Mariusz Olyruk

This year on my lot, I had a lot of huge cucumbers. They love the shad and plenty of room to grow, so the way I usually do it is I plant cucumber seeds very closely, so that the leaves can have a dense foliage. Once flowering begins and you can see baby cucumbers, wait a week or a bit more and you'll get huge cucumbers. If you wait too long, they will turn yellow.

Once they turn yellow, I usually use it for seeds for next year. But the green larger ones are great for salads and such. It looks even better on a burger, having one slice of such a large cucumber, almost as large as a tomato, which makes a great conversation piece.

As most people are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy, the topic again arises about being self-sustained. Hurricane Sandy has crippled the subway infastructure in N.Y.C., taken down power for millions, and caused gasoline shortages. Some drivers reported waiting online for gasoline, for as long as 16 hours!!!. More than 50% of the gas stations are closed due to lack of power or lack of gasoline. There is a difficulty trying to get a generator, and even if one was lucky enough, the problem again arises about fuel. I would like to hear from some people on their thought and ideas, on how a person who would live in a city such as New York City, and still be self-sufficent, in not relying on the subways, electricity, tunnels/bridges, and most importantly gasoline.

I have some fruit trees, and with my experience, it depends. Some trees I prune, and some I don't. If you don't prune a tree, you will get more shade and fruit. If you prune a tree, you will have less fuit, but larger ones. It depends on your wants or needs. Do you want to climb a ladder to pick your fruit all the way to the top, but have the benefit of having more fuirt, or do you want to stretch less often, and get less but larger fruit. I see no difference in the trees health when it comes to pruning or not in my trees. The best way to find out is to experiment yourself.

That sounds great! I think rasphberries are great in this situation, low cost to take care, and grow very quickly. Just trim to the size you want it, and each year, additional plants will grow from its roots. If you want some good sunflower seeds, at a low cost, I recomend Johnny's Selected Seeds (http://www.johnnyseeds.com/), they have likr 1000 sunflower seeds for $6.00 last time I checked. Rashpberries grow well into the winter. Than for the spring time, I recomend strawberries, they grow very early spring to late spring, which takes care of that season.