H Hardenberg

Jeff Steez wrote:

There's no way to do this with food crops that aren't native, without some intensive infrastructure. This is just my opinion. Nothing seems to "volunteer" in the sand, except some very tropical peppers varieties. Even then, they were at a low point in the yard, if they were in most of the drier spots they wouldn't have mad it this far, I had two volunteers. Shade does a lot for keeping anything moist, at the expense of growth rate. Otherwise, there's no way to do this without transplanting.

I've read about creating your potting soil mixture, then digging out a 2 foot cylinder of sand, and filling the potting soil into that specific section. This way you don't have to cover the entire garden with proper soil, you can just fill the holes where you are putting the actual plants. I imagine the sand will act like "air pruning" does, once the roots hit the sand they'll probably prefer to dig deeper instead of outwards.

The biggest issue I have with my personal sand is the rampant nematodes. Almost all of my vegetables this year have been destroyed by root knot nematodes after solarizing it, already. I am about to give up in ground gardening here beyond fruit trees, not to mention the pests are terrible because every neighbor covers their yard in pesticides, so they kill the good bugs too.

It's far too much work and money for the time and opportunity cost it provides, I love it, but the only thing to do in sand is native gardening, and in Florid that's very limited for edibles, sand is a totally different aspect you have to account for besides your simple climate zone. Perhaps I am going to replace my entire garden by covering it with potted plants that I intend to sell or can grow in sterilized, nematode-free soil. However, this will greatly increase the cost per year of gardening as well, because the ground is already paid for.

David the Good had said, I believe for his mother, he made quite rich soil using piles of various organic materials, but after just a few years of neglect the heat just eats it up entirely. There was nothing left to show for besides sand. Florida heat is truly remarkable.

I am sorry your sand is so bad! I dont think my sand is anywhere near as bad. I can get volunteer lettuce and cherry tomatoes.
David the Good is a great resource for gardening in Florida. I was about ready to give up but I found his YouTube videos and watched a bunch. There was (and is) a lot of basic stuff I don't know.
Ironically, my greatest success so far is the cover crop of black eyed peas. Beans. The very thing I cannot sprout if I want green beans.
Anyway, thanks to David the Good, I actually had a halfway decent garden last winter (compared at least to last year's dismal spring/summer) . I hope you find some way to success without spending a fortune . I also hate the standard solution of raised beds because it is so expensive and seems impractical for growing a lot of food. Maybe you can get chickens to eat the bugs.... But I don't have any yet so can't offer true advice. Best of luck!

Nate Davis wrote:

H Hardenberg wrote:
How do you make sourdough light and sweet with no sugar? That is one of the reasons I don't make it very often, sourdough just doesn't go with peanut butter.

You'd want to minimize acidity, so make a loose, well-fed starter at around room temp. Then use a higher starter to flour weight, I do 30-50%, so it proofs quickly. In my experience this yields a very subtle sourdough flavor. Although that might be because I'm so used to a strong sourdough.

So I built up my starter quite a bit (ended up weighing 1700 grams) and used this in my normal bread recipe. My recipe is for 1100 grams of flour, so with the hydration of the starter I had to add more flour than usual. Everything else I kept the same. The finished loaves had a harder crust than typically but I used what was left on a butter wrapper and rubbed the top of them. By the time they were cool, they were much softer. As toast, it does have a more sourdough flavor but all my previous sourdoughs would break your teeth after being toasted. But this one toasted like normal bread. And for peanut butter sandwiches, couldn't tell it was sourdough. A little dense/dry but just needs a little working the future. Thanks for the tip! I never got around to trying the baking soda though I might in the future.

I know this is an old topic, but any advice on sprouting seeds in sand would be appreciated! I have a terrible time with beans, especially. My opinion is that with the sand , the dirt doesn't stay moist enough to sprout the seeds.
I asked the extension office and they suggested (other than soil amendments) sprouting seeds between paper towel. I tried that but not all of them survived being planted so hopefully there is a better way?
So far, I either start transplants or I make a shallow depression for the water to hopefully sink in for seeds. This works great for some things but others barely sprout. Since it is already a bit late for planting, I planted the rest of my beans, but I still have more peanuts if they don't sprout.
I cannot use wood chips or cardboard, but am trying to get mulch in the form of pine needles and oak leaves. Also I cannot spend any more money on the garden at the moment.

I don't know about your plan (and I don't know if this will help), but I have found out a couple things that helped me garden off plants. First they do better if you have a larger pot. I was using egg cartons and then moved up to the 8oz mushroom containers with 4-6 seedlings. Also, I put them on the east side of the house for morning sun. I did have to pull them in the first couple days but after that they did pretty well and eventually moved to the garden area (still in their pots) near where I wanted them for a couple days and then planted them. Currently, since it is not too hot yet, I do the same thing but this time the pots live outside and in the protection of the west side of the house until they are big enough to take sun all day, and then finish the same as I already mentioned.

Thank you both for your answers! I will be trying them as soon as my starter is fully activated again. I've left it in the fridge for far too long.... But I fed it and it still has a small amount of bubbling.

r ranson wrote:
There are ways to make it so the bread lasts 2 weeks at room temperature, or more before going moldy, ways to make it sweet and light with only the tiny hint of sourdough taste (and no sugar added).  So many wonderful things you can do with sourdough if you're willing to do it 'wrong'.

How do you make sourdough light and sweet with no sugar? That is one of the reasons I don't make it very often, sourdough just doesn't go with peanut butter.

Does anyone know how to make  pancakes (or biscuits) that uses sourdough but does not need baking powder or soda? I have heard of this but never seen a recipe that doesn't use additional leavening.

Oddly enough, the brine has turned colors again to a more normal looking brine. Sort of cloudy and cabbagey colored.

This is my first time making sauerkraut. 11 hours later, the brine looks like it is turning pink??? Is something wrong or is this normal? I used a 4lb head of cabbage and 2 1/2 tbsp of salt.  I did not use pink salt, I used kosher salt which does have yellow prussiate as anti caking.
Interestingly enough, the pink is only on part of it, the other side of the jar looks clearer. Is it because I used a bag of water to seal the brine?

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I am trying the Florida weave system for my tomatoes this year. Twine between garden stakes and you go in and out with the twine between the plants one way and then back the opposite way. You do have to do this every 8? In or so. Supposed to give a tomato wall. I let my last two tomato plants sprawl anyway they felt like it, and it's a pain to get any tomatoes.