Is the start up just small potatoes?

My number crunching shows that I spent roughly $150 on the start up for the garden. That's $100 on materials (grow light, seed trays, potting soil, etc), $42 on vegetable seeds, and $11 on flower seeds. Because I didn't keep track from the start, and I might have forgotten something, I'm going to round up to $200 for the sake of this project. That way I can't be accused of minimizing the costs to make an economic case for the urban vegetable garden which admittedly, I might be likely to do if I don't police myself. The costs would have been much higher if it wasn't for the plants and materials I've been gifted: Heritage tomato seeds, strawberry plants, raspberry canes, oregano, borage, cilantro seeds, alpaca poo, and mason bees. Thanks to all!

So the challenge begins. Can this garden produce over $200 worth of food?

And what about the small potatoes? I've planted Red Chieftain and Yukon Gold potatoes in those coffee sacks pictured above, and they're up, those cute little green leaves.

The Project

Welcome to Roots and Shoots, the diary of a wannabe urban gardener. I live in Nanaimo's Old City, this is my first spring here, and I've been working all fall and winter to get things ready for planting my first vegetable garden. I've dabbled previously. When I was a teenager I was allowed a little patch of garden at my parents' house and grew some very nice oregano. Last winter I started a flat of vegetables from seed in a sunny window and nurtured them for weeks only to let them all dry up and die when I went away for the weekend. Then I bought some tomato, green pepper and swiss chard starts and grew them it pots, but I didn't exactly get a bumper crop.

So here I am, with a house I plan to be in for a while and a yard with lots of potential. We chose a neglected corner of the yard for the garden plot that was piled high with English ivy, morning glory, Himalayan blackberry and other hard-to-get-rid-off plants, atop a mound of yard clippings and the odd piece of garbage (a kiddie pool and two wire fences, for example). Hours and days later, we have two level garden beds with a rock wall creating two levels from the natural slope. Each are about 8'x10', give or take, and the bottom plot has an apple tree in the middle.

So where are we now? Snap peas, spinach, lettuce and carrots are all up, and I planted radish and cilantro seeds today. There's a whole bunch of stuff inside under the grow light, and I just can't wait for the bumber crop to come!

To make this project more than just fun, I plan to keep track of the harvest and estimate what it would have cost to purchase what the garden produces. I have kept rough track of what I have spent on seeds, soil and a couple other things for start up, so at the end of the season, I should be able to measure the economics of this project. It's not all about the money, in fact that's a small part of it for me, but some of the joy will be gone if it turns out I could have bought it all for less. I just want to know.

I hope you'll read and post comments, tips, ideas, and perhaps pictures from your own garden. Wish me luck on the urban vegetable garden project, take one.