My sister made the mistake last night of asking me about my garden. She planted a garden this year as well and has reaped its beautiful rewards. Our efforts have only been moderately successful. While our plants have grown to amazing proportions, our little rodent neighbors (namely squirrels and chipmunks, a.k.a. “tree rats”) have made themselves quite at home. I have several large tomato plants loaded with tomatoes, but it has been weeks since I have picked a ripe one because the rodents get to them first. In fact, they even eat them when they are green! Because of the size and location of the plants, there is little I can do to barricade them from their attackers. I have managed to grow cucumbers, cantaloupes, beans, corn, okra, butternut squash, beets, carrots, onions, swiss chard, and raspberries, so I can’t say that it has been a complete failure. However, I have learned about what it takes to grow that little handful of beans that you so casually toss into a bag at the grocery store.
I went into the garden biz for several reasons. I wanted to have fresh vegetables because I love to eat them. I wanted my kids to learn to love them too; I learned to love vegetables because my mom grew a garden when I was little. I wanted to tap into the family and religious heritage that valued gardening and the lessons it teaches. I thought the idea of an urban farm was cool and I wanted to make use of our land in a productive, more earth friendly way. While I still think that all of the above reasons are valuable and I will continue to grow for those reasons, I have also learned that growing a garden isn’t the most economical move. I knew that the first year was going to be an investment; our ground is solid clay and I needed to create a fertile growing space, so I followed the Square Foot Garden method for building raised beds. After buying the soil, boxes, plants, and other equipment, it cost nearly $1000 for three beds. We won’t have to spend this again, but it will take a lot of vegetables to make back this cost. What we have been able to yield from the beds has only been enough to supplement our meals a few times a week; I still shop at the farmers market for most of our veggies and I am not planning on preserving anything from my garden. No matter how simple the gardening method, vegetable gardens take time and care in order to produce the end result. As someone who works at home, time is money and when you factor in what I earn to the cost of growing a tomato, it is a pricey little treat the squirrels are enjoying. If anything, I have enjoyed appreciating living in a cooperative society where it is someone else’s job to cultivate food. I know have the greatest appreciate for farmers and agriculturist and truly admire what they do. I know they do a good job here because the local markets are amazing!
We did enjoy a harvest dinner tonight, though. We had swiss chard, stuffed peppers, and cantaloupe, all grown from our little urban farm. And it was delicious, and I was proud of growing it, no matter the cost.
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