This is reality. Fuel oil used to heat greenhouses was $.79 a gallon 7 years ago, now it's $4.00

Diesel fuel used in trucking was $1.50 now is $5.00

Fertilizer has quadrupled, so has plastics.

about the only thing that has not gone up drastically is our salary!

Last year when things were more reasonable, the price of green peppers at the store alone more than paid for my garden when I place a similar value on that harvest. We are going to ramp up production on green beans and look harder at fall crop expansion as well. I about flipped when I bought the fertilizer this year! So far I think I have spent $60.00 - $80.00 on the garden. Last year it was half that. We all can sure see the "sweat equity" of our labors, not only in the flavor rewards.

My friend was telling me that it isn't just gasoline that drives the price of oil up. Petroleum products are ingredients in plastic, detergents, all sorts of things people don't realize. And as crude goes up so does everything that contains its byproducts. Still, if someone offered me a hybrid automobile I am sure I wouldn't object. :o)

I'd like to buy a motorscooter, put a basket on the back and head to the farmer's markets. Trouble is, SUV's don't like motor scooters. Big trucks don't either.

I heard on NPR the other day that gas consumption for vehicles has finally started to decline. I'm not sure if that is out here where I live or nationally, but they were quoting 20%, which is huge (and great news, though I wonder if it really is that much). I guess rising gas prices could be a blessing in disguise- perhaps people will be more conscientious about driving and consuming so much in general. This is part of the reason I got into gardening in the first place- rising prices. Plus, it's just more nutritious, and tastes better! =)

I don't care the reasoning...$5.00 for one tomato is ridiculous. When 90 percent of them rot unsold..they may rethink that pricing strategy. Tomatoes are $1.99 a pound here (on the vine..look great ..taste ? eh?).

The difference is you have to put fuel in your vehicle and heat your home. You can do without a $5.00 tomato, especially one that would most likely taste like cardboard.

Duane

"Still, if someone offered me a hybrid automobile I am sure I wouldn't object. :o)"

With gas prices as high as they are right now (most places $4 and up here in Cali) the payoff for buying a toyota camry hybrid is only 1.7 years (i.e., the time it takes to pay for the premium of buying a hybrid vs. the regular camry)!

jban23 said

"I'd like to buy a motorscooter, put a basket on the back and head to the farmer's markets. Trouble is, SUV's don't like motor scooters. Big trucks don't either."

No kidding. I was hit by a car in January in Chicago on my folding bike. Now I tend to use empty sidewalks except for when the snow plows push the snow from the road onto the sidewalks. Glad it only ripped off my peddle and gave me a nasty bruise. Not only do the gas piggies suck it up they discourage other people from saving or simply kill them. The car I rarely drive is bigger because I might be hit by an SUV.

FYI: Use compost. No need for fertilizer.

"Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
smells like a steak and seats thirty-five..

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down,
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown!

Canyonero! (Yah!) Canyonero!
[Krusty:] Hey Hey

The Federal Highway comission has ruled the
Canyonero unsafe for highway or city driving.

Canyonero!

12 yards long, 2 lanes wide,
65 tons of American Pride!

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!

Canyonero! Canyonero! (Yah!)

She blinds everybody with her super high beams,
She's a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!

Canyonero!-oh woah, Canyonero! (Yah!)

Drive Canyonero!

Woah Canyonero!

Woah!"

Heirloom tomato is sold at Safeway for 5.99 a POUND. That's how I started planting them. I actually hate tomatoes, well at least the ones they sell at the store anyways. I bought one heirloom just to see what all the hooplas is all about and I was hooked from then on. To find out there's so many variety and that it's even better if I grow them was a bonus. Anyways, back to my point. I intend to weight each and every tomato I pick and put that into a spreadsheet. Then I will calculate how much I would have paid. I grew 15 plants, but I have plenty of friends and family to give them to. If anything, it would make me feel better that recup some money from spending on the fertilizer,etc....

Anyways, given that gas cost $4/gallon and let's say you drive 40-50 miles per day, that's about $8/day or $2500 a year. I just don't understand it why people are complaining so much about gas, well I do, but I know a quick way of saving 5-6 dollars a day, stop going out to lunch and bring your lunch. Of course all the Mcdonald's and Burger King would be out of business if everyone listen to me.

In europe I think gas price is 6-8 dollars a gallon.

That's messed up! I'm in central montana,sat at wal-mart I bought green peppers & cucumbers for 50 cents each.Tomatoes were .99 to 1.69 per pound,a 1# flat of strawberries was 99 cents.Wonder why it hasn't hit up here?
My tomatoes are still in the house,hope to plant sat.

