New Beds

Over the weekend I got super ambitious. I came straight home from work on Friday and tore up the entire right side of the property against the fence to put in my full sun veggie plot. I basically tilled about a foot deep, 3 feet wide and about 25 feet long for the new plot. Its super easy to weed when you are just going to till anyway. I just tilled first, and then broke up all the dirt with the shovel and the weeds fall right off.

Stage 1: Tilled the ground up to a foot deep and removed all grass and weeds
Stage 2: Removed bricks and dug raised bed trenches.
Stage 3: Installed wood to make raised beds (6$ total at Urban Ore)
Stage 4: Raked, swept and evened out dirt.

Stage 1

Stage1

Stage 2

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4 and Stella LOVING the worms and bugs I dug up for her

How can you afford not to? - Week 11

 “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula? I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.” - President Barak Obama

Its amazing how little space you really need to be able to feed yourself a consistent supply of vegetables. Daryl and I are getting a salad a day out of the arugula, and we just started with 3 rows on a 2'.5"x'1.5" plot. As soon as the romaine lettuce starts getting big enough to eat, we are going to be overflowing with fresh veggies. Its only been 2.5 months since I started and laid my first seed and it could potentially last until next winter.

MARKET:
Cost of one bunch of organic arugula @ Whole Foods: $1.99
Cost of bulk baby arugula: $6.99/lb

HOME GROWN:
Cost of certified organic arugula seeds: $1.89
Cost of water: in my case, free
Cost of soil: about 2$ for that plot
Cost of fertilizer: less than $1.00
Cost of pesticides (neem oil): less than a dollar
__________________________________
Grand Total: $6.00/plot MAX for salad every night the rest of the year
(same cost as 3 bunches of arugula at the market)

And that's just the arugula!  How can you afford not to?

Benefits of Home Gardening:

• Save money at the market
• Sense of pride and accomplishment
• Reduce pesticide, herbicide & GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) intake
• Freshest food in town - picked 10 minutes before preparation
  
• Mood enhancer, stress reducer, outdoor activity for the family, educational opportunity
• Burn calories, build muscle, exposure to fresh air and sunlight for Vitamin D
• Low in calories and high in nutrients and disease fighters

Arugula - enough for salad every night

Radishes - already harvested half of them - 2 month cycles

Elephant Garlic

Carrot greens coming up

Brandy-wine Heirloom Tomato I started from seed in January

Pictures below, starting at the top left and then clockwise: beets, sweet peas, romaine lettuce, and garden view.