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The GRS Garden Project: September Update
Saturday, 4th October 2008 (by J.D.)This article is about DIY, Food, Frugality, House and Home
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During 2008, my wife and I are tracking how much time and money we spend growing food. This is the report for September.
September generally brings the largest harvests for our garden. That was true again this year, but not by as much as we hoped. The bad weather at the beginning of the season means that things just aren’t ripe yet. Kris has been encouraging her tomatoes for weeks. I’m dying for the grapes to be ready. (They’re almost there!)
Kris gives orders to her garden elves. Photo by Lisa.
We did harvest a lot last month, the bulk of which was tomatoes and tree fruit. We had so many tomatoes, in fact, that Kris was able to enlist the help of five-year-olds Albert and Annika to help harvest. They did an amazing job picking cherry tomatoes.
Like investing in fruit
September’s nice because there’s almost no garden maintenance. All we have to do is stroll out to pick the food we want. During the middle of the month, Kris and I had a mild misunderstanding. I thought she told me to go pick all of the apples from our trees, but she really told me to pick a few for some jam. I came back into the house with 19 pounds of apples, which was far more than she needed. We made an spontaneous batch of applesauce.
Actually, Kris did a lot of canning this month: marinara sauce, applesauce, salsa, pickled plums, and more. As usual, we supplemented our own harvest with free food from friends and neighbors (25 pound of pears here, 15 pounds of plums there), as well as things like onions and garlic from the produce stand.
Now, as the rains begin and the harvest draws to a close, our pantry and freezer are both packed full. When we make a blackberry cobbler in February, take pickled “dilly beans” to a potluck or pop open a jar of spicy salsa on a chilly afternoon, we’ll be extending the benefits of our garden year-round. Our home-canned goods will help defray food costs over the next eight months until we can expect another strawberry crop to kick off 2009’s garden bounty.
The fruits of our labor
Our total harvest in September yielded $152.75 in produce, largely from tomatoes. Here’s the complete tally for this month’s garden production.
- about 3 pints elderberries, for which I still have no value
- 1.95 pounds (0.886 kg, or 2.95 pints) caneberries (blackberries, boysenberries, and marionberries) @ $2.49/pint (~300g) = $7.35
- 2.82 pounds (1.276 kg) Italian plums @ $1.49/pound = $4.20
- 5.64 pounds (2.560 kg) pears @ $0.99/pound = $5.58
- 26.52 pounds (12.038 kg) apples @ $0.99/pound = $26.25
- 6 Anaheim chili peppers @ $0.30/each = $1.80
- 3 zucchini @ $0.49/each = $1.47
- 1 cucumbers @ $0.49/each = $0.49
- 4 measly ears of corn @ $0.50/each = $2.00
- 692 grams of Interlaken seedless grapes, which would sell for about $3 at the local farmers market
- 6.50 pounds (2.951 kg or nearly 10 pints) cherry tomatoes @ $2.49/pint = $24.49
- 51.09 pounds (23.195 kg) tomatoes @ 1.49/pound = $76.12
Note: For the purposes of this project, we’re using “best match” pricing. Based on GRS reader suggestions, we’re obtaining typical pricing from our local farmers market. In some cases, we use pricing from a local organic produce stand. In all cases, we’re trying to be fair, but this is more art than science.
A little bit of whining
I’ll be honest. I’m a little disappointed. Once it became clear that this garden was going to “make money”, I wanted it to kick ass. It hasn’t done that. Don’t get me wrong — we love having fresh produce outside our front door, and we enjoy the work with the plants, but I was hoping for more.
I think there are a few ways we can improve.
- For one, we can focus on plants that are more productive in our climate. (Look for a complete exploration of this topic in December or January.)
- For another, we can begin refining our gardening methods to emphasize frugality. As I noted at the start, we haven’t altered any of our normal habits for this project. In the future, it might be worth doing so.
- Finally, we can have better weather. Oregon’s Willamette Valley had a short summer this year. The rainy grey skies lingered an extra month, and now they seem to have arrived two weeks early. That loss of six weeks (and especially those first four weeks) has a huge impact. That means our tomato harvest is stunted, and that we only had four ears of corn come to maturity.
This year, we initially made a large financial outlay for two types of organic pest traps for the apple trees. They proved successful; our apples were practically worm-free! As the two trees mature and bear larger crops, the number and value of the apples will increase as the cost of the traps will drop (because some parts are reusable from year-to-year).
