What Garden Suppliers Don’t Want You to Know About Growing Your Own Food
“Green” gardeners (as in beginners) may be in for a let down
Spring has sprung, and a shower of gardening catalogs has descended on my mailbox, poised to inspire dreams of produce and blossoms galore.
I get them all: White Flower Farm, Annie’s Annuals, Burpee, Gardener’s Supply Company, Brecks, The Whole Seed Catalog, you name it.
As much as I enjoy looking through them (to an avid gardener, the photos are practically pornographic), over the years, I’ve realized that I will never coax some of the dreams they’re selling into reality.
Take the tomato, the most popular edible among home gardeners. Every year, even those who don’t grow anything else take a stab at growing tomatoes. And why not? One of life’s greatest joys is biting into a summer-ripe, fresh-off-the-vine tomato you grew yourself.
You can eat them straight off the vine like an apple, slice them in a salad, or cook them in a sauce. You can also freeze them, dry them, or can them for later use. Numerous varieties, colors, and flavors are available, and they are relatively easy to grow under the right conditions.
Where I live, on the eastern edge of Pennsylvania, I’ve had some success growing tomatoes, but I’ve also had my share of disappointments.
The suppliers don’t provide much detail in those glossy, full-color catalogs, and there’s a reason for that. The details, as the saying goes, are where the devil is.
Here are three things to consider if you’re looking to grow your fruit and vegetables:
1. You have no control over the weather
As any farmer will tell you, the weather during the growing season can make or break you. If it’s too hot or cold, if there’s a sudden overnight freeze, high winds, a drought, or a deluge, all the expensive equipment, superfood fertilizer, and grafted “franken-plants” in the world won’t do you any good.
Through no fault of your own, you could end up with a low yield or even, heaven forbid, nothing. All you can do is take precautions, obsessively check the weather reports, and hope for the best. Taking growing zones, light, and temperature recommendations seriously is a must. There’s not a lot of wiggle room there.
2. You’re probably not going to save money (at least not at first)
For the price of a single heirloom tomato in the grocery store, you can buy a packet of 50 seeds of the same variety. That sounds like the way to go. Fifty tomatoes for the price of one? Unfortunately, the cost of growing food is not limited to the price of the seeds, and there’s a lot that can go wrong when you start them yourself. Seedlings are babies, and baby them you must.
You’ll have to invest in supplies and equipment if you're just starting out. These might include seed starting mix, heat mat, grow lights, growing trays, pots for transplanting seedlings, soil amendments, tomato cages or supports, fertilizer, fencing, mulch, raised beds, etc.
If you get a good yield and want to try canning, you’ll need another set of supplies: tools, jars, lids, and either a water bath or pressure canning kettle. It’s quite an investment.
A few years back, a man named Bill Alexander added up everything he had spent on growing Brandywine heirloom tomatoes and divided it by the number of tomatoes he had grown. It came out to $64 apiece! He even wrote a book about it called The $64 Tomato. When you consider that a deer fence starter kit can cost you several hundred dollars, it’s easy to see how those costs can mount up.
3. Container gardening isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be
Do you know who is most enthusiastic about container gardening? Gardening suppliers and bloggers who make money from posting links to those suppliers’ products in exchange for a cut of the sale. From half-barrels to self-watering pots, the container-growing market is booming.
There are special soil formulas and fertilizers, support systems specifically designed for container growing, and pricey, waist-high patio gardens. City dwellers and others with limited space are assured by marketers that they can grow tons of vegetables in pots in small spaces. They usually can’t because the container limits the size of the plant and, therefore, the size of their yield.
There are many things you can successfully grow in containers, but I think it’s best to look for dwarf or patio varieties for smaller spaces. If all you have is the tiny balcony of a city apartment, you must ask yourself if this spot gets enough sun to grow tomatoes, peppers, or any of the edible blooms you’d like to pop in a salad. Remember, too, that your neighbor below might not appreciate your enthusiastic watering making it rain on his end-of-day Martini. (I found this out the hard way.)
There are devices you can buy that measure the amount of sunlight a particular place gets in 24 hours, and they may be worth the investment. If you’ve got good exposure, you might get the minimum six hours of direct sunlight required for a particular plant, but the minimum amount does not produce maximum results.
Yet, despite everything, if you want to grow tomatoes, garlic, or even a pineapple, you should try. Going toe-to-toe with Mother Nature is an enriching experience. You’ll learn a lot about environmental impact and gain a healthy respect for those who work the land.
There are ways to reduce the cost of home growing. Countless online videos, especially on YouTube, can show you how. Keep your eye out for free supplies posted on Buy Nothing Facebook pages, NextDoor, and Craig’s List. You can also split the cost of supplies with others, or acquire free plants from friends and neighbors. Some public libraries have seed-sharing programs, and there may be a community garden nearby that will allow you to expand your growing space for a small fee.
Be vigilant and resourceful, keep your expectations on the low side, and who knows? One day you may be that person who terrorises the neighborhood by slealth gifting bushels of zucchini the size of Louisville Sluggers. Happy harvesting!
We grew tomatoes by accident, several times. Queensland gets a lot of rain and a LOT of sun, and is often quite muggy. I have a habit of throwing salad remnants onto the lawn so the creatures can eat them. On three different occasions, tomatoes sprung up from the seeds of tomatoes I had thrown onto the lawn. I do keep meaning to grow food on purpose This year, for sure, I might hit Bunnings tomorrow and start putting my plans into practice.