Gardening and Wasting Money
The previous post I covered my favorite money savers. This one, I’ll cover those things that grow really well, but only sometimes save you money. I’ll also cover a few things that didn’t work out so well, at least in Texas.
Onions: Onions aren’t that expensive in the store, but they are so easy to grow that you can plant a row or two and easily break even on the investment. For about 2 dollars you can grow thirty onion starters if you have the space. If you grow green onions, you’ll save some money–they run about 50 cents a bundle in the grocery. I always spare a corner for green onions and I get three or four bundles, more in a good year. One or two rows of regular onions keeps me in onions for about 2 months. Any more than that, and I don’t think I’d eat them fast enough. Onions in Texas are the short day variety–which means they have a lot more “juice” so they will decay faster, even after being properly dried.
Fruit Trees - Most fruit trees have good years and bad years. A lot of time the fruit freezes. If you have a good year, you’ll probably more than make up for your investment…if you didn’t pay too much for the tree and you’ve already waited for it to get to the four-years-old mark. Four years old is when most trees actually begin producing fruit. My favorites are peaches and cherries. Pretty easy to make back your money if you get a good year or two out of them. Of course, you do have to spray them for bugs and to get the cherries, you will have to fight off the birds. Those activities will add to the effort! You also get most of your crop within about a two-three week period, which means you have to can them, give them away or eat them all!
Apple Trees — probably easier to grow. Generally require pesticides once a year. While apples are relatively cheap, there’s something to be said for picking your own fresh. My favorite are golden delicious and black beauties…although I like red delicious and Gala too!
I think if you can grow citris of any kind, it might be worth it. Personally, I’d like to grow lemon or limes, but I don’t think Texas has the right climate. That, and I’m not sure where I’d put another tree. We already have many an oak, two pecans that I planted (which don’t produce for 10 years) some Junipers and a couple of Asian fruit-producing trees. I don’t know what the fruit is on those trees. It is edible because I’ve tried it and I didn’t die (an Asian friend told me the Asian name and assured me the fruit was edible).
If you can grow avocado, I can’t help but think they would be a good investment. At 50 cents a piece in the store, it wouldn’t take long to make back your investment. Of course the problem here is that avocado doesn’t grow anywhere that has freezing.
Things I wouldn’t bother to grow:
Celery: It’s too hot here anyway. All I got was leaves, and the thing seemed to need water twice a day.
Carrots: Never tried them. They aren’t that expensive in the store and they taste the same whether I grow them or the store sells them to me.
Asparagus: Too much water and who wants to wait 2 years?
Radishes: Only if you really have a lot of space and love the things. They are inexpensive, but they take up a lot of room and once you pick one, that’s it, it’s done. You need several rows in order to get enough ready at the same time.
Strawberries: I went back and forth on where to include this fruit. There is nothing yummier than fresh strawberries–but they take up a lot of room and you must have several plants. Consider that about one or two fruits ripen at a time on a given plant, you multiply that out by how many you might want each day (or every few days.) Ten plants was not enough. I got about two berries every couple of days from 10 plants. They are pretty hardy plants though, and their only real enemy is slugs. I would think you could do pretty well with thirty to forty plants. The season in Texas ranges from a few short weeks to probably twelve weeks when it stays cooler well into May. (They can be covered during light freezes.) You do use up the room permanently with strawberries; the best berries happen after the second year. This means you get to water them all through the summer even when they aren’t producing.
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Actually, apples aren’t so cheap around here. I bought a Red D the other, it was like a $1.29–it was a big apple, but still.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh peaches! I went back and forth over whether to plant apple or peach trees. I’m still trying to figure out where I can squeeze a peach tree in the back yard. I think you only have to have one to get fruit, but I’m not absolutely certain on that one. You know, I could probably plant one or two of the dwarf variety in the dogs’ yard…
And strawberries, as much as I love them, they just take up too much room for me.
I think next year I might consider growing bell peppers-they insanely expensive! $6.00 for a package containing one yellow, one red and one green pepper! Highway robbery, I tell ya.
Comment by Trina — June 2, 2008 @ 9:38 am
I try peppers here every year. I’ve grown them everywhere but here successfully. I get end rot, I get thripes…I tried them in pots this year to keep them in fresh soil–I just picked what should be a red bell–but as it was turning ripe–rot set in. My neighbors swear they grow them, but I just don’t seem to be able to get any of my peppers to do well. It’s too bad too because I’ve grown them everywhere I’ve lived, but they just haven’t made it here. I’ll keep trying things, of course, because you are right–one successful pepper and you’ve paid for the plant. Three or four peppers and you could probably start selling them to the neighbors for 50 cents a piece!
