Gardening

One really great way to save money on produce is to grow your own! This is the third time I have tried to plant a garden and the first time it has actually worked. There seems to be a lot of work and money that go into it at first, but I think that cost goes down significantly after the first growing season. This time around all I really had to buy were seeds and manure, which are both cheap.

No matter where you live, there is always somewhere you can plant something. If you live in an apartment you can buy a planter box for your windowsill or patio to grow a few little things in. I have a cousin who planted some seeds in a pile of dirt her landlords left on their driveway. If you have a backyard you can clear away a corner of grass for a garden. Even if you live in a place like Arizona where most people landscape with rocks there is still plenty of space for a garden! I had a friend who had tons of buckets and wooden container gardens that he placed on top of the rocks in his side yard. He grew everything from orange trees to tomatoes in those boxes! This winter I cleared out about 200 square feet of rocks on our side yard and planted a garden there. It is so much more beautiful than those rocks!
I don't profess to be an expert gardener at all, but I am pleased to announce that our garden actually yielded something this year! We got several big bowls full of lettuce and spinach, which are so delicious (not to mention healthy and organic). We also have strawberries, tomatoes, corn, and watermelons that are growing well so far. Hopefully the summer sun doesn't kill them too soon:)
I think one thing to be aware of when gardening is that it takes a lot of patience. I went through two growing seasons having only a couple of zucchini to show for all my hard work. It was really discouraging, but I stuck with it and read some good books, including the one below, which is specific to the harsh Arizona climate.  Thanks to what I learned through my experience and my research, it looks like we are going to have a decent harvest this year.
Another benefit of gardening is that it gives kids a chance to help out and learn some responsibility. My almost-two-year-old helped me harvest our greens this week. I gave him a butter knife and a plastic bowl and he helped me cut the leaves off the spinach and lettuce. Granted, he kind of demolished one head of lettuce, but who cares? I was just going to cut it up and eat it anyway. He had so much fun and was so proud of himself for helping me do such a grown up job that for the rest of the day he kept grabbing a plastic bowl, running to the back door, and saying, "More plants!"