anyone out there have a veggie garden with sole purpose to save $$? sure it's fun for kids too but with rising food prices & 4 kids I'm finding it will be key to eating decent veggies this summer/fall. What do you find that best to plant that your family likes to eat. any other words of encouragement or suggested website welcomed.
veggies garden to save $$
I have had a veggie garden
I have had a veggie garden for years. Part of our original idea was to save some $. But I know that we really didn't in the early years, when I was still buying tools and hardscape stuff like trellises and fencing.
Now that those days are behind us, I would assume it is a cost savings. Plus, I used to spend a lot of time trying to build up the soil in my garden plot. Now that the hard and $ work is done, we garden!
This year I am only into it about $75 and I have a good looking 250 sq ft garden with three types of tomatoes, red potatoes, onions, greens, lettuce, spinach snow peas, 2 types of green beans, a purple hull bean, sage, mint, shallots and watermelons.
The biggest benefit of all though is still that the kids have a blast out there AND they are likely to eat veggies if we grew it in the garden. Right now, they are eating the snow peas as they stand right out in the garden, looking for more.
As far as advice, start small. Either in deep pots or a small plot framed with like 1X10 untreated lumber. You can handle that size without any big tools AND it is small enough that you can reach all the way in from the sides, without stepping in the soil.
My first bed was a 8X4 foot bed framed with 2x12 lumber. I kept adding more beds each year as my interest grew.
Mike S
Austin TX
My wife just gave me this list of plants to buy for the garden
She says I get my own choice of two plants. Any suggestions based on what we have listed? I live in Ohio.
tomatoes - 4 plants
peppers - 2 plants
cucumbers - 2 plants
zuchinni/squash - 3 plants
melon - 2 plants
your choice - 2 plants
basil
cilantro
seeds:
beans
peas
marigolds
corn
sunflowers
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http://www.altparenting.com
The boss doesn't want a
The boss doesn't want a veggie garden so I had to incorporate them into the flower beds. Tomatoes (cherry, big-boys, and Roma) zucchini, Swiss chard, peppers, and this year arugula will be scattered throughout. The neighbors want to divvy up who grows what because we all have to much. I like to grow what can give the most output and that is why I don't waste space on the items that will produce once, maybe twice, like broccoli. I'm thinking about eggplant this year and I believe the oriental variety will be best. Herbs are tricky because most like to spread. The chive is a pretty plant and if you let them go to seed you will have them growing everywhere. The same with dill and mint. So the herbs will be grown in planters.
Yeah I like to mix in the
Yeah I like to mix in the veggies with the other landscape platings, but we have voracious deer in the front yard and a dog that digs the a bulldozer in the backyard (but he also helps keep the deer and squirrels away from the veggie plot.)
And as far as the raised beds go, to be safe, you should plan to use an untreated lumber for the beds. I feel hypocritical mentioning this, since my garden is edged and fenced with pressure treated lumber that I scrapped from other projects.
And I love the idea of spreading the varieties out between neighbors. I REALLY hate tomatoes, but I grow tons of them every summer for the wife. Then I try to give away whatever we don't cook or eat. I love cukes, but I didn't plant any this year, since I ended up with an endless supply last year.
Eggplant are really fun for the kids. When the "egg" is hanging on the plant and before it turns purple, my kids are memorized by it.
Mike S
Austin TX
Joined: 2008-04-17
Dad Points: 5