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I think having a seedling greenhouse is a good idea and will look really nice when done. It is sure reminding me a lot of 1942 in the world today, except there's things that are making it worse for us then back then im afraid. To me it feels like things are incredibly backwards and we're trying to just keep moving in the right direction regardless of what the world's doing. One thing I found out this week is the number of women I know that have a housekeeper that comes each week. I've learned in maintaining our house and trying to do the history studies at the same time alongside working fulltime is that women had lots of help and nowadays at least for me that's just not there. I'd be curious if others have noticed the same thing or maybe that's just my observation?

 I did get some seeds planted in my few little beds, but I'm afraid they got washed away because we had a lot of rain come in one night. I've got potatoes and some grape plants to still get in the ground. I bought in the fall some fruit trees and landscaping trees that still need to get in the ground as well. The ground was too frozen before and now there's already some leaf buds, but the apple trees have some flowers that just appeared. They are so pretty right now which is enjoyable after such a harsh winter. 

Your yard will be very pretty when things start growing. I recently learned that old fashioned roses are edible. I've got them on my list to buy one day. Our friends have an orchard and they plant roses at the end of their rows. 

My husband and I gardened in the ground for decades but even before he passed I started transitioning to raised beds for the reasons you stated plus I find it easier to keep weeds out and, very importantly, our soil is very sandy, acidic and poor. We spent so much money amending our soil in our in-ground gardens and still needed fertilizer to get anything to grow. I have upfront costs filling a new raised bed but after that it’s just amending it with compost and a little fresh soil each spring. 

Would you tell me about your metal trellises?  Are they home built?  I assume they are?  If so, how were they created?  I have an empty row in my garden to fill with raised beds and I am thinking about adding at least some shade to that row with shade cloth on trellises. 

For my vining plants I have made PVC frames with nylon trellis mesh clipped to them. My cucumbers have been using that for a few years. It wouldn’t do for heavy pumpkins or such. 

I’ve noticed that being home all day makes a huge difference in gardening. Working all week with a long commute gave me so little time to tend even the raised beds. Now I go out there twice a day and it shows. It’s not impossible to garden while working- we did it for years- but it sure was harder for us. 

Joan S, to answer your question about the trellises. We are using metal conduit and cutting it 5 feet 5 inches and then putting a connector on top of the pole to put a 90 degree curve piece making it close to six feet to be able to walk under it. 

We put up the five foot piece first and then clamp them on to the bottom and top of the tank sides with metal clamps the size of the conduit.  We screw it in with metal truss screws. 

Each end of the curved piece needs a connector.  Then we go across from one side to the other and repeat at the other side.  Then we use fence wire and roll that over from one side to the other, up and over and down the other side.  We zip tied ours together in case we need to make adjustments.  They now have metal zip ties as well. 

I bought shade cloth to put over the top for when it starts getting too hot for the plants.  I also bought frost/shade cloth to use when needed.  For a quick temporary fix we clamp anything we can grab to cover the tanks if there is a quick thunderstorm with hail as of twice this week.  Also for a heavy rain because I don't want the seeds to float away.  We have been having more storms with hail the past couple of years now and we frequently get high wind storms as well so this is what we have done to protect our garden so we can hopefully get a better harvest.

I've gone forwards to 1943, to learn more about rationing in Canada  fro mthe local newspaper.
It's been very busy with Easter and birthdays, but a good kind of busy.
I'm chomping at the bit to plant things, but only the bell peppers could be started earlier. Now the tomatoes and rhubarb. Everything will be going out by the end of May, and some things a bit sooner. Then direct sowing around June 1st, for things like squashes and cuucmbers. I am also going to be putting in even more trellising, some of which should be metal on wood posts. It's what I can afford at this point, and my homr is not my forever home. So when I leave, they will all be taken down anyways, and the gardens coverted back to lawn.
Very excited to start the May planting!

thank you so much for the pictures and explanation!  I understand now how they are done!  I will be planning for something like this as I finish filling up my garden space. 

The canopies over beds with shade cloth work wonderfully. My husband did this several years ago and kept the beets covered all summer. That was the best year for fresh beet greens that we ever had. I used an amish recipe for pickled beets and it was so delicious that I will never use another recipe.

Your garden, gDonna, looks fantastic. We have yet to get out and prep ours for growing this year. The weather has been unusually warm for Wyoming all winter, but there is still plenty of time left here for a snow or two. I do have to cut lovage, chives and parsley this week, as they don't mind snow or cooler temperatures and they have grown to cutting point.

