Now that I live in a house with a yard I’m becoming interested in growing my own food.  I mean come-on, what other money saving hobby do you get to eat?  This year as an experiment we started many things from seed but also bought a few seedlings to plant.  We’ve got:  tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, zucchini, carrots, beets, radishes, basil, oregano, lettuce, thyme, sage, rosemary, and garlic.  The house already had mature blueberry bushes and some awesome strawberries, both of which taste way way better than anything you’ll find at Kroger, Fred Meyer, or even New Seasons.

Of course not everything turned out great but considering the small amount of time and resources we put into this experiment we’re very pleased.  Our carrots were eaten by slugs or some other random creature within minutes of sprouting.  The lettuce was not very enthusiastic about the container we planted it in.  But the zucchini is doing well, we’ll have a small pile of jalapenos, 10,000,000 tomatoes, and lots of fresh herbs.  Next year I’m looking foward to adding potatoes, onions, squash, thai basil, and who knows what else…

To help prepare for next year I’m reading a book called The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City.  The folks who wrote it have a blog where they document their experience living and growing their own in the heart of L.A.  Even though the book suffers from a serious lack of proof-reading, the information in it is well organized and very accessible to noobs like me.  They prove that growing your own food can be cheaper, easier, more beautiful, and more satisfying than maintaining a traditionally manicured yard.  Say no to lawns and yes to edible landscapes.  Sell your lawn mower and buy a compost tumbler!  Disconnect your downspouts and install a rain barrel.  Hang a 400w HPS light in your closet and grow tomatoes & herbs year round!  (well, maybe that’s a bit extreme…  you get the point.)

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 10:58 am and is filed under homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.