How to spell relief from recession: G-A-R-D-E-N

I Love this article that I just found! It is truly a good one to read. Happy planting!

How to spell relief from recession: G-A-R-D-E-N
By Larry A. Sagers
Deseret News
Published: Monday, Mar. 23, 2009

Like everyone else, I am seeing and feeling the economic downturn, slowdown, recession or whatever term you choose to apply to the current situation in the country.

The dollars do not stretch as far, and visits to the produce section seem to cost more while yielding less.

How do you spell relief? If you are old enough to remember the old anti-acid commercial, it was R-O-L-A-I-D-S.

My take is G-A-R-D-E-N-S!

Growing your own vegetables is an excellent way to stretch the limited dollars available in the family food budget. While some argue that a garden can never pay, I think that done correctly, you can produce a fabulous return on your investment.

Examine some of the variables: If you try to figure in the cost of land, the garden economics never work. With lots selling for thousands and thousands of dollars, you will never pay for urban real estate by growing anything legal.

That said, most of us bought our property for a place to live, not to grow vegetables. The garden is a bonus.

Other variables are more controllable, so we can get a great return on dollars spent if we plan and plant wisely.

If your garden space is limited, double your harvest by growing two crops. Start by planting the early -- or cool season -- crops right now. By planting many of these crops now, you can reap the harvest soon enough that you can follow them with another crop later in the season.

By definition, cool-season vegetables will grow when temperatures are cool in the spring or fall. They can withstand light frosts and will germinate even when soil temperatures are only 40 degrees.

Fortunately for Utah gardeners, there are many crops to plant right now.

The planting time for the hardiest of these crops is as soon as you can prepare the soil. Roll up your sleeves and prepare a sunny spot in your garden and get planting.

Many these crops are open pollinated, so the seed is relatively inexpensive. None of them take lots of space, so they lend themselves well to container production.

While seed is usually less expensive, transplants can help you produce a crop in less time. Onions, cabbage, broccoli and kohlrabi are often grown from transplants.

As added bonuses, these crops need less water because of frequent spring rains and cooler temperatures. Also, many serious insect pests, such as grasshoppers, are not active in the cool spring weather.

Starting from the soil up, we have several root crops that fall into this cool season category. Radishes are the fastest maturing crop in the garden, and under ideal situations they are ready to harvest in four weeks.

Spend a few cents on radish seeds and you will be amply rewarded. Just be careful how many you plant. It is easy to get carried away, so only plant a couple of feet of row in the garden every two weeks for a continuous supply.

Green onions also produce a crop in a very short time. Plant them from transplants or seeds if you want big storage onions to harvest late in the season.

If speed is critical, plant the small onions sets and pull them as green onions. Regardless of the way you choose to plant them, thin them but use the smaller plants as you would use chives as a seasoning or garnish.

Turnips and kohlrabi are closely related, but the parts you eat grow in a different spot. The turnip root grows below ground, making it more susceptible to root maggots. The kohlrabi bulb grows above ground so the maggots don't infest the part you eat.

The last broccoli I bought was pretty spendy. Produce your own green with this tasty, nutritious green vegetable. Get it planted right away so that it matures before it gets too hot and dry. It will taste better and not be as tough.

Do the same with your cabbage. It grows well and produces a good yield.

Try some of the red cabbage varieties or some of the Savoy types for a different look and taste to your vegetables.

Spinach is one of the earliest crops you can grow. It is ready to harvest in as little as five to six weeks and makes a tasty, tender dish either fresh or cooked.

Take advantage of the warm spring days and start growing green.

Hopefully your garden will be the opposite of the financial world -- that is, it will come up, not go down.


MormonTimes.com is produced by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Copyright © 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company

Outdoor Cooking site

I found the most interesting web site this morning. I just have to share it with you.

http://www.outdoorcooking.com/

They have an awesome cooking stove for outdoor cooking. The prices seem quite reasonable too. Have some fun looking or "window shopping".

Planning a Garden!

Wow! What a start to the spring year. Now is the time to plan a garden for this year.

When February and March rolled around we would sit down and create a footprint of what we wanted in our garden, what we wanted in our food storage and where we were going to plant it. And we calculated how much money it would take for plants and black plastic, but now living here in this house with no yard to speak of and the free ability for all the neighbors to walk across my yard, as they do. I now have to rely on the generosity and kindness of some of our neighbors to allow me to plant on their land. I can’t wait until we can buy our own land!

Plan Garden has some interesting information on planning your garden if you are not sure what to do (http://www.plangarden.com/?pgref=9036). It does cost to use this service.

The next thing to do is to replenish your seeds supply. Purchase new seeds for planting or pull seeds that you saved from last year. Look at the times when you need to plant or start them indoors.

If you want more information, call Melanie Fisher for information about gardening. She teaches the class on gardening in the Branch.