Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by commandlinefan 596 days ago
lol, I've been growing food-bearing plants in my backyard for about 10 years now. I plant jalapenos, tomatoes, bell peppers, watermelons, squash, zuchini, strawberries, eggplant and cantaloupe. I've grown maybe the equivalent of $100 worth of fruits and vegetables in that time. If I'm lucky I'll get three watermelons in a year. It's interesting to see and fun to do, but there's no way that planting vegetable plants is going to sustain you to any level on a typical lot.
3 comments
batch12 596 days ago
We do this too. For me the garden has also been a gateway into preserving. This year, I put up enough tomatoes to last the year. It's not always cheaper than buying the cheap alternative from the store, but the quality difference between something home grown and store bought is huge.

In addition to the items you've listed, I'd add grapes/ muscadines, passionfruit (grows wild so cheating), fruit and nut trees (figs are easy if you keep them pruned), berries, tea, lettuce/greens, celery, potatoes, carrots, herbs. I used to hate gardening, but it's grown on me over the last few years. The only thing I don't like growing is squash really.

link
Workaccount2 596 days ago
We garden a lot too. And it does produce excellent produce. But deep down inside I recognize that the farmers market has consistently better produce for -dramatically- lower prices, everything considered.

Gardening really is a hobby more than a practical life-hack. Although we did just get a hydroponic setup for greens in the house, and hopefully that can supply greens that are better and actually much cheaper.

link
okaram 596 days ago
Definitely not, but having fresh herbs veggies available is amazing. With herbs, I think it can be cheaper than buying them at the store (we normally waste tons of herbs if we buy at the store). With peppers and tomatoes, they just taste better :)

This year we may do squashes and eggplants ...

link
commandlinefan 596 days ago
> having fresh herbs

That's true - there's nothing in the world that tastes like fresh-cut cilantro (definitely not day old cilantro). Unfortunately, it takes a lot of work to keep a cilantro plant from bolting.

link
mbg721 596 days ago
I'm amazed that anyone pays supermarket prices for fresh mint. You can't stop it from spreading, it's essentially a weed.
link