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Vegetable garden
I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a
small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? Terry |
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Terry Davis wrote:
> I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > > Terry > you won't save any money, but home grown veggies are generally worth the effort. (particularly with tomatoes and other fruit bearing vines) -- saerah aware of the manifold possibilities of the future "I think there's a clause in the Shaman's and Jujumen's Local #57 Union contract that they have to have reciprocity for each other's shop rules." -König Prüß |
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Terry Davis wrote:
> I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a >small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so >the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or >would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > >How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > >Terry > > > I'll say that you can...but you probably won't. It pretty much depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it, what sort of things you grow, and where you live. My "original" garden plot has saved me a bundle, but the only outlay I had was $60 worth of mushroom compost when I first dug it, and seed money...it's never seen any "store-bought" fertilizer or pests treatment. But....I have a compost pile, a leaf mold pile, and a burn pit for ash, and readily available manure. I also tend to raise those items which costs the most....and....I live in an area where I get 3 growing seasons a year. On the other hand....last year I bought 600 concrete blocks to build raised beds in which I'm playing with square-foot gardening. There's no way that I'm going to save money there. What you will get, is a superior product and probably a great sense of satisfaction! In a nutshell: if you spend $500 on a tiller to plant radishes....you're not saving money....but you will have some damn tasty radishes! Bubba -- You wanna measure, or you wanna cook? |
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"Terry Davis" > wrote in message ... > I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > > Terry > You will gain a great deal in the quality and freshness of your veges, and thus flavour and nutrition. You might also gain in variety depending on your local suppliers, your skill and climate. You may save money but only if you don't count your labour at a very high rate and you can get manure, mulchable organics, etc cheaply or free. OTOH if you all work the garden instead of paying for the gym your veges might be free. Your gain in satisfaction will probably be huge. Where you will lose is in not having varieties out of season, exotics that you just cannot grow and in gluts at certain times of the year. With attention to the cultivars that you grow and successive plantings these problems can be reduced to some extent. Yes I grow my own. David |
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"Terry Davis" > wrote in message ... > I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? We do, but not all of them - just some/what we can. Save money? *Maybe*, as others have said (the more you want to save, the more effort you will have to put in, and it's pretty much an exponential thing up to a point), but what you will do is have a great time, much better than store bought produce (if you get it right!), and if you're like me, you'll cry when a whole bunch of your seedlings suddenly up and die for some reason and there's no time to plant more for the season, heheheheheh! I plant a seed etc. - soon as it has sprouted, it's one of my babies - you won't believe how much they can drag you right in, how much love, care and attention they inspire you to give them. I love to go round to our plot, tend to things, then just sit back and chill with a cold one, take in the vibe of it all - excellent. 'Life', heheheh... Cheers! ',;~}~ Shaun aRe |
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Good morning Terry. I pretty much agree with the rest of the posters on
saving money, but the object lessons for your daughter (if she is pretty young) will be invaluable. Most kids love to plant and watch things grow. Watch your property for a couple of says and find out where your property stays sunny all day, where you get 6 to 8 hours of sun, and where you get 4 or less of sun. Then decide what you love to eat that is expensive to buy. You don't say where you live, so lets assume strawberries, garlic, artichokes, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, asparagus, and fruit trees will grow there, and live through the winter. Locate these in full sun (6 to 8 hours a day). If these are what you like to eat, plan on making a permanent bed for them. Have a pH test run on different areas of your property. Most gardens require a soil pH of between 5.5 and 7. Blueberries like 5 or maybe even a little