Relatively large gardens

   / Relatively large gardens #1  

Trev

Platinum Member
Joined
May 24, 2002
Messages
913
Location
Williamson, NY (near Rochester)
Tractor
Currently tractor-less
I stopped in to a bar on the way home last night, and got to chatting with some local farmers. They all seemed to agree about one thing.. for the average non-farmer type of person, it's cheaper and easier to simply buy food than it is to grow it yourself.

I told them about our 2.5 acres, or which I'm using maybe half for gardens. Also told them of our ongoing problems with weeds, etc. Their feeling was that if someone wants to play with gardens, probably one about the size of a big room would be about right. Much larger than that, and you start getting into expenses and work that may be more than you bargained for. A couple of them offered to stop over and look at our place this weekend, and offer some advice and help on leveling the back garden (I have a problem with standing water due to it not being flat.)

Anyway, just wondered if anyone has opinions about how large a garden (or gardens) is "worth" it for average people who have day jobs. Like I said, their opinion seemed to be it's more work and expense than it's worth. I know that dealing with the weeds is driving us batty.. not sure what chemicals to use, how much of them, and all the nuances of when to apply them, etc. Add to that the weird weather this year, and we haven't really been having a very fun time with gardening this year. It may be simply that we don't know what we're doing.. but I'm inclined to think these guys might be right.

What do you folks think?

Thanks,
Bob
 
   / Relatively large gardens #2  
Well, if you take out the fact those fresh grown veggies taste better then store bought ya they have a point. Now it seems to me, that a bigger garden would be more cost effective. You already need the equipment, might as well use it. Also you have to add up the enjoyment factor. If your area is anything like mine, we have had SO much rain, that the weeds have taken over, but this is a weird year, they all will not be like this. So I say, if you like having a garden, have one, and enjoy the time outside, and all the produce. There are a lot of other people blowing money for a lot worse things.
 
   / Relatively large gardens #3  
Trev:
The time/economics of the home garden would probably indicate it's not worth it.

But there are more important aspects to consider.

There is that January BLAHH time when one spends hours looking at seed catalogues and agonizing over which seeds to order and which will be an experiment.

Then comes March and its time to start the seedlings. Much time can be spent here deciding on how to start them and taking care of them. One often wonders how such large plants can origante from such a tiny little seed. It's also so encouraging to se the first sprouts break the surface.


Then warm weather and time to till the soil arrive. Outside at last.

Now its planting time. Setting the seedlings in the ground and sowing others directly. Not to mention the fresh asparagus, spinach and bunching onions for the table if you have an established garden.

Watching the seeds sprout, hoeing the weeds, no herbicides required, staking and fertilizing, hoeing again to keep the soil loose. The feeling of contentment on a quiet evening as one putters in the garden forgetting the rat race that occupies the previous daytime hours. Even having to clean the dirt from under your fingernails makes one feel as though he has just been very usefully engaged.

And now comes the real treat. Fresh produce, tastes that are not experienced from supermarket shelves. Decisions on which are better and which should be planted again next year.

And finally but not least. Cleaning up the garden for its winter rest. Mulching the plants that will overwinter. Watching the birds come in to clean up the sunflowers that matured and hopefully some other seeds for smaller ground feeders.

For some of us the life is not normal if we miss the spring planting.

And also rember three to four years will be required to establish proper soil conditions for good garden growth.

Nothing like dropping a tomatoe and seeing it flatten and squish juice all over the floor. So different than having supermarket type that will rebound back into your hand.

Will it be a right or left decision. It's your choice.

Egon
 
   / Relatively large gardens #4  
>>for the average non-farmer type of person, it's cheaper and easier to simply buy food than it is to grow it yourself.


Probably true...on the other hand, for most middle and upper income people it is much cheaper to hire out most of lifes "chores".

If you make even halfway decent money its cheaper to hire someone else to clean your house, change your oil, raise your kids, mow your lawn, rake your leaves, do most if not all regular maintenance around the house...heck, if you income is even a little bit higher, you could probably hire someone a lot more qualified than yourself to perform your marital duties with your spouse(if you know what I mean /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif)....

Then again, strip away all these things and what is left to do with your life? Work more?

As a former contract programmer/consultant it was very, very easy to weigh every daily "chore" I had to do against what I could make sitting in front of the computer instead and then decide if it was "worth" it or not for me to take the time away from work...needless to say it was easy to justify sitting in front of the computer 80-100 hours per week "making hay" instead of all the other things listed above.

