, but electricity use is relatively high, though daytime growing hours for the plants is at night since electricity costs are lower at night.

It's exciting to see people interested in growing local food and investing in the community. The downtown St. Petersburg area is currently under an aggressive "renaissance" (though some might use the term "gentrification") fueled by international tourism and wealthy retirees along with the businesses that serve them. This includes eating great food.

I look forward to seeing whether this will be a financially viable business model. It seems that these intensive high-tech operations have high overhead and must diligently manage costs.

Urban farmer Curtis Stone (a YouTube personality) revealed that selling to the restaurant industry can be perilous in his video about how to handle customers who don't pay.  (link is to Youtube video).

And, Stone has some thoughts on the hydroponic shipping container method (in general, not specifically on Brick Street Farms):



From the Tampa Times article:

 The nation's largest indoor farm, FarmedHere, which opened in 2013 in an abandoned warehouse in Bedford Park, Ill., closed its 90,000-square-foot facility in January. While CEO Nate Laurell didn't say precisely what had gone awry, it is clear that growing large enough to offset equipment, energy and labor costs proved tricky.

One of the founders of  St Petersburg's Brick Street Farms acknowledges that what they are doing isn't really new from a tech perspective:

Hydroponics aren't new, this technology isn't new and all the technology we used is 'off the shelf,' " said O'Malley, 35, who recently quit her job at Duke Energy to work the farm full-time. 

But Brick Street Farms must have a business model and cost-containment strategy they believe is financially viable.

I wish them the best success.

CNN published a story in June 2015 that featured a freight farm touting their $15,000  per month income from selling container-grown hydroponics, but admitted their costs are so high (like Curtis Stone explained in the "appropriate technology" video above) that they are only breaking even:

The operation brings in about $15,000 a month, and once he pays the loan, utilities, rent for the land, materials and salaries for himself and his wife, he's about breaking even. Profits should mount as he expands the wholesale business and opens a new retail store at Boston Public Market.

As a home gardener, I think it is important to consider the feasibility of adopting technology to make gardening chores easier, reduce water and chemicals, and increase yields. We can all learn something from studying the successes and failures of the commercial growers.

Varieties of Sugar Cane for the Garden: Purple, Yellow or Green

What is the difference between purple/red sugar cane, yellow sugar cane, and green sugar cane?

Sugar cane comes in many varieties, both heirloom and specially bred. For the backyard garden you are more likely to encounter heirloom varieties.

The purple cane is usually the softest for chewing. So if you want to chew the cane and suck out the juice, the purple cane is likely the best. For juicing I am told it can be too soft and tends to break off in the juicer.

Yellow and green canes are harder and hold up well in the juicer. These varieties are what the farmers grow to make table sugar.

Purple sugar cane is usually the softest and is the easiest to peel and chew.

Green cane is harder than purple cane and is more compatible with juicing machines. This cane started out green, but as it matured, it took on a more yellow color.

This is yellow cane I grew from a cane purchased from a juice vendor. It was very sweet and the termites loved it!

Sugar cane can be juiced with the skin on or peeled. Leaving the skin on allows the juice to take on the color of the skin and gives it a richer taste. Personally, I prefer that the cane be juiced with the skin on, as long as it is well washed and scrubbed before juicing. In the video below, David, of TuboBiz shows the effects of juicing with the skin on, or peeled. He's located in the Phillipines.

Success with Sugar Cane in a Self-Watering Container in Florida

Here are some progressive updates on the amazing progress of my red sugar cane growing in the self-watering containers. The cane grew so well I decided to leave it in the containers rather than transfer it to the ground.

Progress through 5 months: October 2014 through March 2015.


6 month sugar cane update.


7 month sugar cane update.


9 month sugar cane update.


10 month sugar cane update.

How to Grow Sugar Cane in a Self-Watering Container

Sugar cane thrives in a self-watering container. However, it does tend to get top-heavy and once it gets larger it may require some type of support or it will blow over in a stiff wind.