less. I had a 7 acres in Arkansas once, and found that 17 blackberry plants would produce more than 15 gallons per year. Forty ever-bearing strawberries fed two of us all we wanted, and the slugs got the rest. I had an 80 ft long asparagus bed and had to pick it every other day. We had all we wanted to eat, and I put it in the freezer. The blueberries, grapes, and fruit trees were just getting old enough to start producing really well, when we decided to move. Get a pressure and a hot water bath canner and jars, a freezer and a space saver machine that sucks the air out of the bags before you freeze it, and if you like dried fruit, and dehydrator. Learn how to use them correctly. People on rec.food.preserving can help you with that. Then you can store the extra that you grow, or you can give it away or even sell it. Learn how to pull weeds. Learn how to hoe weeds. Learn how to remove weeds. Did I put enough emphasis on weed removal? Have fun. Dwayne "Terry Davis" > wrote in message ... > I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > > Terry > |
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Shaun aRe wrote:
>....... and if you're like me, you'll cry when a whole bunch > of your seedlings suddenly up and die for some reason and there's no time to > plant more for the season, heheheheheh! Or the birds get to the seedlings, as was the case with us. We have enclosed our veggie garden with very fine shade-cloth over a framework - keeps birds out and lets the sun in.  > > I plant a seed etc. - soon as it has sprouted, it's one of my babies - you > won't believe how much they can drag you right in, how much love, care and > attention they inspire you to give them. I love to go round to our plot, > tend to things, then just sit back and chill with a cold one, take in the > vibe of it all - excellent. 'Life', heheheh... It is so great to have fresh veggies. We had a whole lot of onions and sweet potatoes (still eating them) and don't forget the chillies!. I didn't have to buy onions for about 3 months, so it does save you money sometimes. But as another person pointed out, you still have to buy the "out of season" veggies. We have had cabbage, carrots, lettuce, and leeks too. And green beans. I think it's worth it if you have the time and people-power to tend to them. Cheers Cathy -- I don't suffer from insanity - I enjoy every minute of it |
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Fresh garden veggies are a whole lot better than those shipped in to
stores.My wife canned 40 qts.of tomatoes last year.As soon as corn is picked,the sugar starts turning to starch and by the time it arrives at the outlet,it has lost taste.Few people know this,because not many have tasted fresh picked corn.Some SE (sugar enhanced) varieties will hold their sugar for up to a day after picking,but the seed is expensive and few commercial growers plant it.Good luck in your efforts |
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Gardens don't save money? Store bought tomatoes are $3.00-4.00 a
pound here,depending on what variety you buy. |
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"cathyxyz" > wrote in message ... > Shaun aRe wrote: > > >....... and if you're like me, you'll cry when a whole bunch > > of your seedlings suddenly up and die for some reason and there's no time to > > plant more for the season, heheheheheh! > > Or the birds get to the seedlings, as was the case with us. We have > enclosed our veggie garden with very fine shade-cloth over a framework > - keeps birds out and lets the sun in. Not with ours usually - we grow them in greenhouses until large enough to be fairly if not totally safe from birds. We've just erected a 12 x 22 foot polytunnel as well now, fo things like my chiles, the tomatoes and whatever else we dream up to put in there ',;~}~ > > I plant a seed etc. - soon as it has sprouted, it's one of my babies - you > > won't believe how much they can drag you right in, how much love, care and > > attention they inspire you to give them. I love to go round to our plot, > > tend to things, then just sit back and chill with a cold one, take in the > > vibe of it all - excellent. 'Life', heheheh... > > It is so great to have fresh veggies. We had a whole lot of onions and > sweet potatoes (still eating them) and don't forget the chillies!. Forget chiles? - NEVER! That's what I'm a bit sad about this year - very poor germination with mine, then over half of the seedlings died. The rest aren't looking great either - they've not grown at all so you'd notice, in over 2 weeks. I hope they survive and have a good growth spurt! A while ago we managed to over-winter 2 chile plants in the house and they did superbly in their second season (last year) with such a head start, and produced heavily from very early to very late, but they got too big to bring into the house, and try though I did, no way to keep them warm enough to survive in a greenhouse here over winter - we had a parafin greenhouse heater going non-stop and a calor gas