Guest guest Posted January 23, 2003 Report Share Posted January 23, 2003 Anna, I envy you the garden. Grew up with a big one in our yard, and it was always wonderful food we got from it. However, where we live now one is not permitted, due to zoning ordinances, to plant edible plants in one's back yard. Flowers? No problem. (What idiocy this represents I cannot fathom.) Also, although it goes without saying probably, inner city poor cannot grow gardens as they haven't even a yard, let alone the time and so on. And if they tried, it'd probably end up vandalized. *sigh* These vaunted choices we Americans pride ourselves on are often based on income, and circumstance, and are often ideals that aren't always practical for everyone, the way some of us would wish they'd be. On Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 12:29 PM, (AT) (DOT) com wrote: > n a message dated 1/23/2003 9:19:47 AM Central Standard Time, > writes: >> My wife and I are very conscious that it is only our middle class status >> that allows us to afford decent food, and if the pay slips, so does what >> we can afford to buy. There goes being Vegan. There goes fresh fruits >> and veggies year round. There goes handy frozen foods made for veggies. >> There goes any spare time at all, if we insist on keeping up the >> pretence. >> > I agree. I am also in the middles class, not rich, and not poor, Me and my > fiance both work and we find, that buying food is expensive. We try to buy > fresh veggies and such, but I find that frozen and canned veggies are more > cost effective for this family. Most of weekly food consists of pastas > dishes, rice dishes, and soup. I am a pescatarian, and he is a meat eater, > but he rarely buys meat, and I make vegetarian dishes. But we found that > planting our own garden saves alot on fresh veggies. We had cucumbers, > tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini,rhubarb and strawberries. I froze the > zucchini, > and I cooked a lot of dishes during the summer with what came from our > garden. > > > > > Anna > " The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. " --Bertrand Russell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2003 Report Share Posted January 24, 2003 On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 12:34:27 -0600, you wrote: >Anna, > >I envy you the garden. Grew up with a big one in our yard, and it was >always wonderful food we got from it. However, where we live now one is >not permitted, due to zoning ordinances, to plant edible plants in one's >back yard. Flowers? No problem. (What idiocy this represents I cannot >fathom.) I would move. Seriously. I would move. Is it zoning, or a homeowner's association? It's difficult for me to believe that any place would have such restrictive zoning, but I suppose it's possible. In either case, I'd move. Our FIRST priority when we bought this house was that it not be subject to a homeowner's association. Our SECOND priority was that it have enough land (and flat enough - in actual fact, our yard is gently sloping - ideal) for me to have a large garden. The THIRD priority was that we be able to fence the back yard and have enough room for large dogs to run and play. Then the other criteria dealt with the actual house itself... However, I had a wonderful container garden on my deck last year (in addition to the 'big garden' in the back yard). The container garden produced beautifully, an abundance of veggies - maybe you could do something like this? We had found a bunch of big black (not pretty) plant pots that were being thrown away (found 'em at a dumpster). I filled them with spent-mushroom soil (which we can buy reasonably cheap here). Top soil mixed with peat moss and dried manure would also do well. These are the things I grew in containers last year: * Swiss chard * green leaf lettuce * romaine * collard greens * green peppers * hot peppers * one Yellow Pear (cherry-sized) tomato (the rest of the tomatoes were in the 'big garden' in the yard) * bok choy - this is easy to grow * basil * beets I could have grown many more vegetables in containers if I didn't have the in-ground garden. Container gardening has a lot of pluses - easier to tend, you get more per square foot planted, the plants tend to do better, etc. Maybe you could do something like this? Pat -- Pat Meadows CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/ International: http://www.thehungersite.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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