Does gardening boost your food budget?

[minniemair]

So sorry about your Mom, I lost mine 8 years ago and relandscaped all aound our deck that summer. I think of her when I look at those shrubs and beds. Gardening is wonderful therapy and keeps me positive-how can you be hopeless when those little seeds start popping into plants! You might want to try eggplant in a container with sterile potting soil. We have vwilt here in NJ and It never grew well for me in the garden bed but does OK in containers.

 

[tinkarooni]

Are you by any chance in CT? I'd pay you to start seeds for me and help me out with some raised beds.

Sorry, I'm in western PA. But you can do it if you want to. The best thing that I have to start seeds is I bought an indoor greenhouse. All it is is a four shelf plastic unit with a clear plastic cover that fits over and zips up the back. Putting this in a sunny window allows my seeds to germinate in about half the time. It's also handy to have the shelves otherwise you end up with flats all over the floor. The plastic cover keeps it warm inside even though when we're out, the house is too cool to start seeds. Once I picked this up it made this SOOO easy. If you look through gardeners supply they have them but I found mine at Big Lots for $19.99, a bargain. I grow almost all my plants from seed and the cost for the shelves have more than paid for themselves.

If seed starting is not your thing try planting as much directly into the ground with seeds that you can. Pumpkins, all squash, watermelon, cantalope, spinach, lettuce, carrots, green beans, herbs can all be started with seeds directly in the ground. Starting with seeds instead of plants will save you a lot. I've done it for years and most always get bumper crops.

I highly recommend the Joy of Gardening and the Joy of Gardening Cookbook. Really good basic advice that I continue to use about planting, bug control, harvesting, composting etc. The cookbook gives you lots of great ideas for what to do with it all.

 

[rdevine10]

I need some help! I know nothing, NOTHING, I repeat nothing about gardening, but I really want to try a small garden this year. My biggest garden experience has been adding a few annuals to the yard

So, please any recommendations for books, websites, etc, for gardening basics, beginners and dummies????

I bookmarked a couple of the website (really thought the hydroponic gardening was REALLY cool, as I did when I was epcot), but, want to learn more before I make any choices.

If anyone has any insight, would be totally appreciative!!!!!

 

[Misty89]

i garden, but not with the sole intention of saving money....I enjoy it and it does save me some $$ while i am at it LOL.
I am not in anyway a hardcore gardener, I do not start my own seeds ( tried & failed and wasted my $$ half a dozen times) and i do not do any extra ground upkeep, besides miracle grow for tomatoes. I buy all of my plants started( gasp) at Steins garden center, and i get the biggest strongest plants i can find.
I do not even have a "garden bed" .....i have flower beds that run the width of my house and the length of my fence that are about 18" deep, they were used for flowers sometime in the past.
I also use large pots - basicly i do not have a very pretty set up, but i always always get lots of compliments on my plants. I even have a gardening job set up this spring, my BIL wants me to get him set up with a veggie garden . my only cherry tomato plant last year grew up the fence and back down, it was about 9 ft tall standing .

I grow every season ( my DD8 helps me btw )
1 plant of Cherokee purple tomatoes ( large, yummy fruit)
1 plant of cherry tomatoes
We have about 3 bushes of raspberries ( growing for 4 years)
1 or 2 green pepper plants
2 rows of Zuchinni ( love it)


we have experimented with - and might do again sometime, when i have a square garden bed again - they need more room that i have avail now, and alot more care and bug maintanience.
Radish
greens
hot peppers
cantalope
watermelon
sweet corn
beans
carrots


again, i do not grow to save $$, but it is very nice to save when i do.

 

[DAKTOLCMM]

For those of you that live in Central FL, what are some places that you frequent instead of growing your own? I had hoped to start growing when we move in a few months, but doesn't look that that is a good idea with all the pests.

 

[GraysMom]

Thanks for the link! DH would love this, but we live in a very windy area near the ocean. Do you think it could still work for us?

I think it would still work, you just may need to buy longer poles (actually metal pipes) and maybe cement the poles into the ground instead of just hammering them into the soil with a mallet. If it still seems to windy once you set it up, you could put up a piece of wooden fencing to break up the wind in the direction it usually comes from (make sure the fencing has openings in between the slats so the sun can shine through and the air can circulate. Good luck!

 

[GraysMom]

Squash, zucchini, TOMATOES, green beans, eggplant, peppers and romaine here. If the chipmunks would stay away from the strawberries, I'd be very happy.

My biggest savings comes from growing fresh herbs. I never buy parsley, chives, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil or mint over the summer...and the thyme and parsley are still going strong this winter!

If you find something that keeps chipmunks away, please let me know. They plow through my flower garden mostly, and it's so frustrating .

 

[happycampers]

Don't plant them too close to your house, fruit trees attract hornets, bees, rats and other critters. We had to move a pear tree away from a back porch-we thought it would be cool to pick the fruits off the porch but the hornets/bees/rats feasting on the trees and hanging out on the porch forced us to move it to the back corner of the yard.

Okay, I've always wanted an apple tree, but DH doesn't want to have to deal with picking up any fallen apples to mow the lawn. Now, I'm scared of the aforementioned pests and critters. We are in a fairly young, suburban subdivision, not a large piece of land. Any words of advice, encouragement, discouragement?

 

[smiller]

I'd love to try gardening again. I used to when I was little and lived on an acre out in the suburbs.

Now I'm in the city and definitely need some urban gardening ideas! I have a postage-stamp balcony on the front of my condo with limited northern exposure and a shared back porch with southern exposure.