heater too for a while, as an experiment (expensive one too!), but they died regardless. For next season I plan on getting a much larger heated propagator and planting many, many more seeds than I did this year - if we have to many seedlings to plant out in the polytunnel in the end, we can sell some on easily enough. > I > didn't have to buy onions for about 3 months, so it does save you money > sometimes. Yup! Innitial layout for tools, greenhouses, manure, all sorts of things eats into it though, and people often forget about that money when working out how much they've saved. - Will our polytunnel ever pay for itself? Maybe, but not by savings alone - we intend to sell some fresh produce (already have takers for a lot of excess), as well as make finished products to sell on too - Kath is a multiple first prize winning preserve maker - she's taken 1st in every event she's entered (bloody show of LOL!) - so she's been making some already and selling it from a table set out at the edge of the plot, money into a tin to pay for things like new seeds and plants etc. I will be making chile sauces too - I make excellent ones by all accounts. We also plan on making tomato/oinion and herb sauces to sell on. That's the only way we'll ever have a chance to see the plot pay for itself - to have fun turning this into a little business. We grow onions each year too, usually corn as well (like this year), rhubarb, strawberries (we did have current bushes and raspberries too, but they became diseased so we dug them out - we'll have more again, in a different part of the plot we are preparing) squash types of some sort (last year we grew courgette/marrows though - had heaps of lovely little courgettes, left some that I tended carefully to grow to marrow size - biggest one was about 10lb in weight, and totally unblemished! It never made it into food though in the end, because we had so much, even after making gallons of marrow wine, ginger marrow jam, giving all takers some - all sorts, we still had loads left. We have some pumpkin to go in this year, might do some melon in one of the greenhouses too. > But as another person pointed out, you still have to buy the > "out of season" veggies. We have had cabbage, carrots, lettuce, and > leeks too. And green beans. I think it's worth it if you have the time > and people-power to tend to them. Yup! We both work full time and have busy lives generally, but have help all the time from Kath's dad - he's retired, and the plot is one of his pass-times (I just wish he didn't love concrete so much! He's not a 'gardener's gardener', IYKWIM...) I have to go round tonight to check on things actually - see if my chiles are doing any better, poor things... Shaun aRe |
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"T" > wrote in message ... > Fresh garden veggies are a whole lot better than those shipped in to > stores.My wife canned 40 qts.of tomatoes last year.As soon as corn is > picked,the sugar starts turning to starch and by the time it arrives at > the outlet,it has lost taste.Few people know this,because not many have > tasted fresh picked corn. Heheh, so true! We have a corn BBQ on the plot itself at least once a year around corn harvest time, just to taste it at its very best - delicious! A real eye opener for me the first time that was... Shaun aRe |
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sarah bennett > wrote in
: > Terry Davis wrote: >> I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a >> small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so >> the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or >> would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? >> >> How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? >> >> Terry >> > > you won't save any money, but home grown veggies are generally worth the > effort. (particularly with tomatoes and other fruit bearing vines) > I'll agree with the tomatoes. My neighbor lets me pick and eat his tomatoes when ripe. They are better than anything I've gotten at the supermarket and better than most farmer's markets. Michael |
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"Dog3" > wrote in message 1... > This really doesn't count but I grow chiles. I'm doing them in pots this > year. Great stuff! What varieties have you got in this season? Do you grow from seed each year, or do you try to overwinter any? Hope they do well for you ',;~}~ This year I've not done well so far, but if they all survive I have 1, 2 or so each Jamaica Red Hot, Fatali, Orange Habanero, Chocolate Habanero, Yellow Scotch Bonnet, (all chinense) one seedling has just sprouted of my Hot Lemon (IIRC) and that is all. I have put some Bolivian Rainbow seeds in late to *try* and make up for the losses, but no sign of any shoots yet. Also got some seeds from pods we bought that aren't sprouting yet - just some grown in Zimbabwe - 'red' ones, as well as some from Scotch Bonnets. Also have a Chiltepin plant that Katra sent me from Texas last year - it survived winter since