Two weeks ago as I kicked off this year’s garden experiment, I was stymied by a long string of Spring rains. Fortunately, the rain held up long enough last weekend to get the garden fully installed.

Saturday, I got up bright and early.  By 10am, I was picking up the first of three pickup truckloads of top soil needed to fill my 100 square foot raised bed.  It took me about three hours to pick up and unload all the dirt I purchased from a local landscaping supply company. I originally estimated it would take two truckloads, so I was disappointed to need a third.  Total cost of top soil: $41.06.

Once the soil was in place, I headed out to pick up the plants.  As I wrote earlier this week, I found great, cheap plants at a local nursery and eagerly loaded up my cart with tomato cages, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, jalapeños, cayenne, red and green bell peppers, chives, parsley, oregano, basil, and something called “sugar herb”. Total cost of plants and cages: $101.17.

I knew as I was darting around like a kid in a candy store that I was buying too much, but this was far more than my garden could hold.  After I brought the plants home and planned the garden layout, I discovered I had about 12 too many plants. I intended from the beginning to put the strawberries in last year’s container garden pots, but I still went way overboard.  This forced me to go out and buy new pots so I didn’t waste the plants.

Garden Closeup

Before I got down to installing the plants, I mixed the fresh top soil with about $10 worth of peat moss I had left over from a previous project.  This helps aerate the soil and puts natural nutrients in there for long-term release.  And as I dug each hole, I also scooped in a cup of the vermicompost I harvested last Autumn for another organic fertilizer right where their roots could get to it quickly.  With the worms I added this Spring to my worm composting setup, they should produce enough compost that I can fertilize my garden solely with the worm castings.  I’m going to try for a “chemical-free” garden this year and leave the MiracleGro for my potted plants.

I finally wrapped up the initial work on the garden around 5pm – clocking 7 hours of labor (and one bright sunburn) for Saturday.

Sunday, we went to Lowe’s after church and picked up some pots, potting soil, stepping stones, a soaker hose and stakes to keep the hose in place for a total cost of $98.25.  It took me about two hours to get the stepping stones where I wanted, the hose in place, and to plant the remaining plants in their pots.

Container Garden

Since regular sprinkler watering is very wasteful in gardens (not to mention bad for tomatoes), I opted to put in a soaker hose so the water would go directly to the root areas and leave the plants and leaves dry. Unfortunately, I ran into some problems using the hose due to all the turns it has to make:  The holes in the hose won’t stay down, but instead spray in just about all directions.  I may have to replace this irrigation plan with a custom-built PVC setup.

But the garden’s done!  I invested way more money than I intended, but I suppose that’s normal for a garden’s first year. Next year, my expenses will be much lower since I won’t have to buy all the durable goods again.  Now to watch it grow!

Garden Experiment Scorecard

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Saturday, after nearly a full day’s worth of work prepping the ground in the new garden, I went to my favorite hardware store to pick out some plants. I walked by the two short aisles of fruit, vegetable, and herb plants and was underwhelmed at the selection and quality. It was obvious that the “good” plants were long gone and the remaining stock was crippled, withered, or otherwise abused. But what surprised me most was the fact that they were charging nearly $4 per plant! They were really trying to take advantage of people weathering out a bad economy by building a garden.

Fortunately as I was about to fill my cart with over-priced and low quality plants, I overheard someone mention the name of a local nursery. I used to go to this store before it closed down a few years ago but it has since re-opened under new management. I put back the plants and headed down to this old favorite to see if they could help me.

When I arrived, it was obvious that others had heard the great news – the parking lot was packed. Cart after cart was leaving the greenhouse loaded with pots of various color holding strong, vibrant, green plants. I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

Walking into the greenhouse, I was immediately impressed by the selection and quality of plants. They not only had tomatoes, but they had at least eight varieties; they had not only bell peppers, but they had an entire 10′ aisle full of just bell peppers; they even had two types of chives! Not only was their selection abundant, their prices were about half that of the hardware store’s. I actually had a hard time narrowing down which varieties of vegetables and herbs I wanted to plant instead of just struggling to find the best plants.

So before you pack up and head to your favorite all-purpose hardware store, give a local nursery a chance at your business. You’ll be helping a local business owner, your community, and most importantly, your wallet.

Photo by: uberculture

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Starting your garden or just want to perk up your houseplants while helping the environment? Composting is a green, free way to provide great nutrition for your plants while putting less garbage into our growing landfills. And vermicomposting takes standard composting to a whole new level. For this year’s Earth Day, how about setting up a worm composting bin of your own?

I’m no expert on vermicomposting, but I have been maintaining my own worm composting bins for nearly a year and I’ve gotten great results. Since starting my own bin last year with a pound of worms, I’ve had to expand to a second bin to handle the population growth and bought an extra two pounds this Spring (from Bentley at Red Worm Composting) to help us process more wastes even faster.

