Vegetable Gardening on the cheap, the frugal way our grandparents grew food.

A talk on the cheaper way to garden for people on a tight budget. If cost is your primary consideration, you will have to garden differently than most videos show to garden. Sorry for the video quality, not sure what happened.

Wheel Hoes

Hi this is Gary from uh Gary’s grow your own food and today I’m going to do a little bit different uh it’s going to be just more of a talk one thing I’ve noticed within the garden Community we’ve especially the vegetable people we’ve kind of become

Elitist in how we Garden we think this is the best way and we always go for the best way and it’s almost like trying to sell some on a car and you’re always trying to sell them Alexus when all they really need is something to get back

Forth to work a Corona works just as well and people Garden for different reasons and you know one of the reasons people Garden some people trying to save the Earth some people enjoy growing stuff and that’s kind of where I fall in uh to it and other people uh they Garden

Because they like the taste of fresh grown produce some people like the idea the fact that you know what you’re spraying on your produce or the fact you’re not spraying anything on your produce and you know and that’s all well and good I’m not making fun of any of

Those people I’m I’m part of them some people want to go all organic and that’s nice but when I was growing up my dad and I say grand for on the deal because if I was talking to my kids this is why I’d be telling them you know

Your grandfather but my dad he gardened for one reason one reason only he’s trying to save money uh he was trying to raise a family of six on a government pension on a government salary which government does not pay very well despite what some people think and he

Was trying to compete with the grocery store and growing away that you would save money now we never heard of of raised beds we never heard of a lot of the stuff that’s come out now and those are nice I got one over there a ve a vgo bed I enjoy those beds

But Daddy was had worked for the forer so Administration and one of his jobs was to tell people is it cost effective to do this and he kind of a big you know you got to justify your purchases if you’re trying to save money and like a

Farmer would want to buy a combine he said well could you do it cheaper by doing custom and a lot of times it was cheaper because that combine would sit for 10 11 months out of the year you only use it for a month or two easier to

Try to find somebody that would do it custom and that way they would use that follow the Harvest so that’s kind of how DD approach gardening and when we first approach gardening this is the way daddy did it okay so this is going to be a video for people that you’re just really

Wanting to Garden to save money you’re you’re and you really can’t count your time because if you do that nothing is ever going to work but if you’re a stay-at-home mom or stay-at home Dad and you’ve got some extra time and you want to grow produce cuz you know you’re

Having a hard time making ends meet and you want to do it the cheapest way possible that was my dad uh now one thing about it you have to consider first off you have to have decent soil and so if you’re in a very rocky area or

If you’re in I was in true modeling clay type of clay when I was in Bowmont and this is a type of clay if you dug a hole and you and you you would take it out in chunks and you had to put it back in chunks and you could not grow in

Ground there but uh so if you have extremely wet soil extremely sandy soil you can’t do it but most areas most people have fairly decent soil because the areas around town usually was Old cropland Fields may not be the best but it’s it’s doable and what Daddy did is

When we bought the H we built he’ done this before but uh when I was uh junior high whatever we had a uh vacant lot besides Daddy bought an extra lot when we bought the house and that’s where we did our garden it wasn’t a very big

Garden it was probably a 30 30 35 at at most probably smaller than that because daddy would never buy a tiller reason daddy would never buy a tiller he says tillers cost $400 you’ll never make $400 worth of food off that Garden you know you just can’t make any money off

Of it why would you spend money on a tiller and kind of has a point uh tillers are expensive do I have tiller yeah but here’s the way daddy did it he had he had low in low overhead these two things is all he had he had a shovel

Which you kind of need to have a shovel to bury the bodies you know occasionally you know dead cat or something uh so you have a shovel anyway you’re just going to plant something you need a shovel and he would have a hoe that that’s what he GED

With so sorry about the camera problem so the way he would do it Mark off the area he wanted to the Garden take the shovel he would dig it and dig his a line take the sole turn it over take a step back start the next

