- the plot itself
- seeds, many of which I did not plant
- seedlings, many of which I also did not plant
- tomato cages
- special tomato food
- giant wooden stakes to make a fence
- smaller wooden stakes to make the rest of fence
- 100 feet of netting to make the fence actually function as a fence
- more netting for a trellis that I have not yet used and probably never will
- a large shovel
- a watering can
- a rubber mallet
- little marker things for the beginning of each row
- a special nozzle for the hose
- a floppy yellow hat
That isn't even counting all the stuff J. already owned or scrounged from his parents' house (a staple gun, a hose, scrap wood, a spade, a cultivator, more tomato cages) and the stuff I scavenged from our garage (bamboo stakes, a hoe/two-pronged ax thingie). NYT, where are the numbers? Are these people really honestly saving money? None of those things individually are SO expensive, but they add up.
Also, let's not ignore the time commitment. I liked the way this was phrased:
"a fence has been erected to keep the deer and people out"
Who erected the fence, purveyors of the passive voice? Was it the Ames, Iowa, woman who "who fits gardening into her 12-hour workday" and "is not intimidated by the 20 kinds of vegetables she has planted" and, she says, "probably spent maybe $50 for everything"? That woman has me beaten on so many levels, I don't even know where to start.
I mean, I'm not saying it's not worth it, for sure -- I am having fun and learning a lot and I picked my first arugula today and I am going to cook with it! The garden is awesome, in all seriousness, and I am so glad I'm doing this. But it's more work than I thought it would be, and it's a fairly significant investment of money and time -- and, except for one cup (a cup! it seems like a lot) of arugula, it's all still hypothetical at this point. A huge thunderstorm or a marauding gang of committed rabbits could knock the whole garden out in one night. In other words, NYT, I am not Banking on Gardening.
Picture time!
First, your favorite success story and mine, the arugula:
I thinned it today, pulling out some of the plants by their roots (painful but necessary, says my gardening book) and pulling out some of the leaves at the stems.
Teeny tiny squash seedling:
Looking a little wilted and sad today. Keep your fingers crossed that that's temporary.
Mulching with cardboard around the grape and cherry tomatoes:
Not sure if that'll work! I talked to the guy whose plot is next to me and looks like the very model of a perfect plot. He seemed skeptical.
Twelve Italian basil seedlings planted on Monday, which already seem to be bigger:
For $2, I was willing to put some seedlings in just in case the others didn't survive. Three of the five rows I planted from seed have teeny basil-ettes poking out of the soil right now, but they're a little late to the party.
A long view from the corner of my plot:
Those weeds with the yellow flowers are prickly and tough to pull, but they are awfully pretty, aren't they?
And now a question for the gardeners: Some of my plants, the tomatoes especially, have yellowing leaves at the bottom. Think it means I'm overwatering? It's hard to believe given how hot it's been here, but that was my expert neighbor's guess, and it confirmed what Plant Doctor Google told me earlier this week.
10 comments:
I hope you like basil...
Do you need some pantyhose scraps to tie your tomatoes to their cages? I have some...in a box...somewhere on a moving truck...somewhere.
I think one of the keys to the whole "saving money" thing is that you only have to lay out that money once. You won't have to buy tomato cages again, you won't have to buy a shovel again, etc. Of course, since it's a community plot, I suppose you may have to construct another fence at some point if you move to a different garden, or start gardening at home instead of a community plot.
But I would say we're totally going to save money with our garden. Going into this season we already had all the gardening tools and the fencing, so our only expenses were for the seedlings. I don't grow anything from seeds. I would say our plants averaged about $2 a plant, and we have 4 tomatoes, and 1 each of zucchini, green pepper, buttercrunch lettuce, cucumber, white eggplant, basil, mint, rosemary and a dead cilantro plant. It's not a huge garden by any means, but enough for the two of us. Those are all the expenses. So, for less than $25 for plants we should have veggies and herbs for most of the rest of the summer. In the past I have spent about $10 on mushroom compost to till into the soil before I plant, but I didn't do that this year.
So, it might not save you money the first year, but for every future summer I bet you'll save a lot on produce.
Yes, I would vote for overwatering with the yellowing on the tomato plants. Happened quite a lot to mine. Rutgers has quite a good tomato FAQ online. Search for "growing tomatoes in the home garden"; it's a pdf. Too much watering can also cause catfacing in tomatoes. Good luck, with the tomatoes and basil you're going to be cooking a lot of Italian soon! :-)
holy cow, your arugula looks awesome!! I have to thin out my lettuce and carrots this week. it feels a little bit like vegetable murder.
so, I think you should reserve judgement on the cost... look at how expensive things are... one of your arugula plants would yield at least $3 in a store. A single tomato can cost $2 or more, depending on weight. You've tracked the costs... as you harvest, be sure to track the benefits. If nothing else, your soil prep and equipment is a sunk cost for next year, when your return will be even greater.
I am so impressed with the way you threw yourself into this headlong. Asking, fixing, working, tending...you are as devoted a gardener as they come!
Now you need to find a nut outlet so you can affort to buy yourself a thousand pounds of pine nuts or walnuts for the pints and pints of pesto you'll be able to freeze!
near me (not really):
Ann's House of Nuts Incorporated
8375 Patuxent Range Rd
Jessup, MD 20794
near our folks:
Weaver Nut Company Outlet Store
1925 West Main Street
Ephrata, PA 17522
717-738-3337
online:
http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/?sid=z5i7dZEYizRTJ051
Seriously -- I should have grown pine nut plants (?) and olive trees for the oil. And I keep saying that I wish I had put in some mozzarella bushes so I could have tomato, basil and mozzarella by the end of the summer. :)
But no, I really am hoping that it will save me money in the end... if all my plants really wind up producing, I think it will; the problem is that until I get that first ripe tomato, I won't be convinced they're really going to thrive. Although I did realize after I posted this that I wasn't factoring in the cost of the farm shares I've belonged to the last few years in DC, which were a few hundred bucks a season but never gave us enough veggies to not have to buy stuff from the store. With that, I'm still very much in the red.
Also, not to be cheesy, but I made a zucchini salad with the arugula I'd grown myself last night, and I have to say, it tasted awfully good and I felt awfully accomplished, and you can't put a price tag on that. :)
I think Alissa is right about sunk costs. The costs you list come (by my estimate) to under $250, of which more than half are capital. This year won't save money, but the next season might. All you need to do is save $100 on food for the year, and you break even.
(Of course, the key element of the economics of gardening is that labor is free!)
The hilarious thing about the NYT article is that Ms Gartin of Ames, Iowa, has "tripled" her garden to a 5 x 7 foot plot (i.e. about as large as a kingsize bed) and it now contains "20 kinds of vegetables"! Either Ms Gartin is lying, or she has only one of everything and it will all die from overcrowding.
But look at how much fun you're having! It's a hobby. It's good to have a hobby. Hobbies, generally, are expensive. Scrapbooking certainly is, but the sense of satisfaction, of doing something just because I like it, not because I have to, well... that's priceless in our overscheduled, time-starved society. It could be worse. You could have taken up, like, yachting. Or golf! Christ, you can drop $250 on, like, half a club. Floppy hat not included.
I want to amend my accounting to include transportation costs.
This community garden is way on the other side of town, so you have to drive to get there. Over the whole season, a couple of trips a week will add up to about $50 in gas! That's a significant extra cost, but I think it's still beatable in grocery savings.
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