Tanya White

I keep my nails very short and use a nail brush if needed. I do wear lightweight formfitting gloves when working with soil.

I should note that I come back inside the house intermittently and clean my hands when I'm taking a break. I also make a nice salve to use at night (cocoa butter, beeswax, jojoba oil, sometimes herbal infusions).

My favorite volunteers are garlics. I use them for greens when little else is available (I avoid cutting too many greens from my actual garlic patches so that they can grow). My volunteer cilantro also comes up a bit earlier than the one I sow. My bronze fennel also grows anywhere except where I actually planted the seeds. It's supposed to be allelopathic, but I just harvest the volunteers. Any volunteers in the hunger gap are appreciated.

We've got a Flotte Lotte GEFU food mill. It was a bit pricey, but works well. My old one broke (cheap one from Amazon). And yes, it was worth repurchasing. Main uses are mashed potatoes (larger disk), spaetzle, backup colander, marinara, tkemali plum sauce. It's worth it for marinara alone. Not making applesauce and jams/jellies at the moment, but would use a foodmill if I was. I've also used it for hummus, but it turns out fine in a vitamix. Good backup to have, though.

We transplanted ours last year in the spring. The blueberries were in a weird spot where the pH was quite high although the rest of our property has low pH (the spot was limed or anything, but we have an entire ridge where pH is higher, over 7, compared to slightly below 5 in unamended woodsy areas). The highbush blueberries were perhaps 5 years old, no older than 8. They weren't thriving (although not looking horrible). Also, in previous spot they were close to the birdfeeder so the little monsters beat us to the berries.

We moved the bushes to an area with lower pH. Their roots were not super deep. The bushes also made some sprouts/babies that we transplanted separately. Everything survived and is thriving. We got a few berries last summer (after transplant), but we clipped quite a few branches to allow them to put energy into settling in.

Josh, to answer your question

The total trellis is 20 feet. There are 3 4x4 wooden posts (|) with holes drilled for conduit that sticks out the ends (one post is in the middle). There are 2 grapevines (V), each one in the middle of each EMT conduit; each conduit is 10 feet long.


|===V===|===V===|.

I reuse desiccants that come with whatever item I bought (doesn't happen all that often). Aside from longterm storage (freezer), I keep my seeds in ammo boxes with some desiccant packets.

Our grapes are in full sun (perfect) and the trellis is sturdy with 4x4 wooden posts and 1 inch EMT conduit  instead of wire. It is a 4-arm cordon system. Looks (sort of) like                 |======|=====|. We didn't plant the grapes or put in the trellis. I think the trellis itself is well-done. Unrelated to your question, but I wish we had a more disease resistant variety. Western NC is not ideal for grapes, lots of fungal disease.

I don't have a photo right now, but it looks like a standard grape trellis. We did change our ties from nylon to jute as they started to show wear.

We are planning to place another trellis. We may start with fittings we bought from Planet Whizbang (Herrick Kimball) where you use T-posts and EMT conduit. Probably not as sturdy, but we will see.

I'm not breeding a new bean variety at the moment, but found Logan county greasy cut-short beans very delicious. Make good leather britches as well (hang to dry). These are Appalachian-adapted.

I have been giving a lot of free seeds to coworkers. I don't worry as much about seeds being "easy", but instead stress that the person has nothing much to lose by trying to grow free seeds No pressure, if they don't make it, they were extra. Most often, I give away seeds that I ultra prolific for me and easy to save. Majority of these are also easy to grow and, obviously, save seeds from. I am pleased to say a lot of people seem to be getting excited about gardening, including one person who I wouldn't expect  (not taking credit for this, but hopefully I made some sort of difference). I do talk about gardening a lot, sometimes maybe too much.

My most commonly given away seeds are: marigolds, basil, dill, cilantro, winter squash, beans (for those that want them, I only have pole varieties, different species), okra, and radish. I also give away extra seeds that I don't want to grow - mainly ones not locally adapted or ones I don't want crossing for some reason (i.e. samples from companies).

It's pretty easy to save above seeds here in Western NC, but I would imagine your list may be a little different and based on what grows well in your region.

I was surprised to find out people have been grafting pomegranates onto crepe myrtle. Who knew!

I've heard of pears on hawthorn and quince; pecan on hickory. Of course, ornamental pears are an obvious choice to graft onto.
This year, I am trying hybrid persimmons on American persimmon again.

Overall, I prefer trees that are not grafted, but want to experiment.

Does anyone have any other less known combos?