If you don’t have a vegetable garden now, but think you might want to start one, here are some ideas for keeping costs down and effort minimal. Here is Jessica, again, from Roots and Refuge Farm. This video is from a few years ago, but still relevant.

By the way, I have one of those GreenStalk planters that you can see behind her. They are made in the USA (East Tennessee), and have an ingenious watering system. Here is their website, if you are interested: GreenStalk They come in three colors, different sizes and configurations, and are more affordable than other similar systems that I have seen.

It’s great to start out small, get your feet wet, and learn along the way. It’s also fun to get your kids or grandkids involved in growing (and eating) veggies. They will be more likely to eat vegetables if they help in the planting, tending, and harvesting. I, for one, was amazed to see my grandson make pesto when he was a young teenager from basil growing in their home garden.

I remember helping my parents in the garden; I particularly loathed picking green bush beans, which was one of my jobs, but I did learn to like a variety of fruits and veggies from our own 5-acre plot of land. As a result of home gardening, I also learned how to can tomatoes, jams and jellies, and watched my mom, aunts etc. put up pickles and other preserves.

Another way I have used a kiddy pool is to keep my potted plants going when I go away for a short vacation. I put the pool in a shady area and fill it with a few inches of water, then plop my pots into the pool. It’s not ideal for a long period, but it works fine for a few days.

I learned a technique on YouTube to make self-watering pots. It’s pretty easy, and not expensive, so maybe I’ll share that later with you.

From Rudyard Kipling’s poem, The Glory of the Garden:

There’s not a pair of legs so thin, there’s not a head so thick,
There’s not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick
But it can find some needful job that’s crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it’s only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner In the Glory of the Garden.

Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener’s work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away !