# How important is your garden?



## sdnapier (Aug 13, 2010)

I am in the process of turning my entire (city) lot into edibles. I think it is going to be very important to raise as much as I can in order to save money. I am also storing many grains in buckets as they last a long time and mixed together they can make very nutrious bread. I have about 6 years to go but it takes longer than many people realize to start to see fruit and nuts on a tree. 

How about the rest of you. How much do you depend on your garden?


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## Smalltowngirl (Mar 28, 2010)

For the last 3 yrs, not so much but before that my garden was the primary source of all of our vegetables. Right now I'm in a small town and only raise what I can in containers. It's surprising how much one can harvest from a container garden but it's not nearly enough for canning or freezing.
I was looking at online nursery's last night checking out prices of fruit trees, bushes & vines, making plans for the new orchard once I move to my land. I've planted orchards twice before over my lifetime so I don't want to dawdle, those first apples take 3-4 yrs to appear in any number. 

Once I am settled in, my first priority as far as the garden will be getting the orchard planted, raised beds established and starting a big compost pile.


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## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

My garden is very important to me. I am 60, have gardened, canned, frozen, root cellered, wintered over in the garden, and butchered for 35 years. As long as I live in the country, I will garden and eat a substantial percentage of my food intake from it. As for fruit trees, never had any luck with them; deer, insects and disease killed them all. I do have two dessert filbert (hazelnut) bushes about to bear. I have a large asparagus patch which I pig out on for 6 to 8 weeks each spring.

And when I move to the city, I will locate within walking distance of a Trader Joes or Whole Foods.


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2011)

My garden, fruit orchard, and chickens provide the majority of what I eat. I buy flour and spices, is about all.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

I'd like to make more use of it than i do. Ground dries out too fast and can't really justify watering it, this year the grasshoppers ate it to the ground, of course, I had broken both legs so I couldn't do anything with it anyway. I did get some onions, a few squash and taters, and some tomatoes but not enough to justify the amt of water that my friends put out for me.
Ed


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## Smalltowngirl (Mar 28, 2010)

Ed, heavy mulching will help reduce the need for water-it won't stop the complete need but instead of daily, you might get by with only once a week.

I'm putting in raised beds so as I age, if I have trouble bending or kneeling, the beds will bring my garden closer to me instead of me going to them. Plus I can use the square ft method & mulch to maximize yield and minimize water needs. 

I hope next garden season is better for you and for all of us who really use our gardens just not as a cute hobby but as a way to save a lot of money & eat nutritious food.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Smalltowngirl, i know well the value of mulch, just don't have much, lawn clippings would be bermuda grass, that's a no no. Leaves blow away on this old hill, I used shredded paper from school before i retired, that worked ok but was messy and trashy lookin. So I have to buy shceap mulch if i do anything. I live on a limestone hill (that's why i'm whiterock), soil is limestone dust with what organic I can get into it which doesn't last long. If I was under the hill I would be using black clay or yellow, depending on which level I was on. No means to water there at all, and feral hogs would tear it up to start.

I have two degrees in Ag so I know a little something, having grown up on this place, I know the limitations I face, and do what i can, mostly. I can do better, but can't justify the costs in many situations. My daddy used to tell me he knew how to farm better than he did, just couldn't justify cost to yield.
Ed


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## Smalltowngirl (Mar 28, 2010)

So that's why you're called Whiterock, makes sense now. 

I wasn't intimating you were dumb about gardening & I'm sorry if it came off that way. I was just wanting to share something that I found that had worked for me when I lived in areas where water was sometimes scarce.

Too bad you don't have many leaves; around here people put them at the curb for gardeners to pick up. I have enough trees that I don't need any extras but many of the new homes don't have established trees yet and really appreciate them.

Hope you get a good garden going next season.


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## nduetime (Dec 15, 2005)

More and more every year. This year we will finally have pears from the pear trees, not a ton and they are kind of small but they are finally bearing! Lost our best apple tree last year due to flooding and high winds. We rep-lanted and staked it three times but it just could not take that one last storm. I will really miss those apples, they were the best we ever had! I try to make do on what we harvest, can, gather, dehydrate, and butcher. I see more and more folks wanting to learn and do for themselves.


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

I expect our garden to become a lot more important as inflation rises.