I almost want to repeat this entire project next year to see if we can spend less and harvest more! (Maybe we’ll do it behind the scenes, providing totals at the end of the summer.)
Summary
We spent nothing on the garden this month, and very little time. It doesn’t take long to harvest 19 pounds of apples or five pounds of tomatoes. September is the closest our garden will ever come to “pure profit”.
| Month | Time | Cost | Harvest |
| January | 4.0 hours | $27.30 | – |
| February | 2.5 hours | – | – |
| March | 3.5 hours | $130.00 | – |
| April | 5.5 hours | $28.51 | – |
| May | 5.5 hours | $110.89 | – |
| June | 7.0 hours | $0.79 | $50.83 |
| July | 11.0 hours | $20.94 | $123.68 |
| August | 8.0 hours | – | $123.94 |
| September | 2.0 hours | – | $152.75 |
| Totals | 49.0 hours | $318.43 | $451.20 |
There is still food left to harvest. Though the rains have set in, we may have more tomatoes. (There are plenty on the plants, but the cool weather is likely to prevent them from ripening.) There are potatoes left to dig, and the acorn squash is ready to pick and dry for winter storage (to be tallied in October).
Most importantly, we have grapes to pick. We only have 20 feet of young grape vines, so we won’t have many from our yard. But the neighbor has vast swaths of Concords growing wild. I wanted to pick them last weekend, but he insisted they were two weeks away. I plan to pick them next Saturday. I just hope these rains don’t ruin the flavor. (Will rain do that to grapes?) There are few things I love more than fresh Concord grapes. (Especially fresh free Concord grapes.) They make amazing grape juice and Kris wants to put up some grape jelly.
Kris has made notes on her garden plan to help her organize her seed order for next year. Only a few short months until the seed catalogs arrive! And she has begun an experiment to grow a few herbs indoors this winter. Stay tuned on whether that is worthwhile.
Final word
Just to be clear on the purpose of this project: This isn’t a formal experiment. Kris and I are long-time hobby gardeners, and we have set ways that we do things. This year, we are not trying to do anything different than we have for more than a decade. We’re not trying to be 100% organic (though we are mostly organic through our normal practices).
Nor are we trying to be 100% frugal. Instead, we’re trying to see just what our garden costs and produces based on our normal habits. We hope the results of this experiment will help us find new ways to economize and to improve our crops.
You can read about my goals for this series in The year-long GRS project: How much does a garden really save?
60 Responses to “The GRS Garden Project: September Update”
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October 4th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Thank you for tracking your garden and expenses. I, too, am hoping our garden will yield savings. I don’t want to give up on the dream of the Victory Garden of the 1940’s. Please keep tracking your endeavor on your website! Also, I am NOT a great gardener, but I have discovered in my area (MD) the agricultural extension office has master gardeners who offer great advice at no charge. I have already learned so much from them about what I was doing wrong — using free horse manure as fertilizer (never use horse manure it has too many weed seeds!) and in our region we can plant lettuce in the autumn for an early spring harvest (the seeds are intrepid).
Thank you!
October 4th, 2008 at 5:55 am
I know your food plots not that large, but if you ever have an excess of vegetables or fruit, I think your local food bank would gladly take the some of the surplus.
Plus it would be a good lesson for your kids.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:41 am
This series is so great. What do you do with the elderberries? My mum used to make a preety passable homemade wine with them when I was a kid.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:06 am
I totally want to apprentice to you and learn canning now.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:10 am
I’d say your garden has had kick-ass results (monetary or otherwise) even if you may not feel like it. You’ve got a direct connection to your food, the food is as fresh and wholesome as it can possibly be, and working in the garden does the body and soul good. All of those things have value far beyond the immediate monetary value. The money savings you did achieve is just icing on the cake!
October 4th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Did you make elderflower or elderberry cordial? That stuff is great.
Looks like the value of your gardening time is in the region of $2.50 an hour. Which is pretty good for something you enjoy, and it’s a whole lot better than the money you make from comic collecting.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:17 am
You may be a bit disappointed, but it still looks like a great harvest. Have you considered calculating the cost of your canned goods? It seems like you’ll have more accurate snapshot of the money you’re saving if you take in account the cost of the store versions of salsa, applesauce, etc.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Do you know about fried green tomatoes? They are delicious! Here is a recipe from Southern Living (I made it tiny):
http://tinyurl.com/friedgreentoms
This dish is a real treat. We moved from the Southwest to a “Deep South” state, and I had never had them before.
