Gardening - Is the veggie garden worth it?
It’s usually terrible when you see the prices in the supermarket have gone up. That dismay we experience as inflation pushes up the prices of ordinary household food items and the realization that means that you are not making enough money…
… Imagine my surprise when I find the special price above in the Food Lover’s Market and I experience a pang of… regret? Jealousy? Dismay?
I accidentally grew my own butternut. By that I mean that I did not plant it. I make my own compost and somehow, while building my own raised bed box, I saw that a cucurbit of some sort was growing in the soil I had placed there. It had become clear that it was a cucurbit and that it would likely give me some sort of squash so I tended it and watched it grow.
That is not to say that I grew a butternut for FREE or without effort. Once I discovered what it was, I was watering it and with my new Pre-paid Water meter, I am feeling the burn in my pocket from every liter spent doing so!
I have to wonder: Is it worth it for me to grow this?
At least it seems that there are more potential fruits on the vine...
Another consideration I have had to play with is whether or not to kill half the plant. You see the vine on the fence? Looks pretty cool... however all the fruit that grow here have failed. They keep wilting and falling off.
I am beginning to suspect foul play. Perhaps slugs. Often the dead fruit turn yellow and fall off and are covered in dried slime. Is there a connection and if so, do they not serve as decoys and allow my more successful fruit to grow?
There is a large herb garden that is growing that I am thankful for... I am fairly certain that this is worth it... but not sure of the other...
Help me! I look forward to hearing from you!
Cheers!
@zakludick
This is one of those complex questions that only you can answer ! We've asked the same about what we grow, and there are a few factors we considered;
If the biggest issue is water (or the cost of it), are there things you can grow that use less water ? Do you get enough rain to make it worth setting up water butts to catch rainwater ? Are there any other ways to provide water by recycling/reusing (e.g. cooking water, water used to wash vegetables, or even bath water that's not too soapy) ?
Yeah, I know that's a lot of questions..... but once you've got answers for them, you'll know if it's worth it to you. It's not just about the comparative cost, you've already seen that the quality and taste of homegrown stuff is far superior to shop stuff !
Thank you so much for this in-depth answer. I will consider all these factors. In the meantime... I shall continue to keep it all alive....
I am not sure what the cost of water is over there, but if the fruit of your labors saves you even a small amount, it is always worth it. We save about 400 USD a year with our garden, on average. Even more during COVID, since we keep our seeds for next years crop.
On a side note, you definitely may want to think about pruning the parts of the vine/plant that is producing inedible fruits, or ones that constantly die and fall off, because they are sapping vital nutrients and water from the healthy parts of the plant. Like pouring a liter of water in the drain.
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I'm in Jozi so at least I get free rain water in summer. It doesn't cost too much extra to water in spring.
Growing green leafy vegetables and green beans are totally worth it for me in terms of cost and constant supply. In W Cape you should consider your winter growers more: spinach, peas, lettuce, beets and brassicas like cauliflower or brussels sprouts and skip the summer months, keeping the herb garden alive
Indeed. That does seem like a prudent course of action.
A lot of those winter crops I have not yeat really tried. Time to learn!
I have been learning about winter gardening in the last few years and was pleasantly surprised to discover what is possible. It's definitely true that some vegetables are not worth growing. I don't grow onions, for example. I also find that tomatoes can be grown from autumn
I grew Onions from cuttings as a by-product and just planted them between other stuff.