Thu 30 Apr 2009
Tomato Tree vs. Soil vs. Planter Part 2
Posted by RichSlick under Raves
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It’s been two weeks since my last post in the tomato growing saga comparing the tomato tree vs. planter vs. soil.  So far the planter is way ahead in the competition.  I have at least 10 tomatoes growing on the planter and the plant is now about 38″ high and growing daily vertically and horizontally.  The tomato tree comes in second at about 22″ (plant curls) and has sprouted about 6 tomatoes which are growing slowly. The tomato plant placed in the soil is doing the least favorable with a mere 18″ of growth and only two tomatoes growing on the plant so far.
Other vegetables are growing fairly well as the carrots, corn, watermelon, green onion, limes, and bell peppers continue to grow, flower or fruit nicely.  I have to admit though that this is the first year that I’ve had so much success at gardening and it’s no coincidence that it is probably due to the fact that I am unemployed. I spend a good deal of time outdoors gardening, clearing weeds, watering and fertilizing the plants as needed.   Clearly, like anything else, if you dedicate time and energy and commit yourself to a process it isn’t difficult to have success.
In prior years, I would plant seeds, add fertilizer and water occasionally.  If I traveled out of town on business for a few days the plants didn’t get any water. If I can home late or too tired to weed then it didn’t get done and the plants suffered as the weeds drained water and nutrients from the vegetable plants.
I will stick to my original assessment however in that buying vegetables from a grocer is much CHEAPER than growing your own food. I know I’ll get flack for writing this from die hard frugalist but it’s the truth.   I think too many frugal people simply take the water, fertilizer, labor, crop failure, tools and other variables for granted when telling people they can “save” money by growing their own food.
I can buy 10 lbs of tomatoes for less than $10.  The ten tomatoes I’m currently growing cost way more than $10 and even if I end up with 30 lbs of tomatoes there is no way I can eat that much tomato before it goes bad.  Yeah, I can make sauces or maybe preserves from the things I’m growing but that adds additional cost and time. So why do it? For me, it’s because I like gardening. I enjoy seeing seeds grow from tiny seedlings into large fruit bearing plants and trees. It certainly isn’t to “save” money because I’ve done no such thing by growing my own veggies.
Until the harvest is complete, I won’t really be able to tell if “they taste better” either but I will certainly let you know!