Even those of us who spend most of our days up to our armpits in the compost pile have noticed there’s a recession on. If the gloomy NPR voices on my garden radio weren’t enough to alert me, there’s the little matter of my husband shredding the retirement statements to use as bedding mulch. Not surprisingly, when bills are mounting up and groceries start to be classified as a frivolous luxury, many people start to eye up their backyards with more than just grass seed on their minds. Perhaps, we muse, we could take a little bit off the grocery bill with a couple vegetable beds. We’d eat healthier – after all fish sticks don’t grow on a vine. And then the silence is shattered by the bark of the neighbor’s dog and we suddenly remember that we live in town. Seriously, how much could we possibly grow in a small town garden?
Speaking as one who aims to squeeze every last bit of viable vegetative growth out of my average size lot: plenty actually. But it will take a little planning and a hard look at your space.
Start with the vegetables you actually like – sit around as a family and list them. What’s the point of growing a turnip if you wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole? I have a friend that grew several hills of cucumbers and then had to give them all away because she hated them. When I questioned why she would grow them, she replied, “well you always grow cucumbers in a garden.” Wrong, grow what you like to eat.
Next look at the vegetables that are expensive in the stores. Although going up, onions and potatoes can still be had more cheaply than a vine ripened tomato – even in the middle of August. Have you seen those lovely, luscious “Premium Boston Lettuces”, clam-shell packaged with the roots still on? Would it interest you to know that you could buy a pack of 200 lettuce seeds for the money you will pony up for one of those beauties at the supermarket? Do you love fresh snow peas but can’t stand the fresh price? Grow them. Make gardening worth your while. The tricky part of this exercise is balancing what you like and what is expensive with what takes up a large space in the town garden for a smaller return – artichoke and asparagus lovers beware.
Finally, visit the library (Borders is not in the budget) and research those veggies. Get inspired by books like The Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord or The Complete Gardener by Monty Don. Then get specific with books like The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith. Finally, get real with an all time favorite, The Square Foot Gardener by Mel Bartholomew. Bartholomew advocates a method of gardening that intensively utilizes small 4×4 or 4×8 raised beds, and from experience, I think this is one of the best ways to go. Raised beds physically delineate the area you need to pay attention to, the area you need to water, the area you need to force your children to weed. It doesn’t have to be expensive. During the first three years of my vegetable gardening, I used everything from used bricks to leftover scrap wood, and as time went by I gradually replaced those beds with sturdier framing lumber. So don’t be afraid to use what you have – there is an inherent beauty present in recycled materials in the garden.
Now, face your yard. Don’t close your eyes. That’s it, take a long hard look at it. Where is the sun? In my garden, the sun shines reliably in two places, on the south facing side of the front yard and the far back corner of the back yard. For my veggies, economic melt-down or no, the front yard is out. It took me two years to put in that perennial border and only a Greater Depression will make me replace it with Brussels Sprouts (although I am growing some chard and parsley amongst the flowers this year).
Now, what are the obstacles? And I don’t mean inveterate laziness. I mean the Silver Maple that sucks up the average water supply of small developing nations, I mean the Black Walnut that poisons everything in its path. You may only have room for one or two beds – but believe me, if you pay attention to spacing and plant successively, you could still make a real dent in that grocery bill. And remember, veggies can be grown in pots or gro-bags when there is no space to be had outside.
Besides, as with all things in life, it is better to start small. If you overdo it your first year, you’ll be tempted to spray weed killer over the whole lot by July while you pop a tray of fish sticks in the microwave. This is such an important point that it needs to be mentioned again. Start Small. We are lucky enough to have a Farmer’s Market in town. Let them pick up the veggie slack where there are gaps in your garden – because there will be. Just try to relax and savor the things that remain constant in this changing, unpredictable world of trillion dollar deficits and double digit unemployment – the warm juice of a vine ripened tomato dripping down your chin and the gentle smell of earth on your hands.