Many of my friends are speaking of feeling the intense need to grow more this year and stock more food. Some of those friends have freeze dryers, which are fantastic for storing food. We debated for years and decided against one. I dehydrate most vegetables and can some. The older I have gotten the canning has lessened quite a lot. I, too, feel the urgency to grow more food this summer. We had decided to forego a garden, but circumstances have change that decision for us. I plan on sorting through our seed storage this weekend.

Thank you again for another wonderful article. I hope your finger heals quickly.

A wonderful post, as usual! :) I am so glad Albert has friends to help him in his garden duties. After it being mentioned in the forum, I looked at growing zucchini vertically, and then at other things you can grow vertically. I have space for one arch trellis, so I got one. This is going to make such a difference in space in my garden! This year the zucchini will go in the tower trellis in the middle of the onions, and butternut squash will go on the arch. Next year when I've improved the soil where the arch is going, I'll plant on both sides of it. My asparagus is happier with me. I gave it some epsom salts while I wait for the langbienite to arrive. 

Since it looks like we're going to have higher inflation, I tried to find a way to outrun it. I used the numbers predicted for US inflation this year. After using my brain so hard that steam was coming out of my ears trying to figure everything out, I came to the conclusion that the official numbers have no correlation to my real life, and that I was going to have to keep my own record of inflation.  The first thing I learned from my own inflation recording was that my daily medication went up 12.5% since the last time I refilled it, and another product we use regularly went up 10% since the last time we bought it. These numbers are much higher than the official numbers. 

It's overcast outside because we had a wonderful rain that filled the rain barrel. :) Since it's a little dark inside the house, I have a solar lightbulb on next to me. The cost of the solar generators has gone down quite a bit since we first got them. After tracking our usage, we decided to invest in a couple more so that when some are in the house being used, others will be out charging. I can run all of the daily things like the Crock Pot or the blender or a curling iron, TV, lamps, and all of the small energy users for a couple of days without recharging. We think we can run the internet too, but haven't tested it yet. Hardwired lights, fridge, washer, stove, and water heater are things we can't run on our solar. We looked at how much we spent on electricity last year, and we think we can cut it by half. 

The lilies of the valley are blooming in time for Easter again. :) 

I can't physically keep a full garden right now. I had to give up my community garden plot I had for 10 years. My last 2 years container gardening didn't yield much. But I'm going to keep at it hoping I finally get it right. My little grandson wants to help me. He was in charge of watering (under my supervision) last year. If he is able to really help me in a few years I can probably expand into larger containers or raised beds.

I don't have an actively supportive family so I do most of these things by myself. 

I was supposed to plant onions and potatoes yesterday, my grandpa always said to plant them on Good Friday but it has been raining way to much so they will have to wait. I am just so glad Spring is here. I like being able to get outside things done and no seeing snow.

I have cleaned up the blackberry patch and have been transplanting Tigerlillies as they are coming up strong and all over the place. I have seedlings started, all flowers at this point. DD has tomatoes and peppers started so we should be good. 

I am planting okra with seeds saved within huge dried pods.....we love fried okra, I clean, cut and soak in buttermilk for a minute and then roll in cornmeal/seasonings and freeze on cookie sheets. Bag it up and you can enjoy it all winter long.

I agree about the official inflation numbers, I can only hold the line for me and mine.  

I worry more for family, the best I can do for them is to teach them and encourage them to research and try things on their own.

I still garden in ground, I have a Mantis tiller and that helps so much. I make "manure tea" out of my chicken house cleanings, very diluted. I have done this for years, along with adding the ashes from burning my wood stove....I also use my comfrey leaves as a tea on my plants also. 

Gr.Donna your garden looks fabulous!  So cozy and welcoming. 

I have been researching 1942 in my area/small town, the feed store was offering seeds and baby chicks.....I remember going into that feed store as a small child to get seeds with my mom, it had a particular smell....fertilizer and bagged garden soil.  One year for Easter we got colored chicks for Easter, I am pretty sure they ended up as dinner later in the year but we were rural kids so we knew how it worked. 

The trellises are very impressive, and inspiring!  

It's been a very busy few weeks here with control of invasive squills, and whenever I have time for a "break" working on my little side project of making new steps for the path down to my house.  The latter are coming out nice, but far from done.

This is unrelated, but as many here are decades older than me and some of you seem quite knowledgeable about practical antiques, I wondered if any of you had seen rectangular steel plates/trays like this before.  They are much smaller than modern lunch trays, kind of heavy for camping dishes, and have many criss-crossed scratches, heaviest toward the center, as if they saw a lot of use as an eating or cutting surface.

