Viewpoint: This Was Our Last Garden
I took a small spade and went out to dig the potatoes we planted in our garden. A frost had gotten the plants and I was pretty sure that without life above the ground there would be no more growth below the ground, so it was time to harvest the final harvestable produce from our garden.
We had planted the potatoes last. We couldn’t find any potato starters anyplace so we finally took a knife, a potato or two and created our own starters. I must admit I was filled with some trepidation when the time came to harvest our crop.
The dozen or so plants yielded about three to four dozen potatoes. About six of those were actually big enough to be worthy of boiling, baking or mashing.
As our home-grown potatoes baked in the oven, Lori and I pondered the year's produce.
We have a fairly large garden. This year we had potatoes, purple cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, strawberries, broccoli, green beans, blueberry bushes, and pumpkins. We also have some herbs including mint, rosemary, thyme, basil, and lemon balm.
Finally, we have flowers flowers and more flowers. We introduced two rose bushes to the fold this year and they were absolutely beautiful. We are surrounded by a ton of lilac bushes.
So, anyway, as the potatoes baked, we decided to do a rough estimate of what our garden cost us this year. We had to add a lot of fill dirt to several areas in the garden. I had settled on some fill dirt which I thought filled the bill at about $5/bag. The person who waited on me assured me that for only $2 more per bsg the vegetables and flowers would almost grow without even having to plant seeds- almost.
I loaded the 17 bags in the truck (actually I only loaded 12 the first time, I went back for the other 5) the Receipt said a little over $120 with tax.
Seeds for the aforementioned vegetables were not much, although the strawberry plant, and tomatoes, and the blueberry bushes were plants not seeds. I think that portion of the garden (plants and seeds) cost about $100. I’m not going to calculate the flowers we bought, my counselor says some things are over and I don’t need to dwell on them.
Fertilizer, spray to keep rabbits and deer away, spray to keep bugs and molds away, a BB gun to keep squirrels away, and gasoline for the 19 trips to Home Depot and various nurseries probably add about $200 to the tab.
Watering all of those plants added $125-$200 a month to our utility bill. Let’s use $150 for four months just to get an idea what our garden cost us. Now of course a lot of that money could have been cut out and attributed to the lawn along with some of the fertilizer so keep that in mind.
How do you calculate your own labor? Gardening is relaxing, unites one with nature, helps you maintain your health, and brings you back to who you are. How could you possibly put a price tag on that?
I know, how could you put a price on that? That’s how Lori and I feel at the start of every gardening season. We just know that neighbors will be knocking on the door asking us how we grew what we grew. Nature magazines will be calling us for hints. Our chiropractor won’t charge us for the increased business during gardening season.
And you’re right, no matter what the cost we have something to show for it. One cucumber pickling size (yes, just one), a dozen strawberries scattered over three months, no blueberries, two pumpkins that were small and BLUE. Of course, there are various batches of herbs hanging around to dry that might come in handy; lots of beans, quite a bit of broccoli, squash of an undetermined variety we couldn’t even give away, and three purple cabbage when one would have been enough. We don’t even eat cabbage.
We vowed it was going to be our final gardening year. I'm pretty sure we vowed that last year as well. Winter seems to make us very forgetful, and in the spring, hope springs eternal.Viewpoint: This