My Spring Garden

Here is my spring garden! I have made 3 new raised beds and am trying to branch out this year. I spent about $60 on seeds and $30 on soil. I ran out of potting soil filling the beds, so didn't have enough to fill containers. I've been trying to fill the containers with grass, bamboo cuttings, and kitchen scraps, and topping with poor soil from a side area.

This poor soil is very water resistant, and water will drain off of it the first few waterings, so I hope the seeds don't wash off.

I've been trying to use egg cartons to start my seeds, after pre-germinating them using the paper towel method. However, they seem to be drying out fast. I already saw two seedlings that came up but already dried and are dead. I am trying to water every day so hopefully the rest come up!

I've started some strawberries from seed in a container.

The problem with my garden is that unless it's constantly raining (which it does in one month during the winter season), everything dries out quickly, so it's hard to start things from seed. It's one of those times when I wish I had money for a greenhouse.

So far at least the zucchini has all come up. The luffa, most of the Sakata melon, carrots, and luffa have failed to come up. The strawberry popcorn is up and so far doing well, and the radishes and onion sprouted as well. I planted the beans (bush bean and yard bean) a few days ago so I am expecting them soon. I think the bitter melon has come up, but not sure. It could be a weed. The roselle never came up. I really wish I knew why I fail when I stick things in the soil, as they had already germinated in plastic bags before I planted most of the seeds. Just another garden fail.

Meanwhile, I have serious plant greed. I really want all these tropical plants for my garden. I really want the asian pear tree, curry plant, longan, banana, you name it. Forget the money, I might not even have room! Of course I don't have money for these plants so I will never satisfy my greed. Maybe I can slowly grow my garden year by year. And one day, my dream of having 1 acre and cash to fill it with wonderful plants will be granted!

I only have one view on my video, so I am destined not to be a YouTube star, but that's okay. I don't think I get any readers on this blog either, but that's okay. See you next time!

What GMOs are at the Grocery Store? My opinion on GMOs.

It is well known that many fruits and vegetables at the supermarket (as well as salmon) are genetically modified. As to whether it's safe or not, I am not sure, but at the same time, it irks me that GMO crops can affect normal varieties through cross-pollination. For example, some of Hawaii's papaya trees are contaminated by GMO, so it would be hard to avoid them at the grocery store. Not to mention, GMO seeds are patented, so farmers have to spend additional money that they wouldn't have to spend if they could save their seed.

Most packaged foods have GMO foods in them, so most people in the US consume GMO products whether they like it or not. If a search is done using the query "Why do people not trust GMO", only pro-GMO articles come up. That makes no sense, as I would expect to see at least some reasons from anti-GMO writers on the web on page 1. Scientific studies are unanimous on the finding that GMOs are perfectly safe (no surprise there), which is what many of these pro-GMO folks lean on. Although this is reassuring to those who have to consume GMO products due to convenience, availability, or price, science is not perfect, and GMOs are still relatively new on the grand scale of agriculture.

Regardless, if I am growing my own food, and non-GMO seeds are available at low cost, why not non-GMO? The most common modification is to make the plant more resistant to herbicide or Round -up. Do you really want to eat pesticides? The other reasons, like making a crop more productive, drought resistant, or disease resistant, are more noble, but then again, there are plants that are suited to each area. This is the problem with centralized, big farming, with not enough people growing their own food in their backyards. Making a crop sweeter is another thing that contributes to a sweet tooth that many in the US, including me, have a problem with. Some sweet is okay, but super sweet? I beg to differ.

If you are a small area, you can just have one cash crop that grows well in your area, without having to worry about it being drought resistant, or disease resistant. Some plant varieties are naturally that way. Wheat was altered to be more productive, but it is now less nutritious. It is debated whether this contributed to the rise of gluten allergies as well. At the very least, I want to grow things that require the least effort from me, with good yields. So far, kale and tomato can handle the heat excellently.

According to the Monsanto website,  the 10 varieties are: corn, soybeans, cotton, alfalfa, sugar beets, canola, squash, papaya, potato, and apple. I recall hearing that some strawberries have been crossed with fish DNA to create a more freeze-resistant strawberry, and that those are the large but flavorless variety seen at stores in the off season, but I am not sure on that.

For me, what I like about GMO the least is that animal DNA and plant DNA are possibly crossed. Couldn't they just stick with crossing plant DNA?

Even though organics are sold, they could easily be GMO fruits and veggies without use of pesticides, so if I saved seeds from them, I am not sure the plant that grows will be non-GMO. There's also no guarantee that what you grow will not be crossed with a GMO crop someone else is growing, so one can't be too concerned about things, at least in this world.