This year it's gonna be different. This is not an empty promise.
Method
Container and square-foot gardening is the way for me. This is the method that was showing up everywhere as the urban farmer method, in a window, on a balcony. It's loft hi-rise alley gardening. Here is a link to an amazing new wave of large-scale farming that may actually work and may actually be healthful and not unsimilar to this method or it's philosophies.
We have a small landing strip of grass in the back that luckily gets the full sun of day, if we were on the other side of the street, I could only imagine...the rest of our backyard is dominated my a massive two-level deck, half of which we barely step foot on. I can use a lot of the upper deck for containers and maybe even a cabana. The reason we barely ascend to the upper deck is lack of privacy, we can see the neighbors can see us, hence the cabana. So dreamy...
One of three planned bedsMoney for Nothing
Much is owed to my devout return to frugality. I swear! I want affordable organics for the fam. If it turns out I can produce something edible, I will then can them, perhaps even trade or sell some of my harvest. Not only will I save on groceries, I will not have to get in my car, go to the store and wander around. I'd prefer to wander around my veggies actually.
Learning for Earning
It has been super enjoyable to bring my garden up from seed, observing every minute transformation, actively building a new skill set and so on. I feel like a scientist or sorcerer when I pour over my gardening manuals, print spreadsheets from the internet and mix soils. Vigilant against every pest, I fend them off with various potions or manual eradication via squishing.
I am totally that person that needs to make some of the mistakes herself to really understand what's going on, i.e. mixing the subsoil with the topsoil producing rock solid clay clumps - done it, not that bad. Sorta like a sub-prime brownie. I now get soil structure, drainage and the power of fertilizing. Trial and error is the essence of any good scientist paired with a drowning dose of curiosity.
Expense and Revenue
I have a rough and running tally going of the money spent and, loosely, where it's going. There exist plenty of sunk costs and disbursements to get this garden in the green. Many things will only have to be bought once or at the very least last me a decade to two decades long - providing we don't move. We bought the house big enough for a few more. We could stick around for a while:)
Initial Costs: The Seed and Incubation
I started with one 4 ft shop light (had an extry laying around) and one 72 unit seed starter with peat pots ($7.50), organic seed starter soil to fill those cups ($3.50), heating pad ($16), salsa kit with 36 units ($7.50)(kind of an extravagant purchase, not that it cost much more, but kits always jack up the price and are usually very easy to replicate on the cheap) and a few ceramics ($12) for the herbs 'cause we like to give them attractive homes. My aunt is an amazing ceramicist, wonder what she has laying around...
Expansion
After an Easter visit with my country mouse cousin, my garden had to expand. She turned me onto heirlooms and gave me some seeds. Enter another 72 unit seed starter, this time with peat capsules ($7.50) (to compare with the peat pots), a new shop light ($10.50) and new and improved home in the attic with the only well sunned window in the hizzy. We repurposed a hand-me-down desk, covered it with plastic and hung the two shoplights at varying heights. So happy!
The Land
Now the grounds needed to be planned, plotted and prepared. Upon seeing the seriousness of my efforts and not so pitiful results, I have gained the respect, support and assistance of my husband. He insisted on new wood for the boxes since he was the builder (even though orthodox frugality would have me scouring forgotten corners of the city for wood). He was wise. So, wood was bought along with a strawberry plant and 2 evergreens. He built the boxes and we hand-tilled. Back-breaking work, I tell ya, but worth it.
The Dirt
To ensure long and bountiful harvest my soil has to be top-notch. For a while, my head was spinning from the dizzying array of inorganic and organic matter that one must add to the soil in differing amounts according to each plants specific needs at ABC time by moonlight but only on this weekend in june.
It slowly started to sink in. I took notes and cross-referenced, just like I would in school. Greens need nitrogen, carrots like sandier soils, phosphorus gives maximum bloom and thusly fruit.
A dear friend rides horses competitively and for pleasure. Her barn accumulates plenty of composted manure, or black gold in gardeners currency. One day, in between rainy spells, I borrowed the mr.'s truck and rounded up all my available 5 gallon buckets (7 plus 3 3 gallon). The drive to get there was beautiful, postcard worthy, so worth the price of gas and my time (50 min drive). There was such an abundance, my 44 gallon capacity seemed paltry! The act of shoveling sh*t was even enjoyable. To the manure, I add equal parts vermiculite and peat and stir.
Onto growing monster tomatoes...upon further research, I stumbled across the secrets of growing a bumper crop of tomatoes. 1 fish head (or shrimp shells or crab shells), 2 heaping handfuls of bone meal (phosphorus)(24 lbs $37), 2 crushed aspirin (or shredded willow bark), 3-4 eggshells and 1/2 tsp. mycorrhizea powder (1 lb $13.72). It also recommended worm casings and worm tea, which I couldn't find readily (odd 'cause my garden shop spot had everything else imaginable - including hydro). In the future, I would like to have a worm hotel and generate my own worm goodies.
Finally, in deciding on a good organic, all purpose fertilizer, I was drawn to the "Fish and Poop", stinky and powerful. At $37 a gallon, I'm hoping it will last through 1, if not 2 summers. A little goes a looong way.
What can be had for FREE
I was able to accumulate many of my requirements free! With a little creativity and courage, I managed to acquire 13 5 gallon buckets from work($2.97/ea at Home Depot) that I use for composting, rain catchment and manure hauling soon to be used as veggie beds. They were headed for the trash! They regularly throw away high quality plastic containers, as do restaurants by your house, I'm sure. I even got the dishwashers to wash them:) They felt good about not throwing them away, even though it further cements my reputation as being "unique", thank-you-very-much! I transplanted seedlings into containers headed to recycling, even plucking some out of bins at the recycling center (make sure to poke holes in the bottoms), the manure, of course. I also collected this list of ingredients from my job: 13 5 gallon buckets; 3 gallon bucket of shrimp shells; 3 gallon bucket of crab shells; countless egg shells and coffee grounds; orchids, leaf lettuce, and edamame shells. My general manager even commented on how it would save on garbage costs and trash bags. Victory!
I've never had time, until now, to give a garden it's proper treatment and respect. I've long left behind my partying heyday and am thinking about the baby days. I would never have had the time to devote to gardening with the enthusiasm and care I give now. The sprouts are the first thing I want to see upon awakening and the last thin I want to see before sleep. I have a staring problem. They'll grow better under my loving gaze, right?!
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