they are a hardier plant, but it still took a hard knock and is taking its time coming back... Guess next year will have to be my first major chile grow season when we are better organised - I plan on planting as many chinense/chinensis varieties as I can next year, including one that chileseeds.co.uk has that's been bred by a university horticulture department to have lots of that tropical, fruity habanero type flavour but almost no heat at all - figure that one will go down REALLY well with the hard-core mild-heads ',;~}~ > I have herbs in pots too. I also have cilantro and creeping oregano > growing (in ground) as they make terrific ground covers and smell terrific. Herb gardens are great aren't they? I love the smell too. We've just planted a small one up at our plot, and Kath is busy designing and building a big raised bed for more, too. > I am very sun challenged here. Where is that then Michael? > While 3 have been taken down, I still have > a bunch of huge pin oaks so sun is not something I have an abundance of. I > may put a small greenhouse on the west side of the house and try to grow > some tomato plants. I do get sun on that side of the house. <shrug> I > could always till up the entire front lawn. The front part of the house > gets full sun most of the day. Yes - we lack a bit of sun on our plot, since they built tall properties nearly all along the southern edge of it, and now with the big polytunnel, we have one greenhouse that is quite shaded most of the time - guess we will have to use it to suit. Till up the *front lawn*? Isn't there someone at your house that would seriously object to such a move then? Cheers! Shaun aRe |
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"Terry Davis" > wrote in message ... > I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? <Snip> I grow herbs not veggies. IMHO In determining the economy of growing your own veggies you must factor in the cost of your labor at the going rate for a garden attendant. What if you had to outsource that labor? Or factor in the cost of your rate of pay. If you spend several hours a week in the garden you would probably be way ahead of the game taking a part time job at Starbucks and buying your vegetables. Do it because you LIKE to garden. Do it because of the better flavor of home grown vs commercial grown. If you think of it as labor - do not start its hard work and requires attention constantly to be successful. Dimitri |
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cathyxyz wrote: > Shaun aRe wrote: > > >....... and if you're like me, you'll cry when a whole bunch > > of your seedlings suddenly up and die for some reason and there's no time to > > plant more for the season, heheheheheh! > > Or the birds get to the seedlings, as was the case with us. We have > enclosed our veggie garden with very fine shade-cloth over a framework > - keeps birds out and lets the sun in. That's too much like work and wasted dollars... put up a few decoy owls and whirligigs... they look really k-ewl and they keep the mauraders well at bay. Cabelas.com has the best deal on owls and there are many websites selling very nicely made whiligigs at good prices, or there may be local craftsmen selling them close to where you live. Birds are deathly afraid of owls and the sudden noise and motion of whiligigs keeps birds and small animals far away. For deer there's no getting around it, you'll need a fence. Unless I had a very small garden or wanted to protect a few individual plants but covering an entire garden with netting is something I wouldn't consider. Sheldon |
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"Sheldon" > wrote in message oups.com... > > > cathyxyz wrote: >> Shaun aRe wrote: >> >> >....... and if you're like me, you'll cry when a whole bunch >> > of your seedlings suddenly up and die for some reason and there's no >> > time to >> > plant more for the season, heheheheheh! >> >> Or the birds get to the seedlings, as was the case with us. We have >> enclosed our veggie garden with very fine shade-cloth over a framework >> - keeps birds out and lets the sun in. > > That's too much like work and wasted dollars... put up a few decoy owls > and whirligigs... they look really k-ewl and they keep the mauraders > well at bay. Cabelas.com has the best deal on owls and there are many > websites selling very nicely made whiligigs at good prices, or there > may be local craftsmen selling them close to where you live. Birds are > deathly afraid of owls and the sudden noise and motion of whiligigs > keeps birds and small animals far away. For deer there's no getting > around it, you'll need a fence. Unless I had a very small garden or > wanted to protect a few individual plants but covering an entire garden > with netting is something I wouldn't consider. > > Sheldon <snip>For deer there's no getting around it, you'll need a fence. <snip> 6' high - minimum Speaking from experience. Dee |