So don’t despair if you end up with some green tomatoes.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Reading this already makes me sad that I didn’t grow tomatoes this year (couldn’t take it on after having a baby in May), especially since I won’t have delicious fried green tomatoes from the leftover unripe ones left on the vine in the Fall. I guess I’ll have to raid someone else’s garden (with permission, of course!).
October 4th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Consider factoring in the money you have saved in your ‘recreation/entertainment’ and ‘health’ budget columns.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:35 am
If the tomatoes aren’t ripe before a frost, pick them, wrap them, individually, in newspaper. They will ripen slowly. Keep checking them to see that they are going bad. Setting them in a sunny window will often bring them ahead quickly. This way, unripened tomatoes can be used well after the season. -smile
October 4th, 2008 at 7:35 am
There’s something missing here. Blaring TV commercials and cars honking.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:41 am
I would be interested in knowing what kinds of pest traps you used on your apples. My mom and I have a small orchard and we’re looking into organic pest control options for worm free apples. It’s always nice to buy somethine that someone else has had success with!
Great job on the gardening. I am also a hobby gardener and I love growing my own food. You should also calculate into your savings the amount of gas you save by not running to the grocery store. I haven’t been the grocery store all summer (that’s a big saver nowadays!).
October 4th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I did a little deck garden this year, I hadn’t done it in a few years. I usually grow green peppers, just a couple of plants and I’ve got more peppers than I can handle. And chopped peppers freeze OK for a few months and keep me happy through the winter.
But this year’s yield was very poor. I got off to a great start, I bought a seedling for $1.29, it had 2 plants in the pot so I carefully teased them apart and got two plants for the price of 1. I had the pots from previous years, and dirt and potting mix for free (surplus from a gardener friend) so my total investment was $1.29. I planted them early and they were blooming profusely, promising an early harvest, and with early fruits I can leave some on the plant until they turn red. But then it went all to hell.
My landlord decided to renovate my deck, so I had to take the plants inside. The work crew tore off my deck, but then didn’t show up to replace it for over a week. So my plants went without sun for a week, and all the early buds dropped off. Then when the great Iowa flood hit, the worst of it was mere blocks from my house. My whole town was covered in polluted mud and mold. Most of the fruits that budded during the flood were full of mold and had dead spots by the time they got halfway ripe. The prolonged rains during the flood caused the fruits to grow small and stunted. I picked off most of them, to let the other good fruits grow.
So I got a very poor yield, maybe 5 or 6 good peppers, instead of the 2 to 3 dozen I expected. But I’m not disappointed, I’ve got a few really great red peppers left on the plant, they usually cost about $1 each at the supermarket, so I’m way ahead of my $1.29 investment. And nothing beats cutting into a freshly picked pepper and smelling the scent, and feeling the juices burst forth.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:08 am
jd, my grandpa has always had a garden. he’s nearly 80 and is in great health. he still operates a full time barber shop. point being that he attributes a large portion of his longevity to having always eaten fresh food from his garden. i wonder if there’s a way you could calculate the potential money you save on healthcare expenses by eating healthier food from your garden versus a grocery store. just a thought and you may have already covered this somewhere.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:12 am
As one of your urban readers, I love these updates - I would love to read a month-by-month update next season as well!
Thanks also for the picture - it brightened up a cloudy morning!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:12 am
This is fabulous. However, I think that you may have underestimated the value that your garden produces. For example, if I want nice vine-ripened tomatoes from the grocery store I have to spend almost $3.99 per pound. I can’t usually get them cheaper by going to a farmer’s market because where I live they only seem to happen during times when I am at work. So, anyway your price comparisons seem a little under what I have to spend to buy the types of fruits and vegetables you have been growing.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:13 am
>I almost want to repeat this entire project next year to see if we can spend less and harvest more!
JD and Kris, I’ve really appreciated this series - thanks!
I, for one, would be very interested in seeing you journal this again next year, both to see what adjustments you make based on this year’s experience, and how your “spend less and harvest more” results might change with that experience and this year’s sunk costs.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:17 am
I always love reading about y’alls garden
October 4th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Count me as another person who’s really enjoyed reading about your garden!
