Does growing your own really save you money?

I found this interesting blog today.  A man and his wife tracked all the time and expense that went into growing their own vegetables.  Of course this is only considering monetary gain and doesn't take into consideration the exercise, peace of mind and just plain fun that are the best benefits.

Here’s our year-to-date garden summary:

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
October	5.0 hours	–	$155.77
November	6.0 hours	–	–
December	–	–	–
Totals	60.0 hours	$318.43	$606.97

They said that 2009 will be even cheaper since some of the things they bought in '08 can be reused.  So, it looks like it's worth it, especially if you enjoy doing it. 

New Sprouts!

Both amaranths are coming up, lots of sprouts for both.  And Yellow Pear, Principe Borghese and Taxi tomatoes are coming up ~ atleast one sprout of each.  Man, that soil warming cable works!

I also brought home one 4" pot of Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes that had four plants in it.  I separated them this morning and potted them up.  It was easy to separate them ~ just let most of the soil fall off the rootball, then floated the rest in a pan of water while jiggling one plant at a time out of the bunch.  

Update at 9:15pm: Mortgage Lifter, Early Girl and Beefmaster are starting to come up now, too.

Veggie Gardening in Texas vs. Ohio

A friend asked me today how gardening in our area is different than gardening elsewhere, specifically a cooler climate.  I thought others may benefit from hearing my response, so I'll post it here.

The main differences between gardening here and somewhere cooler like Ohio are the disgusting heat in July and August when everything suffers, and the mild winters that we can grow right through.  

Our last average frost date is March 15 and first average frost date is November 15, so there's a long season between there.  However, the disgusting heat in July and August kind of puts a damper on it.  Heat lovers like okra and cowpeas (Black Eyed Peas, Crowders, and other Southern Peas) will usually sail right through the heat, but other things will seem to go "on hold" or outright crisp up.  Cukes want to give up the ghost, so trellising them helps ~ gets them off the hot soil and gives them some shade since only one side's worth of leaves is facing the sun at a time.  Tomatoes won't set fruit once temps get over 95 every day ~ the heat renders the pollen nonviable, so no fruit is pollinated, therefore no fruit set ~ but you can either start over with new plants for the fall or just baby the ones you have through the heat (maybe with some afternoon shade) and they'll put on again once things cool down.  I heard John Dromgoole today talk about using 30% shade cloth for them ~ might have to try that this year.

This hothothot August makes for two warm growing seasons a year.  The Fall garden (second warm season) is when you can replant squash, beans, etc. for a second crop along with new pepper and tomato plants.  Check the days to maturity for what you want to grow in Fall ~ if they have a DTM of 90 or less, you'll have time for them to reach maturity and still have a month or so of harvest time.  For instance, cucumbers have a DTM of 65 days, so if you plant them August 15th, you'll be picking them by the end of October and will continue to pick until frost kills them.  Just be sure to keep them well watered during the hot months and mulched so they'll survive through the heat.  

The flip side of our warm climate is that we get to actively grow things all year 'round.  We can grow all the cool weather crops all winter ~ broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, radishes, garden peas (English "green" peas, snow peas, etc.), cilantro, parsley, lettuce, chard, onions, garlic, spinach and a few others I'm not remembering.  There are so many things we can grow through winter that our gardens really don't ever have to be empty.  We do have to be ready with floating row cover or some other cover when nights dip really low ~ pea blooms will freeze and abort, lettuce can get nipped ~ but most all the other things will do fine through a freeze without protection once they're established.  I like gardening in winter almost more than in summer since the weeds grow slower, there are less pests (both insects and diseases) and since all plants grow slower I can stay on top of the harvest without having to literally pick every day and freeze all that.

Here's a link to a really good planting guide for our area: http://www.main.org/aog/plantcal.htm

You probably already know that that's all averages and we can have weather patterns that upset even the best laid plans, such as the 90 (Ninety! ACK!) degrees we hit yesterday ~ I could almost hear all the broccoli and lettuce plants bolting and turning bitter.  Mulch helps that a lot ~ it keeps the ground cool in summer and avoids the wild soil-moisture-level swings that make your tomatoes crack and most any plant suffer.  

