*Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants
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Yeah, I think itās less work and $ to bring them in and out daily than to invest in walls of water or frost cloth.
The official measurement of rainfall at OāHare yesterday was more than 4 inches of rain. (I am not really by OāHare but itās closer to me than Midway.) And despite what my weather app is assuring me, it is still currently raining.
Those seeds I sowed Wednesday are likely toast and I should start over, right?
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Likely. Sorry.Edit: depends on the kind of seeds some, though. Big ones buried deep are more likely to make it through.
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WOW! Thatās a lot of rain.
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Carrots and arugula. I think those are probably fuct.
Oh well. After Monday it looks dry for a while. Iāll try again.
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Right? I knew weād gotten a lot, and there were big boomy storms that resulted in Girl Kitty fleeing under the bed, but when I saw that measurement I was like 
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Something dug up corn and beans overnight. Grrrr. Weāve got more to spare, but grrrrr. I already cover the tomatoes and peppers when itās cold at night, I donāt want to also have to cover every small plant and seed we have, every night.
Picked up a small pack of snap peas from BN. I figure we can save them for a fall crop. We can do snow peas, snap peas, bok choy, kale, and maybe some other winter crops once I research more.
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ROI
I reaaally donāt want to think about ROI. I was mentally running numbers today so I guess my brain is going there anyway! Weāre doing this pretty cheaply, considering how poor our soil is and how much weāve planted, but itās still going to be hard to get an actual financial benefit. The hours spent and stress involved at time make it waaay worse, but Iām willing to consider the hours spent as a positive, since I needed another outlet during lockdown.
I started this thinking it would cut down on grocery store trips, but Iāve resigned myself to HTbF going more frequently for meat, snacks, beer, all kinds of stuff that we canāt grow. So now I need another reason to garden. And a reminder that buying fancy compost and building a greenhouse and even buying big containers for more tomatoes wonāt be worth it. Itās worth it as a hobby when I have no other options, but MJ hobby rules apply: do not spend money on it.
Spent (Total $124)
- Plant food - $10?
- Sluggo - $14
- Seeds and starts - $25?
- Potting soil - $45?
- Gloves - $20?
- Celery and bok choy purchased mainly to regrow: $10
Free
- Wood for new raised beds
- Bamboo for trellises
- Many seeds and starts, more than we can actually handle
- Leftover pots and shovels and stuff
- The finest hard-packed clay that Portland can provide
- Compost, in a few months
Outcomes (Realized)
- 3 meals worth of scallions
- An injured shoulder from ripping out blackberries
- Nightmares about slugs
- Newfound pride in my plant babies
- A reason to spend more time outside instead of on the couch
- Jealousy of other peopleās worms
- A new hobby to learn about
Outcomes (Hopeful)
- Fresh vegetables that will encourage me to snack on greens instead of cookies
- Bell peppers that actually have flavor
- Green beans that arenāt wrapped in plastic
- Maybe some resilience if supply chains are disrupted, but there are sooo many local farms, thatās unlikely to be a big problem
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In trying not to calculate ROI. I reeeeally want to, because somewhere bin my brain I hope I can bring my grocery cost down by growing our own. But realistically I think itās less pricey than a lot of my hobbies with no clear financial ROI.
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Pro tip: Do not calculate ROI
(You can compare your grocery costs and pat yourself on the back for a lower number than the previous year, and feel good about supply chains and carbon footprint and food miles, but seriously, donāt go down the ROI path. Itās not pretty.)
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Agreed, itās too easy to only look at the dollars.
The ROI for me has almost nothing to do with money spent and everything to do with improved mental health, improved physical fitness, satisfaction of seeing a project to completion, learning how to be totally okay with failure, learning the language of plants and soil, the way I feel healthier eating fresh produce compared to store bought, and a little dip in my grocery bill.
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See, Iāve always got a lot more $$ out of a garden than i put in, but Iām quite willing to let things die rather than spend money to save them. This year my emphasis is on food security rather than price which is why all the blackeyed peas- protein to store over winter plus greens we can eat. Our biggest expenditures this year are likely fuel for tractor and tiller since we made town new garden spots, but those will be there in later years, too.
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Yeah donāt. Refer my earlier blog posts. Itās a folly I tell you. A FOLLY!
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Even under the best circumstances it has taken me several years to get to the break even point (and I donāt do raised beds or square foot gardening that requires expensive media). Moving every 3-4 years (at least) tends to do that, and having to start over multiple times drives costs up. When you first get started, which is when people tend to get discouraged the most, costs are highest. One might not have any tools or equipment, or even fencing (animal pests are a BIG problem where I am now and fencing is a mustā¦). One might have to bring in a lot of soil (did that one place that had the worst soil Iād ever seen, thereās no way I could grow in it for several years of amending if I didnāt), seeds purchased before you start saving seeds and developing a network of people to trade with, amendments or compost if it is difficult to produce enough compost yourself (Iāve never been able to produce enough myself). I think itās easy for those of us who garden successfully (and I consider myself one!) to discount how daunting it can be when just starting out (especially when first learning things and having possibly more failures). 
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Oh, definitely not starting from scratch here. Itās my first garden since we moved here (first since 2008 if you discount a couple small sunken beds and thing grown in five-gallon buckets and old wheelbarrows), but we had the tools, including the tractor for gathering forest loam to amend the new spots and my husbandās grandfathers tiller.
Also had the fencing, some very old saved seeds, and a grocery store bag of dried blackeyed pease that are giving me well over 50% germination.
Working agains us is that neither of us will set foot in any store, which means Iāve paid more for this he seeds Iāve gotten because the farm co-op is doing curbside pickup and Dollar Tree (my usual seed source ) is not. Oh, and I ordered some expensive seeds online early on. So probably $35 spent in seeds when usually Iām at around $10 or less without saved seeds from the previously year.
But starting for the first time ever is a whole different proposition. I think itās worth talking about how itās not like that every year, though. Otherwise too many people spend the high first-year costs and them never reap the rewards.
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Yeah, itās entirely possible that Iāve spent over 1k in the last full year between compost, live plants, seeds, and tools. What I recall is about $850 but thatās just what I REMEMBER and does not include the multitude of seeds and seed gift cards I got.
Iām going to be horrified if I spend this much every year.
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You wonātā¦ at least, you shouldnātā¦ 
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Iām spending mumblemumble thousand this year probably on a fence, but thatās less about the garden and more about privacy.
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