We’ve had a similar low yield from our plain ol’ green cucumber plant (5 total, one that’s still on there; giving it a couple more days). But the lemon cucumbers! They just went NUTS. If you haven’t grown them before, I highly suggest them. They’re delicious and pretty.
I also wanted to second what another reader said about bringing the green tomatoes in to ripen. We started our garden late, so we have probably a hundred or more green tomatoes on the vine. A few of them are ripening, but most won’t. Our horticulturist friend suggested just leaving them on until just before the first frost, then picking whatever we can and letting them ripen. You can also pickle green tomatoes and can them; I haven’t had them, but they’re apparently delicious. (As are the fried green ones…)
October 4th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I add the elderberries to some of my applesauce batches. It makes a beautiful purple color! Typically, about 2 cups of elderberries for each 8 pounds of apples, added when I put them through the food mill. This means I can add less sugar because the berries lend a sweetness and tartness that complements the apple flavor. The apples and elderberries are typically ripe at the same time in late summer.
For Susy @#13
Here are the apple pest controls we used this year.
Codling Moth pheromone trap: http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8868
Apple maggot lures (economy red balls, lure & sticky coating):
http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8684
A neighbor taught us to wrap the red balls in clingwrap so we can just peel it away at the end of the season and reuse the balls next year. This same neighbor made his own by spray-painting styrofoam balls to look like apples.
October 4th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I love this feature on your blog - it’s very inspiring. We rent, but I’m going to ask the landlord if we can have a small garden next year.
I would like to hear more about the organic pest traps for the apple trees.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:13 am
I love canning. We live in KC now, and have tried to grow stuff, but the bunnies don’t leave it alone. It worked great in Utah.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I also live in Oregon but had a decent harvest despite the short summer. I used a combination of the http://www.earthbox.com/ and traditional gardening. Not bad for a first-time gardener
http://javafoto.com/wp/
October 4th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Jane’s comment (#9) reminds me, just an fyi: If you want to start a garden next year, but for some reason won’t be able to do heavy yardwork in the spring, you can do all your soil prep in the fall and just leave it alone, maybe with a layer of mulch, until planting season comes around. Then all you have to do is the planting, which is super easy–you can do it sitting down.
I had a baby in March, but was able to plant a garden a few weeks later because a lady at our local nursery had given me this tip. (Local nurseries are the BEST.)
October 4th, 2008 at 11:39 am
This was our first year with a serious garden (ie. we actually weeded and watered this time).
Is there anything you’ll be doing before winter to prep it for next year? I’m considering trying to get a load of manure or something and tilling it in so it can sit over the winter.
Thanks,
Richard
October 4th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Ooooh! You’re in the Willamette? I used to live in Sisters (growing season averaged about 90 days there) and miss the high desert something fierce. Here in the deep south, I could garden if I could stand the heat, but 90° 90% humidity doesn’t lend itself to garden work.
October 4th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
You’re a little upset that your garden didn’t “kick ass” and you want better weather to improve your yield … ya know, gardening isn’t exactly a competitive sport. And good luck on getting the weather to bend to your specifications
October 4th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Just three words:
Green tomato chutney
October 4th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Ive never thought too see exactly how much money we save or make from our garden. This year I lost 3.4 of my corn patch to the wind and rain. It all blew down just as it was beginning to tassle. It went on to grow ears of corn but they arent any good. Some of them are full of aphids and I dont have any aphids in the rest of my garden. The corn has been severly traumatized.
I planted 16 tomato plants of various kinds. I have gotten 21 pints of ketchup and 25 pints of salsa from it. I have a bunch of orange ones ripening on the table and gobs of green ones in the garden.
We pruned our fruit trees to late in the year and as a result lost most of our crop. But the neighbor let me have her apples so this weekend I canned 45 quarts of applesauce.
The cucumbers in my garden just went to town. Off of just two pickling cucumber plants I made 51 pints of sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles. The rest I let go to seed.
I have had 7 wonderful watermelon from that garden this year.
I think I will keep a tally of time, cost and harvest. That intrigues me!
Im going to look into the tomato chutney suggested above. I made peach chutney this year and its wonderful!
October 4th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
For a little less work try ‘Square Foot Gardening’. I’m putting together frames this winter that will fit on our deck railings. That way the plants are out of reach of deer.
