Why I do not garden

[Jstpssng]

If I looked at everything from a strictly financial point I would live in a one room apartment, eat unbranded cereal with powdered milk for breakfast and Subway for the other two meals... probablyworking there nights and weekends for the employee discount. I would never own a car, and would ride my bicycle to the library to take out books for entertainment.
The only canned goods I eat are tomatoes and tomato sauce, and need to be careful to pick up no salt product.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I tended my first garden this year. We didn't do it to come out on top economically. We knew it wouldn't and that wasn't the goal.

I want to teach my daughter about gardening and where food comes from. I grew up with grandparents who had a huge garden, Mawmaw was always shelling peas or shucking corn, etc. It was just normal to me and I didn't think anything of it. My daughter had never seen it.

We also just enjoyed it. There was something satisfying about seeing the hard work turn into quality foods. It was neat to walk right out into the back yard and pick a few things for dinner. The quality was better than anything I can get at the grocery store. The tomatoes were great and we had enough for the whole neighborhood.

 

[shooterdon]

We had a huge garden when I was a kid. My last garden was 20 years ago. I am 71 and there is nothing about gardening and canning that makes it a hobby or fun.

The 200+ cans I bought have expire dates in 2024, but I have eaten stuff that is 4 years past the date and it was fine. So that issue never bothers me.

Sure, $.20/can is a phenomenal price, but say you had to pay $.50/can, it is worth doing? BTW, regular prices of canned veggies are $.50 or less at Walmart so that is the most you would pay today without waiting for sales or organizing a group buy.

I am not turning soil by hand, so if I bought a cheap tiller it would cost $600, add a fence for another $250 and 100 canning jars for $100 plus lids for $20. Call it $1000 with seeds etc. Even at "retail" prices I can buy 2000 cans of veggies. If I can 100 jars a year I can buy 20 years worth without doing any work.

in my case, lids are $.20 each and cost as much as a can of veggies. Even if I got two uses out of a lid, it would still be 50% of the cost.

Growing/canning veggies is a labor of love. For me, a waste of time, effort and money.

 

[ponytug]

We had a large garden - 80 x 120 - when we first move onto the property. We grew most everything we liked. Then at year three, the "locals" found our garden. They liked most everything we planted in the garden also.

At first it wasn't so very bad. We shared and they, more or less, abided by this program. Then a group of "outsiders" moved in. They had no plans to share anything. They took everything - shared nothing.

It was obvious. We were doing all the work and getting nothing.

So ..... regrettably we quit gardening. A short pickup trip down south and we could come home with all the fresh garden produce we could ever use.

Now - I have two circular planters. About four feet in diameter. I plant Acorn squash in one - Butternut in the other. Wire mesh over the top of each. I get 25 to 30 of each variety every fall.

We went the same way. I do miss the cantaloupes and tomatoes though, which were so much better than store bought.

We never did it for the savings, though it was reasonable; it was always about the quality.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CalG]

Some people have lost the "taste" for freshness.. Smoking can cause it, and now the Wuhan Flu is reported to effect taste and smell.

But for myself, I will never compare canned asparagus with fresh cut and grilled. Never will niblets corn compare to a fresh roasted ear.
And garden green salads are a joy and pleasure. We had our last of the season just last week. I can hardly wait for next JUNE!

In the winter month, one does the best they can. Oh! I also ENJOY time in the garden. Something about soil.......not sure what it is.

Maybe it is because I know it will be my final resting place, and I'm just getting comfortable in it's surroundings.

 

[mag410]

The date on cans is a "Best by date" which 2 years after it was canned. As long as the cans have not swollen, indicating spoilage, the "Expiration date" is when the contents become unpalatable. I read an article about the discovery of a 1880's steamboat that sunk on the Missouri river. The river had shifted and the wreck was now in a farmers field. Canned corn found in the excavation was analyzed and determined to be still edible, but not very palatable.

A couple years a go I found a case of Campbell's Chunky soup in my emergency stash that missed rotation and was 6 years old, it was still quite palatable. A single can that was 7 years old was not as quite as "palitible", but still edible.

 

[Goose1776]

We don’t garden to save money…
Although we do make money off selling produce..
I’ve never found store bought canned corn, tomatoes, green beans, etc… that even come close to tasting as good,
as what we can and freeze for ourselves fresh from our garden.

 

[beowulf]

We never buy canned - will buy frozen or fresh. And as for the reasons to garden, well. . . see the pics. Two of them- from yesterday with the grand daughters. Enough said.

 

[milkman636]

If I don’t count the cost of equipment, I only spend on seed fertilizer and time. My time is free time, it’s not time that I would be making money doing something else. Typically average spend is about $40 on seed and fertilizer. For that I get the best corn, peas, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers I can find. And, they are all right in my back yard. If it’s something you enjoy it’s not really work. We don’t can though. It’s a lot of work and takes space to store. We take the easy way out and use store bought stuff for 9 months out of the year too.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

This week there was a sale on canned vegetables. $.20 a can. We bought a bunch last year at $.19 but decided to get another 20 cases...240 cans. A little voice told me our temporary inflation may not be over for a while. I have all this crappy stuff that is so inferior to home grown to deal with. But, we will adapt.

$48 for 240 cans. If I could till, plant, tend, harvest, and can that much stuff in 48 hours, and seed was free, fertilizer was free and canning lids were free, gardening/canning would have a return of $1/hr. I am too lazy to do that.

I have friends who garden and can to save money, but my little pea brain cannot figure it out.

You eating food that was freeze dried here and sent to China, they can and send back here. Especially vegetables, the number one thing they can. Very low nutrition compared to grown on Your own. Ive seen my own sweet potatoes you could stand up in a 5 gal bucket and could not swing the bail over them. Over 5 lbs each. Had corn stalks 17' tall. Natural fertilizer works.