| A few weeks ago I noticed something at the local | | | | plant, pessimistically you can harvest $50 worth |
| grocery store that you can probably find where | | | | of tomatoes from that plant. If you grow all six |
| you shop: higher prices. From my shopping trip | | | | plants from a flat, you could harvest, perhaps, |
| one week to my trip the next week, prices on | | | | 200 pounds of tomatoes worth $400. Some |
| dozens of items increased 20 cents. Among the | | | | tomato varieties might produce 100 pounds of |
| most astonishingly high prices: produce. It kills me, | | | | tomatoes per plant, so six plants would provide a |
| for example, so see red peppers at $2.99 per | | | | crop worth $1,200! |
| pound. That translates to about $1.50 for a single | | | | But here's a sad truth about grocery store |
| pepper. | | | | produce: Your chances of buying a good tomato |
| I have a hedge against these rising prices: I grow | | | | in a grocery store are close to zero. Sure, you |
| a lot of my own produce. You can grow your | | | | can buy very nice grocery store tomatoes, but |
| own as well, and discover a hobby that can quite | | | | these are distant cousins of good tomatoes. The |
| possibly reduce your grocery bills by hundreds of | | | | worst ripe tomato you grow in a home kitchen |
| dollars a year. | | | | garden is dramatically juicier, sweeter, tastier, and |
| Beat Grocery Store Prices: Basil | | | | all-around more enjoyable than the very best |
| For the sake of comparison, a package of fresh | | | | grocery store tomato. |
| basil-that's a clump of whole plants wrapped in | | | | Grocery store tomatoes: $60 for 10 weekly |
| plastic and ready for use-costs about $2.69 in a | | | | tomato salads. Home-grown tomatoes: $3 for a |
| grocery store. You can buy a package of basil | | | | flat of plants. |
| seeds for about $1.59, and a bag of potting soil | | | | Start Your Own Home Kitchen Garden |
| for $2 or less (off-season, I bought bags of soil | | | | Basil and tomatoes provide an inkling of the |
| for 75 cents apiece). Plant just a few seeds in an | | | | savings you can realize by growing your own |
| empty yogurt container, and you'll match the | | | | produce. If you have enough space, you can |
| grocery store basil in six to eight weeks. (A pack | | | | grow dozens of varieties of vegetables and fruit |
| of grocery store basil contains about a dozen | | | | at similar savings over grocery store prices. In |
| plants growing in a 2-in cube of potting soil). | | | | many cases, the things you grow taste |
| If you plant a yogurt container every two weeks, | | | | dramatically better than what you buy in a store. |
| you'll have ten or twelve going from one package | | | | Even if you have little space, you can grow some |
| of seeds, that's plenty to season many meals, | | | | produce at home. One great way to get started |
| and maybe even make some pesto sauce. | | | | is to find and visit with an experienced gardener. |
| Grocery store basil: $27 for 10 meals. | | | | Help out, if they'll allow it, and take what you learn |
| Home-grown from seeds: $3.59 for a year's | | | | back to your own gardening projects. |
| supply. | | | | If you can't find someone to work with, buy a |
| What do you pay for tomatoes? | | | | good book about how to create and manage a |
| When on sale, tomatoes in our local grocery store | | | | home kitchen garden. There are many good |
| cost $1.99 per pound. Since an average-sized | | | | titles--even some focused specifically on your |
| grocery store tomato weighs half a pound, I'd | | | | region (methods vary considerably depending on |
| pay one dollar per tomato when they're on sale. | | | | climate). Also, peruse web sites that teach |
| A flat of young tomato plants (six plants that are | | | | gardening. There are thousands of blogs about |
| already growing and ready to transplant into a | | | | gardening, and even whole communities of |
| garden or flower pot) costs around $3 at the | | | | "garden-bloggers." One good starting place is |
| beginning of the growing season. Transplant just | | | | Growing the Home Garden which has an |
| one of those plants and raise it to maturity and it | | | | enormous amount of useful information and lists |
| can produce from 25 to 100 pounds of tomatoes | | | | several gardening blogs to explore. When you find |
| (depends on length of growing season, size of | | | | a kitchen gardening site you like, don't just read |
| variety of tomatoes grown, amount of water | | | | what's already there, ask questions. Most |
| applied, and diligence). | | | | gardening web sites' owners are happy to help |
| If you have space in your yard for a tomato | | | | with your gardening problems. |