JB
October 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
google farm girl foodie green tomato relish.
it’s a fantastic alternative for a salsa verde enchilada, or just taco filling with a little shredded chicken thrown in…
it saved our whole green tomato harvest last year.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Any good suggestions on seed companies? We’ve been buying seed at our Home Depot, but would like more of a selection.
I, too, have been enjoying the gardening series. I canned ketchup with our harvest this year and look forward to doing more next year.
October 5th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Thanks for sharing. We started our own garden (if you call it that) this last spring and I’ve been disappointed with our results. It’s made me realize that I need to put alot more time, effort, and thought into putting something together that’s going to produce results. You know, now that I think about it, I don’t know why I’d expect a garden to be anything different than anything else in this regard?!!!
October 5th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Elderberries grow wild around here (N. of Chicago). Grandma made elderberry pie. Grandpa’s favorite.
Mom made and my wife and daughter make elderberry jelly. Mmmm.
Dad warned about elderberry wine. Said its tasty and will leave you drunk fast. No personal experience here.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I think that under-valuing your produce too. I live in Georgia and apples are currently selling for about $2.49/lb. And they’re of very poor quality.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Like the others, I’ve very much enjoyed reading your articles about your garden project. Love the pictures, too. We are in the woods, so I don’t see us ever having a garden. We have so little light, I don’t even have house plants and we have few flowers and bushes outside. However, I think the health benefits of eating produce grown in your own garden or locally are huge. Just recently I learned that the FDA is going to allow irradiation of spinach and iceberg lettuce. It seems this is the solution to the e coli issues where produce is grown in unsanitary conditions. Ugh. I don’t care how long they tell me irradiation of food is safe, I won’t believe it. (Almonds are already irradiated, even though they still show “raw” on the packaging.) Anyway, great job even wiht a slightly disappointing season. With gardening, every year will be different–that’s for sure.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
1. I love this feature of your blog, the garden project. As a fellow gardener, I appreciate the ups and downs you write about, and am considering running a cost/benefit tally of my own garden next spring.
2. You can pick your tomatoes green if you’d like, if there’s a risk of freezing or similar (I’m in Michigan, not Oregon) and put them in a paper grocery sack. Fold it over a few times, and in a few days they’ll be red as ripe can be. Not as amazing as red off the vine, but palatable in sauces and the like and no waste.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Dried elderberries are sold at about $9/8oz. They are an excellent medicine for coughs, or for nipping colds in the bud. I definitely recommend reading up on their herbal medicine aspect.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Thank you for this post. My mother attempts to garden, and does a somewhat good job of growing different veggies. However, it seems that she invests quite a bit of time in her garden, and what she doesn’t lose to rot or animals does not seem to be enough to really offset the time investment..
Maybe doing some form of tracking would be a good tool for her to use.. however, a lot of the reward is pride and joy of eating something that shes grown.. how do you put a value on that?
October 6th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Re: Will rain effect grapes?
I’m no horticulturist, but I remember a lecture from an entrepreneurship class:
A wine maker was trying to increase the quality of his product so he could charge more and move into a different sphere of competition. A consultant looked at his operation and spoke to the manager of the grape growing about the grapes. The man said he was paid by the pound, so he allowed the grapes to ripen past peak. The grapes would get juicier on the vine and while the flavor would suffer he would have heavier grapes and a more profitable harvest. I don’t know if that has as much to do with rain as time but it is a tidbit I always found interesting both about grapes and knowing the process of your product and people’s motivations.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Re #33 source of seeds
We use fedco seeds (www.fedcoseeds.com) — good quality and they’re the least expensive source. They do their trials in Maine, so the seeds work well for our new england climate. They have the funkiest catalog as well. Johnnies selected seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com) is the new england source with the best quality seeds, but they are pricier. High mowing seeds (www.highmowingseeds.com) is one we look at occasionally, but it tends to be a specialty organic supplier with relatively small selection. Fedco has a much better choice for organic growers. These are all local new england companies, outside of NE, there are probably other suppliers with plants appropriate for your climate. I hear good things about Parks, but I don’t usually buy from them. Burpee seeds are good, but frightfully expensive. My parents buy seeds from them, but save seeds from year to year.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I love these garden posts on GRS! I started my gardening project this year and have only just decided on the raised beds. It’ll be a slow process as I plan on doing it as cheaply as I can. I have grown and eaten my own veggies and fruit, and saved seeds for next year. I have to say the satisfaction and lessons learned far outweigh the costs!
