Growing for a savings Some gardeners could save money depending on what’s in their garden By Scott Jackson
of the moscow-pullman daily news
Starting a home garden can be an intimidating prospect, especially for beginners. But for those who grow the right vegetables, it could take some stress off their wallet. Keegan Athey, a grower with Victory Farms in Moscow, said greens are a good place for home gardeners to start, noting lettuce is a relatively forgiving crop to start from seed that can produce results quickly. “They’re also very expensive at the store, and they’re really easy to grow,” Athey said. “You can just direct seed them, you don’t even have to buy plants; you can grow a lot in a small space and get multiple cuttings off of them.” Athey said one of her favorite plants to raise at home is tomatoes. She said raising the plant is a cost-effective alternative to purchasing the fruit in a store. When selecting a variety of tomato to grow at home, Athey suggested home gardeners begin by raising what are called “determinate” plants. She said determinate tomatoes grow as a bush, requiring less space and attention than their vining cousins. “Once it starts fruiting, it’ll fruit for a determined amount of time,” she said. “That’s where the name comes from.” While Nancy Hasenoehrl, owner of Bloomer’s Nursery in Lewiston, recommends garden-fresh food, she admits some crops are much more difficult and less cost-effective to grow at home. Corn is one of them. “Corn takes a lot of room, you don’t get a ton of ears, (and) you’ve got to have a lot of corn stalks,” Hasenoehrl said. “Corn is one of those that it’s 22 - Balance
probably cheaper to just buy it from somebody.” Kate Patterson, a manager at Patt’s Garden Center in Clarkston, said while some crops can be started from a seed relatively simply, others — such as peppers and tomatoes — require specific conditions to flourish. Patterson said it’s better in these cases to purchase an adolescent “start” from a greenhouse and transplant it. “Mostly it’s time consuming from the seedstarting aspect,” Patterson said. “A lot of plants that you start from seed want their soil to be a consistent temperature and they need a certain amount of light.” Athey stresses it is important to plant at the right time. She said it’s a common mistake among new gardeners to plan their garden and planting times based on day-to-day weather observations, which she described as “a good way to kill a lot of plants.” “Don’t jump the gun,” Athey said, noting early planting can be counterproductive and result in the purchase of a second round of plants. Patterson said it’s important to consider the demands of the region when planting. Even regions that are relatively close to one another may offer vastly different conditions. For example, she said Lewiston has a longer summer than the Palouse. This means while gardeners on the Palouse may have to wait until May to begin planting, gardeners in Lewiston and Clarkston can sometimes begin as early as February. “You can pretty much grow anything you can dream up in the valley,” Patterson said. “On the Palouse, sometimes you have to limit your options just because the growing season isn’t as long.” ——— Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email at sjackson@dnews.com.