Here's another good site for information about growing the usual crops in Texas (look at the bottom section for the good tips): http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/vegetable/cropguides/index.html  Of course I'm not a fan of their remedies for pests (usually all synthetic chemicals), and if you're the same I'd advise you to either ask a neighbor what that bug or pest is that you see then look up online how to fix it organically or put a sample in a ziploc bag and bring it in to the Natural Gardener.  Neil is the botanist on staff there and he can figure out whatever it is you have and tell you how to fix it.  He's got the neatest microscope that's hooked up to a computer so you can see it on a screen instead of having to squint through the microscope's eye pieces ~ nifty!  

Is there anything in particular you wanted to know about that I haven't covered here?  Let me know ~ I'll be glad to answer what I can.

More seed starting

Started a LOT more seeds today.  Here's the list:

Joe Pye Weed

Amaranthus 'Illumination'

Amaranthus 'Splendens Perfecta', aka Summer Poinsettia

And a LOT of tomatoes:

Heirlooms and open pollinateds

Prudens Purple ~ 72 days

Roma ~ 78 days, determinate

Taxi ~ 64 days

Coustralee ~ 85 days, BIG fruit (up to 3 lbs.)

Brandywine ~ 80 days

Yellow Pear ~ 80 days

Mortgage Lifter ~ 77 days

Principe Borghese ~ 78 days, determinate

Hybrids

Beefmaster ~ 80 days

Better Boy ~ 82 days

Early Girl ~ 60 days

Celebrity ~ 78 days, determinate

Sweet Million ~ 73 days

My plan for all those tomatoes are to sell as many as I can at the Pea Patch Plant Sale and plant the rest somewhere out here.  My goals for this year are to learn about timing the seed starting so I'm better at it next year, make sure I have room to grow on the transplants 'til they're big enough to sell (in four inch pots most likely), sell tomatoes at an honor stand at the front gate, and save seeds from the OPs for replanting next year.  

Along the lines of seed saving, I'll also be buying a few plants ~ Matt's Wild Cherry for one, just in case I can't get any of the Texas Wild to sprout (and even if I can ~ I want to compare the two).  I also want the "original" Brandywine 'Sudduth's Strain' if I can find a plant of it to compare to the Brandywine I have now (eventually, I'd like to trial all of the Brandywines).  I'll be keeping an eye out for other heirlooms at work and will pick up the interesting ones to trial and save seed from.  I'd better get to making those blossom bags if I get many currants and potato leafed vars.

I took Kim Rae one of each of the Bilbergia I have and they caused a little stir.  Joanie wants one, as does Carol, so I've got theirs potted up and sitting in the sink, waiting to be taken with me tomorrow.  I'm so glad to share them ~ it's fun.  Mostly I'm just glad to know, finally, what the hell they are! *giggle~snort*

Rain a-fallin', castor beans a-jumpin', and guineas a-hollerin'

What a wonderful day!  I woke up at 7:30 to a wet porch.  Not much more rain than that, but it was still nice to see.  All day it's been overcast and cold.  I love days like this.  Apparently, so do the guineas ~ I let them and the chickens out this morning and the guineas haven't shut up yet.  This is the third day that they've been let out and each day they've done the same thing ~ yak, yak, yak! I think they want to make sure I know they love it.  

I also potted up the Jerusalem artichokes I got in the mail the other day.  They needed it since they were sprouting leaves already.  But I'm not quite ready to plant them.  I'm thinking I'll grow them in large pots like the potatoes, but don't have enough soil yet (need to get some from work).  

Also, I'm reading on the G-Web about potato bins ~ wooden frames that can be taken apart to harvest the potatoes.  I'm hoping to get a few pointers about growing potatoes in containers.  Need to do research on the organic-ness of tires as well before I use those.

While in the greenhouse, I checked on the cuttings and seeds.  Man!  I LOVE castor beans!  Just look at them!

How cool are they?!  Planting them is almost like instant gratification they sprout so fast.  I really think I'm going to like them.

Other things sprouting ~ Bughatti lettuce, Red Shield hibiscus (I was worried about them, if I'd soaked them too long, and it seems it was warranted ~ only one's sprouted so far :( ), Luna Pink hibiscus and Welsh onions.  And just look at the artichokes, too!  They're in the upper right, just to the left of the green quart pot there (with Welsh Onions in it).  Greengreengreen!

