Okay, my gardening friend, tell me this: why are you gardening? Did you start gardening during the pandemic because everything was locked down and you were at home all the time and needed some sort of contact with another living thing and that living thing ended up being plants? Or is gardening something you grew up doing and just automatically continued as an adult? Do you garden to reduce the family food budget or maybe your goal is to grow all your family’s produce for the entire year? Maybe it’s just a way to get outside and get some fresh air and exercise and it just feels good to tend to something.
In order to know what we want out of our garden, we have to know why we’re gardening. That “why” is going to help us determine our goals. It’s also going to help dictate exactly how ambitious we get in terms of what we grow, how much space we use, how much we’re willing to invest, the types of tools and supplies that we buy, all the things.
Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to look at our “why” and how knowing that answer can help us set our goals for this gardening season and maybe even our budget. Let’s dig in!
References and Resources:
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00:00:00
OK, my gardening friend, tell me this.
00:00:02
Why are you gardening? Did you start gardening during
00:00:07
the pandemic because everything was locked down and you were at
00:00:10
home all the time and you needed some sort of contact with
00:00:13
another living thing and that living thing just ended up being
00:00:16
plants? Or is gardening something that
00:00:19
you grew up doing and just automatically continued as
00:00:22
adult? Do you garden to reduce the
00:00:25
family food budget? Or maybe your goal is to grow
00:00:28
all of your family's produce for the entire year.
00:00:32
Maybe it's just a way to get outside and get some fresh air
00:00:34
and some exercise and it just feels good to tend to something.
00:00:39
In order to know what we want out of our garden, we have to
00:00:43
know why we're gardening. That why is going to help us
00:00:48
determine our goals. It's also going to help dictate
00:00:51
exactly how ambitious we get in terms of what we grow, how much
00:00:55
space we use, how much we're willing to invest, the types of
00:00:59
tools and the supplies we buy, all the things.
00:01:02
So today on Just Grow Something, we're going to look at our why
00:01:06
and how knowing the answer can help us set our goals for this
00:01:10
gardening season and maybe even our budget.
00:01:14
Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen, I started
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gardening in a small corner of my suburban backyard and now 18
00:01:20
years later, I've got a degree in horticulture and operate a 40
00:01:23
acre market farm. I believe there is power in food
00:01:26
and that everyone should know how to grow at least a little
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bit of their own. On this podcast, I share
00:01:31
evidence based techniques to help you plant, grow, harvest
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and store all your family's favorites.
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Consider me your friend in the garden.
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So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
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just grow something. Welcome to season 5 of the Just
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Grow Something podcast. Thank you for being here.
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Thank you to my Ogs who have been here from the very
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beginning. And if you're new here, welcome.
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Welcome. This is the time of year when a
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lot of people start looking at New Year's resolutions or
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learning a new skill. So if that's you and that's why
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you found me, welcome to the family and be prepared to have a
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knowledge bombs dropped on you each and every week.
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Lots of things coming in this new season.
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My gardening friends, I have so many irons in the fire right now
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that I've lost count. And they're not all related to
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this podcast, but many, many of them are.
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So be prepared to have access to so much more content from me
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this season. If you have friends who are
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interested in gardening or starting gardening and they need
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a little extra evidence based help to help grow all the
00:02:49
things, send this podcast their way or send them to my website
00:02:53
or any of my social media pages. And if you're not in the Just
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Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook group, get in there.
00:03:03
We just passed 400 members and everybody is so, so helpful.
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I'm actually super excited now when I see that someone asked a
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question and I'm not the first person to go in there and answer
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it. It makes me so happy to see our
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community just helping each other.
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So be a part of that community. If you're on Facebook, the link
00:03:23
will be in the episode description.
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You just have to answer a couple of questions.
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So we know that you're not a spammer and agree to the rules
00:03:30
and boom, you are in. So let's make this our best
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gardening year ever together. OK, so I know this whole know
00:03:42
your why thing might sound like I'm some sort of self help guru
00:03:46
asking you to journal your intentions to define yourself,
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but that's not where we're going here.
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This is truly about your garden plan.
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But if you do need an assessment for not just your garden goals,
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but also things like your health and your work and your home
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environment and more, there is a whole section in the Girly
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Homesteaders Grow and Flourish Planner that guides you through
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an assessment at the beginning of the year and then like checks
00:04:10
in with you on those goals throughout the seasons.
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So if you're still looking for a robust planner for your garden
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that also has like weekly task tracking and monthly goals and
00:04:21
is broken down by season and by month, then that's the planter
00:04:24
you want. Laura is still offering my
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gardening friends 10% off of their planner by going to
00:04:30
justforsomethingpodcast.com/planner and using code Just Grow at
00:04:35
checkout so that link will also be in the show notes.