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

My garden is very important to me, my family, friends & neighbors. Still working on some of my preserving techniques as well as gardening skills. No nut trees yet, but do have some peach & pear trees.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

Unfortunately, the garden is one thing that has pretty much had to be curtailed. Two reasons. First, I have never been able to adjust to the heat/humidity in KY so during the summer months, when you need to do the most work out in the garden, I have to be finished with outside chores between 9 and 10 AM ... and that's the end of my outside work except for 10 or 15 minutes outside and 45 minutes inside in the A/C. With livestock to care for as well, the garden is the one thing that has gone from 'small garden' with some produce to freeze to a couple of tomato plants and summer squash plants. I do have rabbits and swap some of the rabbit meat for fresh garden stuff occasionally with neighbors.

Second problem is age. Both DH and I have bad backs and at 70 and 82 respectively, we simply can not do the work in the garden now either. I grew up with a big garden at the ranch, we raised almost all of our vegetables and I continued gardening most of my adult life wherever I lived. But the combination of age and summer heat has done me in as far as gardening is concerned.


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## Oak Leaf (Sep 14, 2011)

I JUST realized this is in the retirement section so my post was sort of pointless! lol


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Smalltowngirl said:


> So that's why you're called Whiterock, makes sense now.
> 
> I wasn't intimating you were dumb about gardening & I'm sorry if it came off that way. I was just wanting to share something that I found that had worked for me when I lived in areas where water was sometimes scarce.
> 
> ...


I took no offense, and appreciated the comments. After I hit submit on the last post I was worried that I had been offensive. I often come off that way to folks that don't know me. Lots of folks used to think I was a sheriff or deputy in my younger years. Stern countenance, soft heart.
Ed


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## Smalltowngirl (Mar 28, 2010)

I wasn't offended, I was just concerned I may have offended you!:smack

I understand the crusty exterior, soft heart so it's all good. :dance:


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## sdnapier (Aug 13, 2010)

whiterock said:


> I'd like to make more use of it than i do. Ground dries out too fast and can't really justify watering it, this year the grasshoppers ate it to the ground, of course, I had broken both legs so I couldn't do anything with it anyway. I did get some onions, a few squash and taters, and some tomatoes but not enough to justify the amt of water that my friends put out for me.
> Ed



So sorry to hear about your legs, Ed. I had both my knees replaced last summer so I can somewhat appreciate what you went through. I also know the story about others watering for you; it's just not the same as you would do it. I ended up with peppers and that's it. So I just sing the song all gardeners know: "There's always next year"!


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## snowcap (Jul 1, 2011)

My small city lot is pretty much all garden, and it is very important to us.
We have asparagus, and jeruselum artichokes as our only perennials so far. 
i've trimmed it down so we grow 2 types of lettuce, potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, parsnips, tomatoes, summer squash, snap beans, green peppers, onions, assorted greens and garlic. For herbs we grow parsely, oregano, sage and hot peppers.
Most years we put up 350 quarts of food from it. This year not near as much.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Our meal tonight was roast pork, with red pontiac potatoes browned in the pork drippings, turkey craw green beans, and pumpkin pie. All main ingredients raised on our place.

Most of what we eat we raise, and all could be if it came to that, with the exception of spices/salt.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

sdnapier said:


> . So I just sing the song all gardeners know: "There's always next year"!


I'm singing the same song this year. Our garden is very important to us--both from the savings AND because we like organic food that is fresh for nutritional reasons.

While we froze a little, we did not have enough for canning or drying. Still we ate most of the season from the garden with some dry spots.

I'm trying to make better use of the fall garden because like SFM said, it's cooler. I too, stay out of the heat (even more than you!) I try not to be out between 9am and 4pm.

Like Whiterock, I have a lot of paper in my garden. I wish I could do better to cover with grass clippings/leaves but it's been too dry for much grass and we don't have trees nearby with substantial leaves. I'd like to do better about hauling manure from our property. Then let the worms do their thing with paper and manure. 

We do a lot of greywater recycling to be able not to have to water--That and heavy mulching.

Our plan is to have our perennials and fruit trees/bushes in place before retirement. That and have the mortgage paid off so God willing, we can stay here and eat fresh food for the most part.


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

My garden is very important, both for our own consumption and to preserve my sanity. I retired from full time farming and found I still felt a need to scratch in the dirt and grow things. We also take veggies to a local farmers market, this makes enough money to cover expenses of next years garden. I also took classes from the Kansas extension service and became a Master Gardener. The volunteer work as a MG is very fulfilling. I have heart problems so everything has to be done at my pace which gardening allows.


