Growing Your Own Food

[busymom]

I've never sat down & figured out how much we're saving, but we've never spent more than $30-$40 in plants & seeds for our vegetalble garden (it would be cheaper if I could get tomato plants to germinate from seeds, but they never survive the transplant!) Depending on the growing season (which has been good or poor here), we've gotten TONS of cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, etc. The plant that seems to need the least babying is broccoli.
You do need to make time to water (I do that almost every evening) and weeding. I do enjoy being out in the fresh air, and the way my kids eat, I know we save money! I'll be asking you who needs tomatoes by August!

[hopetoberich]

The costs here seem to match what i use to spend when i had a garden. Sometimes i read about people spending hundreds on a garden and i wonder what on earth they are doing.
I used to grow from seed and aimed for 100%. I DO have a very green thumb, and i'd baby those seedlings but i got so much food from them all summer, usually Tomatoes, french green beans, lettuce, cabbage and a few other things. How i miss those days.
This year i am thinking of putting a bartering add in craigslist, for someone's left over veg from the garden every week, for some of my health & beauty items that i get cheap with coupons. What do you think?

[busymom]

Hope, I like the barter idea. In a good year a gardener gets more produce sometimes than they know what to do with!

[Deleted]

I don't sell my vegs. but last year for the first time I divided and sold a lot of perennials. Traded a lot too. Sold them cheap and friends donated plastic pots for me. I used compost to plant them in. I probably made about $150.00 and used it of course to buy more varieties of perennials and annuals too. The best part was meeting some great gardening people.

[bella]

I haven't posted in a while, probably since the boards moved. I can't wait to start planting. I already have tomato plants started in individual peat pots! I am attending a meeting Thursday about starting a farmers market in my town! I can't wait! Hope it suceeds!!

[gailbon]

bobbysgirl, grass clippings are also great for a compost pile. My husband and I finally made an actual compost bin, but before we had one, we would just throw all of our leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen scraps right into our garden.

[kadee]

Let me urge most of you who are gardening to get a soil test. I was able to check out/borrow a tool from our county extension office to collect the soil and they provided bags with a "line" (fill to) for putting it in to send to the university. It only cost me $6 in my state (varies with state) and it took about a week to get my results. Then you know for sure what amendments your soil needs for the things you are growing.
I use newspapers also or cardboard for weed control. However, after doing some research, I have found that most printers DON'T use vegetable based inks...they clogged up their printers. I will still use it though.
If you are going to compost, you can put ALL of your kitchen scraps into the compost or dig a hole in the garden & them in...just no meat or milk products as those tend to draw unwanted critters (crawling ones & walking ones).
If you have limited space, don't forget that there are many items you can grow UP! Depending on the strength of your support you can grow pole/climbing green beans, cukes, melons, etc. Another thing for small spaces is inter-planting. I have onions planted and since they will be small for quite awhile I have planted radishes, kohlrabi & spinach between their narrow rows. Those will be gone before the onions need more space. You can also inter-plant with your flowers or shrubs, especially any herbs you might want to grow. Chives around certain things like roses helps keep several bad bugs away from them.
Just be sure to use your county extension service for lots of info that will be specific to your area.

A good garden board for questions is GardenWeb.com. There are lots of VERY experienced gardeners on there and some good experts too!

Gardening isn't always about how much money you can save...it is definitely about how much better "FRESH" tastes, not having all the commercial chemicals on your food, the exercise it provides and a wonderful sense of satisfaction when things go right. It is also about watching something start from a seed and produce something you can use...renewal! Saving money is just a "side effect"! ;D

[Deleted]

Feb 12, 2011 14:28:20 GMT -5 @bobbysgirl said:

One thing I have tried to remember is we either have time or money. Seldom both until, maybe, retirement. I did a small garden last year with very little money invested. I was lucky to find seeds for 4/1.00 and used coffee grounds and egg shells to amend the soil. My success, for a first timer, was exciting. Since then I have learned so much more and will use the newspaper trick to prevent weeds and amend the soil. I did buy lime to sweeten the soil this year at a cost of around 5.00. Grounds and shells still go on top of the snow for the spring soil to suck in and I began adding celery and carrot peelings.

Can anyone add to the frugal use of things to improve my garden soil and crops?

Do you just throw the coffee grounds and egg shells directly outside? Or do you collect them and let them compost some?

[Deleted]

Feb 12, 2011 20:10:28 GMT -5 busymom said:

I've never sat down & figured out how much we're saving, but we've never spent more than $30-$40 in plants & seeds for our vegetalble garden (it would be cheaper if I could get tomato plants to germinate from seeds, but they never survive the transplant!)

We're trying the peat pots this year. They are biodegradable pots that you start the seeds in and when it's time to move outside, you plant the pot and all directly into the ground. The seeds we started about a month ago are thriving inside... You just have to be careful to acclimate them to the outside.

[bobbysgirl]

Feb 14, 2011 9:14:08 GMT -5 @rosebaby said:

Feb 12, 2011 14:28:20 GMT -5 @bobbysgirl said:

One thing I have tried to remember is we either have time or money. Seldom both until, maybe, retirement. I did a small garden last year with very little money invested. I was lucky to find seeds for 4/1.00 and used coffee grounds and egg shells to amend the soil. My success, for a first timer, was exciting. Since then I have learned so much more and will use the newspaper trick to prevent weeds and amend the soil. I did buy lime to sweeten the soil this year at a cost of around 5.00. Grounds and shells still go on top of the snow for the spring soil to suck in and I began adding celery and carrot peelings.

ROSE: Last year I dried the grounds and shells in the oven and stored them in coffee cans. This year I throw it on the snow and it goes down to the earth on it's own. I will turn it all in in the spring.

Can anyone add to the frugal use of things to improve my garden soil and crops?

Do you just throw the coffee grounds and egg shells directly outside? Or do you collect them and let them compost some?

[bobbysgirl]

This year I have just thrown it on the snow and it goes down to the earth on it's own.