I grow my own vegetables, as much as possible.
I’ve always been mellow about it, often letting weeds and pests have their way with it, but plan on getting more diligent with it. I’m slowly transitioning from flat garden rows to raised beds. Watering is an issue, but I am experimenting with drip hoses.
I have a lot of seeds, which have also gone up in price steeply, but if stored well, can last several seasons, depending on type.
I’ve been planting store bought potatoes when they grow eyes, both Irish and sweet, with very good, abundant results, enough to eat and save some for replanting.
I am really getting into seed saving..most of my tomatoes are from seeds I saved...however,I am going to try a few hybrids next year...I would encourage people to save pepper seeds or over winter pepper plants because regular green pepper plants were hard to find this year and they were spendy.
Turnips are RIDICULOUSLY easy to grow.
This has been a rough summer for us and the pests seems to be a bigger issue than usual. But still gardening is very therapeutic besides the benefit of growing and eating your own fresh, mostly untreated produce. Most of mine qualifies as *organic* and I can or freeze or store (potatoes, onions, garlic) as possible;
For anyone interested in trying even container gardening on a porch in the city, check out Diana in Wisconsin’s gardening threads.
We moved last year & I had to leave my raised beds behind (old, wooden, starting to rot). I have built a few new ones (5 using cedar fence planks) & I did move 4 metal raised beds, but the issue is finding ‘good’ dirt for filling them at a reasonable price - very expensive .... then there’s the hauling, shoveling which is a real pain.
So, no more raised beds and I need some place for raising veggies. My solution is ‘straw bale gardening’. I did it several years ago with good success. We now live in the country, so I do not think I will have an issue with finding straw bales. A couple of T-posts, some fertilizer & row cover (which I would buy anyway for raised beds) will be the only expense. The straw from one year’s garden will be used for compost the following year. Once a raised bed is in place, moving it is a major big deal (I know from relocating the metal raised beds). With a straw bale garden, it’s easy to move.
I thought I would “buy local” this year, but I haven’t been that satisfied with the small markets that are local. I saw some produce I would buy at a farmer’s market an hour away, but that’s too much of a drive to do regularly. My raised beds are mostly for flowers although I do have jalapenos in one, & a medicinal herb garden in another, so the straw bale garden will be mostly for veggies next year. I’m excited about the prospect of my own veggies right out the back door of my shop.
I use the store bought potatoes and grow them in 5 gallon buckets. Works great. Especially the baby reds.
I can get more yield from a raised bed than I ever did from a regular garden and its easy to keep the weeds out. No tilling the soil either.
YOU CAN GROW POTATOES IN A :”STACK OF TIRES”, SAVING ROOM IN THE GARDEN.