This guy actually made money with a backyard garden:

Save money on fertilizer by pooping in the yard.*

_{*Also saves money on the water bill!}

This article is a big fat duh, unless you lived in a big city all your life.

I've actually had a couple of friends with NO agricultural or gardening experience say they were planing to start one to save money and get better veggies.

I told them this same thing: with a lot of practice and some luck, you'll have great, cheap veggies. But until you get there, it's going to cost you way more than you get out of it.

My garden consists of mint which is used for mojitoes. It comes up every year with no effort of my part.

/life is good.

Fano: This article is a big fat duh, unless you lived in a big city all your life.

Hell, that's not even an excuse.

Prospero424: I've actually had a couple of friends with NO agricultural or gardening experience say they were planing to start one to save money and get better veggies.

I told them this same thing: with a lot of practice and some luck, you'll have great, cheap veggies. But until you get there, it's going to cost you way more than you get out of it.

I don't know, I grew up with gardens every summer and it never seemed like you needed a whole lot of luck or practice. Just time to spend taking care of the thing. But perhaps I have learned more than I thought from watching other people do it.

I was going to make a pot reference here, but...meh.

Gunny Walker: Save money on fertilizer by pooping in the yard.*

*Also saves money on the water bill!

*also a good way to get some nasty diseases.

I strained a buttock picking veggies in my backyard yesterday, so I'm really hurting right now getting a kick ...

/No, I was using my hands
//Look, it's a long ... forget it
///I SAID, FORGET IT!

So if you do it wrong, it looks like a place they test missiles.

/better not be obscure

Witty Handle: Prospero424: I've actually had a couple of friends with NO agricultural or gardening experience say they were planing to start one to save money and get better veggies.

I told them this same thing: with a lot of practice and some luck, you'll have great, cheap veggies. But until you get there, it's going to cost you way more than you get out of it.

I don't know, I grew up with gardens every summer and it never seemed like you needed a whole lot of luck or practice. Just time to spend taking care of the thing. But perhaps I have learned more than I thought from watching other people do it.

Well, maybe people are being suckered or something by other articles that make it sound like your backyard garden can fully support you or something. My mom has always had a garden with tomatoes and green beans, with occaisional other vegetables, which she cans every year. She always has, and we've always had great spaghetti sauce.

Keep in mind that people could save a lot of money by cooking at home, and that seems to be getting rarer.

Maybe I'm blessed with good soil, but I've always found it to be pretty damn easy to grow some veggies in the backyard

Gunny Walker: pooping in the yard.

Really bad idea.

Ahem..It's not that farking hard..

McManus_brothers: Fano: This article is a big fat duh, unless you lived in a big city all your life.

Hell, that's not even an excuse.

And then there's this (new window).

if you're going to have an article with pointers about "testing the garden's nutrients", tell me how the fark I'm supposed to test my garden's nutrients you assholes. that would be a useful tidbit of info, not "don't spend $100 for $10 worth of fruit" you farkwads.

Witty Handle: I don't know, I grew up with gardens every summer and it never seemed like you needed a whole lot of luck or practice. Just time to spend taking care of the thing. But perhaps I have learned more than I thought from watching other people do it.

Can you just stick the plants in front of a TV to make them grow? Or give them ritalin? Actually doing work is hard!

/Likes community gardens
//hates it when people use community gardens for flowers instead of veggies.

I haven't bought vegetables or fruit except bananas in about 6 years now. The garden produces so much I give quite a bit of it away to charity and friends and still generally get a couple of years worth of stock each year. Of course freezing and jarring is essential to keeping lots of it. Only problem is occasionally you need to shoot the old groundhog who wants to eat your garden and the deer which can always be turned into dinner.

nosepicker: if you're going to have an article with pointers about "testing the garden's nutrients", tell me how the fark I'm supposed to test my garden's nutrients you assholes. that would be a useful tidbit of info, not "don't spend $100 for $10 worth of fruit" you farkwads.

UMass soil testing (new window)

So if you're really stinkin' rich does that mean you should plant veggies on your boat just to show off?

"Hello, Money Pit."

10x2cuft miracle grow fruit and veggie soil: $70
10x1.5cuft black kow manure: $60
10x2cuft jungle grow soil for top layer: $60


Till into 20x20 and you are set.