00:04:38
There is also space in that planner for drawing your garden
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layout which will come in handy if you plan on joining my plan
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like a Pro course this year, which is opening up next week.
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And one of the things that we start off with in that course is
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determining your garden goals as the foundation of your garden
00:04:59
plan. This is why your why matters,
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right? OK, so your why helps you set
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your goals. Your goals guide decisions on
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the crops that you're going to grow and the tools that you need
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and the size of your garden. It also helps prevent
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overspending on maybe some things that you might
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necessarily need depending on what those goals are, right?
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So you might be gardening as a hobby.
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And so your goals for that is going to be, you know,
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relaxation, the beauty of your yard, a reconnection with
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nature, just being out in the fresh air.
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Maybe your why is a more practical purpose.
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You're trying to reduce your grocery bills.
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You are providing fresh food for your family or your why is for
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educational or just kind of social reasons.
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So maybe you are teaching kids or grandkids by putting this
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garden together or you are growing to donate produce to a
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food pantry. Whatever it is, your why is
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going to dictate what your goals are, and your goals are going to
00:06:02
dictate the purchases that you make and the way that you do
00:06:06
your planning. So a hobby gardener, you know,
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who's out there for the aesthetics and who's out there
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for the fresh air might plant more flowers and herbs for like
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aesthetics and just enjoyment and might focus a little bit
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less on some of the produce versus, you know, somebody who
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is doing it from a more practical standpoint and might
00:06:25
be prioritizing the higher yielding crops and not be as
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concerned about the flowers and herbs from an aesthetic
00:06:32
standpoint, but maybe more so from a production standpoint.
00:06:38
This is where I find myself or have found myself the majority
00:06:43
of the last, you know, decade plus years that I have been
00:06:46
doing this is I have been more on the practical side, starting
00:06:49
out as doing the garden for my family, but then moving into it
00:06:53
being a business. My focus has always been more on
00:06:57
the yield and anything in terms of herbs or flowers that have
00:07:02
been put into the garden have been to that end, right to to
00:07:06
increase the yield or to prevent pests or diseases.
00:07:09
And I'm switching things a little bit this year and leaning
00:07:12
more towards trying to beautify some of the spaces.
00:07:15
Yes, I still want them to be high yielding, but I also want
00:07:19
it to look good. So my why is starting to change
00:07:23
just a little bit, which means my goals are starting to change
00:07:26
just a little bit. OK.
00:07:28
These goals based on your why are also going to shape your
00:07:32
budget, or at least they should. So if you are gardening as a
00:07:38
hobby and you are tending to focus on aesthetics and just the
00:07:43
enjoyment of being out there, you mean you want it to be just
00:07:47
a little bit easier to do things.
00:07:49
So you might not be spending a ton of money on really high end
00:07:54
tools. You might just want the basic
00:07:55
hand tools, but you're going to spend more money on maybe
00:07:58
decorative pots or, you know, making your raised beds look
00:08:01
really nice. Your supplies are going to be a
00:08:03
little bit different in terms of what you need to buy based on
00:08:07
what you're growing. So your costs for your garden
00:08:10
might be a little bit lower, you know, if you have a small, low
00:08:13
maintenance garden versus somebody who is growing for
00:08:17
those more practical reasons and they are focusing on maximum
00:08:21
yield and efficiency, Well, they might be buying bigger, more
00:08:25
expensive tools. So, you know, tillers or drip
00:08:28
irrigation systems and the seeds for what they're growing might
00:08:33
be more high end because they might be the hybrids that are
00:08:38
intended for high yield crops. And those tend to be a little
00:08:41
bit more expensive. They might be buying more in
00:08:43
terms of soil amendments or pest management products, you know,
00:08:47
or things like row cover and, and, and insect netting.
00:08:51
So the estimated cost for a much larger, you know, garden of that
00:08:55
type of intensity might be higher, but the decision about
00:09:00
what to spend is going to be based on what you're trying to
00:09:04
get out of it too, right? So your I guess expectations are
00:09:11
going to be adjusted based on your why.
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If you are gardening for recreation, your success is
00:09:18
going to be measured by how much enjoyment you get out of that
00:09:21
garden and how much time you got to spend outside, maybe not
00:09:25
necessarily on your yield, right?
00:09:28
So your budget for extras might be things like garden
00:09:32
decorations or specialty plants. But if you are a yield focused
00:09:37
gardener, your success is likely to be measured more like in
00:09:41
pounds of produce or savings on your grocery bill.
