Organic produce IS more expensive, so grow your own

frostiegurl

http://www.jillianmichaels.com/lose-weight/grow-organic-with-jillian-michaels.aspx?xid=nl_LosingItWithJillianMichaels_20110720


I'm fortunate in that the house we bought last year came with a side garden complete with various fruit trees( plum, nectarine, apricot, orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, apple) as well as grapevines, and a raised bed for a garden. I've never grown my own veggies prior to this year but wanted to save on expenses so I planted cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, chives and bell peppers. I have various herbs growing on my front porch in containers like basil( super easy to propogate), Rosemary, thyme, mint, oregano and sage. I also have several strawberry plants in containers.

Never having been known to have a green thumb, I've been overjoyed at the bounty my efforts have produced. My zucchini and tomato plants produce far more than we can eat so I intend to can/freeze the extra to enjoy out of season. My initial cost to start was a pittance compared to what we're saving in produce and I know exactly what's in my veggies.

Those of you not fortunate enough to have a large garden can still grow amazing veggies, fruits and herbs using containers. You'd be surprised at how much fun gardening can be and how much money you'll save by growing your own produce. I plan on doing a winter garden as well this year and can't wait to expand my garden in the spring to introduce new veggie varieties.

Cdcaldwe

I worked two hours in my garden last night in the heat. I do have a lot of broccoli, roma tomatoes and green peppers for dinner tonight. If we get any rain the next couple weeks i should have well over five hundred pounds of tomatoes to process by the end of August. I like to can my produce. I canned bannana peppers monday morning. I will start making tomato, juice, paste, spaghetti sauce etc probably in mass after next week. I will have about fifteen bushels of potatoes, which i am not eating that much of currently. I will can those as well. I am going to replant some roma green beans saturday and try to can about 100 quarts of them the first of september. I also have pear trees that have become a great indulgence for me on this diet. I canned them last fall using only splenda and cinnamon. I ran out of them yesterday. The amount of excercise you can get from a garden is unbelievable and the rewards in the winter when produce is through the roof is great.


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Vhovell

Totally agree with you there! We're lucky to have a large garden with a veg patch, hanging baskets and pots, but my mum has been growing hers in bags - she has beetroot, carrots, potatos, tomatoes, strawberries, leeks and corguette...the list is endless and all relatively easy to grow. We have runner beans growing up a home-made wig-wam it's brilliant - thoroughly recommend to everyone!

jenniferg83

I've tried a few time to have a small garden and failed. But i really wanna have another go at it! Did it take long for the fruit n veggies to grow and become ripe?

GaveUp

That is awesome, I miss having a garden. I live right smack in the city now so no garden for me but, I get my veggies from a farmers market. A lot cheaper and they last longer.

BTW you look amazing!!

frostiegurl

I've tried a few time to have a small garden and failed. But i really wanna have another go at it! Did it take long for the fruit n veggies to grow and become ripe?

Jennifer, the fruit trees were already in place so we were good to go there. As far as the veggies go it didn't take too long before the started producing ( a couple of months) as I used starter plants. I only planted three tomato plants and I have tomatoes coming out of my ears right now. I even did an heirloom variety( which can cost upwards of $4/lb in the store).

I have plans to do sweet potatoes and red potatoes next year in the side garden as they'll have room to spread under the fruit trees. I think I'll also do avocado next year along with more peppers, turnips and beets. Not only are we saving on produce, we're also not going to have to buy pasta sauce or salsa.

Lori, thank you so much. I understand about lack of garden space. Have you tried to do inside container herbs at all?


Cd, I'm getting garden envy over here. Heh

jb_2011

I love my garden! I grow at a community garden and have a couple of large plots which total about 2900 sq ft - huge! We're harvesting boysenberries right now, almost a gallon a day this week!, plus digging new potatoes, beets, scallions, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, zucchini and had our first bell pepper last night! I'll be doing massive amounts of canning and freezing as per usual once the tomatoes get going. Pickling cukes almost ready, and the celery is out of this world this year! We grow edamame (soy beans) as well, very easy to grow and soooo delicious when boiled in lightly salted water. Regular green beans are about a week away, yesterday I peeked at them and saw the itty bitty little beans in there about 2" long, so cute. Canning green beans and corn is an annual occurance, plus making cases of jam to send for gifts at holiday time. Love roasting peppers and eggplant on the grill too, then freezing them for use during the winter. Harvesting herbs for drying now, I might package them up in nice little jars for gifts this year, too. We grow 200 garlic every year and braid them for storage - the last couple of weeks we've been roasting some on the grill with dinner, man, what a delicious treat.

