One of the motivations that both Andy and Allen had with their gardening was to supplement the family budget by growing fresh vegetables. Andy did this at a reasonable scale at his allotment which also accommodated chickens for eggs (and the occasional Sunday dinner) and his racing pigeons. Allen did the same on a smaller plot next to the house, but with greater intensity and with the benefit of a greenhouse was just as productive. Both men knew the economics of home growing and most of the vegetables were started from seed.
The value proposition at AndAllen is to create an outdoor space that is in harmony with the house that enhances our daily lives and offers outside entertaining opportunities. Part of the quality of life equation. A herb garden was deemed a fun thing to have and although the economic imperative was not great, the experiment is proving valuable. Without any planning at all, this haphazard planting is estimated to save us about $60 this year. By far the biggest contributor to this is the sequential planting of lettuce. Sorrel,mint,sage,oregano,cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, radishes, basil and spinach have been minor contributors.
The satisfaction of growing stuff to eat is not only measured monetarily – the immense pleasure of tasting (absolutely the best) your freshly picked produce is justification enough for the effort. The educational benefit for the grandchildren is an added bonus – to understand where food comes from – invaluable. The Girl on the Hudson has done a great job in creating a productive little vegetable garden for Cob and AL to enjoy.
The focus to date has been getting the garden designed, hardscaped and planted. The level of satisfaction that CP and myself are getting from just ”hanging out” has exceeded our hopes. A bit more fun, and value, can be had from putting some thought into the herb garden – both in what we want to eat from it but also from experimentation with a few things we have never grown before.
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