One thing that sucks though ~ ants have moved in to the seed tray I have on the warming table.  Bummer.  Oh, well ~ just have to break out the cayenne pepper.  They'll be gone in a few days.

More planting and irrigation to boot!

I'm so proud of me.  I got soaker hoses cut to fit the three raised beds in the Peace Sign garden, put hose ends on them, linked them together with made-to-fit sections of regular hose and connected it to the spigot.  They're out there soaking the lettuce seeds I just planted. Too Cool.

The lettuce I planted are, from west to east (top to bottom in pic), Black Seeded Simpson from Botanical Interests, Matina Sweet from Pinetree and Jericho from Pinetree.  I also set the onions out yesterday ~ red (Red Sweet or Sweet Red), white (White Bermuda) and yellow (1015Y) ~ got the sets from Naumann's Feed Store.  

I also got some seed potatoes from Naumann's and was going to plant them in these beds, but something told me not to (probably my inner child who hates to dig potatoes), so I decided to plant them in some large tree pots I have.  That'll make it easier to harvest them ~ just tump over the pot.  I haven't planted them yet, so I may put a few in some tires.  Lord knows I have plenty of those, and it won't take long with the sawsall to cut the centers out.  Those would also be easy to harvest ~ use the tractor to push them over if I can't by myself.  

And Friday I planted the herbs I bought at work Thursday.  I've got parsley in the long bed, in between and front of the purple honeysuckle and bridal wreath spirea.  It's the green stuff in the foreground.  Sorry that it's hard to see, but we've all seen parsley, and this picture was just too cool not to post. ;) 

I put three bloody dock plants along with variegated oregano, catnip and lemon grass (Leslie gave me a chunk of hers that I've been eyeing for a while) in one barrel...

... pineapple mint, bee balm, lemon balm, Mexican mint marigold, and winter savory in another (on the right) and sweet marjoram and Bergarten sage in another (on the left).  I need to get a few more things to fill that one out.  The little pot in the middle front has one of the brugmansias in it that I left out as an experiment to see if it comes back.  So far, one of the others has sprouted some green.  I hope all three will.

I got good news and bad news

Bad news first: While bottom watering a flat of newly planted Pasilla Bajio and Early Jalapeno peppers, I let the water get deeper than the flat was tall.  Yep ~ the seeds just floated right out of the flat.  If any are still in there and they sprout, I won't know which is which.  Bummer.  But if any do sprout, I'll just plant them in my own garden or the market garden.  I may sow some tomato seeds on top of them since it'd be easy to tell toms from peppers.  I'd also planted some old basil seeds in the end leftover after I'd run out of pepper seeds.  Maybe some of those will sprout.

Good news: We got rain!!!  Not much, but atleast it was some.  Hopefully that's a nice precursor to spring gully washing, frog strangling turd floaters.  

I also got some other things sown.  Welsh onions in their own pot, old purple basil seeds (had a question mark on the ziploc they were in, so not sure that's what they are ~ but they look like basil seeds) also in their own pot, and a flat containing serranos and purple cayennes.  

More good news: The Jerusalem Artichokes from the kind trader on the Gardenweb came in today!  Half a dozen healthy tubers that are sprouting roots already.  Cool!  Awful nice of someone to do that for sase. 

Let's plant a vegetable garden on the White House lawn

There is a growing call for President Obama to plant a vegetable garden on the White House Lawn. Eleanor Roosevelt did it. Thomas Jefferson did it. In fact, the majority of our presidents, from the founding of our country to the middle of the 1900s, did it. I think it's time for our current president to join the pack and do it, too. If you agree, please consider signing the petition at EatTheView.org. I did, and here's the comment I added:

I truly believe that building a vegetable garden on the White House lawn will spur more people to learn about growing their own food and actually do it. It's human nature to "follow the leader", as has already been demonstrated by you, President Obama. Because of your calm, reassuring, compassionate yet strong demeanor throughout your campaign and into the first days of your presidency, I have noticed a change in everyone I meet. We are nice again! For God's sake, I even had a nice chat with the phone worker when I called to pay my phone bill! It's wonderful! 

You are right that a lot of the change we need will be up to us to make. We're willing to do it. We just need you to continue what you've been doing in setting a good example for us to follow. If you build a vegetable garden on the White House lawn, we WILL follow your example. People all across the nation WILL grow their own food. This will have a tremendous impact on our economy and the environment. We'll save money, which we can spend elsewhere spurring the economy on. We'll save fuel from not having to have so much food trucked across the country. And there will be less emissions due to less of those trucks making less of those trips. 

