We spend a significant amount of money on groceries in our household. It’s unavoidable really, considering the considerable size of our family.
Six, in case you lost count.
I’d venture to say that a disproportionate amount of our food budget goes toward produce. Of the organic variety.
We eat very little meat.
Very, very little in fact.
Mostly because I’m sort of squeamish in that department.
The obligatory holiday turkey completely creeps me out.
As do whole chickens.
And fish. Especially when scales (or worse yet: eyes!) are involved. ICK.
So we rely heavily on earthly things like lettuce, and peppers, and tomatoes.
Sometime last winter Jeff got the itch to start a garden.
We couldn’t. Because it was too cold.
But come spring, he was unstoppable.
We took a trip to Lowes, where we bought redwood and garden soil and a variety of seeds.
And he sawed and built and planted.
Six weeks later the promise of a future harvest has sprouted. Each day we go out and peer into our little garden, marveling over each new leaf, every sign of growth.
Someday soon. Someday soon we’ll yield enough homegrown vegetables to make a meal, saving a few bucks in the process.
What’s not to love about that?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s wonderful! Wish I had a green thumb!
I love it! Adam’s dying to start a garden :-) we keep promising ourselves we will do it when we move downtown! I might ask you for tips :-)
It looks so pretty! And so exciting!
Whatcha’ growing?
I’m TOTALLY with you on whole chickens. No thank you. Hope your garden yields lots of goodies for you this year!
Yey for the garden! Last year was my first with a full-fledged garden and it was 10×10. It went so well that this year it is 10×30!
Cannot imagine the veg life though – I’m totally a carnivore. I’d have chickens here if Chris would let me (both for the fresh eggs and for the eating. I’m crazy like that.)
I love it and I’m sitting here right now trying to convince Tim to build one exactly like it! ;)
Yay! Good luck! I would like to have one, but the deer and bunnies eat EVERYTHING around here. So I’m sticking to my herbs…that right there saves me a significant amount of $$$. This year I’ve only done the basics…thyme, rosemary, lots of basil, dill, parsley.
Can’t wait to see what you’ve got growing in there!!!
Is that really a cucumber on that little plant? GO Jeff. I will plant my tomato in the hanging thing and also a bell pepper in a large pot. Both did well last year.
I’m with you on the meat issue. I wish I could like red meat, I can eat it, I just don’t ENJOY it.
Oh! Your squash and lettuce and peppers look fantastic! DId I also see tomato seedlings?
I can’t wait to be eating from our garden this summer!
Oh Darcie! Thank you for the inspiration. The empty plot in the back yard needs some love an I think that now I have the motivation to get out there and get at it…before it’s too late!
Is Jeff aware that cats in heat like to tear up planter boxes? And — they do it silently!
Looks awesome – and I love the box. I have tried gardening and you would think, living in the great Northeast I would do great – but I can not, for the life of me figure out if it is a weed or a radish so, just to make sure, I either pull it, or let it grow and then I have a weedy mess. Because we don’t plant in planters, we plant in the ground where all the weeds grow in with the vegetables. I even tried the topsy turvey things you hang, I got one tiny tomato out of it. But yours looks beautiful and good luck with it all. Keep us up to date with your bountiful veggies.
Your garden looks fabulous! Is that fresh basil? Yummy!
I started my first veggie garden this year too! Although I’m in MN so my seedlings are still inside for one more week.
Isn’t is so exciting to see them sprout? I swear I was just as proud as when I gave birth. I think it’s a good learning lesson for the kiddos too.
What have you planted so far?
I am impressed….by your garden and the fact that Jeff did it. Let’s just say that it’s not my husband’s area of interest. (But, I remind myself, he’s good at other things).
What do you eat for protein? Does the whole family eat like that as well? My daughter is a RED MEAT eater, although I don’t eat it or cook it at home (only organic chicken, shrimp, fish and ground turkey), but when she goes to a restaurant, she orders MEAT.