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And your things that you might budget for that would be
00:09:49
considered extras would be things like, you know, what it
00:09:51
would cost to preserve the harvest.
00:09:53
So canning jars or freezer bags or you know, different systems
00:09:57
for preserving things, right? You very well may be a mixed
00:10:00
goal gardener, which is what I'm trying to get to this year.
00:10:05
I have definitely always been much more on the yield focused
00:10:07
end of this year. I'm trying to mix those goals a
00:10:09
little bit. I would like to balance the
00:10:11
beauty of the garden with practicality.
00:10:14
So combining those flowers and those vegetables.
00:10:16
But maybe no, the flowers don't always have to be something that
00:10:19
is bringing in pollinators or you know, that is that is
00:10:21
helping to deter an insect pest. Maybe it can just be there just
00:10:25
to be pretty, right? And I can spend some time
00:10:27
enjoying that part of it and I can allocate the budget between
00:10:31
the ornamental plants and the edible plants.
00:10:34
So maybe let's break this process down just a little bit
00:10:37
into some actionable steps to help you determine your why so
00:10:41
that you can set your garden goals for the year.
00:10:45
So step one would be to actually reflect on your why.
00:10:49
Your why is the foundation of your gardening plan.
00:10:52
How many times can I say why in the same sentence?
00:10:56
But ask yourself these questions.
00:11:00
What do I hope to achieve with my garden?
00:11:04
OK, Are you looking to save money on groceries?
00:11:06
Are you just trying to grow healthier food?
00:11:08
Are you just simply enjoying the therapeutic act of gardening?
00:11:12
And then ask yourself, who will benefit from my garden?
00:11:16
So are you feeding just your household?
00:11:19
Are you sharing with neighbors? Are you donating to food
00:11:21
pantries? Or are you just growing it for
00:11:23
your own personal enjoyment and you're not really sure what
00:11:26
you're doing with the produce, if anything, right?
00:11:29
Write these answers down just to clarify your priorities.
00:11:34
If you have a garden journal, this is the perfect place to
00:11:38
write down what your why is and the goal that is going along
00:11:44
with it. So if your why is to save money
00:11:47
on groceries and your goal is to feed a family of four, write
00:11:52
that down. Your planning is going to look
00:11:55
different than if you are, you know, next to somebody who is
00:12:00
growing for fun or to beautify their yard.
00:12:03
OK, put it someplace where you can look back at it frequently
00:12:08
and let it help guide your decisions.
00:12:12
So once you know your why, the next step is basically deciding
00:12:17
what to grow. And if we keep the why in mind,
00:12:20
it makes it easier to scale up or down based on our goals.
00:12:25
So if you're gardening to reduce the food budget, then you're
00:12:28
going to look at your favorite foods.
00:12:29
You're going to make a list of the fruits and the vegetables
00:12:32
and the herbs that your household loves to eat the most,
00:12:36
right? If you enjoy cooking with fresh
00:12:38
tomatoes and adding basil to your pasta, then these are going
00:12:41
to be high on your list. If you refer back to your why,
00:12:44
it makes it easier to Curb Your Enthusiasm a little bit when all
00:12:48
those seed catalogs come rolling in and everything looks so
00:12:52
interesting to grow and your seed purchase list begins to get
00:12:56
a little bit out of control and starts to bust the budget.
00:12:58
OK, refer back to that why and that will help you sort of rein
00:13:02
yourself in a little bit for hobby gardens, you know,
00:13:06
exercise or aesthetics. Maybe your focus is on new
00:13:12
interesting varieties with lots of visual interest, or low
00:13:15
maintenance plants that allow you time for fresh air but not a
00:13:20
lot of frustration. If your why is all about
00:13:23
relaxing in the garden, you don't want to be adding a bunch
00:13:26
of high maintenance plants that are going to pull the joy out of
00:13:30
the garden for you. Unless you get joy from spending
00:13:33
hours pruning ornamental plants and then that's perfectly fine,
00:13:37
right? Referring back to your why is
00:13:40
also going to help you to be realistic about how much space
00:13:46
you need to garden. Does your current space work
00:13:50
with your goals or do you need to expand or even reduce that
00:13:56
space? There have been times where I
00:13:59
have seen that gardeners have jumped in with both feet and,
00:14:04
you know, maybe purchased 10 raised garden beds and put them
00:14:07
all together in one season, raring to go.
00:14:09
And then they very quickly realize they don't need all that
00:14:13
space. It's not necessary for them.