Line and he would line out and and dig up that Garden so it didn’t cost him anything a lot of time a lot of back back breaking work but that’s the way he did it and he would turn that soil under turned all the grass under now he was

Not in a yard setting if you got Bermuda grass yard you’re trying to do it in you’re going to have some problems because you got to get rid of that Bermuda grass and it’s tough I don’t want to say tarp it but when you start buying a tarp then you start spending

Money but really uh digging it up and doing that method like I was talking about or tilling it up you’re going to make it worse so the only thing I would say if you want to try to do something this year was take a tiller till real

Lightly the first couple of times scrape all that stuff off and then try to till out knowing you’re still going to have problems because any little uh piece of of that uh grass Bermuda grass that stays there is going to resprout and regrow so then after he would do that he

Would he would dig out that area here’s what he use for his weed control you pull weeds and you use a hole and he would plant beets carrots lettuce green beans uh pinto beans uh One S one part of the garden was uh was made for watermelons cantaloupes that s

Of stuff one time we grew pumpkins uh why I don’t I just he just having fun he he didn’t do everything just for food but uh that’s the way we gardened he would never uh irrigate except for the tomatoes and peppers he would do that but he said if you

Irrigate and you run up a water bill you’re not making money so if he had a year was really dry you just didn’t make anything that Garden that year you he was not going to water the beans and the peas and that that sort of thing field

Peas uh that’s just not what he did he was doing to save money now fertilizer we use synthetic fertilizers I still use synthetic fertilizer it’s way cheaper you know I can get I can fertilize with synthetic fertilizer and at 10% the cost of what would be for organic is organic better yeah

Is it cost effective a lot of times it’s not if you got a very big Garden for unless you can get that organic matter for free or really reduced rate you get get in bulk chip drop something of that nature if you’re having to buy stuff out

Of a bag you know it works okay in a raised bed situation but if it cost you a dollar a square foot uh to amend that raised bed okay and a 30 by 35 uh foot inground Garden is going to to be about th000 foot so you can pay

$1,000 and mend that bed mend it like you would that raised bed or you could buy a 50 lb bag of fertilizer cost you about 25 $30 and you’re done so now you’re not going to be feeding the so and doing all this other stuff but that’s not your primary goal your

Primary goal is to reduce your food your food bill now I’m going to be honest with you I don’t care how poor I was I don’t think I would use a shovel to to dig it up with okay and later Daddy had a tractor when he moved out the country he used a

8 in4 tractor to plow it up but if you’re in town if you’re going to use a tiller really think the best way to do it to be cheap is go ahead and rent that tiller out get you a good tiller that’s the the rear time tiller because those front

Time like that one there is going to Buck you all over the place they jump and and start these things don’t don’t button there as hard and you can use that to break up that to do initial breakup of that soil to get it to where you can work it

And you know cu the problem with this tiller is you know paid a th000 close to $1,000 for it now I got you know problems with it uh I’m going to have to get it worked on and all that I’ve already went through two belts with it they become a headache

So I’ve already got my garden plot you know tilled up have tilled up for about 5 years now so it’s pretty much tilled up as much as it needs to be as far as getting ini IAL you know I’ve got the grass and stuff out of

It so this year really mess with this thing I did go with an electric tiller there’s one big problem with an electric tiller and that’s this end piece right here now this is not a very good tiller if I was going to try to till up this ground around here there’s

Too much grass too many uh tree roots you’re going to have problems with it I don’t think it’ll do a very good job but if all you’re doing is I’m going to teal that soil up I already got teed up before I’m just trying to get rid of

Some of that residue and stuff and try to buer it in the soil this a little sunj Jo I mean it works pretty well but you do have a th a 100 foot extension core limitation on it now I live in Texas I live close to the coast you know

