Vegetable Garden Experiment

Today I finally got the container garden in the ground, well in the pots. I have green peppers, carrots, cauliflower, pumpkin, watermelon, onion, lettuce, yellow bush beans, regular green beans, strawberries and two kinds of tomatoes. I am new to gardening, but hopefully I followed the packet instructions well enough to get some crop out of it. I paid a total of $2.00 in seeds, and $10 for organic potting mix. The pots I am using were free from a friend who was moving and no longer needed them. I figure since I am experimenting this year with container gardening as long as I can get that $12 back in produce then I have done alright, although of course the dream is lots to freeze and can for the winter.
I will post pictures when I get something other than dirt in a pot to show you.

Getting the most out of your veggies

In choosing vegetables for our family I try to buy a large variety of frozen vegetables. I do buy some fresh produce, but overall the frozen is a better option for us. Commercially canned vegetables have lost a lot of their nutritional value in the canning process, and they tend to have additives like salt and sugar that I just don't want. Fresh produce in your grocery store can be from anywhere in the country,or other countries, which means it was picked, sorted and trucked to wherever you are. Every day it is out of the ground it loses nutrients, and you really don't know how old it is.
With frozen vegetables they are picked and very quickly frozen so their nutritional value is still viable and the cost is usually low. I can usually find one pound bags of vegetables for less than a dollar each. The things I buy fresh are in season and local. This cuts the cost and shipping time, and supports local agriculture. The big money waster when it comes to vegetables is not using them before they go bad. Menu planning and frequent stops at a produce stand or farmers market can help to alleviate food loss.