00:14:14
So it's not just about terms of do you have enough space, is it,
00:14:18
do you have too much space and can you scale back a little bit?
00:14:22
What are the growing conditions in your area?
00:14:24
And have you chosen crops that thrive in your local climate and
00:14:29
soil type throughout your season?
00:14:31
Or have you chosen things that might require season extension
00:14:35
measures or even indoor seed starting?
00:14:38
And how does that fit into your why?
00:14:41
If you're going for low maintenance, you might not want
00:14:45
to mess with starting seeds indoors or having to worry about
00:14:50
having frost clothes because you have to start things that are
00:14:53
earlier or get them earlier into the ground.
00:14:55
You might just want to say, oh, never mind, I'm not going to do,
00:14:58
you know, XY and Z because I only want to be out there in the
00:15:01
garden during the summertime. That's OK.
00:15:03
That fits your Y, right? Answering these questions for
00:15:07
yourself not only helps in terms of defining what the garden is
00:15:12
for you and how much time and energy you are willing to spend,
00:15:19
but also how much money you are willing to spend.
00:15:23
Your goals, your why, will influence how much you're
00:15:28
willing to spend in the garden. Again, it's OK for the garden to
00:15:32
be a hobby and it's OK to spend money on that hobby.
00:15:37
OK, we do this in other areas of our lives, right?
00:15:40
I'm an endurance athlete and running shoes and weight
00:15:43
training equipment and race entry fees cost money.
00:15:47
My husband has taught himself to play guitar over the past three
00:15:50
years and he now owns multiple guitars and the equipment that
00:15:53
comes with that, that costs money.
00:15:55
If you have a budget for that hobby, you're good.
00:15:58
It's when you're not sure what the purpose of the garden is,
00:16:02
that it can sometimes get out of control.
00:16:05
When this tool looks really fun and that tool seems like it.
00:16:09
It's a must have when maybe it really doesn't fit into your
00:16:12
goals. Now, conversely to this, if
00:16:14
you're gardening to reduce the food budget or replace the
00:16:18
produce that your family buys for most of the season or even
00:16:20
the entire year, it may be necessary to spend more on tools
00:16:25
and equipment along the way. If you're gardening and
00:16:28
gardening intensively for a large portion of the year,
00:16:32
you're not going to get away with using cheap tools for very
00:16:34
long. If you were determined to
00:16:36
preserve a lot of what comes out of your garden, it might make
00:16:39
sense to invest in equipment that makes that easier and more
00:16:42
efficient and more effective. So again, if you're looking at
00:16:46
purchasing something for the garden, let your Y be your
00:16:50
guide. Let's let's think of composting
00:16:52
as an example. So say you see this nice snazzy
00:16:56
compost Tumblr. I know that's not a phrase that
00:16:59
most people say, but go with me on this, OK?
00:17:02
It looks good. It looks like a convenient and
00:17:04
very mess freeway to turn your kitchen straps into compost for
00:17:09
the garden. And it is.
00:17:10
And if you're gardening as a way to get some fresh air and maybe
00:17:14
just have a little bit of extra produce available during the
00:17:17
summer months, then maybe you only have a couple of raised
00:17:20
beds that you're gardening in. If you're buying compost to
00:17:23
refresh those beds every year, it's likely not a huge volume,
00:17:26
maybe just a few bags. Well, then the compost Tumblr
00:17:29
might make sense. It's not producing a huge volume
00:17:33
of compost, but maybe enough for your garden and you'll be
00:17:37
diverting your food scraps from the landfill.
00:17:39
So that's a win win. But if you're a gardener who is
00:17:43
supplying your family with the majority of your fresh produce
00:17:46
for the season and maybe also preserving some for the winter,
00:17:50
you likely have more than just a couple of raised beds.
00:17:53
And if you're bringing in compost to refresh those beds,
00:17:56
you're likely bringing in closer to like a truckload rather than
00:17:59
just a couple of bags, right? In this instance, the compost
00:18:03
Tumblr might not make sense. It's only going to put a small
00:18:06
dent in what you're buying. So either you'll need to invest
00:18:09
in multiple tumblers, which can be pricey, or you just skip the
00:18:13
Tumblr altogether and go with a larger compost setup that may
00:18:16
involve like 3 bins out behind the garden that you just create
00:18:20
yourself. Different wise, different goals,
00:18:24
different implications. OK.