I’m about 35 40 miles from the coast maybe 50 and we get hurricanes fairly often so I’ve got a generator so what I do I take a generator out there Crank It Up it gives me a reason to use that generator to keep it running because the worst

Thing you can do with the generator is put gas in it run it for what what and then shut it off and let it sit for two years so this gives me a reason to run that thing run it for a little while so I’ll hook this thing up and we go

Forward with it the first pass and we pull it backwards like this and that’s what does most of real real tilling the for the forward it kind of jumps and and jumps around and skips over the top of it but whenever you take it and you start pulling it backwards that’s what

It really does just tilling this thing $169 not trying to sell it not not associate they make other kinds uh but that would be a cheaper way of okay once you get your ground tilled up go to something like this and I I would stay away from the gas powered stuff just

Because it’s a painer uh because it’s something you don’t use once a month it’s that gas going to go o on you old on you it’s going to spoil and it’s going to you know get water in it it’s going to cause problems uh second thing I had down here

Well the other thing far weeds in a smaller Garden these little hoop hes are really nice however they’re nice for breaking up when you got really small weeds if you’re letting these weeds get up boot High you’ve done loss to battle you’re going to be hand pulling them and that’s

A paint uh I I’m out like I say in a very wet area so when I first came out here I was trying to Garden like I did in West Texas West Texas you always got time to weed because it’s dry most of the time but I always run to uh uh a

Stretch of time where we go two weeks where we’ be wet and you couldn’t really get in there to work it you try to use this other other uh the other hole it would kind of gum up it really wouldn’t cut it it’ be pulling it it’s kind of a

Muddy mess this really wouldn’t work that great either uh but what I found and I got it from hos tools cuz I needed something to keep those weeds down and one thing I learned from H to I think about when you’re weeding in a high rainfall area you need to get those

Weeds even before you see them so I have adapted and went to the wheel hole and basically these things about $250 for a single wheel hole it comes with the little times on it and what you want to do with it is you just run whenever soon

As that that soore crust over you’ll go over the top of it you break up that crust when you break that crust up it it it prevents those seeds from germinating or if they have germinated it’ll kill them because it makes that top dry you’re not tilling it up you’re not

Shattering the soil you’re not messing up your soil structure you’re just going through it hitting this thing up and it’s a little bit of a workout uh more of stamina than it is you know because you’re just trying to hit the very top of that soil and trying to turn that

Stuff in you know trying to turn that stuff under kind like that work it and go now this is have too much grass that’s the way you do it you keep it roughed up so and again I do caution you if you’re gardening for for money your G to save

Money make sure what you’re doing is going to be cost effective daddy never sprayed Hardy at all with herbicide with a p pesticide why well back in the 70s we weren’t concerned about the chemicals and taking in chemicals and all that fact is we were wait we were

Too we would spray with anything we had Dion Mal durband uh uh Seven Dust I know because they everybody used them now Seven Dust is you know we still got it on the market today MTH is is one of the last of those types that’s on market durband

Has been outlawed for home gardeners Dion has been outlawed for home gardeners and for for a reason because we did not really always read the label and follow the labels on it when you get into trouble with spraying is when you’re spraying it’s not if you go with that

Preh Harvest interval that’s on the label you wait that seven days or 21 days days or 3 days whatever it is that chemical has already broken down is is not going to be a problem it’s a problem when you’re spraying it yourself so you know you got to protect yourself but

Daddy would look at said hey if I buy I spend $15 or $10 on this bottle of of pesticide am I going to make any money by spraying it and increasing my you know increasing your production normally you wouldn’t because you just didn’t use enough chemical to justify it so we very

S ever sprayed we would fertilize once a year we Garden once a year because it’s hot in the fall of the year and you’re not going to sit there and and use that show with a dig when it’s 100° outside so we just and Daddy to this day Daddy’s never owned a

Tiller uh he still says you know it’s a one use you it’s a one use deal all you can do with the tiller is till you know that that 8 in4 tractor he justified it because he can shred it he can plow it to for grass he can haul things into

