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Comment by igz on February 24, 2011 at 6:37pm

Now that I have a yard, I could use em

Comment by jlj on January 19, 2011 at 12:07pm

Anyone have any redworms to spare? I'm looking to get some compost bins rolling for my roomates and I.

Comment by Anne Alt on August 8, 2010 at 9:51am

Wasps and hornets - Has anyone else seen unusual activity or species? I had a huge one buzzing around in my back porch today that I've never seen before. It's about 2 inches long (no exaggeration), black with yellow stripes. Left the door open for a little while, hoping it would leave and that I wouldn't get any more of them or anything else nasty in its place.

This IL site lists several species, but none are an exact match. The closest is the cicada killer wasp. Perhaps that's what it is, but a VERY large example of the species. We do have a lot of cicadas here right now. Has anyone else seen one of these?

Comment by Todd Allen on July 31, 2010 at 3:05pm

You can save them, but shallots don't keep as well as most onions, so expect to lose some of them.

To maximize their shelf life, store them cool and dry. Also, leave the tops on, only store complete undamaged shallots. Keep them in small mesh bags. Don't store too many together or the ones in the center may rot and the rot can then spread to the rest.

Cool and dry can be a bit challenging. Common cool places like refrigerators and basements often are too humid. I mostly keep mine on an unheated, enclosed back porch, but have to watch out that they don't freeze when we get really brutal cold snaps. If I think of it, I move them to the basement when the porch may freeze. If the shallots are dry enough they can withstand a light freeze.

Comment by Duppie on July 31, 2010 at 5:14am

Saving shallots for next year?

We grew and harvested shallots from little bulbs that we purchased. I don't want to have to purchase more bulbs each year.
Can we keep some of them to replant next year? How would I store them?
Thanks

Comment by Chuck a Muck on March 22, 2010 at 5:26am

Okay, just got off the phone with By the Yard... they have an 8 yard capacity to deliver... My order alone with delivery is 349.00, if I pick it up myself it's only 149.00! thats a 100 bucks delivery charge! Yikes!

Comment by Anne Alt on March 22, 2010 at 4:59am

Excellent! Thanks for the tip, Chuck. Maybe a group of us could team up for a quantity purchase of mulch. I could use more myself.

Comment by Chuck a Muck on March 21, 2010 at 6:17pm

I found this:
http://www.buytheyardinc.com/

Comment by Todd Allen on March 21, 2010 at 6:00pm

Laura, there have been guerrilla gardening rides for ornamentals but not that I'm aware of for food. I'm more interested in food but have become hesitant to go guerrilla because of the risks of contaminated soil.

Comment by Todd Allen on March 21, 2010 at 5:50pm

A florescent with a good electronic ballast will do 100+ lumens per watt. The very best leds will do about 150, but most of what is sold is only doing about 50. Just because it has leds doesn't automatically mean its going to be efficient.

The dimming of leds with age does represent a loss of efficiency. The power consumed doesn't drop much.

As for the number of hours to run artificial lights for plants, it depends on the plant. There are plants that are ok with continuous light and some that aren't. Plants which use day length cues to time their life stage functions are going to be trouble. In general constant light won't kill plants, but it may prevent or force things like flowering, setting seed, etc.

I only use artificial lighting for seed starting vegetables and herbs, etc. and for most all of them 12 to 18 hours a day of light is recommended.

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