I hear you on the strawberries. Luckily we have a self pick farm. I bet you can find a self-pick farm in your area for blueberries!!! Maybe even for peaches!!!
I also know what you mean about the trees. I want a peach tree, an apple tree, a cheery tree, pecans, limes, lemons…
Check the ediblelandscaping website. They are very good about telling you whether your trees need cross-polination.
It’s almost peach season here. We have self-pick farms for those too. :>) Sadly they are about a 2 hour plus drive…and my husband can take or leave peaches…so we don’t go often (it’s also blooming hot this year–100 degrees predicted for today and tomorrow at least.) The grocery store does get decent peaches since the farms are so close. But I LOVE peaches and peach cobbler…swooooon.
Comment by Maria — June 2, 2008 @ 9:50 am
Oh yeah, we have self-pick farms for nearly everything that can be grown around here. In particular, we have an annual Strawberry Festival and an annual Peach Festival. I’ve never been to either one–dealing with the crowds in the sun and heat, guess I’m just getting too old for that mess.
My husband says raw fruit makes his throat itch. Okay, I guess it could be some sort of allergy or sensitivity thing. He loves fruit if it’s prepared in sugar so that it gets all syrupy or,in the case of apples, if they’re made into apple sauce, or even better to him, apple pie.
My mom grows green bell peppers every year, but it seems like they’re kind of hit and miss. Since I don’t remember her trying to pawn any of them off on me last year, maybe they’re kind of fickle in these parts, too. It’s worth trying, though. Like you said, one pepper and I’ll at least break even.
And, I have actual tomatoes on my plant now!
Comment by Trina — June 2, 2008 @ 10:28 am
Yah! Tomatoes!!! I’m getting about 2 a day. Sometimes only one…but I ordered my food mill this morning so that I can make tomato sauce this year!!!! I’m really excited about it!
I don’t go to the festivals either, no way. The self-pick isn’t really crowded, especially if you’re able to go on a weekday. It is well worth the effort. Fresh picked anything is AWESOME. You can pick the the ripeness you want, but beware–strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries do NOT ripen after picking. You want them at their peak. Peaches, you can pick a range so that you have some ripen a bit later. Don’t wash the berries either. That makes them mush. Wash right before eating.
I can’t eat peach peelings. I have to be very careful about handling them too because I’m allergice to the fuzz. If I get it in my eyes they swell almost closed. But if I peel them I’m fine! I get the itchy throat/ears if I eat more than one banana every few days, so I totally understand what your husband is complaining about! Have him try the peaches without any skins. I don’t put sugar on them when I pick them myself because they generally don’t need it, but from the store…sometimes they aren’t as sweet. He can probably handle some types of fruit better than others. I can eat a banana as long as I only do so every three or four days.
I sure wish we had a blueberry self pick farm around here. They are my favorite.
Comment by Maria — June 2, 2008 @ 10:41 am
And all these years, I thought he was putting me on about the itchy throat thing! Because he will eat fresh bananas–in a banana split!
Comment by Trina — June 2, 2008 @ 1:39 pm
Nah, I’ve run into a couple of people that get itchy tongues, ears, throats. It’s really irritating because you can’t scratch them!!! It’s this itch inside and it’s very annoying. But seriously, I can eat a serving a few times of week of any fruit. I just can’t pig out on bananas (one a day is too much, but I know I can eat two a week. Probably no more than that.) I never knew it, but my dad has the same problem. He never complained about it; he just said he didn’t like bananas “that much.” Well, when you make him TALK about it, you find out his throat and ears itch!
No one ever believed me about the peach fuzz either because I can eat peeled peached like crazy. My mom is the one that figured it out because we used to can peaches–and I’d only have problems after the prep part–but I could always eat the pie and cobbler and later the canned stuff with no symptoms!
I thought it would get me out of peeling the things for her, but sadly, she informed me to be very careful–not to touch my face or arms, rinse my hands often and wash off with soap and water after handling the peels. It worked too, so I had to keep peeling and peeling…
Comment by Maria — June 2, 2008 @ 2:49 pm