I've been checking out the different varieties of the foods we want to grow and I've filled my online 'cart' with a wide variety of healthy veggies for our household only to be slightly discouraged. If I wanted to fill the whole garden with one plant it would cost less than $5 but who wants 600 spinach plants? The value (as described by price/quality*quantity) is AMAZING. We'll get over five years worth of 85-95% of our veggie intake for less than $150... but really?
Why must I buy 5 years worth all at once? Who needs 3000 heads of loose lettuce (the kind you pick a few leaves each day and the plant grows for the whole season). Who needs 75 tomato plants when each one will produce pounds-on-pounds of tomatoes? And 545 big thick long carrots? It's almost enough to go through the trouble of setting up a seed share program.
I'd considered putting an ad in Kijiji asking if someone wanted to split the bill... but they'd have to want exactly what we want and then there's the trusting a stranger thing and, well, I just don't see it working. Instead, I'll just have to see this as an investment and be sure to keep those seeds safe and viable for the years to come(more on that later).
I know; look at me whine about my first-world problems. :) I promise the next post will be more upbeat.
Seeds will last for several year. I find my biggest problem is not buying too many varieties and sticking with just a few plants. Yes I really want those 3 different beans, but I'll get better results with just one variety. I buy way too much. Luckily I do split with my folks, but even so I end up with too much variety.
ReplyDeleteI do have some spaghetti and winter squash that I'm going to try to save the seeds for this year. That will be a first so I hope it works.
I say if you have the room, there's no such thing as too much variety. :) Seriously, our diets can use more variety. The average person eats 3 animals and 25 plants... There are a lot more edible spiecies than that.
ReplyDeleteThere's the time and the space. And the fact that to feed my kids a good meal I normally need more then one bean plant...
ReplyDeleteThat's what I mean, more than one plant doesn't have to mean more than one of the same plant. A green, a yellow, and a purple will produce just as much as 3 greens. :)
ReplyDelete