The Cost Of Fresh Veggies..

[jdmidwest]

As I stood out in the heat spraying water on my dying garden, I wondered what costs I have incurred this season for the fresh veggies out of the garden. The sweet corn was ravaged by squirrels one weekend while I was out of town, 3 rows produced a dozen under ripe ears. I have yet to pick a bean, replanted 5 times, only to have them stripped by rabbits. 15 rabbits have been relocated and still having problems. 1 coon and 3 possums, missed the armadillo.

Seeds and plants $50

Composted Topsoil $40

Trip to farm for composted horse manure $20

Gas for tiller $10

Stakes for trellis and tomatoes $20

Fertilize $15

Box Traps $35

Coon Traps $25

Box 22 shells $2

Electric Fence Charger and wire that did not work $48

Antique hand plow $15

Paint and Polyurethene for Hand Plow $20

Water for the garden $20 a month

Time and labor, at least 10 hours a week since April

Peat Starter pots $5

Roundup $10

on, and on......

Yield so far

1 peck of cucumbers

1 peck of squash

12 ears sweet corn

1 bushel of asst tomatoes

Few peppers

Several salads

20 qts strawberries

plenty of flowers to look at

0 onions

Maybe some horseradish this fall, only dig on months with R

Few sunflower seeds

10-15 apples

0 beans

0 sweet peas

2 messes okra

I think I am still at a loss.

[ness]

The 'maters made it worth it.

[snagged in outlet 3]

We gave up a couple years ago. The rabbits and squirrels are thick around here. My wife wants me to get a pellet rifle and start putting some down. At the old house you could rabbit hunt all year and never make a dent. We backed up to farm fields and the rabbits were everywhere.

My son and I would sit in the kitchen and pop the window open and shoot them with a pellet rifle. It was a blast. They would sit in the flower pots and eat the flowers down to nubs. Sometimes we would have 10 or 15 in the yard at a time.

To put your cost in perspective the farmer down the road sells sweet corn 4 for a buck.

Tomatoes are a buck a pound. Squash and zuchini are quarter a piece.

Not to mention cantalope and beans at give away prices.

I feel your pain. My wife just hates those bunnies.

SIO3

[Thom]

JD and Snagged:

I also feel your pain.

I have to put a 7 ft fence around everthing I raise and spray flowers with pepper mix or deer away.

I limit myself to tomatoes, potatoes(only enough for new potatoes with beans), a few pepper and zuch plants.

I use the hog wire close mesh fence and it keeps the rabbits out unless I forget to close the gate. My first fence was only 5 foot and the deer jumped it and ate all of my KY wonder pole beans to the stalks in one night just right before the first harvest was ready.

With the heat my tomatoes are all getting ripe at once. Probably had 1/2 bushel this week and I will be gone all next week fish Taney (poor me) so when i get back if there is not some rain it will be a disaster.

I was getting coffee monday morning and looked out my kitchen window to see a huge doe eating the last of the day lily buds around my fountian. Loaded up and when I turned the door knob he took off like a cannon for the cedar cover.

I do harvest squirrel and rabbits regularly but all that accomplishes is to make room for the next ones on the pecking order to move into their terrirtory. rabbit and squrirrel jerky is pretty tasty but lots of work.

Hey JD I am hanging onto my guns, beliefs but losing my religion some this summer. Lucklily I have a forgiving God cause these critters sure get under my skin.

Thanks for posting your garden news it is always enjoyable and a good read. Even though I don't always agree with some of your posts I seldom fail to learn something new from what you share with the forum.

[jdmidwest]

As a kid, I used to sit in the garden during the day between the rows with a Scoped Ruger 1022 and pick off the varmits as they had their way. Growing up, our gardens covered almost an acre of ground. The groundhogs would sneak out and I would whistle like a hawk to get them to rear up, then go for the head shot. We never had problems with deer and rabbits, just groundhogs. There is no telling how many of the suckers I have shot thru the years, I even went to other neighbors and helped them out with their problems.

Now, the vandals come during the day while I am at work. I have to rely on traps to do the job. They are not as efficient as a sharpshooting teenager, but they work sometimes.

Ness, sad thing is, I don't eat maters, but the family does. I like the beans, corn, squash, and okra.

I have tossed around the idea of a fence, but then it is something else to trim and mow around. The electric and 3' chicken wire did not stop the squirrels this year, I only put it up when the corn was getting close. I do plan on burning the brushpiles off that are making the good cover for the rabbits. I like watching the rabbits, young ones have raised under my shed the past few years and come out to feed while I sit and grill in the evenings. They are fun to watch and are pretty tame. Neighbors cats usually keep them in check and I have found several killed this year by them. But it has been a prolific year for them, I think all of the blowdowns from last years storms have created alot of cover in the adjoining 20 acre woodlot.

Thom, we all have our ups and downs. I just try to pass some things along.

[eric1978]

But it has been a prolific year for them...

No kidding...I think I've dusted about a hundred of the babies this year with the mower. They're all over the place.

[Trav]

The same thing be said about the cost of fish. We do it because we like it...not for the economics.

[jdmidwest]

The same thing be said about the cost of fish. We do it because we like it...not for the economics.

Growing up, the garden was our sole source of veggies. We grew all of our produce, canned, froze, and preserved what we grew to sustain us till the next year. We bought very little at the store. I know several that still do. In past years, my garden did the same with the corn, beans, okra, and tomatoes. But not this year.

[Wormser]

I really don't eat veggies besides maters and the squirels are having a go at those on the deck. I've also since pulled the cucs and squash early on in the garden to make room for the pumpkins and gourdes. Next year that is probably all I will grow. The Atlantic Giant pumpkin plant alone is over 350 square feet so maintianing healthy leaves is one heck of a project. I have spent a ton on ferts, fungicides, manuer, topsoils, etc but it keeps me very busy and will be well worth it come October and November.

[Dutch]

I don't do much besides compost and a bit of fertilizer.

So far we have put up 40 qts of tomato juice, frozen okra, 200 ears of corn, eaten all the asparagus, onions, cukes, squash, canteloupes, water melons, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, beets, kohlrabi, spinach, etc and are awaiting the sweet potatoes to get ready. I have maybe $50 total invested and have given my neighbors at least a couple of hundred dollars worth of produce.

This is my other hobby and my summer savings for all the gas I will use this winter.