frostiegurl

I love my garden! I grow at a community garden and have a couple of large plots which total about 2900 sq ft - huge! We're harvesting boysenberries right now, almost a gallon a day this week!, plus digging new potatoes, beets, scallions, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, zucchini and had our first bell pepper last night! I'll be doing massive amounts of canning and freezing as per usual once the tomatoes get going. Pickling cukes almost ready, and the celery is out of this world this year! We grow edamame (soy beans) as well, very easy to grow and soooo delicious when boiled in lightly salted water. Regular green beans are about a week away, yesterday I peeked at them and saw the itty bitty little beans in there about 2" long, so cute. Canning green beans and corn is an annual occurance, plus making cases of jam to send for gifts at holiday time. Love roasting peppers and eggplant on the grill too, then freezing them for use during the winter. Harvesting herbs for drying now, I might package them up in nice little jars for gifts this year, too. We grow 200 garlic every year and braid them for storage - the last couple of weeks we've been roasting some on the grill with dinner, man, what a delicious treat.

talk about garden envy.

I'll be planting garlic bulbs this Fall. You've given me some great ideas for my garden next year. I started small because, like I said, I'm not known for my prowess in the gardening department. Boy, was I mistaken. Most veggies are super easy to grow and need very little intervention. I'm a gardener for life now!

jb_2011

It's just the greatest thing on earth, Frostie, tending our gardens and enjoying the harvest - each year is different, some years crops fail here in Portland because of the weather, like our onion crop which all bolted to seed because of a cold spring. We have lots to use now but we won't have any for storage - I'll most likely have to chop and freeze them for cooking, I think we have close to 200, lol! Our garage is packed full with garlic curing and ready to braid, and onions in crates all over the place, oh my, lots to do.....

frostiegurl

It's just the greatest thing on earth, Frostie, tending our gardens and enjoying the harvest - each year is different, some years crops fail here in Portland because of the weather, like our onion crop which all bolted to seed because of a cold spring. We have lots to use now but we won't have any for storage - I'll most likely have to chop and freeze them for cooking, I think we have close to 200, lol! Our garage is packed full with garlic curing and ready to braid, and onions in crates all over the place, oh my, lots to do.....

I had a horrid time with beets and radishes this year. I had no idea what I was doing so I planted them too close together and I was out of town a number of time and the radishes when to flower(oops). So no go on those this year. The upside is I have seed pods aplenty and plan on doing radishes from seed next year and starting them indoors.

Portland weather is definitely unpredictable and wet. I lived there for a number of years and my dad/step-mom still live there now.

This will be my first time attempting to can things this year and I'm hoping all goes well. Need to get the supplies and hope that everything seals correctly. For now, we're sharing our bounty with my boyfriend's co-workers.

jb_2011

Radishes need nice loose soil and constant moisture to grow properly, and they mature very, very fast. I don't think starting them indoors is necessary, but you can certainly try it. I plant about 2 dozen seeds in the ground every 2 weeks throughout the growing season, that way we always have some ready or just about. Try "French Breakfast" radishes, they are the best!

One very important thing to remember about gardening....."grow your soil" (lots of soil ammendments) and the plants will take care of themselves.

frostiegurl

Radishes need nice loose soil and constant moisture to grow properly, and they mature very, very fast. I don't think starting them indoors is necessary, but you can certainly try it. I plant about 2 dozen seeds in the ground every 2 weeks throughout the growing season, that way we always have some ready or just about. Try "French Breakfast" radishes, they are the best!

One very important thing to remember about gardening....."grow your soil" (lots of soil ammendments) and the plants will take care of themselves.

Thank you so much for the advice. Looks like I have some preparation to do in the side garden to get ready for radishes. Definitely great advice on staggering the planting and I'll totally look into "French Breakfast"

Do you have any tips/hints on what to include in my Winter garden? I live in the Sacramento valley and we generally have fairly mild Winters here.

Now, if only our banana trees would actually produce bananas. :grumble:

jb_2011

You can grow all of the cool weather crops in the winter there. Broccoli, cabbage, kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, peas, etc. You can research online for winter crops too, find a local university website such as UC Davis. They usually have loads of info.

I'm starting broc and cab from seed now for our fall crops, and will be planting more beets, spinach, lettuce and peas this week, they'll mature in fall. My fall planting of carrots are about 1" tall now, we had nice cool rain which was perfect for good germination.

Gardening is a lifetime of learning! : )