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A mystery under the potatoes
Produce In Your Own Backyard
The pictures you see throughout this blog are from one year of my garden in the city harvest. There is no doubt about it, growing vegetables is an excellent investment. For those with limited funds to invest, this is one of the least expensive long-term gains one can make on your grocery bill.
Not only are you saving money buying basic greens and herbs and some vegetables, you save on fuel and time as well. On top of this you are developing an important life skill, how to grow your own food and become self-sufficient.
Saving Money While You Eat
I started officially gardening in 2020. The next year, in 2021 the total amount of money spent on our garden was $65.00. The soil and manure cost $50.00 and $15.00 for the Miracle Gro without the added compost. Using compost is a huge component to growing vegetables successfully. The amount used from our groceries is not an exact calculation because all the scraps from produce and other food items purchased goes into the garden.
Collecting Compost For Better Growth
From April-September (I still use scraps in the garden in September), that is six months. On average, $100 of groceries/month for 6 months=$600.00. However, this $600.00 is your bread and butter. It is consumed and something you are buying regardless of making a garden or not. Instead of going out to buy compost, doing it this way is more practical.
Compost is an important factor in helping build a flourishing garden. You do not need a large container to collect food scraps that can be used in the soil. I use a medium sized plastic container and leave it at the side of my kitchen counter with the lid closed. When it is full I take it out and spread it alongside the vegetables. The same applies with the coffee we drink. We drink an average four cups of coffee per week. All the grinds from the coffee beans are collected and placed into the garden as well.
Can You Build A City Harvest On A Low Budget?
You Can Do A Lot With A Little
Having a low budget garden is not something people share that much about. Gardening, overall is not that expensive. However, it is labour intensive. On top of growing produce you need to check in on your garden at least a couple of times a week. Even if this means stepping outside for a few of minutes. I make an effort to regularly check on my garden five times a week in the summer. On days when it rains you do not need to go out to the backyard because the plants are being taken care of by nature.
The following pictures below show what grew in the garden in 2021. Many seeds were purchased back in 2020, however, as of yet only one of them are being used this year. Every plant growing in 2021 are seeds collected from produce purchased in 2020. Everything you are seeing in these pictures are from one year old seeds.
It is amazing to see tomatoes, that are old seeds, are growing larger than the year before. These are last surviving tomatoes, with only five plants remaining.
As of yet, I am not digging up the potatoes, both sweet and white. Meanwhile the tomatoes are just edging to get ready to be picked. Although you can pick them off when they are getting big and reaching a pinkish colour before turning red. They will ripen nicely even if you pick them off early.
Overall, this is the growth of our garden in the past months. Despite losing so many tomato seeds and not being able to plant all the green pepper seeds, nature still gives us so much. It is remarkable. In return, putting an effort of making a garden allows nature to thank us back giving us plenty in return.
Is Gardening For Everyone?
Gardening Is For All Walks Of Life
It does not matter what our economic status is in life. Everyone needs to eat. Even the rich get hungry, everyday. In the times we are living in, many uncertainties are being put upon us. When we build our garden, we feed our mouths first, then families and communities and it continues.
all green peppers pictures are from different pepper plants
I pick up kale and collard leaves from the backyard garden and use them to make delicious dishes. In the dishes I add herbs, like basil, mint and chives, also growing in the garden. As the leaves start to come up I can pick a few fresh ones and add them to our meals.
Make Use Of Your City Harvest
The challenging part is what to cook and how to do it before they go bad. Fortunately this gives us an opportunity to create something new. Or we can make what we know and work with that. For example, having something as simple as a toasted bread with sliced tomatoes from your garden is something very easy to make. Over time though, bigger ideas spring up on how to utilize your harvest.
In Summary – City Harvest
It is evident that building a successful garden in the city is possible. Even though it may look like nothing is turning out the way you want when you first begin, hope for the best outcome and continue working at it.
From now in the summer up until the time it gets cold you can start picking up food as it is ready and add them to meals.
Success is at your doorstep. Set your goals to build a garden in 2022, in case you missed out on it this year. In this small space, you can see how much abundance is growing.
Weather Patterns
Many parts of the world are experiencing great weather changes as mentioned in my blogs When The Going Gets Tough as well as 10 Benefits of Growing Your Own Food. These changes are causing major damage to fruits and vegetables, crops in general. Growing food in some parts of the world is becoming more difficult due to the fluctuation of weather. Just this week, the area I am in experienced torrential downpours. I was not sure whether my plants were going to make it. Fortunately only two plants fell and they are back up now.
Keep Up The Effort
Choose to remain optimistic when building your garden. Even if you are new to gardening, that is okay. It is a learning experience and one worth trying. Some vegetables are much easier to grow than others, like tomatoes and celery and yet, mistakes still happen. Start with what is easiest first and work your way up.
The summer is not yet over. Try not to let anything go bad or go to waste. Depending on how much you grow, there may be a lot of cooking coming up. Therefore make sure you even out your pickings. As of yet, I am not sure what the potatoes are giving, but an October update is on its way to share anything else remaining. This is not the end of gardening. There are still things to do before the winter.
I hope this helps you see the great results of building your own garden. Hopefully this garden city harvest update encourages you to try start growing something today.
September 8, 2021
Please visit more of my blogs on Gardening.
Additionally you can also check out blogs on Home Reno’s, Recipes and 2020 and Beyond for cost effective ideas for your home, garden and the future.
