Is One Tomato Plant Worth $50?
Wednesday July 2, 2008
Let me start off with saying I am clearly no gardener or at least I wasn't until this summer. I think what finally convinced me it was time to dabble in a small garden was after I grabbed a few yellow peppers at the grocery store and they were over two dollars a piece. I like peppers. I like tomatoes. I love cucumber. I dislike having to pay so much for fresh vegetables. My solution? I've been growing a bunch of vegetables in two plastic tubs which take up very little space. Read more...
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I’ve had a vegetable garden for a few years now – I love the convenience and savings, in addition to the freshness of the food. Each year I try a few new things; like this year I purchased two blueberry bushes, and I’m also trying strawberries for the first time as well. (I guess that means that my garden is now vegetables AND fruit
You can grow almost anything in containers, if you don’t want to use chemicals to kill bugs on your plants, do what we do, use Dawn dish detergent (just a little drop) in a spray bottle of water, spray your plants with this, it won’t hurt the plants, or you. And it will kill almost all the nasty bugs that are eating your plants.
I have the space in my back yard and decided this year to try my hand at my first garden. I planted corn, Italian peppers, plum tomatoes, sugar snap peas, carrots and basil. Our Spring in the NorthEast was overly cold and wet, so my peppers, carrots and tomatoes are slow going, but I’m hoping for the best. The basil never came up so I replanted in a pot and they came up nicely. My corn is also coming up and I have several ears sprouting. They say corn is easy to grow….and I’d have to agree. My sugar snap peas didn’t do so well. I got about 8 pods before the plants went dead. I replanted more snap peas, peppers, tomato and corn seeds a few weeks ago now that the weather is warmer and dryer.
Seeing my first time garden growing got me excited, so I ordered MORE seeds; Bush Beans, White Bunching Onions, Cucumber, a Lettuce Blend, Coriander, Sugar Baby Watermelon and Alaska Cantaloupe. Which I ordered at Gurneys.com ON SALE (plus a $10 discount) for $11.58 including shipping. The first batch of seeds I ordered from Parkseed.com for $10.84 ON SALE including shipping.
I suggest that you go to ALL of the gardening/seed/plant sites and sign up for their email alets. They frequently send “internet only” specials with great deals.
With the price of fruits & veggies….this is the way to go! Before winter I want to plant a few fruit trees. 2 kinds of Apple (so they pollinate each other) trees (midsized trees; not dwarf or full size) and a mid-sized cherry tree. I want to plant strawberry plants at some point too.
Whatever fruits I have too much of….I can always sell for far less than you’d pay at the supermarket. A little extra cash never hurt anyone.
People who have never had a veggie garden, I strongly suggest starting one. It’s addicting and satisfying; not to mention all of the “almost” free food!
Wow–I’d never seen earth boxes before, and this rocks! I live in an inland part of Southern California, where we have almost too much sun and heat, so even though almost anything grows well, container gardens dry out quickly. I have some spaces between my citrus fruit trees where I could set up several of these boxes–then any overflow water would go to the good purpose of watering my trees.
I happen to have several unused rectangular plastic tubs with lids that I got at a rummage sale that I can put to this purpose.
I also have a couple of heavy-duty commercial clothing racks with casters (kind of like that I could use for a combination rolling cart and trellis.
I’m also thinking that earth boxes could be made out of the square plastic boxes with lids that cat litter comes in. And why do you need to use the pond box? Why couldn’t you just shape some chicken wire and fit it into the box?
Thanks for the Dawn tip, Linda. I’ll start using it today
Jeanne I plan to try okra next time. It grows like a wild weed here. I have one stawberry plant and it has grown like crazy, but I think our season is over for it here.
Dawnie – wow you started with seeds? Maybe I’ll give that a try next time around. Regarding the online sites, I also enjoy browsing their inventories. You see seeds for things you never find locally.
SoCal, I pretty much stuck to the instructions shown in the link in the article. The plastic baskets from a dollar store worked out well. I’m not sure why chicken wire wouldn’t work depending on how big the spaces between the wires are, since the smaller the better on this project may work out best.
I planted my first container garden this summer and it’s doing wonderful. I use 2-3 gallon pots bought for $1.98 at walmart and planted 6 tomato, 6 jalapeno, 3 hot chilis and 2 green bell peppers along with some spearmint, lemon balm, iris’, hostas and parsley. Now I have an apartment in a complex with about 12 linear feet of concrete patio/front porch/fronting?….a bloody private sidewalk in front of my apartment is what it is with an eastern exposure. I worried that there wouldn’t be sufficient sun for the plants but here in Arkansas, they seem to appreciate the bit of afternoon shade when the sun is on the other side of the building. I put tomato cages on the peppers and tomatos and those plants now stand as tall as my chin (and I’m 6′0″). As my porch/sidewalk is now a lush jungle, birds use the cage wire works as stands while they hunt down all the six legged visitors and entertain me through the window. Being disabled, I have found a great new interest in the natural world by watching them. Neither the insects or the birds have ever bothered the fruits of which there is a sufficient amount that I am sharing now with my neighbors.
I dearly love passing by the tomatos and peppers in the grocery store and their $1.89/lb. prices as well.
Wish I’d done this years ago.
I could really relate to your story. I live in a condo and only have a patch out front and five feet out from the end of our deck. I have garden since I was very young. I didn’t want to stop because my two patches get very little sun. So I planted several hostas and transplanted ajuga. The Spring is a little better since the lack of leaves allows in sun so I have a variety of bulbs. The back patch is primarily vegetables. I have a 12×6 raised bed my sons gave (had installed) for Mother’s Day. I grow cucumbers, green beans, peas, potatoes,tomatoes, peppers, beets, chives, carrots,radishes yellow and white onions, leeks, bunching onions, celery (hopefully) and spinach plus glads and daffodils. On the deck I have herbs in a big pot and a smaller pot and a blueberry bush in another big pot. Not to mention more flowers in planters all over the deck. I call my gardening my mental health work. I usually learn something every year; this year was to plant more peas next year!
Continue to garden and try new things.