The Farmer's Market vs. The $64 Tomato

Okay I write about my garden, but the one thing you won't find in it is vegetables. The first summer we were at this house, I really didn't have the time to establish a vegetable garden so I figured I would simply grow some herbs and tomatoes in flower tubs on the deck. I had a couple of grape tomato plants and they were doing great. The little tomatoes were coming along and just when they were about to ripen, poof they were gone. The only evidence to support where they had gone was a half eaten one. Chipmunks!!! Chip and Dale of Disney fame they are not. I do not consider them cute and cuddly when they are destroying the garden. Pluto (remember Mickey's dog, not the planet that lost its planetary status) did not like those two chipmunks. Mickey tried to convince Pluto of their innocence, but Pluto like I know the truth. They're varmints of the worst kind.

Second animal problem - deer! Our lot borders wetlands and the deer live in the woods out back. They come out to feast on hosta, daylily buds, cone flower, tulips, etc. etc. etc. I would need a large fence to keep them out. This brings me to the title of today's post: "The Farmer's Market vs The $64 Tomato. If you ever get the chance, read William Alexander's book The $64 Tomato in which he recounts his experiences of building his garden and orchard. In one of the chapters he finally breaks down to calculate how much it has cost him to grow the tomatoes in his garden. After tallying up the cost of soil, compost, materials, plants, professional help, etc, etc, etc (there's a lot of those) he comes down to the bottom line - it costs $64 to grow one tomato. Well with those numbers, I might just as well go visit the local farmers that gather on the town field every Saturday morning (see this link for more info). I'll buy their tomatoes, corn, squash, etc. for a lot less. I'm still tempted at some point to dig up a section of the lawn, enclose it with a fence and plant some vegetables, but it won't be this summer.