I went a little excessive at Walmart's garden center. Planning a garden involves - to me, mainly do you #1 go conservative and reasonable or #2 go outa control and grow a garden to be truly proud of. One which impresses. I chose the latter.
I've had to consider - do I want to calculate the money spent and the cost of the return on my investment? I say yes.
First, my buy:
- two bags of moisture control soil ($12.50 X 2)
- two trays of biodegradable seeding pots ($5 X 2)
We drove to the closest Mennonite greenhouse for some mini plants:
- Candy Onion
- Golden Bell Pepper
- Zucchini Gold
- Revolution Green Pepper
- Hybrid Climbing Cucumber
- Big Boy Tomato
- Cherokee Heirloom Purple Tomato
These will provide a next round of crop.
And then, the seeds:
- Sugar Snap Peas
- Looseleaf 5 Lettuce Blend
- Spinach Hybrid
- Short 'n Sweet Carrots
- Bush Blue Lake Beans
- Bush Champion Cucumbers
- Sweet Silver Choice Hybrid Corn
- Roma Tomato
- Super Sweet 100 Hybrid Cherry Tomato
- Jalapeno Peppers
- Baby Fordhook Lima Beans
- Sugar Baby Watermelon
($1.50 X 4)
($1 X 8)
This assortment will give us crops sooner, a little later, early, and later summer. And enough vitamins and minerals to be super heroes. And come September, fall into a deep depression about needing to spend so much money on imported produce at the grocery store!
Realistically, I only have space enought for 1-3 of each plant and will have dozens of seeds leftover. Most unused seeds will last until next year but I may just give them to the highest bidder on CL's Free section.
I'm also torn because I went crazy on the flower seeds and they will compete with veggies for space. I'm not factoring in these costs but here's the list for your enjoyment:
Heavenly Blue Morning Glory, Giant Mixed Color Painted Daisies, William Guinness Columbine, Silver Princess Shasta Daisies, Barlow Mix Columbine, Butterfly Weed, and Marigold. And, my sister-in-law gave me a packet of Giant Zinnia seeds.
My selection of flowers wasn't strategic. I just picked the prettiest pictures on the packets.
In order to make more of the yard cultivatable we'd have to introduce more nutrient rich soil. We don't go through enough produce in the kitchen to create massive amounts of compost. If I can find my little sitting bench and get Plus One to bring everything in from the car, I may sit in the sunroom today and work on my seedlings.
Total, thus far: $54.25
Truth: Due to space constraints we won't yield the potential of this investment, but the entertainment value alone is worth the cost.
You'd be surprised at how much compost a couple people can produce, especially if they eat healthy food with lots of vegetables like you two seem to do. I think if Jen and I were able to compost, we'd produce enough to mulch a few square feet of garden every 6 months.
ReplyDeleteYou can also buy fairly high-quality compost from the store :)