Why I am building permapeople.org

Re:Why I am building permapeople.org by notahacker on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @09:39AM (#24697536)

Depends what you're growing for what purpose. A basil plant which lives on your windowsill and regrows the leaves you pick to add to sauces with essentially zero labour is certainly more efficient than buying a plastic bag too-full of perishable leaves for 80% of the plant cost from the supermarket every time. The commercial farm is more efficient at growing leaves at scale, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a lower-cost more environmentally-friendly product for consumers not needing a large volume of leaves and paying store markup. On the other hand, people are going to need a lot of balcony space to grow a year's supply of potatoes and spend a lot of time turning them into fries.

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Re:Why I am building permapeople.org by helen___keller on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @10:05AM (#24697747)

> A basil plant which lives on your windowsill and regrows the leaves you pick to add to sauces with essentially zero labour is certainly more efficient than buying a plastic bag too-full of perishable leaves for 80% of the plant cost from the supermarket every time.

... until you get thrips, spend hours investigating the best natural remedies and buy jugs of neem oil to start mixing natural pesticides, and end up having to throw out the thrip-infested basils (which is half of them by now). Then you spend a few more hours investigating why you now have fungus gnats all over the house, and start looking into alternative soil media, hydro, and semi-hydro, and you start filling up the odd corners of your house with various liquid fertilizers, and you spend a few hundred on grow lights because you live an an apartment with no balcony and your windows don't get enough light.

Source: started growing herbs over the summer

Still a fun hobby though! I wouldn't give it up for anything, but if I valued my gardening time at a pay rate equal to my work time, I've spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for probably < $100 worth of food

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Re:Why I am building permapeople.org by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @10:10AM (#24697794)

Good advice, for those with a windowsill in a suburban home I guess. A lightless window looking out on the well inside a 20-story apartment building - less practical.

I have plenty of room, and enjoy fresh basil all summer (and pesto all winter!) but I understand I'm the exception.

Tried growing potatoes several times - fail. They rot in the ground, or the voles eat them before I can get at them, or they just don't produce. Sigh. Back to the grocery store.

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