If you cant grow anything in that god must hate you.

tshetter: 10x2cuft miracle grow fruit and veggie soil: $70
10x1.5cuft black kow manure: $60
10x2cuft jungle grow soil for top layer: $60

Holy crap! Just get a yard or two of good compost and till it into your soil. 50 bucks and you're all set.

tshetter: If you cant grow anything in that god must hate you.

My tiller was pretty dinky, wasn't able to till the soil very deep. And I don't know if my stuff is getting enough sun. Next time I think I'll make a raised bed and move it into a little more sun... we'll see how it goes this year, but right now my tomato plants are paling in comparison to my neighbors' (who had a bigger tiller and planted in more sun, although they bought bigger plants than me...)

i have a garden. its an awesome hobby. for the homegardener...its not all about saving money...its about a great flavor, too.

vicejay---nice romas...

Didn't RTFA, but my wife and I are first time gardeners. Yes, the lumber to build the raised beds and the PVC to build the pea lattices were pretty steep up-front costs (I tend to overengineer everything), but we've more than covered the cost of all the plants already with all of the lettuce we've harvested. Great thing is, they grow back! Once the peppers, peas, cukes, and tomatoes appear, we'll start chipping into the construction costs. We'll break even by the end of the season, and next year, with the construction paid off, we'll be in the black by now.

/this gardening thing is a breeze
//best thing in the world--fresh lettuce!
///can't wait for everything else!!!!!!

elchip=tomatos like full sun.

How long does it take until my brussels sprouts stop looking like this...



...and start looking like this?



And do they look like that on their own, or do you have to pluck the leaves that grow near the sprouts?

try fect taa daa: elchip=tomatos like full sun.

I know. I think they're only getting 5-6 hours in their current position, although it is from 10 to 4.

built a 200 sf raised garden couple of years ago. first year was great. second year, realized i needed a rabbit fence.

Harvest Moon has taught me that all you need to grow things is a hoe, a watering can, and a bag of seeds. Just pick any patch of dirt, hoe it, water the seeds every day, and in 8 days, you'll have fresh veggies, ready to ship!

/unless there's a hurricane

Didn't know Ric Romero knew something about gardening:

"If it is just you and your wife, for instance, you would plant a lot less than if you have a larger family.

thebayougardener.com

tshetter: 10x2cuft miracle grow fruit and veggie soil: $70
10x1.5cuft black kow manure: $60
10x2cuft jungle grow soil for top layer: $60


Till into 20x20 and you are set.

If you cant grow anything in that god must hate you.

Wow that is pricey I just buy enough steer manure to dig into the spots where the plants are going to grow. Add a bit of Dr. Earth and later some MycoApply which works pretty damn good to. $15 a year add a rented tiller every other year for $12 and a few starts and a lot of saved seeds. Can be done damn cheap. 40x20 is about would I have.

elchip: And do they look like that on their own, or do you have to pluck the leaves that grow near the sprouts?

The lower leaves start to fall off by themselves. They're a fall crop. It'll be the end of August before the sprouts are big.

notimeforhippies: Didn't know Ric Romero knew something about gardening:

"If it is just you and your wife, for instance, you would plant a lot less than if you have a larger family.

The whole article is a Ric Romero job. Few real details other than "do some research and use some common sense before you try to garden, or else you'll spend a lot."

It's all about what your time is worth.

My garden consists of mint which is used for mojitoes. It comes up every year with no effort of my part.

First mint julip I ever had was home grown, had a mint julip party as an excuse to use the mint we grew. Herb gardens are the best. They'll fit easily in a few pots on the porch, look good, and you are usually only grabbing a sprig or two at a time. And you get to use the fresh stuff that Alton's always harping on. I'll never by basil from the supermarket again (at least till winter.)

2 small greenhouses full of lettuce, chard and herbs.
15 x 30 garden full of tomatoes, squash, some potatoe barrels, blueberries, eggplant, peppers, asparagus and beans.
Eating well this year.
Set it up right the first time, fence it and reap the benefit.

Or.

Wait 'til it gets really expensive in the market.

P.S. Buy a BIG freezer.

