God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food." Genesis 1:29
One of the great pleasures of summertime is tasting fruits and vegetables that are fresh from the garden. This year, Kevin and I did a few different things when planning for a garden. The first was the installation of an inexpensive greenhouse early in the spring. It's a canopy style structure with a plastic roof and sides. Aside from providing a protected place to start seeds, it has proven to be very good for our strawberry plants. Although, we haven't had a large yield and the berries are small, we haven't had to fight the bugs and the birds to get them.
We plant most of our vegetables in Earthboxes. The past couple of years, we've put them all in one spot. Some plants did well, and others not so much. This year we moved three of the boxes around the outside of the greenhouse. Here, we've planted squash, cucumbers, and okra. They have done well here so far, although I did have to shield the sun from reflecting off the plastic on one side because it was getting too hot and actually melting the plastic cover on the boxes. We just got our first squash and cucumbers this week...yum!
Another three boxes we moved closed to our screened in porch. They are planted with tomatoes and okra. Our tomatoes usually get stolen by little squirrel thieves, so we wanted to see if this might deter them. These tomato plants are just now blooming, so we'll see if the plan works.
We have one little patch of garden on the back end of our yard. We planted pinto beans and black beans here. The first plantings were pulled out of the ground by birds who wanted the little seed pod for food. I had to replant these. I started the new plants in the greenhouse before transplanting them. Then...a rabbit or something came and ate the tops off. Urgh! But, the plants actually survived and are now thriving. We should see some bean pods soon. Because we had our tomatoes in this spot last year, a lot of "volunteer" plants sprouted. We decided to just let them grow and see if we get anything off of them. There are now some very small tomatoes on these vines.
Finally, a friend gave us some raspberry plants last year. They came out a lot fuller this year. I wasn't sure if we'd get anything from them, especially once the birds found them. We rigged up some cheesecloth and noisemakers to try to keep them away, and it actually worked! In total I probably picked about a gallon of raspberries. If you've ever bought raspberries at the grocery store, you know how expensive they can be, so this was a real sweet money saver!
Now we do have to water all of this stuff. We live in the city limits and pay for city water. This could be a costly expense. We installed one rain barrel a couple of years ago and decided to put in two more earlier this spring. I water everything in the boxes, as well as some other flowering plants, with this water. It's absolutely free! If you want to garden on a budget, this is one of the best ways to save money. The barrels hold 50 gallons of water. You'd be amazed at how quickly they fill up. I generally use about 5 gallons a day, so I never have a shortage.
Some things we do to save money may seem like a chore; gardening isn't one of those things. When you plant a seed and hope for all of the fruit it can provide, it is such a thrill to pick those fruits and vegetables with the satisfaction of knowing that this truly is the "fruit" of your labor. Here's hoping that we get a lot more fruit this season!
One of the great pleasures of summertime is tasting fruits and vegetables that are fresh from the garden. This year, Kevin and I did a few different things when planning for a garden. The first was the installation of an inexpensive greenhouse early in the spring. It's a canopy style structure with a plastic roof and sides. Aside from providing a protected place to start seeds, it has proven to be very good for our strawberry plants. Although, we haven't had a large yield and the berries are small, we haven't had to fight the bugs and the birds to get them.
We plant most of our vegetables in Earthboxes. The past couple of years, we've put them all in one spot. Some plants did well, and others not so much. This year we moved three of the boxes around the outside of the greenhouse. Here, we've planted squash, cucumbers, and okra. They have done well here so far, although I did have to shield the sun from reflecting off the plastic on one side because it was getting too hot and actually melting the plastic cover on the boxes. We just got our first squash and cucumbers this week...yum!
Another three boxes we moved closed to our screened in porch. They are planted with tomatoes and okra. Our tomatoes usually get stolen by little squirrel thieves, so we wanted to see if this might deter them. These tomato plants are just now blooming, so we'll see if the plan works.
We have one little patch of garden on the back end of our yard. We planted pinto beans and black beans here. The first plantings were pulled out of the ground by birds who wanted the little seed pod for food. I had to replant these. I started the new plants in the greenhouse before transplanting them. Then...a rabbit or something came and ate the tops off. Urgh! But, the plants actually survived and are now thriving. We should see some bean pods soon. Because we had our tomatoes in this spot last year, a lot of "volunteer" plants sprouted. We decided to just let them grow and see if we get anything off of them. There are now some very small tomatoes on these vines.
Finally, a friend gave us some raspberry plants last year. They came out a lot fuller this year. I wasn't sure if we'd get anything from them, especially once the birds found them. We rigged up some cheesecloth and noisemakers to try to keep them away, and it actually worked! In total I probably picked about a gallon of raspberries. If you've ever bought raspberries at the grocery store, you know how expensive they can be, so this was a real sweet money saver!
Now we do have to water all of this stuff. We live in the city limits and pay for city water. This could be a costly expense. We installed one rain barrel a couple of years ago and decided to put in two more earlier this spring. I water everything in the boxes, as well as some other flowering plants, with this water. It's absolutely free! If you want to garden on a budget, this is one of the best ways to save money. The barrels hold 50 gallons of water. You'd be amazed at how quickly they fill up. I generally use about 5 gallons a day, so I never have a shortage.
Some things we do to save money may seem like a chore; gardening isn't one of those things. When you plant a seed and hope for all of the fruit it can provide, it is such a thrill to pick those fruits and vegetables with the satisfaction of knowing that this truly is the "fruit" of your labor. Here's hoping that we get a lot more fruit this season!