The dollars and sense of gardening

from Prime Senior News April 2022

Old Guys and the navigator

Now, more than ever, we are seeing grocery prices rise. Granted, it is not inexpensive to grow a garden. But we think growing your own food in your own garden will save money on your grocery bill and improve your family’s life in so many ways. It is hard to put a dollar value on how much you spend to grow your own vegetables. The tools you use are a one-time purchase. Some of my garden tools were passed down from my parents---my mother’s hand cultivator is one of my favorite tools. Gas for rototillers is going up but some gardeners don’t even use a rototiller. Garden seeds are relatively inexpensive. And many of the packages have so many seeds in them you get 2 years’ worth for a small family garden. (Seeds will usually stay viable for a year or two but you can do a simple germination test on old seeds to make sure the seeds will still grow.) Soil amendments like compost and peat moss are a gardening expense but you can make your own compost, probably better than any you would buy, from kitchen and garden wastes. Fencing from deer, walls of water, and tomato cages can be reused year after year. Fertilizer is necessary for your vegetable

garden to make sure your soil does not become depleted from gardening in the same spot. Buy fertilizer in bigger bags which are less expensive per pound; fertilizer will keep for years in your garage as long as it doesn’t get wet. The time you spend gardening is well-used. If you are retired, gardening is a great way to spend your time. Gardening is good exercise, it relieves stress, and is a fun and rewarding way to spend time outdoors in our beautiful summers. A close friend of ours has a large garden and takes his excess squash, tomatoes, beans, apples, onions, and carrots to the Food Bank every fall—between 1000 and 1500 pounds! What a great way to give! Don’t forget the value of fruit trees. Apples in the grocery stores cost 99 cents and up per pound. Delicious Honeycrisp, which can be grown here, cost even more. Our apple trees produce huge crops of apples, many of them producing every year, more than we can eat. Some varieties keep for months. We are still baking pies in March with Sweet Sixteen, Haralson, and Haralred apples from last fall’s crop! These trees are beautiful and fragrant when they are blooming; even when not blooming they add beauty to a back yard. Your home-grown vegetables are fresh. We pick our beans, asparagus, spinach, sweet corn and cook them immediately. Who knows how long ago the vegetables we bought in the grocery store were picked. We all know that home-grown strawberries, raspberries, and other fruits and vegetables are better tasting than those you buy in the grocery store. It is hard to put a price on these delicious, fresh tastes! Another way gardening saves you money is by growing your own annual and perennial flowers. A mixed bouquet of flowers can be purchased from the Farmer’s Market for as much as $25. Florist’s bouquets cost even more. Growing your own flowers, you get the added benefit of watching them grow and bloom outside in your yard. Bringing a colorful, aromatic bouquet of flowers you have grown yourself to put on your table, in the bedroom or anywhere else in your home is hard to put a price on. Don’t forget the health benefits of home-grown fruits and vegetables. You control what is going into the soil of your garden. Picking vegetables and eating or freezing them immediately preserves

Jan Cashman

has operated Cashman Nursery in Bozeman with her husband, Jerry, since 1975. their nutrients. Have your grandchildren participate in growing your garden to help them appreciate and hopefully, like to eat vegetables. What a great way to spend “family” time—in the garden. Truly priceless!