[Basic] Skill of the week: Farming and Gardening

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I tend to have it work in a pass/fail manner, so high skill levels aren't terribly relevant – but I also treat it as one of those skills to which Time Spent doesn't apply (plants grow at a fixed rate), so if you're raising delicate rarities that give -10 to skill because the GM doesn't want them to be too common, you can't offset that with extra time and will want high skill. I suppose yield (in terms of doses of final potion) could depend on margin, too.

You could spend more time per plant though. Really baby-sit your plants. Usually this means you have fewer plants and work the same hours, but I could see someone spending 12 hours per day and really fuzzing over each plant individually.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anders

You could spend more time per plant though. Really baby-sit your plants. Usually this means you have fewer plants and work the same hours, but I could see someone spending 12 hours per day and really fuzzing over each plant individually.

I think that might be the only way to get a foreign/alien/magical plant to grow.
The mandrake really does need someone to talk to it to grow properly, for example. The local weevil will absolutely destroy your imported equatorial orchid, so you need to watch for its presence on the hour.

[Verjigorm]

There's only so much extra time you can spend. Once you provide water, nutrients and pest control, all you can do is wait. Where time is really spent is in offsetting the big negatives: you need to have the plants watered, so you either need to haul buckets of water from a water source, or run irrigation ditches you can use. For pest control you need to pull grubs and get rid of scales or weevils, or any other bug that feeds on your plants, and put up fences to keep rabbits and turtles out. Hunt the deer, and chase off crows. When it comes from nutrients, that's generally preparation that's done before you grow.

Ideally, you go out in winter time and walk through your plot, picking up rocks and getting them out of there. You'll always find rocks in the dirt you use. You might spread compost if you use it. You might just burn the overgrowth while it's dry and flammable, depending on if you left it fallow or not. Then you're going to start plowing and breaking up the soil. Ideally you wanna go pretty deep, turn over lots of soil, and, break it up very fine. Aereate the soil and make it receptive for planting.

Compost of some sort is extremely useful: in addition to insulating the soil from the air, it also is decomposing and generating heat. When you plant, this can help to protect against cold snaps or early frosts, so you don't lose the planting. Ideally you use it, but some folks don't know or can't afford it.

Plant when it's warm enough(I like late march, but it's a semi-tropic/temperate zone here), and hope april doesn't wash your fields out. You can help prevent that by digging irrigation ditches to drain the fields and/or supply them with water. Dry ditches you dig in march can take the run off from april's rains, and that water can sit(we have red clay around here, so stagnant water sits) for use later to water.

Now wait. You have to wait for the seeds to break and grow, and burst above the soil. You walk around the plot, looking, eagerly, anticipating the first little green blades that thrust themselves out of the soil. You pick any weeds or strays. But you can't hurry it in any way. It takes time.

Once the plants come up and get past the seedling phase, then you do have your work cut out for you. You need to water the plants, which by hand means you need a bucket that you go from plant to plant, pouring out water around the base of the plant. Depending on the sun works for you, you should take a lot of care to not spill any on the leaves: the mid day sun can burn a hole right through squash and cucumber leaves if you arn't careful. Then bugs start eating those holes out, and you get stunted squash.

keep an eye out for any parasites, grubs, whatever. This is when we use 7-dust on the stalks to keep the parasites off. You can keep a nest of different hornets/wasps nearby, which can really help. Sure, you might get stung, but they will hunt the heck out of parasites. You stop seven dusting after a while, only using it when especially needed: say aphids are tearing up a dense patch of squash or cucumbers.

Build a fence around your garden, always. You gotta keep small animals out, they will devour your fruit. I've never had successful watermelon crops because rabbits and turtles are ninjas. I'm really made at the guys who killed the feral cat colony by the rail road tracks: those cats could have kept rabbits out of our fields. Turtles, you need a fence. They don't run away from dogs, cats or coons, so they will just walk in and eat your melons, then walk out and go to sleep.

Deer are always a problem, and building a fence that deer can't jump is hard. They will destroy your corn. Skunks can be good or bad, as sometimes they eat your tomatoes, but sometimes they just eat the grubs and rats, but sometimes they dig up your plants after something. Best to get rid of them. Predators you don't hunt, because they kill the plant eaters. Pigs will tear up fences and eat everything. But you get free ham, so that's cool.

But you're still waiting on the plants to grow, flower, pollinate and fruit. You can't force that.

[Flyndaran]

Helicopter gardening is probably as un-optimal as helicopter parenting. ;)

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

Deer are always a problem, and building a fence that deer can't jump is hard. Pigs will tear up fences and eat everything. But you get free ham, so that's cool.

Build a low stone fence, say 3-4 foot high and 2-3 foot thick for keeping out hogs* (make it taller or top it with a wooden fence to keep in your dogs**). Use dogs for keeping out the deer and elk (and other jumping herbivores) or build a really tall fence, 12-15 foot.

Not sure about keeping the dogs out of the fields, if there is a time for them to run free or not. We had an orchard, so it was never an issue.


*Knew a guy who'd build a run along the fence to a blind with a swing gate. He toss some rotting veggies along the run when he knew hogs were in the area. They'd follow the run, push past the gate and get into the blind (where he'd put most of the bait), but the gate was on spring hings and only swung in. Free pork. Also, 3 foot thick isn't always thick enough. Boar hogs can be tenacious. And big.
** If you want your dogs to live.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Helicopter gardening is probably as un-optimal as helicopter parenting. ;)

I've kept an herb garden and sometimes it's necessary.

Usually not though. Usually it's just an excuse to get out and play in the dirt.

[Flyndaran]

Hogs by definition are pigs over 200 lbs.

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Hogs by definition are pigs over 200 lbs.

First of all, no they aren't.

Second, what does this even have to do with anything?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Sindri

First of all, no they aren't.

Second, what does this even have to do with anything?

So you think it's just a synonym for pig? And it was a reference to a previous post involving big hogs.
Huh, quick search says it's over 120 pounds. I wonder where I heard 200.

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

So you think it's just a synonym for pig?

Swine terminology depends on context and no one definition is sufficiently dominant for calling things out as being definitionally true to be legitimate. 200 pounds is just wrong though, even definitions that use weight don't use a 200 pound cutoff.

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

And it was a reference to a previous post involving big hogs.

Which was obviously relative to hogs. And being a reference to a previous post doesn't justify posting something. Posts should contribute to the thread or at least be funny. Spouting random facts that another post brings to your mind is a waste of people's time and likely to lead to off topic conversations.