Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square feet

[boggybranch]

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Orga...mpaign=SLCS&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

 

[Whitewater]

Wow, I guess I never realized just how much food you could grow in a (relatively) small space!

I really like this article, it encourages people to garden who might not have the stereotypical big garden space.

Here, I know a lot of people grow in community gardens and their spots are only 4x8 or 6x8. In my experience, you really don't need a ton of room for veggies or herbs or berries. Right now I've got a bunch of raspberries coming in a spot that's approximately 2x2, my strawberry bed is approximately 8x4 and my herbs are only in a 3x6 space. I'm lucky that I have 188 square feet out back that was specifically designed, back in the late 1940's, as vegetable garden space, but all the rest of the space I'm using is just in my backyard on my .13 acres, and I *still* have room for a nice-sized brick patio (still in the planning and design stages), 2 big dogs and 3 chickens (well, hopefully, on the chickens!).

We also have two shady beds in front that might get used next year for lettuce, because most veggies don't like shade, but apparently lettuces do. And we're big salad eaters here!

Anyway, my point is that a 100 square foot garden, or even a 50 square foot garden, can produce a lot more food than people think they can.


Whitewater (who cannot wait to plant, as soon as all this grey, dank coldness moves off this weekend . . . )

 

[boggybranch]

When I read it, I thought that it might give "first" timers and folks that would like to plant a garden, but didn't have a whole lot of space, a little bit of encouragement to try. After all, how many time has the advice been given, "Start out small so you don't get overwhelmed and discouraged"? This article shows that, even, a small garden is worth the effort.

 

[hoodat]

I certainly agree with her advice about our obsesion with turf. I'm tearing out my entire back lawn and turning it into a vegetable garden. If I'm going to sweat tending a plot of ground I like to get something back. Right now i don't have to worry about space. i can sprawl all I want to but I know in a few years I will wish I had more space.

 

[ninnymary]

This article and all of you is what inspired me to start a veggie garden! I have only 100 sq. ft. and I'm surprised at how much I have planted.

I have: 6 tomatoes, lettuce, arugula, swiss chard, fennel, carrots, cilantro, basil, cucumbers, zuchinni, crook neck squash, mesclun, spinach, peas, jalapeno and bell peppers, and onions. See what I mean, it's alot!! I almost feel like I'm square foot gardening.

My biggest problem is trying to price my harvest. I pick daily only a few leaves of whatever I need. But I already know that I will come out ahead at the end.

It is such a great feeling to go outside and pick fresh my ingredients and toss them in my soup or pasta!

Mary

 

[Grow 4 Food]

I just bought a book called the backyard homestead. It works off the same thought track but a little larger scale. The main theme in it so far seems to be veggies and fruits (trees and bushes) as your landscape. No point in growing what you cant eat according to them.. It even tells you what you can do as far as animals and the processing of them.

 

[ducks4you]

It makes sense to garden instead of grow grass, because people used to graze their livestock on their grass yards. (Most of us don't HAVE livestock to mow it, anymore! ) They're been doing this in Europe for a long time, that is, replacing grass with vegetables. DH's cousin spent some time in Belgium in the 1980's and she commented on how the front yards are a mix of vegetables and flowers there.

 

[HunkieDorie23]

Well it is official, I am out of sauce for the year. No pizza, spaghetti, salsa, bbq and whatever else I had. I have 3 qts of tomato juice. Now my grocery bill goes up until my garden grows. I still have 30 qts of green beans and a little corn. But easily I will be shelling out $150-200 a month more. Luckily it is only until about the middle of July. Onions, potatoes and lettuce doing well. Checked the weather and putting in everything else tonight and tomorrow if the garden is dry enough. My garden is about 3200 sf, for me and hubby, 5 kids and always having company and house guest (brothers, niece, nephews....).

 

[ducks4you]

You am me, BOTH, sister!!
I ran out of 2008 tomatoes last week, and I didn't have much to can in 2009. SO FAR, h o w e v e r EVERYTHING is growing so much better this year!! I'm gonna look for the best price of canned tomatoes and stock up--shhhhh!!! the government might be listening and try to make it "unpatriotic" to "hoard"!!!!

 

[vfem]

I loved this article... I mean... I LOVED it. It inspired me and got me writing, it got me weighing my produce AND it inspired me to start a thread and a plan you are ALL involved with pretty much. Everyone remember the "Community Garden Project". I wanted to study several people's gardens, from all over the country... I wanted to write about the diverse ideas we all actually share, the goals we all actually share and how we ALL as a community of gardeners (no matter how large our plots are) thrive with all we manage to plant and harvest.

We live in a numbers world where we measure our success in $$$. BUT once we start gardening and we see the fruits of our labors... we no longer care about the $$$ part. Though I think seeing real numbers is what is going to get the people afraid to start to get going before they realize how much the numbers only matter according to the weight of the beans you got crammed in your freezer.

With that said, I hope everyone going back and keeps up with, the community garden project!!!
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=27660