Modern Marvels-The Urban Herb Garden

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Let’s face it, even those of us who haven’t been affected by the economy love to save a buck. For some, living within your means is not a problem — but for some of us it can be. My dad describes my problem as “Combining champagne tastes with beer pockets.” What can I say, I like food. I love to cook with fresh herbs and fresh vegetables, but unfortunately that adds up.

 

Now, I don’t live in a farm. In fact, I live in an apartment, so farming is out (though what a sight that would be). But over the weekend I found my solution — the urban herb garden.

Full disclosure, I’ve never met a plant I haven’t accidentally killed; yet, the way I see it, this could be seriously beneficial. As I browsed the aisles of my local hardware store, I found baby plants of many of my favorite produce.

 

Basil, Oregano, Cilantro, Rosemary, Dill … and, yes, Tomatoes and Red Peppers.

 

Now let’s take a look at this from a strictly monetary point of view. Here’s what I paid for the plants versus what you can buy the actual item for at the grocery store:

 

Basil- Plant-$1.99 (1 bunch at $3.49)

Oregano- $1.99 (.66 ounces at $2.49)

Cilantro- $1.99 (1 bunch at $1.49)

Rosemary- $1.99 (1 bunch at $2.49)

Dill- $1.99 (1 bunch at $2.49)

Tomatoes- $2.99 (57 cents each)

Red Pepper- $2.99 ($2.00 each)

*prices courtesy www.safeway.com

 

Already, I’ve grown more than one bunch of each of the herbs. The best part is they’re still growing! For the tomatoes, all I’ll need to do is grow four, and I’ll have broken even; and for the peppers, two will nearly double my investment.

 

Yes, there was the cost of the planters and potting soil, but overall I only spent about $25. A worthy investment as long as I don’t screw it up too much. I must admit I did spend most of the weekend checking them every few minutes to make sure they had enough water and that the sun wasn’t doing any damage. I likened it to having a kid, though my sister assures me it’s not quite the same.

 

-Stephen Ball

Tags: basil, Cilantro, dill, do it yourself, money, red pepper, rosemary, tomatoes, urban herb garden