Any thoughts on age or exact use?

Possibly very old military mess tins with the scratches.  There are also medical tins that look similar but those don't have the same kind of scratches.  That is just my guess just by what it is made from.  I hope someone does know what they are.

I did not know that oil was part of the production process of pharmaceuticals. I read that just now. It means that medicine is going to get expensive, and my prescription cost might go higher still. Also, someone told me there is a steep tariff on medicine made outside of the US. 

Tariffs have gone through the roof in recent times, and pharmaceuticals are on the list - just a day or two ago I saw a 100% tariff on them - crazy.  People rely on these things for their very lives at times.   The cost of things has sky-rocketed and families are struggling to stay afloat, life isn't easy for many of us.  All we can do is look after our own and try not to worry about what is going on outside in that big bad world at the moment.

We're also at the stage where growing our own food has gone out the window, due to the cost of water and at our age carting heavy buckets of water from the tank isn't good for our bodies - so very little is grown here these days.  We're now coming into our best growing period but I have nowhere to plant things as we gave up all our gardens.  Now I just have a few daylilies, a small rock garden which looks after itself, and some pots with various items - the rest have gone.  I do have a young passionfruit vine climbing a trellis and some dragon fruit but apart from garlic chives and rosemary, as well as a big pot full of aloe, that's it - but I do have plenty of stock in the pantry, so we won't starve.  Instead of growing it, we try to buy locally from the farm gate - but due to the fuel crisis, we're limited to where we can go at the moment.

I have been looking over the rations examples for 1942....I realized I used a whole months worth of rations for 1 dinner...yes it is for a group and Easter dinner but still....How did they do that?

I made deviled eggs, baked beans and 2 seedless raspberry pies and used at least 4 months worth of fat in just the pies and sugar for at least 5 maybe 6 in the pies and the beans. Thinking on it now that they are done, I could have used honey from our bees in both but since extended family are not with me on my 1942 journey I did not.  

It really opened my eyes, it is different seeing it in person that just reading about it. Scary.....

I'd love the tank raised bed gardens but it's not practical here.  We have a foot of beautiful black topsoil, and everything grows like crazy (depending on the weather of course!).  It would not be reasonable to put in a tank and buy soil to fill it.  I don't spend a lot of time leaning over in the garden once planting is finished.  I will crawl down the rows or scoot on my behind to pick or weed between plants.  My dd bought me a Pro Hoe for Christmas several years ago and that takes care of most of the weeding.  I do not water after planting as water is way too expensive plus until the new water system is up and running, we have been asked for several years not to do outside watering.

I asked my librarian about "Thrifty Tips from the War Years" and "The American Homefront During WWII" and she bought both for the library.  I've finished the first on and am starting the second.  The first has given me perspective about the minor problem we're facing of higher prices.  At least there is stuff in the stores to buy, and we're allowed to buy it.  

Can you imagine going from 1940 through 1949 with clothing rationed and being virtually unable to buy any clothing or shoes???  That was Great Britian during the war years.  The book mentions that there was a severe lack of clothing before rationing started. I look at my closet today and realize I could easily manage but back then most people did not own a closet full of clothing or several pair of shoes.  

As far as gas prices, we've been through that cycle many times and in the 1970's sometimes there was no gas to buy.  Cars would be lined up for blocks hoping to get gas before the station ran out.  Again, high prices are difficult but at least there is gas available.

The pharmaceutical issue is the result of manufacturing going overseas.  We won WWII based on producing our own supplies and converting manufacturing from home goods to war goods practically overnight.  As a high school student, we toured the John Deere factory and at that time they still had munition machines under tarp next to the farm equipment machines they were operating.  There was a large number of acres of land around the factory and at that time they were still clearing bunkers of munitions.  I babysat for a family that lived inside the fence, and it was kept locked.   The area is now home to DMAC community college.

Cattle panels can be flexed or cut to make trellises or used straight on the ground.  They last forever which is a good point.

Growing a garden in the Lowcountry of South Carolina is a challenge. I also have 3 outdoor cats who like to use the gardens. In order to even try to be successful, it would cost a fortune that we just don't have. 

Instead, we've decided to frequent our local farm stand for the entire spring and summer seasons. It may cost a bit more, but at least we will support local agriculture and small businesses.

Melissa S, since you cannot garden, it is good that you will be supporting the local growers, we need to support them too for the things that we cannot grow.  I feel that we need to do what we can to support our local growers and our small business people because they are very important for us when there could be possible disruptions due to shipping and and transportation to be able to buy local. :)