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Well we live on a farm (88 acres) and have a 2400 square foot, fully automated greenhouse. We not only grow our own fruits and vegetables we raise livestock for meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. We can grow all year in our greenhouse and we can, dehydrate, freeze, and freeze dry what we produce.
Growing in a small yard wouldn’t really produce the yield necessary to offset current food prices IMHO and the time and energy spent growing a few herbs and or vegetables really wouldn’t be worth the effort it would take for the results received.
Having a garden is a good idea, but one really needs to be realistic when looking at growing your own food and the actual financial benefit ( savings) of same in the long run.
That sounds amazing! We have chickens which is probably the only reason we get any results at all regarding growing. I will check out youtube to get an idea how large a 2400 greenhouse is. The only good thing about a small space is if you fall in love with gardening, you will likely make it happen. Even if it means moving (if possible).
What do you think the reason is more people do not garden despite food prices increasing??
It's a mystery to me.
Due to a family situation, for the past few months I have been stuck in Orange County, CA where I grew up. This is one of the easiest places you can imagine to grow food year-round. Yet, hardly anyone does. One of the Sprouts Markets here has a single small rack of seeds. And that's all I've seen.
Now it's true, as someone posted above, that individual gardening in itself probably has low financial efficiency, unless you are really good at it. And the US will not be running out of our standard grain crops any time soon. Nevertheless, I once supplied all the salad and other greens my SO and I could eat, growing them in the house yet. As we lived a ways from town - going to the supermarket every 10 days or so - we definitely found this was well worth doing, regardless of the cost/benefit ratios.
Besides, it is a very satisfying thing to do.
Yes that's a great point. It is 1 hr, 2 hrs round trip to the closest large enough city which has organic vegetables. It can be much easier to just grow it onhand at home having it be fresh everytime you pick it. I also bet it tasted much better
We simply don't have enough sun. We've tried many veggies over the years, but the plants are scraggly and the production is disappointing. (Can't grow most annual flowers, either.)
We've decided it's much better to support our local farm markets. We're lucky to have about 5 within a 5-mile radius.
Yes that makes sense. I would probably do the same. We try not to spend too much money and there are no farmers markets near us, unfortunately
We simply don't have enough sun. We've tried many veggies over the years, but the plants are scraggly and the production is disappointing. (Can't grow most annual flowers, either.)
We've decided it's much better to support our local farm markets. We're lucky to have about 5 within a 5-mile radius.
Yes that makes sense. I love the Farmers Markets but they are a bit pricey compared to the stores which is understandable. There are no Farmers Markets near us, unfortunately or we would've been buying a little from them. If I won the lottery, I'd be down there shopping at least 2x a week. Local Cattlemen sometimes sell at Farmers Markets
Gardening isn't an entirely free hobby. If you live in the city, you've got terrible soil--if not outright toxic. So you'll need to buy soil and all the supplies needed to build raised beds. Then there's seed, fertilizer, hoses, and various garden tools. Hardware cloth to keep out the urban wildlife.
An urban lot usually has limited sunlight--the lot is small, and virtually any direction of sunlight will be blocked by house, garage, trees, and privacy fences, leaving only a small patch to grow on. And much of the US has a limited growing season--while Seattle and Memphis have roughly a 240-day season, Chicago, New York, and Boston have only 150 days. That's not much time to cram in all the food your household needs for the remaining 215 days.
And by converse, when you have several grocery stores within five miles, it doesn't really justify turning your tiny little patch of nature into food. And most of the population lives in these conditions. In cities.
Chicago, New York and Boston still have a longer and warmer growing season than I do, so it's not a problem. Obviously we won't be growing year-round here in the north but we can start picking the first greens around April-May, and then start picking peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans in July through to October. Fruits beginning in May (strawberries), and continuing to October (hardy kiwis, grapes). There are even fruits that are best picked after frosts such as persimmon, medlar and rosehip, maybe even picked well into winter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wox...el=EdibleAcres
Kale will likely overwinter in New York and Boston too. They won't put on new growth in the cold, but they'll still be out there, and stay fresh waiting for you to eat them, without taking damage. Mache is a green that will overwinter pretty much anywhere, even in Minneapolis or Montreal they should be able to.
And of course, you can preserve things in various ways for the winter. Canning, pickling, fermenting, jams, jellies, dehydrating or even just freezing or storing in the cellar. I expect that I'll still have pickled peppers, frozen tomatoes and butternut squash from 2023 until past the point where I'll be pulling in the new harvest from 2024.
I love the Farmers Markets but they are a bit pricey compared to the stores which is understandable.
This comment relates to what the market price should actually be. This is not an attack against this poster, but when I see my local supermarket selling cucumbers or green onions for 68 cents I cringe. They are picked and processed by modern slaves in other countries and trucked hundreds or thousands of miles, how they are earning a profit I have no idea, but it stinks.
I used to grow and sell produce like this at my local farmers market and put a lot of time into figuring what the market price should be so I could make enough profit to continue operations, and not undercut other farmers. When customers told me it was too expensive I told them to grow it themselves and let me know how it worked out for them.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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For us in east side Seattle, it’s a matter of land with sun. We live in a condo building, but we use son’s home to a little dirt gardening. There are just too many tall evergreens making shade and the soil is nothing more than glacier sand and rock. Weather is not warm or long enough for good tree fruits.
We used to have a home orchard and 5 raised beds in the willamette valley hills.
We liked the variety of fruits that are really tree ripe. 16 types of fruits plus sub varieties.
I had a huge garden in SoCal, plus citrus & avocado trees. It was easy to grow veggies there. I have never really adjusted to the shorter growing season where I now live, but I’m putting more TLC into my existing fruit trees.
We've wasted so much $ on failing crops. Finally, I start my own starter plants which saves some money. If we were to buy the compost, I wonder if it would be less expensive than buying them in the store or cost more.
Only been Successful in growing these in abundance:
1. Leeks & Yellow Onion
2. Elephant Garlic
3. Cherry Tomatoes
4. Potatoes- (Yukon Gold, Russet, Red potato)
5. Pole Beans
6. Cilantro. Basil, Lemon Balm, Mint. Chives
7. Habanero, Bell, & Banana Pepper
8. Peas
Still worth growing
Kale- Red Russian
Squash (pumpkins, yellow squash & zuchini)
Lemon and Apple trees have been easy to grow yet they were here when we arrived
Plenty of people have no access to gardens.those who say grow your own good don't seem to understand that.
Deer. Jill and Jack Rabbit. Fire ants. Various pests, to the garden, to destroy or make useless what one has sowed.
Of course, there are measures, but between the time/effort they take and are such measures really good for the environment, they can be barriers to the question posed.
For me, there is a point that much of what is in a garden is not on my menu and what is on my menu, is cheap enough any how. This house does not buy frozen veggies.
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