But most of all, people will be healthier from the exercise and nutritious food. That will translate into happier people willing and ABLE to do more to pull ourselves out of this hole we're in. If we have a better outlook and feel better physically, we can do so much more to turn things around. 

Most of our despair is gone, President Obama, because of you. We wanted it to be gone and just needed someone to lead us to a place where we could hope again. You did that. And I am asking you to do it again ~ lead us again in providing for ourselves. Please, replicate what Slow Food Nation did in San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza, building a vegetable garden where one was 60 years ago. Please, put the vegetable garden back where it was for almost 150 years (read about it on this page: http://www.eattheview.org/page/history-1) ~ on the lawn of the Nation's House. Adams, Jefferson, even Eleanor Roosevelt did it. Please follow their lead so we can follow yours.

Windy, dreary day

*sigh* I had planned on planting peas today, but it's just too damn windy.  The birds aren't even coming to the feeder it's so bad.  I did go out there and try ~ managed to get the end of the bed from the cilantro to the forsythia sage loosened.  I just wish I could have gotten something planted.  It looks so bare out there.

Warming Table's set up!

But first, what a cute little egg!  The little "new" banty pullet from last year's chicks must be laying, now graduated to full-fledged hen status.  She must be so proud.  Every time that happens, I have to just stop and smile at how adorable the little egg is.  I used it and a few of it's brethren to make some giblet gravy, hence the decimated onions and garlic skins around it.

I bought a soil warming cable from Farmtek a couple weeks ago and decided to set it up today.  Initially, I was hesitant to use regular potting soil for fear of it getting too hot when it was dry and possibly having some of the organic matter catching fire.  I asked Neil at NG about it and he pointed out that it won't really get that hot, just hot enough to start seeds.  Doh.  

I put about an inch of nice, sandy potting soil down first, spread evenly across the table.  I cut some hardware cloth to fit, zip-tied the cable to it per directions (easy-peasey ~ just put the thermostat somewhere around halfway between the center and a side of the table), and put another inch of sandy soil on top.  Voila!  

I'm so jazzed!  Can't wait to start pepper seeds and more tomatoes.  

Speaking of tomatoes, here are the Beefsteaks and Fox Cherries I started a couple/few weeks ago.  I'd put two or three seeds of the Fox Cherries in each cell because they were old seed.  Well, in some places all three seeds have sprouted!  Looks like I'll have some separating to do, but I surely don't mind.  That's just more plants for the library plant sale.

Here are the other seeds I planted a while ago.  Left to right ~ Castor Beans, Luna White hibiscus and Green Globe Improved artichokes.  I just love seeing all the little green heads poking up!  Can't wait to get them into bigger pots and some into the garden.  I'll plant just a few of each (two in the case of the hibiscus) and offer the rest at the plant sale.  I hope they sell ~ being "exotic" to most people, they just might.

And most of the cuttings ~ about three hundred and I'm just getting started.

Now that I've got the warming table, I'll be starting a lot more soon.  I haven't tried any of Grandma Wall's pomegranate yet, nor her fig tree or the beautyberry by the creek.  

I figure if I make a dollar a plant, I'll need about a thousand to make enough money for the fence and startup materials for the Learning Garden project.  So I'll start many more than that to have a few to pot up and grow larger for the next sale.  I'm also thinking I'll save seeds from all my heirloom and open pollinated veggiesto package up and offer for a donation to the garden project.  Might make a few more bucks that way, and it'd be fun to get more people interested in growing the old varieties and saving their own seed.  

I don't know if I've mentioned the Learning Garden project here.  Kelly Baty and I have an idea to start a vegetable garden at the library to teach people how to grow their own food.  It's sad how many people have no idea that it takes more than just tilling up the dirt and plopping in some seeds.  In this economic climate, it's scary to think how many people are completely dependent on others for their food.  Kelly and I are aiming to rectify that by teaching anyone who wants to learn how to grow atleast a portion of thier own food in their own backyard.  A fence to keep the deer out is the first step ~ and the estimate for materials is $800.  So, my goal for this year is to raise a fat grand from my propagation attempts.  Bet I can do it. ;)