00:18:27
So some of the things that we are concerned about when it
00:18:31
comes to our budget would maybe be the essential tools and
00:18:35
supplies. So you know, if if you're
00:18:37
gardening for the long term, you might be looking at very
00:18:41
durable, very high quality tools that are going to last for years
00:18:45
that cost a little bit more upfront, but that would save you
00:18:48
money in the long run. But if you're new to gardening
00:18:51
or you are very, very casual gardener, you might want to
00:18:53
start with like the $15 Hori Hori knife instead of the $35
00:18:58
one because you're not sure how it's going to work for you,
00:19:01
right? The second thing would be our
00:19:04
seeds and our plants. You know, if you start with
00:19:06
seeds, they are the most cost effective option.
00:19:09
Seed packets typically contain more than enough for a small
00:19:12
garden. And that is definitely starting
00:19:14
them yourself is definitely less expensive than going out and
00:19:18
buying all of those individual plants.
00:19:20
But again, if you are gardening for, you know, aesthetics or for
00:19:25
convenience or just you want it to be easy, well, you know what,
00:19:29
you might consider those starter plants and just make it easy on
00:19:33
yourself, right? Soil and fertilizer too.
00:19:36
Healthy soil, again, we talk about it all the time.
00:19:38
It is the key to a productive garden.
00:19:39
If your soil needs improvement, you're going to have to budget
00:19:42
for compost and for organic fertilizers and that sort of
00:19:46
thing. So, you know, if your why is,
00:19:49
well, this is a way for me to get outside and get some fresh
00:19:52
air. Then be mindful of the amount of
00:19:54
areas that you're going to have to work with because you are
00:19:56
going to have to add to those areas in terms of your soil and
00:20:00
your fertility. Versus, you know, somebody who
00:20:04
is gardening for production and needs that larger space, it's
00:20:09
going to make sense for them to put that money out.
00:20:12
And then again, you're, you know, a watering system.
00:20:14
So, you know, drip irrigation or soaker hoses may save you water.
00:20:18
It may save you time. This might be a worthwhile
00:20:21
investment for larger gardeners versus if you've got, you know,
00:20:26
one or two raised beds and it doesn't take you very long to
00:20:29
stand out there and water with a hose.
00:20:32
This may not be something that you need to spend money on.
00:20:35
Once again, RY is just determining everything within
00:20:38
our budget. If your budget is tight, you can
00:20:41
look for cost saving options like seed swaps and second hand
00:20:44
tools and you know, DIY kind of garden structures and stuff like
00:20:47
that. But you know, if you're looking
00:20:49
at keeping the costs down, start small, reuse, recycle,
00:20:54
prioritize tools rather than like trendy gadgets that you
00:20:58
might see. Those are usually a better
00:21:00
investment. And then of course, compare your
00:21:03
seed prices. But you can always find
00:21:04
different suppliers that have the same types of seeds.
00:21:08
And you can, you can shop that way to help kind of fit things
00:21:11
into your budget. Just remember, if you see
00:21:14
yourself seeing something that looks really, really cool and it
00:21:20
seems like it would be a great idea for your garden, go back to
00:21:24
your why. Go back to your garden goals and
00:21:27
stay flexible, right? Gardening is full of surprises,
00:21:31
unexpected weather, pests, all kinds of things.
00:21:34
If you stay flexible and you adjust your plan, your goals as
00:21:39
needed, it's going to be a little bit less stressful,
00:21:42
right? So if a crop fails, replant it
00:21:44
with something that's quick growing or try again next year.
00:21:46
It's just the way. It's just the way that the
00:21:48
garden goes, right? So if we keep in mind what our
00:21:52
why is, we may also not be as stressed when those things
00:21:56
happen. Setting clear goals for your
00:22:04
garden will save you time. It will save you money.
00:22:07
It will save you frustration. By understanding your why, we
00:22:12
can set very clear goals and that helps us pick the right
00:22:16
crops and plan appropriately so that we can set ourselves up for
00:22:21
a very successful gardening season.
00:22:24
Don't forget my Plan Like a Pro courses opening registration
00:22:26
next week as my weekly gardening friend.
00:22:29
You can get in there early and get a sneak peek at the course
00:22:32
by going to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com/pro.
00:22:36
We cover so much in that course, from your goals to how to fit it
00:22:40
all in, how to have a complete calendar of what goes where and
00:22:44
when. So we'll talk a little bit about
00:22:46
that next week, or you can jump in early from the link that I
00:22:49
will leave in the show notes. Thanks for being here today.
00:22:51
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to comment
00:22:55
or reach out by e-mail or DM me on social.
00:22:58
You can always find more information about these topics
00:23:01
on my website, justforsomethingpodcast.com.
00:23:04
Until next time, my gardening friends, keep on cultivating
00:23:06
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.