I am not talking so much about the payoff time for the hybrid, the fact that it would be someone GIVING it to me would be a 'good thing'. And just the day to day savings. The van we have now is a pig but such as it is we don't have the money to fork out for a smaller more fuel efficient automobile. And our van has absolutley NO resell value. It runs great but being a domestic... We are stuck with it for the time being, until we get a major windfall. It is a vicious circle.

I'm planning to weigh mine this year, too. In past years I just logged the number of tomatoes from each plant.

But to do a cost comparison, you'd need to check the local farmers' market price each week, since by the time you have ripe fruit, all the farmers will also have ripe fruit and the price will have gone down. That's why I plant in Feb/March and spend lots of hours redoing and shoring up the walls-o-water and other protection -- so I can have a few early tomatoes. I also stretch the season at the end, coddlng those last few until the first frost turns the plant black.

johnny_tomato_seed said

"Heirloom tomato is sold at Safeway for 5.99 a POUND. That's how I started planting them. I actually hate tomatoes, well at least the ones they sell at the store anyways. I bought one heirloom just to see what all the hooplas is all about and I was hooked from then on."

Me too. I don't even eat them from the store. I did not like raw tomatoes until I grew them. A little early in my marriage we lived in apartments and hence no garden. My wife was a little confused about the tomatoes I began to grow and wondered what we were going to do with the six plants we had the first year. that is until I introduced her to bruschetta... That is only the flag ship. Fresh garden sauces, salsa, bean dip, bruschetta pizza. With those lovely red globes dancing in my head I can only hope garden fresh peas will distract me enough in zone 5. If there is as vast a gulf between store produce and home grown I would have to say peas rival that of tomatoes though I will on occasion choke down a frozen pea.

I've seen big tomato plants (with small green tomatoes on them) going for $15.95 and wonder at the economics of it. Just planted out 18 small plants- the Stupice should be ripe around July 12th and from then on it's tomato time until late October. Oh frabjous day!

Several of my tomato plants are ready to set out. I'm aiming for Saturday, too.

I've never liked raw tomatoes, and I always picked them out of my salads. I'm growing paste tomatoes for sauce. I have a freezer a friend gave me when I bought my house, and I plan on freezing a lot of it to enjoy this winter. But I got free seeds from a couple of the places I ordered from, cherry and giant tomato, and then one of my paste seeds was subbed with a nonpaste. So I'm growing them, and I'll try them. It might turn out that I love raw tomatoes as long as they're home-grown tomatoes. If not, a couple people have already dropped hints....

Btw, that factory tomato had no scent at all. Is this normal? My tomato seedlings have more tomato-y scent.

lilacs_of_may:
You can easily use any type of tomato in sauce. Paste tomatoes are a little drier, and some have fewer seeds (imo) but a beefsteak will make a nice sauce, although it will take longer to cook down. I have been known to strain part of it and add the solids back to the pot when I'm in a hurry.

I don't find it unusual that a store bought tomato would have little to no scent. Considering all the manhandling and things they're exposed to in shipping, what does surprise me is that they don't reek and only taste like cardboard.

Living in the SE we are headed into the part of the year during which our household consumes the most energy. In previous years our power bills from about mid-June to mid-September were within dollars of equaling the entire rest of the year, I'm already cringing at the thought of this years' bills.

though I will on occasion choke down a frozen pea.

* * *
Oh I don't mind frozen peas so much. It is CANNED peas. They look like evil personified.

Thank the Fed for printing money as fast as they possibly can to prop up the banks. Your money is now worth half of what it was before the economy tanked.

Five dollars each would be considered a deal for someÂ.

This past winter a friend gave me a little book titled "The $64 Tomato" By William Alexander which was actually a pretty good and quick read, especially since I picked it up during a time of the year when gardening is pretty much limited to waiting for the new catalogs. It isn't a how-to-grow-tomatoes book but speaks of the frustrations we all endure while gardening including various pests, inept contractors and family members who couldn't care less about his garden.

The author grows only Brandywine tomatoes and because of various problems harvested only 18 during one season. He goes back and figures all his gardening expenditures and realizes it cost him $64 for each tomato harvested.

Terry Light
Oak Hill, Virginia

Terry, I'm putting that book on my Amazon wish list.

I was raised on canned peas and canned lima beans. And my mother, being a proper 50s cook, made sure to boil everything in oleo and salt for 20 minutes before she served it.

The taste and texture would literally make me gag, which caused an awful lot of mealtime explosions and crises. When I was an adult, I discovered the joy of snow pea pods in Asian food, so I enjoy them today, as long as they're not overdone.

But I still can't stomach beans and regular peas.

And I very rarely buy cans of anything.