Our yard doesn't have a spot that is both big enough and gets enough sun, so I spent almost $10 for a few tomato plants for a couple of huge pots we have (previously used for tomatos at a previous home with similar garden limitations). One day later, the day I purchased screen and bird netting to keep critters away, the cherry tomatoes on one of the plants had already been eaten, along with plant damage. The screen/fence material alone was more than $50 (Home Depot is milking the "inflation/supply chain crisis" for maximum profit!). Bottom line: I spent around $75 for what might turn out to be about $5 worth of tomatoes :) (but store bought tomatoes are SOOOOO bad!)
It's true. I learned how hard farming was years ago when I had bought a tiller and planted some potatoes.
Fast forward to harvest and from the tiller and potato set purchase price I had harvested enough to make what would have been about a $5 bag of potatoes at the store lol. Fun but I see what these guys go thru.
I don't use a tiller anymore, since the tank rotted out of it, an actual blessing in disguise. We use cardboard, shovel, and grass clippings.
To grow more potatoes only a sliver of the original with an eye is needed.. I've seen many social media posts of people using whole potatoes. Wasteful. Slivers are all that's needed, the eyes will quickly root and take off from there.
I wish I still had a photo, but years ago my husband built a side by side double bin from pallets with the ability for the front to slide up. One side was for composting and the other side for potatoes. We alternated sides each year. There was an overhead beam from which we hung 3 litre bottles for upside down tomatoes.
Yeah I had slivered them and everything but I guess the soil wasn't great or whatever...didn't get many that were any bigger than the seed potatoes I started them with. Kids loved it but it wasn't subsistence by any means lol
I suck at gardening, and had a similar experience a few years ago with tomatoes and cucumbers. So, I bought a food dehydrator and will be using it on whatever fresh produce I can get my hands on this summer. Also stocked up on non-perishables.
The only plant that has ever lived for over a month in my home has been one of those lil cactus in a tiny pot ones.. and I eventually managed to kill it off as well :X
LOL! I once had a cactus plant, and didn't know it was fake. I never touched it because, cactus. After about a year of watering very occasionally it fell off the shelf and fell apart. That's when I realized it was not a real plant. Only indoor plant I ever had that survived that long.
Yeah my tomato plant is growing super tall but absolutely no tomatoes have grown, whereas my friends plant was much shorter and had tomatoes growing. But she does use soil from her land which was farmed for years by her father, but that was a long time ago, he passed many years ago. I don’t think she adds anything to the soil. She has all kinds of things growing on her land. And it doesn’t hurt that she just has a green thumb and I don’t, lol.
Our yard doesn't have a spot that is both big enough and gets enough sun, so I spent almost $10 for a few tomato plants for a couple of huge pots we have (previously used for tomatos at a previous home with similar garden limitations). One day later, the day I purchased screen and bird netting to keep critters away, the cherry tomatoes on one of the plants had already been eaten, along with plant damage. The screen/fence material alone was more than $50 (Home Depot is milking the "inflation/supply chain crisis" for maximum profit!). Bottom line: I spent around $75 for what might turn out to be about $5 worth of tomatoes :) (but store bought tomatoes are SOOOOO bad!)
Buy birdseed so the birds respect you more.. alpha moves.
Plant the bird seed.
It's true. I learned how hard farming was years ago when I had bought a tiller and planted some potatoes.
Fast forward to harvest and from the tiller and potato set purchase price I had harvested enough to make what would have been about a $5 bag of potatoes at the store lol. Fun but I see what these guys go thru.
I don't use a tiller anymore, since the tank rotted out of it, an actual blessing in disguise. We use cardboard, shovel, and grass clippings.
To grow more potatoes only a sliver of the original with an eye is needed.. I've seen many social media posts of people using whole potatoes. Wasteful. Slivers are all that's needed, the eyes will quickly root and take off from there.
I wish I still had a photo, but years ago my husband built a side by side double bin from pallets with the ability for the front to slide up. One side was for composting and the other side for potatoes. We alternated sides each year. There was an overhead beam from which we hung 3 litre bottles for upside down tomatoes.
Yeah I had slivered them and everything but I guess the soil wasn't great or whatever...didn't get many that were any bigger than the seed potatoes I started them with. Kids loved it but it wasn't subsistence by any means lol
I suck at gardening, and had a similar experience a few years ago with tomatoes and cucumbers. So, I bought a food dehydrator and will be using it on whatever fresh produce I can get my hands on this summer. Also stocked up on non-perishables.
The only plant that has ever lived for over a month in my home has been one of those lil cactus in a tiny pot ones.. and I eventually managed to kill it off as well :X
LOL! I once had a cactus plant, and didn't know it was fake. I never touched it because, cactus. After about a year of watering very occasionally it fell off the shelf and fell apart. That's when I realized it was not a real plant. Only indoor plant I ever had that survived that long.
Yeah I have a dehydrator and might eventually get a freeze dryer also.
You got worms! Tomato hornworms are ravenous critters!
https://www.bing.com/search?q=tomato+horn+worms+pictures&cvid=d17a4c6417f74d01b0096efcb0190aa9&aqs=edge.5.0j69i57j0l7.10080j0j1&pglt=299&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=EDGEDSE
Yeah my tomato plant is growing super tall but absolutely no tomatoes have grown, whereas my friends plant was much shorter and had tomatoes growing. But she does use soil from her land which was farmed for years by her father, but that was a long time ago, he passed many years ago. I don’t think she adds anything to the soil. She has all kinds of things growing on her land. And it doesn’t hurt that she just has a green thumb and I don’t, lol.