Growing FOOD on a suburban lawn or back yard, even small one

Dolly Welsh

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 8:57 pm

FOOD. And it's not hard one bit. And the children of any age will love to help.

This is not about being crunchy or cute or mother-earth. This is about saving money.

Potatoes, very easy.

Beans, very easy.

Walking Onion, very easy.

Radish, very easy, and you can eat the leaves, in stews or even raw.

Chives, keep them in a container or they take over.

ALL those are VITAMINS.

You can put something edible in a decorative urn and no one will even know it is edible.

No, gardening isn't legal in many areas but if you put in decorative perennials, and just go cut some when you need it, that isn't gardening, that's edible landscaping.

A sunny windowsill can serve.

Every post-tax dollar you don't have to spend on food is hugely helping the budget.

Even if only one plant decides to take root and be happy on your property, that's all you need. Free vitamins. ONE.

shira leah

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 9:25 pm

I honestly would love to do this but I have so many animals in my backyard that would EAT my precious vegetables!! Deer, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, possum, ground hogs, mice...

Olive

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 9:30 pm

I've done it many times but it doesn't save $$ usually. The easy veggies are the ones that are cheap to buy, & you'll need to invest in top soil, stakes, I need pots & potting soil because our soil is terrible. Also things to keep critters away. Maybe if you have good soil you don't need much.

Some veggies can be planted from fresh seeds while others you need to buy seeds.

LittleDucky

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 10:01 pm

I have done this. Taken eyes of potatoes out and planted them.
I bought tomato plants one year and I let the rotten tomatoes fall and they replanted.

Even though we didn't get many, the fact that any grew was educational for my kids, fun, and delicious!

Dolly Welsh

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 10:08 pm

shira leah wrote:

I honestly would love to do this but I have so many animals in my backyard that would EAT my precious vegetables!! Deer, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, possum, ground hogs, mice...

You might need a mesh cage to grow in. You might have to get some mesh at the hardware supplier and make it yourself.

Or, simply grow edibles in your front yard. In containers. That might help some. Baker's racks are useful for containers.

Dolly Welsh

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 10:09 pm

LittleDucky wrote:

This is the way. Only harvest half. Then it just keeps coming back, with no work.

Dolly Welsh

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 10:13 pm

Olive wrote:

The critters are indeed an issue.

But your soil just needs the usual common green powder fertilizer powder, dissolved in a bucket of water. Weak solution, pale green water. Not too concentrated or it kills plants.

But before that, jump around on a large garden fork, stabbing lots of holes into the soil.

It's normal soil, it just needs to be aerated. It is compacted.

Then the fertilizer, and you are good to go.

Some swear by "rock dust." That puts minerals into the soil.

rnbgmother

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 10:17 pm

OMG it is not a money saver. I know lots of people who garden and trust me between the money they spend on soil, and seeds, and pots, and fertilizer, and this special doohickey, and that absolutely necessary thingamagig, there is no way they are making it out cheaper than my regular old grocery shopping.

Dolly Welsh

Wed, Mar 13 2024, 10:31 pm

rnbgmother wrote:

That is not the kind of gardening I advocate.

You do need a shovel.

You get some 'heirloom' seeds online. You score the earth, gouge a line in it, right before it is obviously going to rain. You have soaked the seeds ten minutes in a glass of warm water.

You dribble that water with the seeds in it along the scored line.

Go home. That's it.

Something will happen.

It is useful to also have a large garden fork, as big as a shovel, that you jump around on, stabbing holes in the earth where you want to plant. You did that before planting, yesterday, doesn't matter.

You will need gardening gloves to save your hands.

A bottle of Tecnu is always good to have, if you touched nature at all.

That's that. No millions of doohickies, as you say. Not necessary.