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If you read my article about Monsanto Corp. and Genetically Modified food (GMO’s) that is being provided to us in our supermarkets, you might want to start a garden of your own.

If you don’t want to plant vegetables for health reasons, maybe a better reason is the fact that you’re paying good money for vegetables that are often lacking in flavor.

Consider tomatoes at around $3/pound or more, taste like cardboard. The tomato plant is one I sarcastically refer to as a “weed,” because of its ease in growing. Yet, they are priced as if they are an exotic import, whether in winter or summer months. That’s only one of many vegetables you can grow that will save you hundreds of dollars every year by having a garden.

You may think this is an odd time to be talking about gardening. It’s still cold, snow has only recently disappeared, and it will be weeks before the last frost arrives. That’s true, but it is the time to plan your garden and start seeds indoors.

I’m getting an 8-week head start on my plants by using a Hydrofarm grow-light system. Planting seeds is a lot less expensive than buying plants. Buying seeds and starting them early has more than paid for my grow-light system, by not buying starter plants from a nursery.

It’s also the time to get start planning your garden plot, if you are going to start a vegetable garden for the first time. Of course, you can’t actually work on your garden, but you can plan where it’s going to be located and how big you want it.

Once the ground is thawed it can be turned with a tiller and compost added, but don’t wait until the warmest weekend to get that done. If you wait until Spring-like weather, you’ll have a hard time renting a tiller from a home improvement store, because everyone else will be renting what few they have.

Local garden nurseries will be better able to work around your delivery schedule for compost that you’ll want to add to your soil. Compost (ask for, organic mushroom soil) is fairly cheap. Two cubic yards is about $80, which includes the delivery. If you own, or can borrow a pickup truck, you will save about $25 on delivery.

My garden is about 18’x24′ and my closest neighbors get as much benefit from it as I do. I had an overabundance of lettuce, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables. I probably gave away 200 lbs. of vegetables last year. All free of pesticides.

Below are some pictures of my 2013 garden:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegetable Choices: While you should plant what you favor, I would suggest planting the most expensive items found in the supermarket. Tomatoes, asparagus, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, peppers, and onions were only some of my choices. Much of the bounty was frozen, pickled, canned, or dried and are still available to me from my freezer and shelves. I also planted sweet corn last year. Though corn was extremely cheap in the markets then (5/$1 at one point), mine were far more delicious.