I've grown cane in the ground and in the containers and I can tell you that in my area of central Florida the cane grows 10 times faster in the containers.

I do recommend that you hook up an automatic irrigation system of some type, because once the cane is three or four months old it will drink up all the water in half a day and you'll be out there watering all the time. And if you want to go out of town for a day or two, well...

Once the cane is mature and is harvested, the plant will send up more canes, but the soil will be exhausted and the plant will be completely root-bound. It's best to empty the container and start over with new canes, or break up the stump and salvage the best parts to re-plant. Personally, I lean toward starting over with new canes to reduce the chance for disease and pests to become established.

As far as fertilizer is concerned, you can use organic fertilizer or even worm castings. I think this would be preferable to the standard chemical fertilizer because it allows you to re-use the soil from year to year without a build-up of chemicals. If you are buying soil, it's not cheap. But, use what you've got.

It is important to use potting MIX, not potting soil, to get the proper wicking action.

Learn more about how the Earth Box works to make gardening easier.

How to Start Sugar Cane in Your Home Garden--Rooting the Cane

Sugar cane is a garden plant most suitable for the southern states, from California to Texas and the Gulf states. It can be grown further north, but does require a fairly long growing season to reach its full sweetness.

Sugar cane is suitable for growing in containers and does especially will in sub-irrigation planters, also known as self-watering containers. I also think it would do very well in large grow-bags.

Getting it started is simple. People often ask: can I grow sugar cane from seeds? The answer is yes, but that is not the preferred way. And I'm not sure where you'd find the seeds, except from a cane farmer, possibly. Cane grown from seeds would show considerable variability in sweetness, hardness, resistance to disease, and growing habits. This is why most gardeners propagate sugar cane vegetatively, like I'm showing here.

It's best to start with a freshly harvested cane. Cut the cane into two or three-foot lengths and stand the canes in a five gallon bucket about half-filled with water. Then wait. Depending on the weather you will see roots start to form within 3 to 7 days. Once a good mass of roots has formed, the cane can be planted in containers or directly into the garden. It must be kept moist and free from frost or freezing temperatures.

Sugar cane rooting in a bucket of water.

Roots form around the joint between the sections of cane. You can see the bud swelling to grow a new cane.

Some varieties of cane form roots more aggressively than others, like this green/yellow cane.

This purple cane has started forming roots even before being harvested. This would make an excellent starter piece for rooting in water. Note the new canes growing from the ground.

How to Make Your Own Sauerkraut at Home

Real sauerkraut is cabbage that has fermented for several weeks in salty water. It is filled with probiotic bacteria that are essential for a health gut and a healthy immune system.

Do not confuse this raw fermented sauerkraut with the pickled sauerkraut you normally find in the grocery store. The pickled kind--with vinegar--does not have the valuable probiotics.

Grocery stores are now starting to carry the fermented type, but it is usually pasteurized, which kills many, if not all of the beneficial bacteria. Raw fermented sauerkraut can be expensive, especially if you eat it daily like I do.  Making it yourself can greatly reduce this expense.

There are many variations on making sauerkraut. I recommend that you watch multiple videos and pick the method that works for you. I've picked out a couple of my favorite sauerkraut-making videos to get you started.

The first video is presented by Craig, a Canadian who is very knowledgeable about fermenting foods (especially beer). I think you'll enjoy it. It's a little over 20 minutes long.




The second video, below, is from the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. It is extremely detailed, if a bit dry, and also covers long-term storage of sauerkraut. Keep in mind that freezing or canning sauerkraut does kill the probiotic bacteria that is so essential to good health. The best way to have sauerkraut in your healthy diet is to make small batches that you can store in the fridge and eat within a couple of months.



A couple of tips from the videos:

• Use non-iodized sea salt. Avoid using regular table salt.
• Once the salt is added, avoid touching the kraut with any type of metal.
• Use a plastic or wooden bowl, not metal.