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Terry Davis wrote: > I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? Economically... Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. . . . You've already answered your question, "a *small* garden". Start off SMALL! A 10' x 10' plot is a good sized beginning. All you'll need to start off is about a $50 investment; a spade, a garden fork, a long handled cultivator, a roll of weed block... and a strong back. I'll assume you already own a watering hose. Don't even think about gardening to save money... it's a HOBBY.. all hobbies are expensive. I have a 2,500 square foot vegetable garden... I bet I have more start-up costs invested in it than you do in your family automobile, and I spend more on it each year than you do running and maintaining your family automobile. And you're not going to feed your family, the best you can hope for is "supplimenting"... even professional farmers need to buy most of their family's produce. Economics is the least criteria to consider, if you don't really, really enjoy hard physical labor and for many long hours don't do it... if you do decide to garden you will not need any stupid gym membership, so you will save money there... I mean I never could see the sense in a bunch of retards getting together like so so many hamsters in squirrel cages, and then paying for the privlidge yet... the most important benefit from gardening is that it's the best hobby for maintaining physical (and mental/intellectual) fitness... there are only two kinds of people, those who grow turnips and those who are turnips. Sheldon |
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Terry Davis wrote:
> I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > > Terry Good for you, Terry. I don't think one *saves* a lot of money, but picking my own lettuce an hour before I eat it means alot. The nice thing about gardening is that you can pick and choose crops you like best. I grow mostly herbs (& tomatoes!), my lettuce in window boxes I can move to the shade, and desert hardy plants. I would definitely spend some time planning. Plan various types with the eat fresh (oh, the sugar snap peas!) or preserving method in mind. Check out the growing/harvesting days, when best to plant (I plant dill in February and September), and soil conditions. Maybe plant things that like acider soils on one side, etc. Although if you use good compost this may not be as important as spacing & trellising, etc. Rhubarb & horseradish need a lot of space. Check out your local agent or free USDA pamphlets if in USA for amount of crops needed for family. The _Ball Blue Book_ (a canning bible) can be bought in most Walmarts for about $7 has a short table on how much to plant common garden items for how much yield in various forms. _Stocking Up_, another preserving gospel, has some charts on how best to preserve various crops. These books ought to be in your local liberry as well. And stop in to rec.food.preserving and check out people putting up the groceries. Good Luck! Edrena |
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Sheldon wrote:
> > cathyxyz wrote: >> >>Or the birds get to the seedlings, as was the case with us. We have >>enclosed our veggie garden with very fine shade-cloth over a framework >>- keeps birds out and lets the sun in. > > <snipping> > That's too much like work and wasted dollars... put up a few decoy owls > and whirligigs... they look really k-ewl and they keep the mauraders > well at bay. <snip some more> We have real owls. They are obviously not "union members" cos they did NOTHING....  Maybe some "Sheldon-puppets" would do the trick hehheh heh For deer there's no getting > around it, you'll need a fence. We have an electric one... that seems to keep deer out (or bokke as they are known here... Unless I had a very small garden or > wanted to protect a few individual plants but covering an entire garden > with netting is something I wouldn't consider. We only covered 12 x 30 feet... just to give the seedlings a chance... before moving them onto the 25 acre plot (that we use the trimmer-from-h*ll on) .... Cheers Cathy - who is still researching her family trees, or is that roots? |
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"cathyxyz" > wrote in message ... > Sheldon wrote: >> >> cathyxyz wrote: > >>> >>>Or the birds get to the seedlings, as was the case with us. We have >>>enclosed our veggie garden with very fine shade-cloth over a framework >>>- keeps birds out and lets the sun in. >> >> > <snipping> > >> That's too much like work and wasted dollars... put up a few decoy owls >> and whirligigs... they look really k-ewl and they keep the mauraders >> well at bay. > > > <snip some more> > We have real owls. They are obviously not "union members" cos they did > NOTHING.... Maybe some "Sheldon-puppets" would do the trick heh heh heh> > > For deer there's no getting >> around it, you'll need a fence. > > We have an electric one... that seems to keep deer out (or bokke as they are > known here... > > > Unless I had a very small garden or >> wanted to protect a few individual plants but covering an entire garden >> with netting is something I wouldn't consider. > > We only covered 12 x 30 feet... just to give the seedlings a chance... before > moving them onto the 25 acre plot (that we use the trimmer-from-h*ll on) .... > > > Cheers > Cathy - who is still researching her family trees, or is that roots? WOW! The most we have to contend with are green fly and squirels! Definitly not exotic! Sarah |
