10 Steps to Gardening From Scratch
Photograph from johnm2205 on Flickr
Between the economy and an emphasis on locavore eating, people are returning to their roots, literally. (I'll take a lame gardening pun whenever I can.) Here's a great list from a horticulturalist on 10 steps to gardening from scratch. Get a soil test and quit making excuses for not starting the compost bin yet.
According to this Yahoo! News report, "the National Gardening Association estimates that a well-maintained vegetable garden yields a $500 average return per year. A study by Burpee Seeds claims that $50 spent on gardening supplies can multiply into $1,250 worth of produce annually."
They are being nicknamed "recession gardens," a throwback to the Victory Gardens of World War I and II.
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4 Comments:
#6 is quite possibly the BEST gardening advice ever. A couple years ago, I planted "fun plants"....purple bell peppers, two kinds of eggplant....and I hate both those veggies. We didn't think it through. Now, I go all Type A and plan the veggies out and make drawings and the like.
Also, think twice about planting more than one zucchini or cucumber....ever. Unless you have lots of neighbors that don't mind produce on their doorstep.
amanda0730 at 1:07PM on 03/18/09
interesting, before the recession, a gardening "expert" on NPR said it costs about $40 to grow one organic tomato & that gardening will always be more about having fun than growing your own food...for most people.
I wonder where the numbers come from.
dmarina at 8:58PM on 03/18/09
$40 for one tomato? I'm curious what goes into that number. A packet of seeds is $3 and a whole bag of organic potting mix is less than $10. Epsoma fertilizers are also less than $10 a bag.
During WW2, 40% of our vegetables were grown in Victory Gardens. In France, it's still about 25% from home gardens. We've just forgotten how to do it.
cara_mia at 11:54PM on 03/18/09
It was $64 for a tomato, and it wasn't a gardening "expert" but a guy who was doing it himself. It was the total cost he spent on supplies, fertilizer, tools, seeds, whatnot, which is documented in the book he wrote. But you can do it for much less.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360768
DwayneW at 1:18PM on 03/19/09