I could have planted 125 square feet of Calabrese Broccoli. And 30 square feet of Jiu Cai Garlic Chives. And 25 square feet each of Correnta Spinach, Marvel of Four Seasons Butterhead Lettuce, and Q’s Special Medley Mesclun.
Put another way, I could have grown 400 White Lisbon Bunching Onions, 300 Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions, and 300 Carantan Leeks.
I could have grown 1,200 Autumn King Carrots.
Or maybe not. Even taking into consideration pests, disease, thinning, and successive plantings on some of those crops, I just don’t have the space. Most people don’t. And what if I did get 1,200 carrots? I like carrots, but come on. That’s carrots every day for a year even if I give away two thirds of that yield to — who? The couple hundred people I know who trust me enough to eat something from my yard? (For you regular readers, you’re probably thinking I don’t have to worry much about that kind of return, but I’m getting better — and some of these crops are easy.)
These enormous, space-consuming yields come from one, $1.89 packet of seeds for each crop. That’s just the way seeds come. For me and my space, that leaves a lot left over after I’ve planted my fill. Typically I save them just in case of a crop disaster, but often by the time whatever ails my plants fells them, it’s too late in the season to start again from scratch. Besides, that’s some pretty pessimistic seed hording going on.
Instead, we should plant with optimism and give away our remaining seeds as soon as the ones we’ve used hit the ground. I tried this in the spring, a bit, and have done better with the practice this cool season. In the spring I shared ground nuts and watermelon with friends and fellow amateur growers Paul and Amy Reams (who operate a fabulous wedding and portrait photography business out of San Diego). Between us, I pulled six peanuts out of the ground and we all ate store-bought watermelon this summer. But there was camaraderie in our lack of success. I gave my parents tomato and pepper plants I’d started indoors, and while mine got eaten by pests, theirs made it to fruit. This fall I shared all the cool crops mentioned above with my sister, Anna, and just this week she, her husband, and our grandpa ate salads fixed from her bursting raised bed (pictured above).
My sister never gardened before this season, and she’s doing great. And in the coming seasons we’ll grow more edibles we’ve never grown before with Paul, Amy, and Anna, experimenting in good company. And my folks will grow stuff, too.
Typically when people have a hand in producing some of their own food, when they see that it’s possible to step into their yard, pick something, and eat it — something they had no choice but to go to a supermarket for in the past, that they’ve only seen piled in a produce section — they tend to plant and grow something every season after that, even if they’re not gardeners by nature. Because it’s so possible. And so good.
Sometimes all someone needs is a handful of seeds and an encouraging word. Every homegrown tomato is one that hasn’t been chemically raised and shipped and preserved and irradiated, that hasn’t been part of an industrial food system that devastates the environment and results in massive waste.
Yeah, you can save your seeds for coming seasons. Some seeds last longer than others. It all depends on how you store them. But how frugal do you need to be? Hundreds of seeds for $1.89, or so.
Didn’t your mother teach you to share?
Ahh great writing, Jason. Totally conveyed the nature and necessity of community when we are talking about sustainable agriculture. Now I need to go write some stuff.
My little garden is doing well! I hope to eat another delicious salad this weekend and can not wait for the broccoli and peas to finish growing!
I really liked this post. I love the phrase “plant with optimism,” and I appreciate that it’s what you’ve continued to do despite the battles with pests and plague. The salad was great tonight-thanks for sharing the vegetables of your labors.
Sure Anna, everything’s going so well with you while my peanuts are still making cute little flowers that turn into nothing. I hope you enjoy your gorgeous bounty and then maybe you can stuff a few pillows for around the house with the excess. But just you wait until my peanuts figure it out and I start my own peanut butter company with the crazy abundance. Just you wait. Oh, also, do you want any leek seeds?
We coordinate our seed purchases with Laura’s mom for use in each of our gardens. We have a blend of some of the same, and some things that are different. We share seeds, and finished food too.
On another note that might be a good topic for a future post, for raised beds people have different opinions on building material. While the guy at Home Depot has his very strong opinion against treated lumber founded on more of a CYA motive, I found the following helpful in assessing the risks: http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLN-June0101.html#as
It’s a little outdated but basically makes sense. Eventually the treatment chemicals make their way from the wood into the soil. However, the type of treatments now used are less toxic, and if you find treated lumber for above ground (rather than in-ground) it is less toxic. I built ours from treated wood before really consideringthis aspect. But I wanted the beds to last and not decay. So in one bed, the sides are lined with 6 mil black visqueen on the sides.
If I had to build ours over again, for small beds I would go with a composite (like a Trex) from recycled materials and reinforce the sides with metal stakes to prevent it from bowing, since the composites aren’t very strong. The other option that we’re going to do for our next edible area which will be 100-200 square feet is to use landscaping/retaining wall blocks and do a terraced setup with lots of access points. I’m also a big fan of provisioning during the intital design for stakes to hold plants erect, lattice-material for climbers, and fencing to deter pests (rabbits are our main problem after trapping and relocating a few squirrels).
Thanks for the great info and entertaining writing style.