Cheap Dirt

Each time we plant a new vegetable garden our harvests get a little bit bigger.  I know we can do better, though. A lot better.

I thought about what we needed to change when planting our fall garden, and I realized (if you are a master gardener, this might give you a nice chuckle)......

...it's all about the soil - duh!

Here are a few ideas I picked up over the past few weeks about how to to get the quality soil I need without spending a lot of money:

• Horse Poo. I was shocked to find all the listings for FREE horse manure on craigslist. As tempted as we were (seriously), we were a little worried about having a big pile of poo in our backyard with two young boys running around.
• Soil by the Truckload. The next best thing we could find to the free horse poo was a $10 truckload of soil from Cypress Creek Landscape Supply. It actually contained some manure and appeared very rich. We borrowed a truck and put our oldest boy to work shoveling soil into the garden (of course, my husband did most of it). It took two truckloads to fill our 4' x 8' garden.
• Compost. Creating rich soil of your own for FREE is great incentive for saving all those kitchen scraps. Of course, it's also nice to reduce the amount of trash that goes to the landfill. 
• Half-Off Broken Bags. I've been told (but haven't tried it yet) that you can get bags of soil half-off at Lowes and Home Depot if the bags are broken.

By the way, a great online resource for organic gardening (and lots of other things) is Mother Earth News.

Earthbox: Spring Planting

It is with a hopeful heart and an attitude of sheer determination that I replanted my Earthbox. Back in the fall, I crammed in 6 plants (see my blog post, Earthbox: Idiot-Proof Gardening). I had very modest success - a few eggplants and a couple small heads of broccoli, but no tomatoes. Perhaps its not entirely idiot proof after all.












I was disappointed, but I will not give up. This time I called for reinforcements. I spoke with Patti, the owner of a lovely nursery near my house called Annie's Garden Shed. She was very generous with her time and expertise. Here are some tips she gave me that I hope will result in a more abundant spring season. If you have any additional advice, please bring it on!

• Don't overcrowd. I only planted 3 (instead of 6) tomato plants. Also, putting plants too close together tends to give pests more opportunities to move from plant to plant.
  
• Plant deep. Pick off any stray leaves toward the bottom of the stem and get it far down into the soil. This give the roots more places to grow.
• Water every 2 to 3 days. Since it's impossible to over-water an Earthbox, don't hold back. If it's not an Earthbox, get the soil nice and most without over saturating.
  
• Green pepper plants are easy. I planted my pepper plant alone in a very large pot to give the roots plenty of room to grow (per Patti's advice). I also learned that green peppers will eventually turn red if you leave them on the vine long enough. Before they turn red, they will look black for a while.
• Use gardening resources that are specific to your geographic area. Apparently, even the state of Florida has regions that are varied enough to require different techniques. Patti recommended these books for central Florida:
  
  Herbs and Spices for Florida Gardens: How to Grow and Enjoy Florida Plants with Special Uses
  by Monica Moran Brandies
  
  The Edible Landscape
  by Tom MacCubbin
  
  

Patti also gave me these simple words of encouragement
that helped a lot...

You can do this!

Earthbox: Idot-Proof Gardening

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Some people have a green thumb. I am not one of those people. My husband and I have tried many times to grow our own vegetables. Aside from a handful of very small harvests, our efforts have been resounding failures. But we are determined to figure it out!

Our most recent attempt at growing our own vegetables is in an Earthbox. Last winter we grew several heads of broccoli and cauliflower. We hope to do even better this winter. We put eggplant, broccoli, and tomatoes plants in our box about two months ago. Our first little eggplant has started to appear. We are so excited!

If you are garden-challenged like us, perhaps an Earthbox is the answer for you. It's about the closest thing to idiot-proof gardening I've found. The box is designed so that it is impossible to over-water your plants. Also, you can move the box inside to protect it from frost (some people even put casters on the bottom to make it easier to move the box in and out).

The initial cost of the box is around $50. Each new growing season, you will need to replace a few accessories on the box. You will also need new soil and plants. This season, we invested about $10 in new soil and plants.

Ultimately, I hope that by growing my own vegetables I will 1) have better quality vegetables at a lower cost, 2) reduce the amount of transportation required to get the produce to my table, and 3) give my children some knowledge about gardening and allow them to be involved in producing their own food.

At this point, I'll be happy if we can manage to get at least $10 worth of produce!