The weather finally cooperated enough for us to be able to set up the raised garden bed frames yesterday. We were only expecting to be able to set up one of them this year due to the currently non-existent budget (side note, we really need to stop using “dirt cheap” to mean inexpensive because let me tell you, dirt is NOT cheap), but happily it turned out that the calculator I used to estimate how many bags of soil would be needed for each one was Very Wrong in our favor. It said nine bags, but it turns out that we only needed four, so we were able to get a second bed set up and split the extra bag between them. Win!
The planting plan for this year was originally going to be just salad greens, scallions, and some herbs (cilantro, thyme, oregano, that sort of thing) that we use a decent amount of, but the addition of the second bed means that I can add peppers, cucumbers, radishes, and broccoli to the menu. Assuming I can even get anything to grow to usefulness. It’s been over 20 years since I was able to have a garden, and have very likely forgotten how to do this. I should probably dig out some books or something.
As I’m going through the process of setting up the beds and getting ready to start planting seeds, I’m once again annoyed by the folks who look at the rising cost of food and cavalierly state that people should just grow their own food. Leaving aside the fact that most people don’t have a place they can use to plant a garden, the cost of setting up a garden is expensive on it’s own.
For us, we happen to have a whole 1/3 acre of land that goes with our house. Of that 1/3, we have roughly 400 square feet that we could potentially use for gardening. Most of that is covered by a giant sheet of buried landscaping fabric left by the previous owners that would either require hiring someone to remove and a metric shitload of new soil brought in or, the option we went with, raised beds and bags of raised bed soil. If we’d removed the fabric, it would have cost between $2-3k at minimum between the removal cost and the new topsoil. Purchased on sale and with assorted membership discounts, the raised beds were $180 for 3 4×4 boxes and $60 for soil ($240 total). If I’d had to pay full price, it would have been around $350. Also, that’s not including the soil for the third bed that we couldn’t afford to get, so if we’d done that it would be around $400.
Note that this does not include seeds or any tools that are needed. Even in raised beds, you still need trowels, rakes, shovels, watering devices. So let’s add an extra $150 for tools and seeds. We’re now up to $550. In my case, we’ve lived here for 7 years, and I’ve amassed the tools over time, so I didn’t have to shell out for them right now. Including a pair of cast iron trellises that a friend had gotten rid of a couple of years ago, one of which is currently home to a black raspberry bramble that volunteered itself next to the house, the other will be home to the cucumbers. The seeds themselves came to around $25.
Please, tell me again how people who are living paycheck to paycheck are supposed to be “just growing their own food”? Like, we technically can’t afford this, either, because home ownership does not mean wealthy, but we were fortunate enough to be able to get some of the supplies discounted and it’ll help save a few dollars down the line. I’ll also note that none of this will do us any good until at least July, which doesn’t do a damned thing for the grocery bill now. Nor does this touch on the fact that I live in a place where we really shouldn’t be planting anything outside for at least a couple more weeks due to frost risks (though we will anyway, since the alternative is not having anything to eat until nearly August), and the growing season ends in September. Or the fact that I’m disabled and that also limits how much I can reasonably manage. I’ll never be able to grow and store enough to free us from the tyranny of grocery stores. Supplemental is all I’ll ever be able to do.
So, yeah…the “just grow your own food” people can bite my ass.
Anyway, rant over. I’ve got to go figure out which of the seeds might stand a chance if I plant them today, or if I should hold off another week just in case. Eventually, there will be fresh chives.
