Sunday, January 10, 2010

No Room for a Garden, My Solution

So, Trey and I discussed organic fruits and vegetables and made a firm decision to just bite the bullet and buy only organic from the store.  Mother's Market has a good selection and is reasonably priced for organic.   Then I brought up the "Garden Subject".  I have been craving a garden for months. As a child there was a huge vegetable garden in my back yard which produced at various times corn, lettuce, carrots, Swiss chard, asparagus, boysenberries, green beans and even one year pumpkins, watermelons and cantaloupe.  

My sister Teresa and her husband used a community garden plot and harvested loads of fresh zucchini and squash a few years ago so I looked up my local community garden.  My city offers 9x9 plots ( 81sq ft)

Cost
$100 for one year lease
$125 deposit
--------
$225  

But then you need to buy the seeds and who knows what types of chemicals are already in that soil.  Could not necessarily be considered Organic which rather defeats the purpose. Then you need to go water it every day and pull weeds.  Enjoyable, yes ( at least the watering part- the weeding is back-breaking)

Trey wanted to plant tomato bushes in the 2ft x 20ft  space between our apartment and the house next door, at least until he stepped on a rusty nail and needed a tetanus shot.  I suggested potted tomatoes along our front window and doorstep, but could just picture them disappearing as soon as they were ripe.

So yesterday I was surfing the web and I came across this:








I clicked on it and found my garden.  This is a startup company that leases garden plots.  Basically the way it works is you either lease a full   garden 240 sq ft ( $299)  or half garden 120 sq ft ($199) for one year.  You tell them what to plant and they plant the seeds, water, weed and harvest your produce.  Then ship it to you or deliver to a nearby place where you can pick it up.  There are garden maintenance fees of $50-$100, however you get that much credit in their store to by other organic  or health related goods such as honey, soups, etc.  You can sell your extra produce in their farmer's market which will cover the cost of your shipping.  You can also buy other farmer's produce in the market if there is an item you want which you did not grow in your own garden


The related costs for this garden are:

240 sq ft
lease $299
Monthly maintenance $99
( but you can spend that same amount in their store and fee is waived)



120 sq ft
Lease $199
Monthly maintenance $50
( again spending the amount in their store)

Now, in both gardens you get to choose what you plant, but with the My Organic Garden   You don't have to do all the work. You can visit if you want to see the progress of growth. And did I mention the Webcam?  You can watch your veggies grow.  In fact, I will be posting pictures of my plants as they grow. So please keep an eye out for them.

Now My Organic Garden is a start-up company. They are looking for investors since 2010 is the first year and they do have incentives for the "Pioneer Gardeners".  I personally think this is a fantastic concept and am investing my money. Yes, if others lease gardens or just purchase veggies, there is a kickback system in place.  But what I am most excited about is fresh organic produce to my doorstep Without the labor.  Check it out and tell me what you think.  I would love your comments!

4 comments:

  1. huh, cool idea! Sort of like a CSA, which if you haven't looked into one of these, it's worth it. You don't tell them what to plant, but you basically buy a share in the farm (usually several sizes, like individual and family), and then you get a basket of veggies every week or two. I'm part of one here in TN and love it (CSA stands for community supported agriculture). My CSA is like $270 for an individual share (10 weeks of veggies) and 360 for the family share (15 weeks of veggies, you pick this one up every week instead of like bi-weekly). And then I did the Fall CSA too for 6 weeks for 175.00, so for $445 I got 6 months of veggies for me and the husband, which works out to like $74/mo. It sounds like what you found would work out about the same price.

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  2. Hi Julianna,
    Following you on nwb. Do check out my blog for only healthy recipes.
    http://www.enrichingyourkid.blogspot.com/

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  3. Hey, this is one beautiful Idea, gives me another direction to take my business in... you can follow me and my Red Wigglers on http://www.no1duzitbettaoutoverdafire.blogspot.com

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  4. Hi DG, I would agree with Anna on letting the Oregon farmers pick most of the produce to plant, since they should know their soil's richness in potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, and its pH better than we do. Also, they know what grew best on their farm last year, and they should be rotating their crops yearly or every two years, so you wouldn't insist on tomatoes every year for five years, lest the soil wear out of the nutrients tomatoes need. Were we to apply this concept locally, we might go out to the vegetable farm once a month or so and actually direct the organic gardener, collect crops, etc. You've got me thinking about going into the farming business. It might be a great tax loss to shelter income from teaching for me, working as a Regitrar for you, practicing law, etc.
    GR

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