Gardening! Who is doing it?

[mem82]

I want to do some veggie gardening this year. Preferably raised beds. I see all sorts of homeschooling fun with it, but I'm scared of the cost. lol I need to save money in the long run.

What do you do and how much does it cost in the end?

[twyliatepeka]

We are going to if the weather stops being psycho here for 5 minutes.
not sure what it costs to do raised beds though. We have tractors & all that & a big garden.

[blueyedbaker]

We plant a huge garden every year. I couldn't tell you how much the cost is though I've never kept track (I probably spend way to much). My girls love to be out side and love to garden either vegetable or flower.

[mem82]

We plant the front flower beds and the kids like that. I just want to get better veggies for us and hopefully at a cheaper cost than store bought. 8)

[bluerooffarm]

We do a huge garden every year. We spend way less than a hundred bucks each year and that includes the odd stuff like garlic and the load of manure and replacing any boards on our beds. We have 15 4x10 beds. And 12 inside out tires full of herbs and strawberries.

[oredeb]

 hi mem, i garden

we also use raised beds and in ground planting,  depending on what kinda wood you use is how expensive its gona be for the beds or if you dont use wood you can use those gray bricks, hay bales, or old wood laying around pieced together(i did this for years) or nothing just till and rake everything to the middle of the rows and you have raised beds! also i just seen one using black plastic as the sides interesting!hahahah

next you have to decide what dirt your gona put in it! oh boy! we used some from a company that composts everyones leftovers, we picked it up in our truck and now i maintain it with scraps from the house, 

i dont buy starts for the vegetables, i start them in my house, (got some going right now) for the garden, i save seeds every year for the next years etc.  i use straw to mulch with or grass cuttings, so  i dont have to water a lot.

see if any of your neighbors garden and exchange plants and seeds, the dollar store has seeds sometimes in the spring for 10 for dollar, they grow fine, i use them, once you have your vegs growin be sure to let some go to seed, and save the seeds from some! dry and label

and if you want you can run soaker hoses through the beds so you dont really have to hand water or use a sprinkler( i have inground sprinklers)

raised beds are nice cuz i can plant my seeds and seedlings earlier than in ground gardens,  but they do dry out faster than inground so i mulch real good and dont have any problems!  we layed our raised beds right on our grass, i put old card board i had down in the bottom

heres a picture of some of them

[kirbymom]

Well, hopefully when we get moved, I will be able to do a garden. 

[No_Difference]

 We were planning on it, but there is a chance we're moving this summer so we're weighing the option out again.

[OneDay.]

I can't garden here, but maybe some things that grow well in pots, I would love to do tomatoes and basil.

[Kaya529]

Buy seeds instead of plants. You can start them in egg shells and plant them straight in the garden. Buy or make a rain barrel which will save a lot with the water bill. Cut the top off a milk jug and keep it accessible in the kitchen to throw scraps in for composting. Also a mesh wire cage will hold leaves from the fall and when they break down are great for the soil. In the fall let the plants and any unusable food to break down in the soil to replenish what it took. Some of the bad veggies that are reburied will sometimes create new plants in the spring. Tomatoes are great for that. I bought tomato seeds once. When ever a bug ate into it or it was bruised I just threw it at the base of the plant. I never had to buy tomato seeds again.

[Silverkitty]

I wish I could keep a garden.  I can't keep plants alive to save myself.