In the past year, we have not thrown away any banana peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, or nearly any other non-meat organic waste. Instead, we’ve fed our worms every bit of it. And, boy do they devour it fast! Before long, you’ll see a nice layer of rich, black material building up in the bottom of your bin. This, folks, is the real black gold.

Once your worms have produced enough castings to collect, it’s time to harvest. (And there are many ways to accomplish this.) My first harvest last fall brought in about 10 pounds of castings and they’ll go in my garden as soon as I’ve finished constructing it. When it comes to natural fertilizers, you can’t get much better than fresh worm castings. I suspect my tomatoes will be better than ever – even without using MiracleGro!

But what if you don’t want to mess with worms but still want the benefit of worm castings? With the growing popularity of using worm castings for fertilizer, there are companies popping up all over willing to sell you fresh compost for immediate use. You can either search at your local landscaping company or search the internet using resources such as the Worm Composing Business Directory.

Happy composting and happy Earth Day!

Photo by: jeffschuler

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

After last year’s successful container garden, I decided to up the stakes and build a “real” garden in my back yard. Following in the footsteps of Get Rich Slowly’s J.D. and wife in tracking their garden’s production, I’ve decided to chronicle my experiment for you.

Before winter came, I measured out a 10′ by 10′ square at the back of my yard. Since it’s away from the house, I don’t have to worry about the garden getting enough sun during the peak growing months and it’s also centered to the sides of my land so I can add fruit trees later if I decide to build a home orchard (which I’d like to do this Fall).

To frame the garden, I chose four 10′ 4″x4″ treated timbers for a total of $48 to build a square frame. Initially, I planned to dig out the sod to use in other places of my yard and embed the timbers two inches into the ground. I began the excavation two weeks ago, but I wore out after digging out only 10 square feet. Shortly after, the Spring rains came and the small area I dug out flooded and stayed full of water for over three days.

The minor flood was a blessing in disguise since it happened before I got too far along in the project. The land at the back of my yard is low, so it has a tendency to hold water. Since I didn’t consider that when I was designing my garden, I had to adjust my plans and use a raised bed since I’d rather not drown all my plants.

To finish the raised bed, I still need to haul in about two truckloads of top soil to fill the garden, mix in the vermicompost I’ve harvested so far, then I need to devise a way to keep it all from washing out. Most likely, I won’t be able to solve the washout problem this year. I expect I’ll have to build up the garden using bigger timbers and embed the first level a few inches into the ground to make up for the uneven land. Then I’ll have to add adequate drainage to the structure to keep it from flooding. In all, that would be too much expense for the first year of this experiment so I’ll just wait and see and patch the flaws as they appear.

So that’s where the experiment sits for now: The ground is finally starting to dry out (even though there’s more rain on the way); my timbers are in place; I have a partly-filled in 10 foot long hole in my yard; and I’m waiting until I have time to go purchase and haul the top soil to continue work. I hate to be stuck going nowhere with this, but I know it will happen soon enough.

Garden Experiment Scorecard

Photo by: Martin LaBar

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

Yesterday, I wrote about my little container garden that I’m housing on my deck.   Already I have a bunch of tomatoes growing and I think I found 3 very small cucumbers starting to sprout from the vines.  The joy of growing some of my own food got me thinking about how I want to set up my garden next year. After some research I believe I am allowed to put a garden in my yard, so I’m going to need a lot more plants to fill the space and it won’t make sense to spend at least $5 per plant to fill my garden.

Considering the variety and quantity of plants I hope to grow, the best way to do so will be to start from seed. And since I’m already growing two of my favorites and the plants seem to be generally healthy, it’s possible their seeds will produce similar plants.  This won’t always be the case; hybrid plants, for example, usually won’t put out seeds that will be anything close to the original.   And if you planted two different varieties of the same family of plants (two different tomato plants), it’s likely the fruits will be the product of cross-pollination and there’s no way to know what quality of plants those seeds will produce.

If hybridization and cross-pollination aren’t likely problems for your garden, go ahead and save all the seed you want and use that to start your garden next year.   For each plant family you want to grow again, select the best looking fruit from the healthiest plant for your seed harvest. This will ensure that you’ll produce a plant that is well-suited to your specific growing conditions and the best fruit will generally contain the best seeds.

Allow the chosen fruit to fully ripen on the plant before harvesting.  Each plant has a different recommended ripening period to produce the best seeds. I recommend searching for the particular details on the plant you wish to harvest.  For example, tomatoes should be bright red and fully ripe and cucumbers must be allowed to turn yellow and stay on the vine until the vines themselves are dead – well past the stage where you’d normally harvest them for consumption.

