Comment on It is very therapeutic to garden, though.
enbyecho@lemmy.world 4 months agoThis is a totally specious argument. Everyone doesn’t have to make 100% of their own furniture any more than every one has to grow 100% of their food.
If I make two chairs it’s more efficient than 1 chair and I only need to spend maybe 70% more time than 1, not 100% I sell/barter one chair to my neighbor, who, because they have grown 6 tomato plants instead of 4 (at most 10% more of their labor), has excess tomatoes and gives me some in exchange.
Shardikprime@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Bro I think you are vastly overestimating the produce yield of a homegrown tomato plant let alone 6
Peddlephile@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Two tomato plants far exceeded what we needed. We sacrificed the remainder to the possums and birds.
Shardikprime@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Right congratulations, you had 2 extra low iron and vitamin deficient mini tomatoes
YIj54yALOJxEsY20eU@lemm.ee 4 months ago
The harvest was too much, presumably not too much for the entire year.
enbyecho@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m curious if you have numbers on that or you are just assuming low yields.
I happen to know exactly how much a tomato plant grows because over 20 years of commercial farming I kept records. It varies a lot by variety and season and even how we are responding to market needs but in general I tend to get about 800-1400 lbs per 200 ft row for indeterminate tomatoes over the season. A farmer I know at lower elevation gets a lot more but they have a longer season, better soil and, crucially, water a lot more than we do – my method cuts yield but increases quality. We use a 2 ft spacing for F1 varieties so that’s about 100 plants (more like 95, but whatevs) so let’s call it 8 pounds per plant = 48 lbs of tomatoes. Again, this is quite generalized and it’s often way more. I also happen to know that’s going to be on the very low end of home garden yields because people tell me this shit. Also, for cherry tomatoes you can get probably 60-70% more since they are very prolific.
Shardikprime@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Bro we talking about a home garden here, where do you have that much space? and above all, time to do all that in your home? Not even counting the knowledge needed, fertilizer and soil and the fact that 90% of people starting this will drop it at the second week, it is still overestimating how much they will harvest at the end.
enbyecho@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I’m not your “bro”.
I’m using examples from commercial small-scale farms because that shows what’s possible when done correctly and by competent people, even at hand scale. I know many home gardeners who are extremely competent and frankly using the example of incompetent home gardeners or those who “drop it at the second week” compared to competent industrial farmers is completely disingenuous and wholly illogical.
[citation needed]
Welt@lazysoci.al 4 months ago
They might just be in a better climate than you! I had far more delicious sun-ripened tomatoes over the summer than I could eat. More than six plants to be fair, but most self-seeded anyway.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 4 months ago
exactly.
i’ve been gardening for years. it’s a supplement. for like 1-2months i get nice produce that can feed a few people for a few weeks. but that’s it.