Aldo the Wonder Dog: built a 200 sf raised garden couple of years ago. first year was great. second year, realized i needed a rabbit fence.

Get some Liquid Fence. Smells terrible (it's rotten eggs, in part), but it works! We have rabbits, deer, and groundhogs like mad. They got to our earliest tulips, but haven't touched a thing--especially the garden--since the first (of several, I'll admit) applications.

TV sitcom about home gardens from UK.Link (new window)

bluorangefyre: So if you do it wrong, it looks like a place they test missiles.

/better not be obscure

Forrest Whittaker frowns upon your obscurity.

Had stuffed peppers from the garden (FTG) today, with some thyme ftg, had eggplant curry yesterday ftg, froze some green beans and Italian beans ftg, and made some Texas caviar with black eyed peas ftg. Tomorrow plan to have vegetable soup with lots of those already-mentioned ingredients, and some okra ftg. The bhut jolakia peppers are just starting to get ripe.

40 posts, and not one mention of the misuse of the word "literally"? You're slipping, Fark.

We started last year with rows tilled into the rocks..er..soil. Okay, after we screened out 8 wheelbarrows of rock, we had some rows scraped into what meager dirt was left over. We didn't do bad, but there was room for improvement.

This year we built raised beds and put in a drip irrigation system, which was spendy, I'll admit. We also paid to have 6 yards of topsoil delivered in to fill the raised beds. However, we're already seeing the benefits in two ways: increased yield and easier weeding.

I compost all my leaves, yard clippings, and kitchen waste - the only thing that costs me is the effort to turn and mix the pile every so often before I have a couple yards of 'black gold'. Occasionally I'd pick up a trash bag of used coffee grounds for free from Starbuck's - they're happy to be rid of it.

And there's nothing like food you planted and harvested yourself.
Anybody for fresh red bell peppers, tomatoes or jalapenos?

Remember- tobacco grows in the dirt. It takes some time and effort to grow and cure for smoking, but you will save money. fark excess taxation and fark the nico-cartels! It's a roll-your-own revolution! Now if I could only find some tater tot seeds I'd have everything I need.

Just Put Brawndo on them...

/it's what plants crave

Wow that is pricey I just buy enough steer manure to dig into the spots where the plants are going to grow. Add a bit of Dr. Earth and later some MycoApply which works pretty damn good to. $15 a year add a rented tiller every other year for $12 and a few starts and a lot of saved seeds. Can be done damn cheap. 40x20 is about would I have.


Save your peelings and leaves all year and make a compost pile. Go to Starbucks and ask for coffee grounds. This is all free. My yield: more zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and beans than 10 people can eat all summer and fall, in a 8' x 20' garden.

Just watched a segment on 60 Minutes tonight about Alice Waters and 'Slow Food', she's a visionary, no lie. Anyone can grow a garden and the benefits are, well, bountiful. I'm finishing 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' now, too, so I'm, uh, ripe for harvesting the information.

/Polyface Farms for the win, Alex.

I have to say, I have NEVER had a green thumb. When my wife went on deployment, she told me that if one of her plants was alive when she got back six months later, she'd let me do that one thing with her. That really gross thing all guys want but are afraid to ask women for. YOU know what I'm talking about. Yeah, THAT thing.

In any case, not a damn one survived. And I actually tried. I watered them, rotated them in and out of the sun... Hell, I even tried talking to the damn things because I could see them wilting to nothingness after a month and a half. And I kept them around, dead and brown, when she came back. I even kept watering them and putting them in the sun, hoping them would come back to life.

The wife came back, and joked that I must have been yelling at them instead of taking to them. So to this day if she asks me to water any of her plants, I do so while yelling something stupid like "You call yourself a ficus!? You aren't fit to lick the roots of a ficus! You farking worthless piece of chlorophyll!" It usually gets a laugh, though it also usually gets a reminder that I'll never get to do "that thing."

But the real biatch of it is that she took those dead, wilted plants and someone brought them back to life within a month. Full and thriving to this day, and that was almost seven years ago.

I'm afraid that if I tried to plant a garden, I would simply end up with nothing but a big spot of tilled up dead lawn. If I can get the grass to grow and stay relatively green, I'm happy.

And before anyone else posts it: