A Piece of Fertile Ground – Save with a Kitchen Garden

My early gardening.

One of my favorite childhood memories is of gardening with my parents. They turned huge expanses of our backyard into a lush garden, which supplied us with healthy, and delicious produce all summer. I remember my mom starting a pot of water on the stove and telling us to go get some corn – by the time my brother and I had run out to the garden, picked a few ears, and shucked them on the way back to the house the water was boiling away.

Over the past few years we have tried some small scale gardening in pots and a tiny raised bed – but this year we are going to expand our efforts somewhat. While it’s much smaller than the gardens I remember as a kid (which were probably in reality much smaller than I remember – in my mind they went on for miles!) we are hoping to grow a small crop of beets, carrots, spinach, kale, pumpkins, strawberries, tomatoes, peas, and beans.

I am thinking that this garden will help in the goal of eating healthy on a budget. My husband and I were trying to figure out whether this as fresh as it can get produce will be more or less economical than getting it from the grocery store. There were some additional costs this year such as a load of topsoil and some specialty attachments for our existing irrigation, but the cost of the seeds and plants should be much much less than the cost of the food once it grows…assuming it grows. The cost effectiveness will really depend on how much food we can actually put on our plates.

Our garden plot.

Recreating some of those childhood memories for my daughter is another huge benefit of our little garden – no matter how much it produces. She helped prepare the soil, choose what to plant, color a garden plan, plant the seads, and water the seedlings. She is thrilled that the little beets and kale are already popping up!

I’ll keep you posted! Think happy growing thoughts for our little garden!