I stopped trying to calculate "opportunity cost" of everything I do a few years ago, it makes life much more enjoyable. Glad I learned it while I was still young enough to enjoy myself. A lot of people don't.

Keep in mind, that on your deathbed, very, very few people wished they had spent more time "at the office."

Yes, its hard to justiy the cost/benefit of a garden in any real economic terms...don't bother trying. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
   / Relatively large gardens #5  
Yup! This is what we do - it's so much therapy I'm going crazy... Our main garden today is 30X100 and we are planning to replace some non-producing orchard with more garden. It is not an economic descision; like the earlier reply said, 'don't try to justify the costs' (or something like that) However, the REAL benefit is the relationship with the soil, your equipment, family, food, etc. There is nothing quite like eating what you grow.

Several years ago the Mrs and I started a growers market in an agricultural area that seriously needed an outlet for home gardeners. Within a year or two, we were drawing growers from around the state to sell produce. We have since given up management of the market - we picked so frequently our driveway became our personal market. We still have plenty for ourselves.

We had to get over the work involved and focus on the "Good Stuff" we enjoy. Hope this helps.

Timex
 
   / Relatively large gardens #6  
We don't work, but we are gettin' slow and sore, so it amounts to the same thing. our gardern is 70 x80 inside the fence, leaving a border big enough for the tractor to make the turn at the ends makes it 40x50, and I wouldn't want more. There is a corn, tater and strawberry patch that isn't included. Biggest problem this year is the amount of mud you pick up on your shoes. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
   / Relatively large gardens #7  
Bigger isn't always better.
I went from a 20x40 garden to a 20x4 raised garden, and I grow just about the same amount of vegetables for a lot less effort. I used to plant in 2-3' foot spaced rows, rototill, water and weed a lot.
Now I plant at 6-12" spacings, have a 100' soaker tube distributed for no-effort watering, and mulch between rows. Weed it once or twice until stuff gets growing. Never step off the grass, so no mud on the shoes.

To stop wasting space I'm going to quit growing corn - raccoons! - but I still grow pumpkins in the corner, allowing them to spread over the grass.

My secrets
- plant the rows perpendicular to the bed. Then you can reach along each row from the grass.
- plant close together, plants block out the weeds, and with enough water, the close spacing only seems to affect yield on carrots, nothing else.
- water and compost, and mulch between rows.

What fits in a 20x4 bed? (all rows 4' long)
5 rows beans
5 rows snow peas
1 row spring onions
3 rows carrots
2 pumpkin plants
2 sad looking watermelon plants /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
2 rows of raccoon ravaged corn /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
9 tomato plants and lots of little yellow flowers my wife thinks help keep bugs out

Grows enough to keep a family of 6 eating more fresh beans, peas, carrots, than kids think is fair - throughout the summer. And a pile of tomatoes starting about now. We don't put anything up for winter.

Very low effort, very low cost, and no chemicals required. Doesn't require the tractor /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif, and I haven't used my rototiller in 3 years /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Our strawberries and apple trees aren't included and there's 50 acres sweet corn across the road. Even the coons can't clean that out before I get some!
 
   / Relatively large gardens #8  
I have $200.00 worth of electric fence and $200.00 worth of wire and wood fence to protect $75.00 worth of vegatables.... how's that? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If you really want to maximize your space, look at this link http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ I bought his book when I lived in the city and we got more than we could eat out of four 4X4 plots. Gets maximum amount of food from minimum amount of garden. One 4X4 foot plot will feed a person salads all summer. Plant one 4X4 section for each person. If you want to can, plant one 4X4 section to a single crop, like carrots. Amazing book....

But what fun is that???!!! You can't drive a tractor through a 4X4 plot. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Gardening is fun, entertaining and the food never tasted better right from the plant to your plate. Start with a small plot and see if you can handle it. If you can, then make it a little bigger. Don't worry about the cost unless you are trying to sell the vegetables.
 
   / Relatively large gardens #9  
We had a tub garden when we lived in the big city. The kids loved it, each one having his or her own tub. They really enjoyed growing vegetables, and amazingly would eat them when they were ripe. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif The hit of the garden though was growning their own pumpkins for halloween. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
   / Relatively large gardens #10  
BigEddy, more details, more details! Pics. How do I do this?

My garden sucked this year. I'm thinking bad seed since last year was good and my neighbors gardens are looking great.
Oh, my tomatos and 3 green pepper plants are awesome...so I'm thinking I got old seed.
 
 
Top