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## GrannyG (Mar 26, 2005)

I love my garden, when we are able to have one, some years great..this year's drought has burned it up, have a small fall one planted...we have zucchini, green beans, yellow squash, fall will be turnips, spinach, collards, the zucchini is up, but will not last long..just sun And well water...we have fruit trees, apricot, plum, apple, and planted fig and peach this year, lost all the blackberries due to the drought, but managed to hAve some grapes for grape jelly. No pecans this year.....very little fruit...but good or bad, we are thankful for what we have.....Jalapeno peppers eaten up by grasshoppers, Also the tomatoes this year. I try to buy at the farmers market, local, when I can...dehydrate alot for winter use in veggies.....


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

I am not retired, but my in-laws are. They have a garden each year, and this has likely been their worst year. They see their garden as just something they enjoy doing, and harvesting good healthy fresh food to eat. The garden is very small. Their orchard consists of over a dozen fruit bearing mature trees. They got their seed Garlic from me, also Asparagus roots. My MIL designed the home they had custom built on this property, and everything they have is paid off. They live comfortably, so do not consider a garden a need, even now. 

DH is 55, and I am 47. Our garden is critical to us, providing for most of the vegetables we eat all year around. We have 22 fruit trees, of them now 20 are fruit bearing, some bearing very well (this wasn't a great year for orchard fruit, but our Liberty Apple pulled out the stops, loaded ?). We have mature grapevines, Marionberries, Thornless Blackberries, Raspberries (2 kinds, Cascade & Everbearing), Blueberries (bushes now bearing well), Kiwi Vines (may bear next year), Red Currants, and Gooseberries. 

Since we do not know what the future will hold, our prepping has been stepped up! We fish, crab, shrimp, dig clams, harvest oysters, DH hunts (venison), we raised pigs this year, and soon to butcher chickens. I have been busy dehydrating, freezing, and canning.

Back to the garden, due to the long range forecast for our area, I am concentrating mainly on cool weather crops, have used heirloom seeds, so harvesting all my seeds for next year.

A word on fruit trees, bushes, strawberries, herbs...

If you want to plant them, the Fall is a great time, and you get better root systems developed in the first year span. Check your local nursery as they have most fruit trees, bushes, etc... on sale! Also, get the largest trees, bushes, etc..., that aren't stressed, but healthy, that you can. If they cost a little more, they are more than worth it. It is wonderful to get fruit the first fruiting season. Yes, I have, trees, bushes, etc...


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

Our garden is very important to us in our retirement since we are living on such a tight budget now. And we so enjoy eating the healthy homegrown fruits and veggies of our labor.


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## lmrose (Sep 24, 2009)

Our garden is our source of food and has been for 33 years along with the chickens and goats. Now 66 yrs . old ,and suffering alot of pain from old injuries and high blood pressure; my husband is cutting back the planting. There will be more beds and no more long rows. Hens are being reduced to ten and goats culled to two and one pet one. getting older requires adjustments. Our traditional way of farming is under going drastic changes to make the work easier.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

We live from the garden, gleaning the woods and trading with the neighbors. We have the hydroponic greenhouse for off season strawberries, tomatoes, zuchinni, greens and the yellow perch. We can grow greens out side year around in the hoops too. The goats furnish all our dairy needs plus the chickens for meat and eggs, rabbits and pigeons. We hunt for turkey, squirrel, deer, elk, pheasant, quail and racoon. We aren't big eaters, it is easy to maintain our weight. The garden is essential to our diets as we eat what we grow and the grains we barter from a neighbor....James


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

My intent with the garden is to do what we did growing up: Harvest most of what we ate. However, our weather has been so fickle I would have starved the last two years! I've been acquiring the "stuff" (pump, hoses, culvert, etc) to irrigate next year. God willing, it will be my primary project next Spring.

As for the orchard, the apples and pears are finally bearing, but the deer and squirrels are beating me to the harvest. That's another project for next year.

There's six cows and six goats in the pasture, but more will be dropping come Spring. Trouble is, I eat very little meat. Still it would be available.

As for grains, I buy it and store it in bulk. Now I just need to use the grain mill and the bread machine.


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## ccfromnc (Jul 23, 2011)

Our garden gets more important (and larger) every year, especially in these uncertain times. We used to grow the usual beans, tomatoes, and peppers but this year put in just about every vegetable we buy in the store just to see if it would grow. Not everything worked (celery was a miserable failure) but there was a lot of experience gained and hundreds of jars in the pantry to show for our work.


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