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A lot of home gardeners drive their SUV to the box store to buy plant saplings in plastic pots and small plastic bags of compost/manure/fertilizer, then in a se

A lot of home gardeners drive their SUV to the box store to buy plant saplings in plastic pots and small plastic bags of compost/manure/fertilizer, then in a separate trip to the big box hardware store to buy kiln dried dimensional lumber for a raised bed, then pay a contractor to drop off a few tonnes of soil for that raised bed, then plant their saplings in their brand new garden. Then harvest time comes around and if they're really committed, they'll can their own tomatoes! Boiling a huge stock pot of water on their gas stove to pasteurize their 6 quarts of sauce. On the net, this type of home gardening uses dramatically more resources per unit of output than production farms. It can be worth it because of the freshness and quality that you can gain, but unless you're paying a lot of attention and effort (saving seeds, using more natural nutrient sources to amend the soil, etc), you're not doing the environment many favours by gardening. That said, topsoil loss is one part of commercial farming that is not nearly addressed enough - it's a nonrenewable resource being squandered and literally washed away every season.

jxramos 4y ago
yah my thoughts wandered into that territory a bit wondering about economies of scale etc by leaving it up to the professional farmers. It's definitely something to think about. I think the freshness/quality is a real draw. All our multiplying strawberry plants give such a punchy berry--store bought just can't compete. There's an independence aspect too to contemplate in light of food security and rising food prices and shortages and that sort of thing. One other thing that's popped up is the garden created all this food for bugs too. I see a bunch of lady bugs, praying mantises, and just today this white butterfly was hopping around laying single eggs beneath a broccoli leaf. I think I'm going to let those lil caterpillars grow to maturity.
HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
The benefit to the environment is nonexistent. 99% of the benefit is an increased appreciation of how food is grown and the work it takes to do it right and how easily it all goes wrong.
- SECProto 4y ago
  There are ways to do it right. In the suburban context (as long as you have decent soil and keep inputs out of it), whatever you grow is an improvement on grass or weeds. If you grow from seed, compost your own fruit and veg waste, maybe raise some chickens and use their manure - you can grow a lot of food from what would otherwise be unproductive space. I was just pointing out that that isn't what happens for most people.
- jxramos 4y ago
  There is something that changes when you get into how much things can go wrong. I've been explaining to my kids that we're taking care of living things. And living things have their own clocks and times that draw us out of ourselves in the care of them. It's kind of hardened me up to reality somewhat after having watched so many seedlings not make it and watching others not thrive. I've become for lack of a better word more ruthless in cutting short plants that aren't going to produce. There's some kind of mental change that occurred I want to say over this process. I've lost patience for the straggler, for the stunted, for the sick. I think there was some unrealistic mush in me before that was rooted in a completely unreasonable expectation for how things work. It was a very startling discovery to say the least.

jxramos 4y ago

yah my thoughts wandered into that territory a bit wondering about economies of scale etc by leaving it up to the professional farmers. It's definitely something to think about. I think the freshness/quality is a real draw. All our multiplying strawberry plants give such a punchy berry--store bought just can't compete. There's an independence aspect too to contemplate in light of food security and rising food prices and shortages and that sort of thing. One other thing that's popped up is the garden created all this food for bugs too. I see a bunch of lady bugs, praying mantises, and just today this white butterfly was hopping around laying single eggs beneath a broccoli leaf. I think I'm going to let those lil caterpillars grow to maturity.

HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago

The benefit to the environment is nonexistent. 99% of the benefit is an increased appreciation of how food is grown and the work it takes to do it right and how easily it all goes wrong.

SECProto 4y ago
There are ways to do it right. In the suburban context (as long as you have decent soil and keep inputs out of it), whatever you grow is an improvement on grass or weeds. If you grow from seed, compost your own fruit and veg waste, maybe raise some chickens and use their manure - you can grow a lot of food from what would otherwise be unproductive space. I was just pointing out that that isn't what happens for most people.
jxramos 4y ago
There is something that changes when you get into how much things can go wrong. I've been explaining to my kids that we're taking care of living things. And living things have their own clocks and times that draw us out of ourselves in the care of them. It's kind of hardened me up to reality somewhat after having watched so many seedlings not make it and watching others not thrive. I've become for lack of a better word more ruthless in cutting short plants that aren't going to produce. There's some kind of mental change that occurred I want to say over this process. I've lost patience for the straggler, for the stunted, for the sick. I think there was some unrealistic mush in me before that was rooted in a completely unreasonable expectation for how things work. It was a very startling discovery to say the least.