How you harvest the seed from the fruit also depends on the type of fruit, so make sure to read up on the particular seeds you intend to save. Tomatoes are easy:   Just squeeze the seeds out on a paper towel and then leave them there at room temperature to dry.  Cucumbers, on the other hand, can take much more effort – the process involves scooping out the seeds, soaking and letting them ferment for a day or two, gathering the good seeds at the bottom of the mess, and then drying them out.

Once your seeds are harvested, then you simply have to label and store them for next year. Keep them in a cool, dry, and dark place to give your seeds the best chance of surviving.  I will be using old, clean baby food jars for each type of seed.  If you’re using a closed container instead of an envelope, make sure to include some sort of non-toxic desiccant in the container to keep the seeds from getting moldy or trying to germinate. One method I read was to use powdered milk, but I might choose to use some rice since it will be easier to separate out.

Early next spring, you’ll be ready to go with seeds that are well-adapted to your locale and you should see a dramatic improvement in your next crop. Eventually, you will develop a custom variety that flourishes in your garden and produces amazing results.   By saving your own home-grown vegetable seeds, you’ll save money from start to finish in your garden every year and be the envy of your neighborhood’s other gardeners.

Photo by: malakins

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com

With food prices climbing almost daily, more and more people are turning to home-grown vegetables and herbs to reduce their overall food budgets. It’s a great idea, too; starting your own garden costs relatively little compared to the gains you’ll reap and most of your expense comes in the form of sweat while tending your food plants. Having a garden of your own helps you be more self-sufficient and allows you to insulate yourself, at least partly, from food price inflation.

Unfortunately, not everyone is free to have a garden of your own. For those living in apartments, it’s unlikely you have the right to access the land directly and community gardens are reportedly fully-reserved at least 3 years in advance. And people owning their own homes are sometimes prevented from building a garden of their own by local ordinances or by subdivision covenants. It’s a shame that these people are forced away from the freedom to grow their own food – or so it would seem.

In response to the plight of the apartment dweller or the burdened home owner, some nurseries now stock “dwarf” variants of some of your favorite vegetable plants. These plants have been designed through selective breeding to grow in a sturdy and sometimes self-supporting bush that can be raised in a pot at home. Through the hard work of these growers, now almost everyone is able to grow at least some of their food at home.

Due to some uncertainty about the covenant for our subdivision, I have held off on building my “dream” garden. But that hasn’t kept me from preparing my own small container garden on my deck. At Lowe’s I found a tomato plant and a cucumber plant for just over $5 each earlier this season. When I bought them a month and a half ago they were only a few inches tall and you can clearly see the tremendous growth they have realized in that short time.

My tomato plant started putting out flowers pretty early and it wasn’t long before the first little bulbs of new tomatoes appeared. Now I have three that are of decent size with at least eight more on the way. I suspect, if this plant stays healthy, I’ll probably harvest at least $30 worth of tomatoes this year. I can’t wait until I get to bite into the first BLT this year with a slice of one of my own tomatoes.

My cucumbers, on the other hand, started off a bit slower. The vines grew very fast, producing huge leaves, but I didn’t see a single flower until a week and a half ago. Since then, the flowers have multiplied numerous times and I guess by now there are at least 30 blooms on there waiting to become crunchy cucumbers for my salads. The plant has grown so well that I’ve run out of places for the vines to hang onto. I even had to move it away from the side of my deck because it started to grab onto the rungs of the railing.

Nearly anyone can grow their own mini-garden in containers at home, but there are some concerns you need to be aware of:

Fruit-bearing plants need at least 6 hours a day of full sunlight for best growth. If you don’t have a deck or porch, it may be hard to give the plants as much light as they would like. Keeping these plants indoors would require you to leave your blinds open, which might help your plants but could cost you more in electric bills than what you would gain in food savings.

Plants like cucumbers are always thirsty. If you miss a day of watering, prepare to be greeted with wilting leaves. If you miss a whole weekend, the plant may end up looking like a day-old plate of soggy salad. Containers can’t hold nearly as much water as an in-ground garden, so make sure to ask someone to plant-sit if you’re going to be gone for any longer than a day.

Flowering plants have to be pollinated to produce fruit. If you choose to leave these plants indoors, you’re unlikely to find any insects or wind to do your pollination work for you. That means you’ll have to do the work that nature would have done for you. Shake the plant moderately at least once a day to help move the pollen around. If that doesn’t get your plant producing, gently swirl the inside of each flower with a cotton swab. To replicate the benefits of a light breeze, place a quiet oscillating fan near your plants and set it to low.

Container gardening is an easy way to ease into growing your own food. Whether you’re not comfortable with the effort and expense to build a full-sized garden or if you do not have free access to the land necessary for a garden, a container can be your best food-providing friend. From herbs to tomatoes to apple trees, nearly all your food favorites can be grown at home in containers.

Find your green thumb and get growing!

(c) 2007-2009, That One Caveman, http://www.thatonecaveman.com