Watch My Food Grow ~ A South Florida Raised Vegetable Garden

Florida Backyard Raised Vegetable Garden

New Feature: People Who Hate My Garden

February 12th, 2009 by Matthew Steinhoff
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Heretics, all of them. Doubters. These people or agencies, through active or passive means, hate my garden. They shall be smote and my vegetables will rise up and overgrow the land.

First Vegetable Hater: My Very Own Uncle Mark

Uncle Mark: Hater of Vegetables and Corporate InfiltratorI guess this attack is to be expected. Uncle Mark works for Big Food — a large, regional supermarket. Anyway, here is how he is seeking to destroy my garden:

I would be interested to see a cost analysis of this project from beginning to end. I know, you can’t really factor in fun, but you do have supermarkets down there that carry good produce don’t you?

Not exactly subtle!

His main points:

  • Good food is a rich man’s hobby.
  • Supermarkets have good produce.

It Isn’t Expensive to Grow Your Own Food

Tim Whelan, owner of Art by Nature Garden Center, explains vegetables.I had the plywood and other construction materials leftover from hurricane season and Art By Nature Garden Center donated the plants. (The reason? So I’ll mention Art By Nature Garden Center on a regular basis.)

So far, I’m out of pocket $16.48 for the weed control cloth and $20 for the trailer load of dirt. (And $75 for the Linksys webcam, which you’ll hear more about soon.) If I had to buy the plywood and plants, too, my tab would be about $200 to get to where I am now (not including the webcam).

I just checked Freecycle and found two people within 15 miles who are giving away lawn timbers that could be used to build the raised vegetable garden. So, that would cut my expenses back by $50. Now I just need to find a pound of nails and some plants.

Plants Can Be Had By Networking — Seeds are Cheap

While I started my garden with already growing plants, I could have used seeds which cost $2.00 a packet. A packet of seeds is enough to feed a family of eight for an entire season, more or less. I cheated but if I wanted to lower my up-front costs further, I could have gone the seeds route.

I’m also finding that gardeners love to share plants. Now that I have a garden, neighbors I have never seen before are chatting me up and offering to show me their plants and trade stuff. We’ll see. Right now, my garden is land-locked and I haven’t gotten around to building the annex yet.

Water, Electricity, Fertilizer, Etc.

Water is my main concern. I’m out there pretty much every day hosing down the garden. I haven’t gotten my first full garden water bill yet. I’ll let you know.

Supermarkets Have Good Produce?

Rise Up and Join the Resistance Against Big FoodReally?

Artificial flavors. Artificial colors. Genetically modified. No pretty ribbons. Maybe not even grown in the Good Old United States of these here Americas.

My bananas (from South America, which isn’t the same as Real, God-Lovin’ America), have a little sticker on them that says ‘may contain actual banana flavor’. What does that even mean?!?!

Nope. Not for me. Not anymore. Corporate produce is the way The Man keeps us down. Who knows what the government is injecting in our cucumbers?

It’s not too late, Mark. I’ll send you some seeds. Once the ground around your house thaws out, you’ll be ready to plant your own garden.

—Farmer Matt

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Initial Planting of Our Raised Backyard Vegetable Garden

February 12th, 2009 by Matthew Steinhoff
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It’s garden creation photopalooza today!

Malcolm Surveys What Will Soon Become Our Raised Backyard Vegetable Garden Malcolm Surveys What Will Soon Become Our Raised Backyard Vegetable Garden
Malcolm is Taller than a Tomato Plant Malcolm, age four, verifies that he is Taller than a Tomato Plant
Establishing a General Layout for the Garden Before we Empty Pots Having no idea how close to plant my vegetables, I did a dry run first, digging holes and dropping in the pots to make sure everything would fit.
Sarah Supplies Pretty Ribbon to Tie Up the Plants - Pretty Plants = Happy Plants Sarah, loving wife, was happy to give up some of her ribbons so that we could tie up the tomatoes. In fact, choosing the ribbons and telling me which ribbons went where was the high point of her gardening experience so far.
Celebrity Tomato - My First Fully-Planted and Support Tomato This very celebrity tomato was the first in the ground and the first properly strung up. It also produced several green tomatoes which my mother already fried and ate.
Malcolm is Not Happy I'm Turning His Sand Box and Train Yard Into a Vegetable Garden Malcolm used the garden as a sandbox. He is going to miss playing in the good, dark soil. We will not miss him bringing dark soil into our house and onto our cream colored carpet.
Farmer Matt Ties the Last of the Strings Used to Support the Tomatoes Years of Boy Scout training allowed me to use the perfect knot for each and every plant.
Pretty Ribbon = Pretty Plants = Happy Plants = Lots of Vegetables Sarah thinks that pretty ribbons will make the plants feel pretty and that when plants are feeling pretty, they are going to produce more vegetables. You’re welcome to offer you own opinion or research on this theory below.
Our Fully-Planted and Ready to Produce Raised Backyard Vegetable Garden And there you have it, our fully-planted and ready to grow backyard raised vegetable garden.

Our Garden Plans for Next Year: Bigger

Throw a link below to your vegetable garden. I’m already planning for next season. My plans for next year can be summarized in one word: bigger.

Now that I’m hooked, I want to see what other raised vegetable gardens look like. Honestly, I did absolutely no research before I began and am now playing catch-up.

—Farmer Matt

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What Are You Growing in Your Garden, Farmer Matt?

February 11th, 2009 by Matthew Steinhoff
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When I tell people I planted a backyard vegetable garden, after the initial shock wears off, the next question is always ‘what are you growing?’.

The answer is ‘whatever Jan Norris and Tim Whelan (Art by Nature Garden Center) tell me to plant’.

Early 2009 Season Garden Layout

Here is what is in the ground today:
Early 2009 Growing Season Vegetable Garden Layout
(I have taken to looking at garden porn on the internet. The care and skill that goes into creating garden plots is pretty impressive. Amy in Colorado’s chart (and garden), for example, is far more impressive than my own.)

All of these vegetables live in a four-foot by eight-foot plot:

  • Sun Sugar Tomato
  • Tomande Tomato
  • Brandywine Tomato
  • Fairytale Eggplant
  • Striped German Tomato
  • Celebrity Tomato
  • Bell Pepper (two)
  • Jalapeno Pepper
  • Bird Pepper
  • Decorative Pepper
  • Cilantro (two)
  • Oregano
  • Pumba Yellow Onions (eight)
  • Red Leaf Lettuce (six)
  • Green Magic Broccoli (11)

Vegetable Garden Expansion Plans?

I ran out of room and the garden isn’t even three weeks old. I still need room for snap beans, cucumber, strawberries and watermelon. Today may be the day I finally get around to building an addition onto my garden. I’ll let you know.

—Farmer Matt

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