IBERIA PARISH — With the cost of food and everyday items on the rise and gardening season underway, growing your own produce is one way to save money.
Richard Hebert, owner and operator of Hebert's Garden Center, said his biggest tip for anyone looking to grow their own produce is to make sure they do not bite off more than they can chew.
"So, cost-effective gardening has to deal with size. People think you need to [go] big, but you don't really need to. If you can do a 3 ft by 4 ft garden going 6 inches high off the ground — you always gotta go off the ground down in South Louisiana — you can do it cost-effectively," Hebert said.
Hebert said the reason plants need to be elevated is because of the region's heavy rainfall and water-retaining soil.
"We get too much rain at one time, and our soils hold too much water. If you go on level ground in South Louisiana, at some point, you're going to get too much rain, and your crops are going to fry, so you have to go up. Most people go up 12 inches, but from an economic standpoint, 6 inches is sufficient and would work fine," Hebert said.
Gardeners have a lot of options for where to put plants, including containers, pots, or plots made with wood or cinder blocks.
"Cinder blocks are the easiest because cinder blocks won't deteriorate. They're easy to set up, and you can take the little holes in the cinder blocks, fill them with soil, and grow herbs in there. With your trailing herbs growing there, they won't take over the garden. You're gonna go 6 to 12 inches tall, just leave the ground level, put a little fabric at the bottom, fill it up with soil, and then you're ready to go," Hebert said.
Hebert said successful gardening is all about the soil.
"You do it right the first time. You don't put a $10 plant in the 50-cent hole. Do it the reverse. You can start with a weaker plant as long as you have good soil, and you can do it cost-effectively," Hebert said.
Hebert said gardeners also need to make sure their vegetable plants get enough sun.
"That's probably the biggest mistake people make. They don't give their vegetables enough sun. They try to protect them from the sun. They need that sun," Hebert said.
Growing at home also provides benefits after the initial buy-in, like reducing food waste.
"A lot of it's waste, you know, a lot of it is that you buy something and you use half of it and you're not gonna use it again, and that's the advantage of you getting it fresh. Taste obviously is a big deal, but it also keeps a lot better. You don't harvest it until you need it, so you save on waste, and so a little 3 by 4 or 7 or 8 containers would make a difference," Hebert said.
Proper research is a must, as gardeners should know what approach to take for different crops.
"You can save a lot by starting from seed. Just don't wanna do that with tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers because it takes too long," Hebert said.
For reputable sources on seasonal gardening, Hebert said LSU Ag is a good resource, as well as the Hebert Garden Center app, which provides a newsletter and useful information for users.
"If you download our app, we give a newsletter every month, and it's strictly for this area of Louisiana, Southern, and it's a big difference between what you do in South Louisiana, what you do in North Louisiana. The climate is much, much different, more than people think," Hebert said.
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