I'm on a high first floor, so I don't have to worry about accidentally watering my downstairs neighbors! Other residents in my building grow a few plants each summer, but I'm not sure how much luck they've had.

I'd love to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, radishes, lettuces, and lots of herbs. I'm not very good at gardening (wasn't when I was little, either, but it was still good fun!) but I figure it's worth a go.

Do squirrels like to eat gardens? They seem to be the only critters around.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

If you find something that keeps chipmunks away, please let me know. They plow through my flower garden mostly, and it's so frustrating .

We use a havahart trap, load it with peanut butter, and then when it catches the chipmunks we put the whole thing in a big plastic bucket, drive it over to the park that's 3 miles away, and set them free.

Once one got free in the car, that was a very exciting moment!!!! Eeeek! Screech! We used a bigger bucket after that to contain any chipmunk escapage from the trap...

Last year we caught 23 chipmunks, I'm betting we're on par to do at least that this year. They're ruining the front yard.

 

[loriandmatt]

We grow:

tomatoes (cherries, the standard red big boys and yellows), onions, green peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, string beans, mint, sweet basil, jalepenos and cilantro. (i know i spelled some of that incorrectly - oh well.) this year i want to start asparagus - it takes at least a year, in some cases 2 or 3 to start producing decent amounts, but you don't have to ever replant. I also have been trying to find a place to get brussel sprout seeds or starter plants. i love fresh ones and have been told that these can be planted in late summer for fall/winter harvesting. have been very unsuccessfull in finding them though. the green houses in my area (philly suburbs) look at me like i am crazy.

does it save us money???.....probably not. i tried planting from seed, but had a huge fail rate even when i started the seeds indoors. i just don't have the room indoors for all those seedling trays. so, since we don't start from seed, we spend quite a bit at the green house buying starter plants. then there is the upkeep of the fence (to keep the dear and rabbits out) and tomato cages, yearly shot of mushroom soil......it all adds up.

We do eat everything we grow and freeze what we can't eat or give away to friends/family....but we mostly do it because we love it. We both find working in the garden to be very relaxing and rewarding in some way.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

For those of you that live in Central FL, what are some places that you frequent instead of growing your own? I had hoped to start growing when we move in a few months, but doesn't look that that is a good idea with all the pests.

Are you moving to Brevard County or to Orlando? I can't tell from your location. If you're moving to Brevard, then I highly, highly recommend Downtown Produce. It's in Melbourne. They distribute to restaurants but also have a grocery store and deli that is open to the public. That place rocks! I do most of our grocery shopping there.

 

[cudworth]

Does Gardening save money YES. The main thing the veggies taste way better than from the store and they are more healthly. We are 4 months away from growing Tomatoe's peppers carrots corn cuc's potatoes onions kolorobi pea's strawberries raspberries huckleberries radish and lettuce.

 

[extremesoccermom]

I love to garden and even took over my parents when I was still a teenager at home. We have great soil but too many trees. None of the trees are in my yard but the neighbors on every side have a number of trees allong the fences. I only have a very small area that gets enough sun to plant a garden.
Last year I had brocolli, 3 kinds of tomatos including cherry tomatoes, zuchini, summer squash, cucumbers, red peppers, 3 kinds of lettuce, cilantro, parsley, basil and cantalope.
Most were given to me, some I started as seeds and I bought a few plants for $20.00 total.
I really don't add anything to my ground except water occasionally when the summer heat starts.
Last year I experimented with the hanging some tomato plants upside down in bags (didn't work) and I turned my flower garden in the front yard into a veggie garden. It was great we ate all summer on what I grew and even canned some stewed tomatoes.
In the past I have grown bird house gourds and may do that again since I like to paint them and give as Christmas Gifts. I have also done loofas before they are very cool. I will add mint, sage, pumpkins and spinach to my mix this year. And maybe some spaghetti squash if I can get it to start from the seed of one that I bought last week. I hope to expand the garden by about a foot all the way around. My problem is keeping my dogs out of it!

 

[Chereya]

Subscribing so I can read this thread later and share it with my husband. We just bought a house and want to start a garden this spring. We're completely in the dark about how to go about it so this thread looks great for a starting point.



Chereya

 

[sherreis]

Sorry about your mom

Did your watermelons taste right? Mine were not sweet...

Spinach/broccoli were awesome for me this year. I have a killer spinach salad and broccoli chowder recipe if anyone wants them...

Thank you. Hard to believe it'll be a year in March. For someone who normally isn't physical I loved having my garden last year. I only have a few jars of tomatoes left from my canning and when I was at the grocery store yesterday and saw tomatoes for $3.99/lb, I pictured my lush garden this past summer.

From our watermelons - we only got a few. Picked the first one too soon so it wasn't sweet. The 2nd one was OK. One of the neighbor kids picked one (without permission) and smashed it up. Of course, that one looked the best. Some of the kids ate it and said it was good.

Anything special to growing spinach? My DS7 loves baby spinach and will eat it as salad, cooked, whatever.

I would love to have your chowder recipes. Love any type of soup.

Is broccoli hard to grow? We all like that.

sorry to take so long to get back to this thread. I miss getting my notifications in my email when there has been an update.

 

[hipchickie]

I doubt we are saving money by gardening , but it is cheaper than therapy

There was a book that came out last year called

The $64 Tomato
How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden

- it was a guy that put in a garden and figured out what it cost him vs. what he harvested. I haven't read it but it sounds pretty funny. And accurate