October 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I’ve really enjoyed hearing about your garden this year and I hope you’ll keep us updated next spring and summer, too! As another Oregonian, I’ve also enjoyed commiserating about the green tomatoes
October 8th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Count me in as another lover of the garden-update posts who hopes you’ll do it again next year.
As far as frugality goes–do y’all compost? Because if you do, I hear Starbucks gives out free coffee grounds to add to your pile. I haven’t tried this myself, being apartment-bound, but coffee is supposed to be pretty good for some plants.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
We finally figured out that our garden is performing so poorly only because we’re starting it too late. Our peppers and eggplants are finally gearing up just now as we’re getting frost warnings. Our growing season is at least six weeks off from our old house, which is less than ten miles away!
While driving the back way home from the store a few weeks ago, I noticed a “free manure” sign at a riding academy. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of that next year and seeing if it boosts output.
DEDRA, here’s a great place to investigate seed companies, the Garden Watchdog: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/
October 12th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Tsk! No leafy greens. In your climate, you could have them fresh all year long.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:16 am
Two money-saving tips:
1. Some fruits and vegetables can easily support being “seeded” — that is, having the seeds prepped for next year’s planting. In some cases, this doesn’t work (like with hybrid tomatoes). Some research is required.
2. Consider giving up “organic” as a goal. Yes, it tastes better. No, it’s not necessarily better for the environment, and there’s no real evidence that it’s better for health either. Organic pesticides, for example, are very expensive and not biodegradable — modern pesticides are all biodegradable; and if care is taken to wash the vegetables before ingestion, harmless. Organic fertilizers are not much more expensive, and IMO contribute to better-tasting yields. I’m not aware of any problems with using them either.
I also noted that some of your costs this year were either one-time costs, or at least costs that can be spread over multiple seasons. The starter-pots and the soaker hose, for example, will work again next year.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:45 am
GREAT idea! Everyone always seems to assume that gardening saves
oodles of money without giving some hard figures. THANK YOU for
posting your numbers.
1.) How big is your garden?
2.) Have you considered growing mostly bang-for-buck crops like
tomatoes and herbs?
3.) What do you know about GrowFood.com?
October 26th, 2008 at 1:07 am
I emailed JD directly and got this reply:
1.) Our herb garden is an irregular area roughly 5′ x 10′, or 50 square feet.
Our grapes are in 24 linear feet of space, about 4 feet wide. The caneberries have a similar run.
Our berries and vegetables share about 625 square feet of space, of which 500 square feet belongs to the veggies.
2.) While we’re not going to grow *mostly* bang-for-buck crops, we’re well-aware of them. Our year-end summary (which Kris and I have already begun to write) will stress this aspect of gardening heavily. Bang-for-buck crops and crops you enjoy — that’s what gardeners should focus on.
3.) I don’t know about GrowFood.com, but I’ll look it up!
On point 3, I replied:
I haven’t seen any direct comparisons to Square Foot Gardening but one of your blog readers said the SFG author learned from Dr. Jacob Mittleider. From what I’ve seen, it’s far better than SFG. I definitely want to try it soon.
Two short summaries:
http://foodforeveryone.org/vegetable_gardening/22/how-is-this-method-different
http://foodforeveryone.org/vegetable_gardening/23/is-the-mittleider-method-for-me
Can’t wait to read your final article for the GRS garden project!
October 30th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
JD, I noticed that you are pricing your produce as it comes from the garden and comparing it to other in-season local produce prices. But you are eating much of it OUT of season.
I think that you are selling yourself short.
November 1st, 2008 at 7:58 am
I was wondering if you could suggest a book on gardening or direct me to an article of yours that might point me in the right direction. I’m a complete novice to gardening, don’t understand composting and how to use it, don’t understand the variations on fertilizers (ratios of chemicals, etc), how much planting would yield a good sized harvest (i.e. more food than for just snacking or a small salad) and have no idea what needs how much sun or would grow in the shade. I’d like to start a small garden for next year, but don’t know where to start. Our yard has really shady areas and sunny areas, so I have no idea how to plan for that. I’d also like to learn tricks of the trade, if there’s such a thing, like cutting a potato and putting it in the ground to grow more (that’s probably common knowledge to most people, but not me!). I also need to learn frequency of watering, keeping birds and bugs away and anything else that’ll help me have a successful garden. Thanks!
