Jen Swanson

Hi Bonnie -

Lots of good ideas! Thanks very much for sharing your experiences!

Jen

Hi Emilia -
It does sound like your compost hasn't really decomposed all the way for some reason. I've had the clump thing happen wtih compost I purchased in bulk and it took two more years to break down enough that it wasn't clumped up in my garden.
What do you think about adding some other materials? You should be able to get arborist chips from a local arborist, ChipDrop or your local Parks Dept. Plenty of people around here also give away free manure. They can be found on websites that offer used stuff to other people, like Craigslist. And, if you wanted to add more greens, you may be able to get coffee grounds from a coffeeshop near you.
Did you have good luck with starting seeds in compost? I tried it and it wasn't very successful. Too many pathogens. I now use a sterile mix and it works so much better for me.

Oh dear, I wasn't suggesting eating it. I wouldn't either unless I knew for sure, and I wouldn't give anyone advice on what's edible and what's not. Sorry I didn't even think of that.

My plant id app says it's lady's thumb. It also goes by names with the words smartweed and knotweed in them. It is a non-native, invasive plant.

My plant id app says it's wild garlic. It's does look like a small version of garlic.

Hi JoyLynn -
Part of the issue with our clay is that it is a sloppy mess much of the year, because it rains here from October to May. Working with it when it is wet is not wise because it gets compacted. Then in the summer, we get no rain and the clay gets hard as a rock. Another issue we have is that anywhere the ground has been exposed to the weather for a long time (like all the grassy areas in the sun where you'd want the plant a vegetable garden), the clay has turned into hardpan which is pretty much like rock. Sometimes you can break it up with a pickax, but usually that's a futile effort.
I've found a couple solutions to the issue that have made gardening much easier here. The soil gets a lot better after it's heavily mulched with arborist chips for a few years. Sounds kind of like what you are doing. We've been doing that for about 5 years now, and the soil is much more workable. And when planting something in an area with hardpan, we just pile up 6 to 8" of soil on the top of the area and put in the plant. Everything I've done this with is doing just fine. For the garden beds, we have made raised beds, but we also kind of hugelkultured in them by adding cardboard, putting branches and leaves on that, then adding soil and compost. With both these methods, we don't even have to dig up the grass, so easy-peasy!
Does your clay not turn into hardpan ever? Maybe it's all the rain we get that pounds the clay into brick.....

'Tis the season. I see mushrooms popping up everywhere, but I live in the Pacific Northwest. It's spring and very wet. Could be normal or could be that you are overwatering.

Bethany, that Growing Gardens thing is so cool! We have a small program that gets people started with raised beds, seeds and plants, but what they are doing is a league above.

I have not had much luck with growing plants from grocery store produce. I am sure part of it has to do with everything there being hybrids and maybe not really fresh either. I tried everything when I moved here, during covid times to keep me entertained. The only plant I had super great success with is celery. Grow one celery from the bottom of a plant, stick it in the ground, let it seed, and you have celery forever. But I don't even really like celery. lol.

Moving into a new house with some space to garden is pretty exciting. We moved here from Florida and it's lovely just to even have the right environement to grow vegetables and other stuff. I wish you many happy hours out in your garden!

And thank you for your suggestions. I think I've incorporated all of them from everybody's postings today. I realize that this topic is really relevant and I want to make my presentation useful and meaningful.

Hi Bethany. Thanks for your ideas! (And I thank everyone else for theirs too!)

Yes, I am northwest of you, just off the Columbia. How could I forget seed libraries! I donate seeds we get as donations from seed companies to one at the libary near me.

Yes, it is open to public. I am new to this though and am not promising anything spectacular! It's on zoom at noon this Tuesday and the link is on the Master Gardener Foundation of Cowlitz County website.

Hi folks!

I am working on a presentation about how to grow your own food on a budget, and am looking for your own tried and true ways to grow vegetables inexpensively.

I have a good-sized vegetable garden myself, and I know I have spent, and continue to spend, a lot of money on raised beds, soil, seeds, pots and fertilizer. I propagate all of my plants myself. I do it because I love growing things and I love eating my own homegrown, fresh, organic vegetables. But let's say that instead I had little money and perhaps little space to grow. Let's say I were one of the many millions of people in the United States that are food insecure (13.5% of the population!). How then should I build beds, procure soil, source seeds, propogate them and fertilize them?

I have researched this topic on the internet. A lot of what I find I am not convinced that the person that wrote the article has actually done what they are recommending others do. I need to feel that what I recommend others do in my presentation will actually work. It seems to me that you might be the best folks to ask this question of. But I can't really seem to find an existing thread on this site that directly addresses the topic.

And, just to set this up, we are in Western Washington, a temperate climate in which many things perennialize and you can grow vegetables pretty much year round. Our soil is clay, hence the preference for raised beds and good soil, both of which drive up the cost of gardening.

Some ideas that I am working into my presentation presently:
Composting
Aging manure (yours or manure you get free from a neighbor)
Hugelkulture/other cheap raised bed ideas
Growing vegetables that are inexpensive in the grocery store and/or take up a lot of square footage should take low priority - e.g., onions, carrots, potatoes, corn
Growing vegetables that are the more expensive ones in the grocery store and/or take up low square footage and/or can be trellised or staked should take a higher priority, e.g. tomatoes, pole beans, zucchini, cucumbers  
Succession planting/square foot gardening (like lettuce on the north side of the tomatillos and leeks in between tomatoes)
Seed saving
Buying seeds with friends and sharing them
Planting flowers that attract beneficial insects and not buying insecticides
Perennial vegetables
Vegetables that can be grown in containers/cheap container ideas

Your thoughts on the above or on any topics I haven't thought of yet would be greatly appreciated!