Okay okay, gardening might not seem like a financial issue, but really it is. I swear!
We have a rather ambitious backyard 'farm' brewing. (I'm up to about 600 sq feet in planting space in the back, and 200 in the front). If I play my cards right, we will have plenty of fresh, chemical free heirloom fruits and veggies to eat from April until December next year.
I'm going to keep track of everything I pull out of the garden this year, as well as every dollar I spend on the garden, so I can determine how much it really does save. At the end of the season, I will calculate what it would have cost me to buy what we grew at the grocery store. Not sure how I should account for the items I can, but I'll figure that out. Should be interesting. I did this four years ago, at the last house, and I remember we pulled almost 200 pounds of roma tomatoes out that year alone. It was an epic year for home-canned pasta sauce.
Once again I have big plans for my backyard veggie garden. I finished my seed orders tonight. Luckily, I still have plenty of awesome heirloom seeds left over from last year (still viable), so I only had to spend about $30 out of pocket to fill in all the gaps.
I also attend an annual plant and seed swap, which allows me to share my extra seedlings in exchange for sometimes very expensive flowers, fruits, and veggies. All for free. It's fun. (I got spendy irises and lilies for my front yard last year). This year, I plan to grab strawberry and raspberry starts, some perennial flowers such as bee balm, and maybe some flavored mints for a tea garden. I highly recommend finding a free plant swap. They are addictive.
Last year, the goal was to construct the gardens. We had an okay season, but made the mistake of using subsoil in the raised beds (mixed with compost) and it was just too heavy and poor to produce much. We still got some, but not nearly what we could have. That has all been dug out and replaced with an excellent compost mix.
This year, the goal is to maximize their productivity. Spring, summer, and fall crops, row covers to extend the season, the whole deal. It could be an epic failure, but no matter what, it will be awesome, and I'm excited. I've always been a big gardener, but this is a step up even for me.
I'll probably be out in the garden in late February installing hoops and row covers.
If any of you are interested....
I have done a lot of research into season extending, and found and excellent book on it: "The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener" by Niki Jabour. I love it because she gardens in the same zone as I do, so all of her advice is relevant, unlike the books coming out of California.
I'm also going to try harder to interplant-- i.e. growing carrots, lettuce or beets under the tomatoes, rather than one crop. It could work well.
I hope I'm not the only one excited to garden!
I was out working in my beds this last sunny day. Here is the top pick, of me laying cardboard for the paths (I will mulch over them. It looks nice and keeps weeds down). And, then below that, my dream for what my garden will eventually look like!
Gardening to save Big $$$$$
January 6th, 2014 at 01:16 am
January 6th, 2014 at 01:59 am 1388973589
January 6th, 2014 at 02:45 am 1388976328
January 6th, 2014 at 03:03 am 1388977412
I enjoy gardening, but have not done more than just hobby gardening. I will be interested to read about your progress. The farm we get produce from does cover crops, interplanting etc. All interesting.
I love the *dream* garden picture!!!
January 6th, 2014 at 04:56 pm 1389027394
I'm glad to see u-shape beds, as it maximizes planting space as compared to rectangular beds, yet still gives the same degree of access to the interior. I no longer use raised beds because they seemed to drain too well. I had double-dug raised beds (very high and fluffy) ala John Seymour of the Self-Sufficient Gardener.
Will you have at least one storage vegetable that does not need processing? For us that is dry beans or peas, winter squash, and sweet potatoes.
January 6th, 2014 at 05:10 pm 1389028242
January 6th, 2014 at 06:02 pm 1389031354
-Yes, the kids love it. They especially love finding worms and slugs. ( I give them a penny a slug!). We are going to make a worm composting bin this spring, for the boys.
-For storage crops, I do butternut squash. I am also growing a storage potato and a storage beet(Lutz Winter Keeper) this year. And, I will be overwintering salad greens, beets, and carrots under heavy row covers all winter, so I can just go out and pick what I need. We'll see how that works.
-CL-We make our own compost, and I often get volunteer squash and tomatoes from CSA share leftovers. Home compost usually isn't strong enough to kill those!
- We keep a lot of the plastic pots that come through our house for reuse. I also sprout seeds inside those plastic clamshell containers that spinach and cherry tomatoes comes in at the grocery. They make good mini-greenhouses.
-Once you get going, it isn't as much work as your think. The hard part is building and filling beds and hauling compost. Other than that, it only takes a few hours a week to maintain-- until harvest! Last year I spent maybe 5 days canning. Not too bad, considering we get to eat that all year long!
January 6th, 2014 at 06:13 pm 1389032025
The round ones I made from discarded basement window wells from the Habitat for Humanity reuse it store. I love second hand!
January 6th, 2014 at 08:52 pm 1389041532
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January 7th, 2014 at 08:38 pm 1389127138
January 12th, 2014 at 09:14 pm 1389561283
I have also been thinking about what I'll grow in 2013. The tomato blight's gotten really bad, so I think I need to skip growing tomatoes (and anything in the night shade family) for a year. I'm thinking kale, shallots, garlic, peapods, basil, leeks, beans so far.
January 12th, 2014 at 10:15 pm 1389564931
January 13th, 2014 at 12:02 am 1389571353
Comfrey leaves are also excellent feed for both rabbits and the compost, and they are a perennial that is pretty hardy.
I have a self-sufficiency plan. We make enough applesauce and pasta sauce and diced tomatoes to never have to buy it at the store. We also make enough jam to last through the year. Not all of the fruit comes from us. Whatever we come up short, we have a farmer friend who can fill in. But, in five more years, I'm hoping we can grow 100 percent of our fruit too!
January 13th, 2014 at 06:47 am 1389595632
January 14th, 2014 at 01:13 am 1389662027
January 14th, 2014 at 01:38 am 1389663482
First, we use a Victorio food mill to process it, so it's that nice smooth consistency, then we boil it down. We also only use roma or sauce type tomatoes, because they are generally less watery than other tomatoes, so there is less boiling before it's thick. We either mix it with basil or with onions, zucchini, basil, oregano, etc.
We also use the tomato-basil puree to make homemade creamy tomato soup.
January 14th, 2014 at 08:32 am 1389688325
January 14th, 2014 at 02:22 pm 1389709330
It takes the peels off the raw tomatoes for you. When we make applesauce, we boil down sliced apples--peels, cores, and all. Then it goes int he food mill, which takes out the seeds, peels, and cores. I love the food mill!
I don't really like the salsa attachment though. I like my salsa chunkier, so we still do that by hand.
January 17th, 2014 at 07:27 pm 1389986820
January 25th, 2014 at 08:30 pm 1390681849