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Terry Davis wrote:
> I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > > Terry > We've been married almost 39 years and have always had a veg garden. When we lived on the east coast, we grew everything from asparagus to zucchini in a 40x120 ft. garden. Potatoes, four or five kinds of tomatoes, strawberries, summer and winter squash, many kinds of peppers, cantaloupe, three kinds of corn, etc. Now that we are in Colorado with its iffy climate for gardening (with snow possibly as late as June 8 and as early as Sept 2.) our garden is tiny--tomatoes, golden zucchini, and flowers. Oh, and a whiskey barrel full of herbs. It's worth having a garden if you enjoy puttering around and picking things you grew yourself. If it's just another dreaded yard chore, forget it. gloria p |
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> > Sheldon > > <snip>For deer there's no getting > around it, you'll need a fence. <snip> > > 6' high - minimum > Speaking from experience. > Dee We've discovered that deer don't like to jump into small, enclosed spaces. So a 5' fence will keep them out of a 10'X10' garden. A friend had a big garden about 8'X50', but the deer wouldn't jump in because they didn't like the skinny, enclosed area. Maybe we're just lucky, or there's plenty of other forage, but so far so good for the last several years. (Okay, blast away, but that's what we've discovered with our deer.) I was out on my deck last night and saw the first buck of the season munching next door. I went out and set up a temporary fence around my tomatoes, the real fence is one chore for this weekend. On the subject of saving money, if you figure in your time, you're probably buying expensive vegies. But I'd say you can save money on herbs. A small bunch of basil is $1.50 or more in the market. Just plant it and leave it. The deer won't touch the herbs, so that's not a problem. Just before dinner, go out and pick what you need for that dish. Rosemary takes care of itself, mints do fine with some water, oregeno needs water, but not much else, and fresh herbs cost an arm and a leg in the stores. And fresh herbs are never very fresh in the store. So if you don't have much space, or even just some containers, herbs might be the best bang for the buck. Ken |
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Terry Davis wrote:
> I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? It depends on how big your garden is, how much work you want to put into it and how much you can put up for use later. When I was a kid we used to get enough beans out of our garden that we could freeze them and have enough beans for dinners several times per week for the rest of the year. Corn is cheap and easy to grow and has become absurdly expensive around here over the last few years. Tomatoes also tend to provide a real bounty. The best thing about growing your own vegetables is the access to garden fresh produce. Some things, like root vegetables are sometimes better after a period of storage, but most things are a lot better fresh out of the garden. Asparagus is right at the top of the list for me, followed by peas, beans, tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries. Sometimes it is more about the freshness and quality than savings. If you have to buy a rototiller, you might as well get a good one and make the garden bigger. It will save you countless hours of heavy digging. |
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Terry Davis wrote: > I just purchased a home in the country and I am thinking of starting a > small garden to grow my own veggies. I have a wife and a daughter so > the garden will feed 3 people. Is this idea economically feasible or > would I be better off just buying my veggies at the market? > > How many in this group grow your own veggies for cooking? > Add us to the list of those who grow their own. As is clear from the responses so far, your veg and herb garden(s) can be large or small, a lot of work or a little, and the varieties grown are limited only by your climate. (don't bother trying to fight that, by the way) My advice is to start small and see whether you like it. It's fairly simple to get started and doesn't have to be a lot of work. There are endless resources of information out there. You'll know soon enough whether it becomes a chore or a pleasure. If the former, then say the hell with it, if the latter, you'll still be doing it when the mortgage is finally paid off. -aem |
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Our garden consist of just 1.5 acres,but not that much work,because
