Have you recently lost a job or just now entering the work force and can’t find a job? Is your family dependant on unemployment benefits or worse yet, government assistance and food stamps? So what do you do when there’s nothing to do? Well, I’ve been searching for a job since graduating with my Master’s Degree last August to no avail. But I couldn’t get unemployment benefits because my last part time job with the Salvation Army did not pay unemployment benefits. So there I was, faced with having to depend on the government for our living. Now I absolutely hated this idea, so I decided to try to take things into my own hands. I started a garden for our food supply.

When I started the garden, it was primarily out of great need, but I soon learned to enjoy the work. It kept me busy and kept me from getting too depressed at the job market out there. My two kids have had fun helping some, so it became a family affair somewhat. We planted several kinds of vegetables, and have added a grapevine and some fruit trees to our experiment. I have become quite a novice gardener in the last year or so. With a couple of garden books and a few vegetable seed packs from Walmart for 20¢, I created a beautiful garden on a very low budget. Now our garden is in full production and we certainly won’t go hungry.

Now you may be one of those people who live in an apartment and may be thinking I can’t plant a garden. Or you may be thinking we may have to move, soon. But there are always ways around even things like that. You can plant a small patio garden in large plastic or ceramic pots, if you have no land or you may have to move. This garden is completely portable and doesn’t take up much space. Add some hanging tomato baskets and you’ll have a great little salad garden right on your doorstep. Even if you only have a patio or a small back yard you can plant a salad garden to help the family’s food budget.

You don’t need much to get started. A hand spade for $1 and a few packs of seeds can get you started. If you don’t know much about gardening check out a book from the local library to find out the basics. You can purchase a hoe or a five pointed hand tiller for less than $10 for a small garden plot. One of the most important things I learned is that you can add wood ash and lime to your soil, along with a little fertilizer high in nitrogen to get things growing. And Compost anything you can from the kitchen, like coffee grounds, egg shells, raw fruit and vegetable peals, even newspapers. Just use a small plastic trash can with some air holes punched in it for air circulation. A covered one works best. Then after you let this sit for a couple of months or so, you can add it to you garden to give it a boost.

This idea may not give you a paycheck, so to speak, but you’ll get a payday of vegetables if you do your homework and put in a little effort. You won’t just be laying around depressed because you can’t get a job, and you may even begin to enjoy the work. You may even find a latent farmer in your genes. So why not give it a shot?