Challenge from a frugal list: If I had a dollar challenge-- Assume you find a dollar on the ground. You need to spend it on something besides bills. Practical is ok but frivilous treats are better. And NO saving it.
What do you come up with? ************************************ Other peoples' choices included various food items, postage stamps, beads, a carosel ride, and a candle. What would you choose? (And if you are outside the US, use whatever US$1 would equal or a Euro, etc.) My answer is below. You're probably not surprised to hear that I chose garden seeds :-). I tried to go for variety, flexibility, nutrition,taste, and good yields. If you chose seeds, would you pick a similar or a different 10? I might have chosen mustard greens instead of turnips if they had those in 10 cent packets around here. That would have been good greens plus a spice. I could have picked collard greens which would last through the winter. No 10 cent kale seeds yet. No 10 cent butternut squash, though pie pumpkins are available. Note: 10 cent seeds available so far are: Vegetables: Beans-Green, Beans-Lima, Beans-Yellow, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Carrots, Collards, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Okra, Onion-Bunching, Pea-Green, Pepper-Sweet Bell, Pepper-Jalapeno, Pumpkin-Pie, Pumpkin-Halloween, Radish-Round Red or Round Red with white tip, Spinach, Squash-Yellow, Squash-Zucchini, Squash-Table Queen (acorn), Tomato-Beefsteak, Turnip, Watermelon-Sugar Baby, Watermelon-Large 25 lb. Herbs: Basil, Chives, Dill, Parsley-Curled Flowers: Alyssum-White, Alyssum-Mixed, Annual Cut Flower Mixture (14 kinds), Aster-Mixed, Baby's Breath, Bachelor Buttons-Mixed, Bachelor Buttons-Blue, Cleome-Pink, Cosmos-Mixed, Daisy-Shasta, Daisy Garden-7 different flowers with a daisy shape in the yellow orange family mostly, Flower Garden Mix-15 annuals, Forget-Me-Nots, Helichrysum-Mixed, Marigold-Mixed, Marigold-Yellow, Marigold-orange, Moss Rose/Portulaca-Mixed, Perennial Mix-26 kinds, Petunia-Mixed, Snapdragon-Tall Mix, Sunflower, Sweet Pea-Mixed, Sweet William-Tall Double Mixed, Zinnia-Mixed. *********************************************************** I'd get 10 packs of seeds at 10/$1 or if they do the sales again this year I could get 20/$1. For 10 I'd choose: Beans, Pole Beets Cabbage Carrots Cucumber Onions Peppers, Sweet Tomatoes Turnips/Greens Mixed Perennial Flowers (26 kinds in the envelope) (Though it might be better to substitute squash or pumpkin for one of the above, or collards for the cabbage.) Starting seeds in flats and transplanting them into good fertile soil using close biointensive spacing and growing techniques, based on standard germination rates, I could expect harvest yields of: Beans, Pole (30s), 4 lbs Beets (200s), 26 lbs roots, 26 lbs greens Cabbage (120s), 650 lbs Carrots (200s), 18 lbs Cucumber (30s), , 88 lbs Onions, green bunching (100s), 15 lbs Peppers, Sweet Bell (25s), 17 lbs Tomatoes (40s), 482 lbs Turnips/Greens (100s). 22 lbs roots, 22 lbs greens Mixed Perennial Flowers (26 kinds, 150s) Several bouquets of flowers each week And since some of the Flowers are edible, medicinal, or have other uses there would also be: *Cosmetic/Toiletry: Centaurea-Cornflower, Dianthus-Pink *Dye: Achillea-Yarrow, Coreopsis lanceolata-Coreopsis, Coreopsis tinctora-Coreopsis, Papaver rhoeas-Corn Poppy, Rudbeckia-Black Eyed Susan or Coneflower *Edible Flowers: Centaurea-Cornflower, Dianthus-Pink, *Fiber: Linum-Flax *Flooring: Linum-Flax *Food: Linum-Flax, Papaver rhoeas-Corn Poppy *Insect Repellant: Liatris-Blazing Star *Medicinal: Achillea Millefolium-Yarrow, Centaurea-Cornflower, Dianthus-Pink, Digitalis-Foxglove(it's toxic though), Echinacea-Purple Coneflower, Liatris-Blazing Star, Papaver rhoeas-Corn Poppy, Saponaria-Soapwort (can be toxic) *Oil: Linum-Flax, Papaver rhoeas-Corn Poppy *Paint: Linum-Flax *Potpourris: Centaurea-Cornflower, Dianthus-Pink, Liatris-Blazing Star, Papaver rhoeas-Corn Poppy *Soap: Saponaria-Soapwort (keep out of eyes) So that would be 1370 lbs of vegetables, flower bouquets all through the growing season, some dried bouquets, and a dozen herbal uses. Not bad for $1 :-). Sharon [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