This multiple things he can do with a with a 8 in for tractor and I think it cost you $1,500 $2,000 or something like that this you’re going to till with it that’s it so if you’re tilling for to make money or to save money put it down in the comments uh I

May do another video some other tips of how to do stuff real cheap uh and again it’s according to your you know what you’re trying to get out of garden you know these things I’ve talked about as far as using synthetic fertilizers I mean some people do not use synthetic

Fertilizers for whatever reason uh and I can understand it uh I like say I use both but if you’re trying to save money don’t sit there and think I’m going to go organic and also save money it it’s hard that’s why organic food is much more expensive than nonorganic it’s just

Hard harder to grow that way and you may have reasons for not wanting to do that but you got to you got to you got to figure out which is more important to you is it more important to save money or is it more important to go organic

That’s your call and I don’t condemn e either person for for doing it and hopefully that’s where this video will be taken I’m not promoting necessarily this style but sometime that’s the only Stu they can do I did one time have a guy that we was going to church with and

He was talking about he was organic gardening and I wasn’t and he was up there bragging about it kind of and I said you know at the end of the day I said for the last three years I sprayed the pesticides on my on my fruit trees and I’ve done I’ve used synthetic

Fertilizers but you know what I’ve ate my own fruit I said you’re still struggling you still haven’t produced any fruit you still haven’t you know he had pear trees that weren’t doing very good I said hey you take a handful of of of fertilizer to throw around that pear

Tree to help it now too much will kill it I understand that fire blood but sometimes people get so enamored or so set on a certain way that they don’t think long term I said if if it doesn’t work if it’s not working for you you

Know I one time had somebody on on one the comment said hey I’ve been using uh mirica gr fertilizer and I’m trying to go as other way it’s not doing as good there’s anything wrong with using American gr fertilizer okay unless you want to get on the political end of it

Not really it’s not my top choice for INR gardening uh because it’s just expensive and it’s it’s got micronutrients that you may not need uh so that’s what’s going to drive the expensive up on it but you know get some fertilizer some lowcost fertilizer that

Uh get it where the farmers kind of get it where they sell bulk fertilizer and even their if you had to buy it in a bag that fertilizer be cheaper than what you get it you know Tractor Supply or Home Depot loow or all that and never buy

Fertilizer my last tip never buy any fertilizer that says weed in it if this says weed and feed or weed on it it’s going to kill your garden okay just get your straight fertilizer I don’t ever suggest buying weed and feed fertilizer if you do putting on your lawn because

When you need to put the weed killer down if that’s what you want to do and I don’t use weed killer for for my lawn uh youall might Noti because those weeds all over it but because when you’re going to control your weeds it’s going to be in the early

In the winter time or early early spring when you need the fertilizer is in the later spring when your grass starts growing well so when do you either you’re spraying either you’re putting it down too early for your fertilizer or you’re spraying too late and not effective for your weed control but

Anyway not a fan of we feed fertilizer as you can see but hopefully this is it this video is helpful to you and not trying to make anybody mad not trying to promote one way or another but if you’re interested in lowcost fertilizers I mean low cost gardening you’re going to have

To do things a little bit different raise beds can be too expensive uh you know that vgo bed that I’ve got I think I spent $150 $175 for the bed itself if you’re going to buy the stuff from the store you going to spend that much more

You got $400 on on a 32 foot bed you can’t make money on that and that may not be your reason and I say I’ve got one too that I enjoy gardening I enjoy the the rais bed but they’re not very cost effective so if you’re going for cost Effectiveness you’re probably going

Have to go inground gardening get your compost and and Organics where you can but you’re going have to use some of your synthetic fertilizers and and you’re probably not going to be able to go all organic if you’re really trying to save money and that’s just that’s just economics of anyway thanks for

Watching hope I didn’t make anybody too mad thank you