HOW GREEN IS MY GARDEN
June 14, 2012
By Mike Stevens
The vegetable garden here at the ranch is tiny by some standards. A chicken wire fence hooked casually to metal fence posts surrounds a raised bed measuring about eight by twenty; it’s not much to look at but it’s ours.
I tend it every so often; try to keep the weeds down and the whole thing watered. Once you get everything rolling it really isn’t that much work and it’s good to get outside. Along with that, of course, comes the harvest of fresh garden veggies that taste nothing like the store bought kind. Maybe that’s because we don’t coat them with pesticides.
The price of the produce from our enterprise is high. I estimated once that given labor, the price of seeds and so forth, we were looking at three dollars each for a cucumber, radishes about fifty cents each and peas and beans were a bargain at about a dime per pod. Of course your prices may vary depending on your location. Our place is a little chilly some times so one spring we ended up replanting the whole mess after a frost. Cucumbers doubled that year but we did hold the line on peas and beans. I’m happy to go outside, though, so hang the price.
Of course there have been times when I’ve entertained the idea of simply giving it up, walking away and going to shop at the farmers market for all my produce needs. They always have what I need and I bet I can get a cuke for a lot less than three bucks each.
Mike Stevens
