This year in Gardening
Last year I got laid off and spent much of the year looking for work. To save money, I actually did what I’d been thinking of doing for years:
I grew my own vegetable garden from seed.
This is no huge revealation in and of itself. Plenty of people of do it and have done it since the beginning of farming. It’s just it’s my first time doing so. The cost savings grew as the year went on, I probably saved close to $500 easy on fresh produce and made my diet much healthier. And of course, I want to make another one this year. Bigger, heathier, easier to maintain. I’m going with a raised series of planting beds this year. Also, I’m trying to heirloom my tomatoes. If I can get the seeds I salvaged from my crop this year to germinate I’ll have plants that produces fruit I know I like the taste of.
What I had last year (that actually produced):
- lettuce (variety)
- tomatoes (cherry, beefsteak, and roma)
- cucumbers (mostly burpless)
- okra
- carrot
- celery
- peppers (banana and several hots)
I also planted eggplant [fail], some pomegranates [should do less failing this year], and strawberries [if this year's crop is bad then it's also a fail].
This year, if I can swing it, I’d like to try again with the eggplant and also do potatoes and some sort of fruit… I’ve some pots that have fruit bushes starting out from last year, but they’re puny. I may also try again to start grape vines. They take a few years to take, but the payoff would be worth it to me.