we still have the four tractors/ implements from when we planted a whole lot more.We don't use weed killers or chemical pesticides and like knowing our produce is 'clean'. |
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Cindy Fuller wrote:
> Our yard is short on sunny spots, so we grow herbs instead of > vegetables. i have parsley, mint, thyme, and chives in a large > windowbox, a large pot of oregano, and a rosemary bush that we > inherited. Later on I'll plant some basil seedlings. > Good luck with the basil. It needs lots of light, especially of it is the purple ruffled variety. |
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Puester wrote:
> It's worth having a garden if you enjoy puttering around and picking > things you grew yourself. If it's just another dreaded yard chore, > forget it. > I used to like getting stuff fresh from the garden, but never much appreciated the work involved. I used to spend at least an hour every night weeding and cultivating. The soil here is very rich. After all that work through the week I would go away for the weekend and when I got back the garden was overgrown with weeds again. I once asked my wife to hoe the weeds in the garden while I was at work. I came home to find nice straight rows of weeds. She didn't know the difference between weeds and bean plants. She was so out of touch with gardening that she would go out to the fruit and vegetable garden and buy the same stuff that we were growing in the garden. Then the black walnut trees got big enough that they ruined the garden in that spot. My vegetable garden is now restricted to a corner of the flower garden where I grow herbs and a few tomato plants. In one corner of the yard I have a bunch of raspberry canes, and last weekend I planted to rhubarb plants. I think my wife has the right answer. When the stuff is ripe in the garden it is dirt cheap at the neighbours' vegetable stands. |
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T wrote: > Our garden consist of just 1.5 acres. *Just* 1.5 acres, why that's some 65,000 square feet, enough space to grow a multitude of crops for about 20 large families... what do you do with it all... I'm serious... because I have a hard time using all I grow on *just* 2,500 square feet, and I give away about half to neighbors. Sheldon |
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Dave Smith wrote: > Puester wrote: > > > It's worth having a garden if you enjoy puttering around and picking > > things you grew yourself. If it's just another dreaded yard chore, > > forget it. > > > > I used to like getting stuff fresh from the garden, but never much > appreciated the work involved. I used to spend at least an hour every night > weeding and cultivating. The soil here is very rich. After all that work > through the week I would go away for the weekend and when I got back the > garden was overgrown with weeds again. > > I once asked my wife to hoe the weeds in the garden while I was at work. I > came home to find nice straight rows of weeds. She didn't know the > difference between weeds and bean plants. You need to become familiar with "weed block"... Leevalley.com has the best, BEST quality by far. I carpet my entire garden with weed block, virtually zero weeding. I also use weed block over the entire surface of all my shrub and flower beds, and around every recently planted tree. It may at first seem costly but it lasts a long, looong, loooong time, and saves innumerable hours of boring weeding. I'm not even careful with preserving, I leave my veggie weed block down all winter and then roll it up for tilling come spring, and then put it back... and still it's very serviceable 10, 12, 15 years. http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page...t=2,2300,33272 Sheldon |
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On the other hand....last year I bought 600 concrete blocks to build raised
beds in which I'm playing with square-foot gardening. There's no way that I'm going to save money there. Maybe not that year, Bubba, but it is a one-time expense. After the beds are constructed all you have to buy is seeds! The first year you might have spent $600+ but if you only spend $10 a year on subsequent years over a ten year period that averages out to only $70 per year. I'm sure that most people spend more than that on produce annually. chula |
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Sarah wrote:
<snipping> > > > WOW! The most we have to contend with are green fly and squirels! Definitly not > exotic! > > Sarah > > Never a dull moment around here... We don't have any lions though...(well I haven't seen any yet).... Cheers Cathy -- I don't suffer from insanity - I enjoy every minute of it |
