A Friend and I are thinking about living on a Homestead together. It would be fun (I think) to grow most of our own food. I'd like some Peach Trees and a garden of Greens. Does anyone have some advice on growing Greens?.....WY

You can contact your local County Extension office to see what to plant and when, and which varieties work best for your area. They should also have a lot of free helpful info online.

You should have some good luck growing greens. The greens were the only thing that survived the first year in my garden!! We're in the hardiness zone 5-6... Spokane, WA... had great luck with spinach (soak the seeds overnight - they will germinate faster!), Tom Thumb lettuce, and Red Leaf lettuce.

WY

When I first started my backyard organic garden I added as much compost & soil ammendents to the soil as I possibly could..

Check out all of the smaller home & garden type stores in your area for broken bags & bales of compost, mulch, peat moss, rock powders, lime, manures, etc..

Check your local stables for horse manure & bedding..Sometimes they'll give it away for the hauling..

After GOOD compost (which takes at least a year to make & age; the quicker 3-4 month compost is not as beneficial & effective as the compost that takes longer to make); I found that for me the single most beneficial thing that I did, year after year, was to shred & till in massive quantities of leaves just before the first frosts..

The leaves from decidious hardwood trees {not black walnut trees though!!} were the best..Well aged leaf mold is even more valuable, I believe then really good compost..Both take 1 1/2 to 2 years to create..

Check out the Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply Catalog at www.groworganic.com

It's very comphrehensive in everything that they advocate & sell--totally organic..No other place like it in the USA that I'm aware of that is so complete in what they sell..From individuals to large growers; they've got it, can get it, or can tell you where to go to get it..

BTW, where do you live & in what climate??..What is your soil type??..How much rainfall do you recieve each year, & in what months??..The better the soil is to start with the easier time you will have in turning it into a very productive patch of organic soil..With that said, even a very compacted piece of ground that had formerly been a parking lot for semi-tractor trailer trucks could be successively converted into a productive organic garden; it just would take longer, need more comphrehensive soil loosening, & require more in the way of ammendents..

Good luck!!

Bruce

Thanks Bruce for your nice reply. My former girlfriend is no longer speaking to me (I deserve it, but many of you would agree with me if you knew the details), so a Homestead and growing Greens is not an option now. Besides, I'm lazy and buying Organic Greens from my local Food Store suits me better.
By the way, I've tried all the Major Players (Waring, Blendtec, and Vita-Mix) in the Blending Arena and the Vita-Prep 3 comes out on top (IMHO). For those of you who might consider a Vita-Prep 3, make sure you look at Model #1005. There are a few Vita-Preps, but only one Vita-Prep 3. Blentec does have a slick ad campaign that is mighty convincing, but their SpaceSaver15 (15 AMP) didn't impress me.....WY