November 1st, 2008 at 8:24 am
The author of this blog recommends Square-Foot Gardening:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/04/21/an-introduction-to-square-foot-gardening/
I also am a complete novice, but it appears that the Mittleider method may be even better than SFG. I am eager to try it next year and blog my results. Look just two posts above on the links about Mittleider.
If you’re not sure, try both side-by-side and see which gets better results.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:26 am
That is, look at my comments two comments ago. Here is a direct link:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/10/04/the-grs-garden-project-september-update/#comment-153611
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Maha, the most important thing for us to know is where you live. That answer changes all the others. It changes how composting is done and how it is applied. It changes what you can plant … or not. It changes the watering frequency and the sort of structures (or not) that might be advisable for your particular garden.
Also, what you might enjoy the taste of may vary quite a bit from what we enjoy. Beans and tomatoes will grow almost anywhere and are easy to begin with. If you are in a hot climate you might plant lettuces in the shadier spots, in a cooler climate you might choose to put them in full sun.
Location, location, location!
Best bet? Ask around and find a local gardener, preferably an organic gardener (but don’t be too fussy at first) … start somewhere and move ahead as you are able.
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Thank you Chris and Bill for your input. I started reading some of the links and found a tutorial, but I must say…I’m gonna need the book! I think it might wind up on my xmas wish list. As for location, I live near Sacramento, CA, so the summers are dry, and the temps get into the 90’s. We’ll have heat waves into the one hundreds. Our back yard has spots that get lots of sun, so I’m eyeing those areas to start. Talking to others in the area is a great suggestion, and will do so after I do a bit more research so I can ask intelligent questions. I’m looking at three areas in my back yard that would fit about a 2×3 feet bed each. I’d like to start with tomatoes, green beans, carrots, strawberries and lettuce. That might be a bit ambitious for a first go, so I’ll have to wait and see what makes sense.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:38 am
The books are inexpensive because they have a .pdf download version of some of them (not every book though). Fortunately, the tutorial on the website gives you 1/2 of the “6 Steps” book — which is very generous of them. (They’re non-profit.)
I personally ordered the Library CD which has *every* book, even those not in .pdf format, for $70. Also ordered the Garden Wizard which is planning software for $13. Those are bargains.
You may find that tomatoes and green beans are good starter plants for brown thumbs like us (it’s my first time, too!). I’m only going to focus on tomatoes since they’re good cash crops and seem to be easy, according to what I’ve been reading. Start easy, get encouraged by what you find and then branch out into the harder stuff like lettuce, carrots and strawberries.
Oh, and do us a favor and track your hours+expenses, take pictures and give us your candid opinion so that the world can benefit. Do you have a blog? If not, you can set up a free one on BlogSpot
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
A blog, huh? I’ll think about that. It might be a good way for me to commit to this gardening project. I have a tendency to get really excited about a project and stop half way through. But I’ve been thinking about gardening for a couple of years (I even invested in an aerogarden this year…what a waste of money!). So, maybe I will. I’ll post back here if I decide to do that. Thanks again for all the support!
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:03 am
I have a very close friend in Sac … she lives near the Executive airport. In fact, I owe her a visit. Or two.
In the early spring, interplant your lettuce with something that can take more heat. Later on, as the lettuce goes to seed, cut it off at ground level and let the other plant have the room and provide some shade. (Let the soil keep the roots. If they grow back, good. If not, also good.)
On my blog I have pages devoted to slug control and raised bed gardening. You are welcome to browse them if you wish. I am working on two more planting guides which should be ready by Friday.
The blog is sort of sparse right now, but the plan is to flesh it out over the winter.
Tomatoes are easy; but plan on keeping the soil moist. A heavy mulch and frequent watering can make the difference between gorgeous fruits and ugly, split orbs with black on the blossom end.
TIP: when planting tomatoes or peppers, put a couple calcium tablets in the ground for each plant, too. The black spot is a calcium deficiency. Just get the cheapest variety of nutritional supplement at the cheapest local store. Don’t dissolve them first, let the soil moisture do that slowly … in tune with the plants’ need for it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
That’s a cool tip, Bill. Thanks. My library has the SQF Gardening book on the shelf, so I’ll pick it up today. If it looks like something I can follow, I’ll buy my own copy. I also subscribed to your blog - now I know what all those coffee grounds collectors use the grounds for!