An Ecological Mexican American Chica:
Doing all she can to live sustainably in body, soul, and on this planet earth.




Monday, December 12, 2011

Spring 2011 Garden - First Attempt at Growing Vegetables

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Spring 2011 Garden, a set on Flickr.

We'd been going to the farmers market since October of 2010, so we finally gathered the courage to try our own hand at organic gardening this past spring of 2011. We purchased all the supplies at the Natural Gardener - the soil, fertilizer, mulch, seeds, and seedlings. Shand built the garden bed (2 x 8 feet) at home with his tools, using natural cedar wood. We spent about $200 by the time we got everything installed and planted.

Not too long after we put the garden in, we added a structure with netting to keep birds and larger animals away. We also built another contained area for the potted plants. Without any training or classes, we gave our best attempt at growing our own food, not realizing we'd be heading into the hottest and driest summer in recent Texas history


We did yield some crops, but the output was minimal. We definitely didn't get our money back, if you're doing a strict financial analysis - penny in vs. penny out. But if you look at the value of being able to eat home-grown produce, consumed within minutes of being picked, the value was priceless. Stay tuned for a recap of our attempt at fall gardening.

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