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All the posters have given you great advice. I want to toss my half-penny in too. From your post, it sounds like you have not gardened before. If this is true, my advice would be to start very, very small. There is quite a trick to making things grow and to being prepared for all that can go wrong. Engage these folks here in in-depth suggestions and ideas. Read every thing you can and check out the Web. Look around your yard. See a rabbit? No. Well, you will see an army of them once you plant something. Got birds, snakes, grasshoppers, crickets? Live in fire ant country? Ever see Bambi around? Got beautiful butterflies? Like escargot? Wildlife is a wonderful thing unless you have a garden. What kind of soil do you have? What do you need to add to it? Got nitrogen? Different veggies and fruits need different things. Melons need hills of sandy loam. Blackberries need a high water table. Can you drain your garden if you get too much rain? Can you water it if you dont get enough? What kind of a dad are you? Can you tell the difference between your brand new green babies and a killer weed when they pop their little heads out of the soil? Do you know which babies need to be staked and which ones need lots of space to crawl along the ground? How much do you plant? One stalk of corn will give you 3 4 ears. 1 cucumber vine will give you a ton of cukes. Well, not a ton, maybe, but it sure seems like it! Ahhhhh, yes, the joys of gardening! Im not trying to discourage you, but there is a lot more to it than tossing a few seeds in the ground. Thats why I say, if you are new to this, start small. Fresh fruits and veggies are without compare and it would be a great family hobby and wonderful for your child to see and learn. Elaine, too |
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On Wed, 25 May 2005, Shaun aRe wrote: > > "T" > wrote in message > ... > > Fresh garden veggies are a whole lot better than those shipped in to > > stores.My wife canned 40 qts.of tomatoes last year.As soon as corn is > > picked,the sugar starts turning to starch and by the time it arrives at > > the outlet,it has lost taste.Few people know this,because not many have > > tasted fresh picked corn. > > Heheh, so true! We have a corn BBQ on the plot itself at least once a year > around corn harvest time, just to taste it at its very best - delicious! A > real eye opener for me the first time that was... > > > Shaun aRe > I totally agree! When I was a kid, my grandfather would say, "put the water on to boil. I'm going to pull some corn." My grandmother would put the pot on and we would head to the back porch ready to shuck the minute he got back. There was nothing like it. There still isn't. Oh, and those tomatoes! One year we had "tommy toes". My friends and I would eat them right off the vine. My grand mother said there wouldn't be enough for a "mess" if we didn't stay out of them. I must have been 6 or 7 when my friends and I started taking a butcher knife to the garden, pulled a watermellon off the vine, sat down right there and cut it open, sliced it up, and ate it. All my grandmother said was, "you kids be sure to bring that butcher knife back, ya hear? ... and watch for snakes!" Geez, times have changed! What wonderful memories! Elaine, too. |
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T wrote: > Fresh garden veggies are a whole lot better than those shipped in to > stores.My wife canned 40 qts.of tomatoes last year.As soon as corn is > picked,the sugar starts turning to starch and by the time it arrives at > the outlet,it has lost taste.Few people know this,because not many have > tasted fresh picked corn. I used to work for Pioneer HiBred International - the largest corn producting entity in the world. Every Friday in season, the guys would go to the sweet corn field and pick a pick-up load and then we'd meet at the local park and BBQ corn. Nothing better! And they grew DeKalb sweet corn because it was better than own own! Then we'd all take grocery sacks of left-overs home for the weekend. Nothing better than fresh Iowa-grown sweet corn. -L. |
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Good question,Sheldon.We used to sell fresh veggies to a friend who
owned a restaurant on Cape Cod,he loved our tomatoes & corn(we grow the SE type that retains its sugar long after being picked).We also had local people who liked organic produce AND,with five kids and their families,we have no trouble getting rid of our veggies.Also have 40 blueberry bushes,which we share with the birds Ah,good o'l blueberrypie.Also some fruit trees,like apple,cherry,peach plus American black walnut trees.Wife still cans and vacuum packs some veggies for freezing.Remember,tomatoes are sun lovers,won't well in shady locations. |
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Yes,Elaine,times have changed,not for the better in many cases.We
enjoy living out in the 'country' and we feel our kids grew up better because of it,not afraid of hard work.Are they successful,well their all working,one makes $106,000 a year.No poblem with drugs,one smokes,one has a beer once in awhile.My wife and i don't drink or smoke,never have. |
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