Gardening new subforum?

[ender]

There are a TON of gardeners here.

Any thoughts on a subforum specifically for gardening questions?

[Lulee]

I would vote yes if asked.  It's a large enough topic with a wide variety of mustachian possibilities that I'd guess we'd be filling it up with posts rather quickly.

[Syonyk]

I think it should be expanded out quite a bit beyond gardening, but a "Gardening/Permaculture/Homesteading/Rural" sort of forum would be awesome.

There exist at least a few of us with significant property to work with, and that's a different approach to FIRE/life/etc than the more common city dweller approach.  Threads about it tend to be slower and get buried quickly.

[FIREstache]

Reminds me of some of the other requests such as for a bike forum.  Probably won't happen.

[BTDretire]

I think it is just to far removed from saving for and spending in retirement.
Ya, save on food, but now how do I grow an apricot.
I'd give you my 2 cents, but it's in VTSAX for now.

[Rosy]

I've noticed that we keep getting comments in the garden thread that say it was hard to find.
It is hard to find and I certainly wouldn't want it buried any further like in the off-topic section so a subforum would make it more visible.
Gardening is not an obscure topic but rather meshes well with a Mustachian lifestyle.

So yeah, I think it is time for a Gardening subforum including a permaculture section. 

[nereo]

I think it should be expanded out quite a bit beyond gardening, but a "Gardening/Permaculture/Homesteading/Rural" sort of forum would be awesome.

There exist at least a few of us with significant property to work with, and that's a different approach to FIRE/life/etc than the more common city dweller approach.  Threads about it tend to be slower and get buried quickly.

I agree and support the above.

[Travis]

Definitely warrants at least a sticky thread in DIY.

[jinga nation]

adding my vote for a greenthumbs subforum

[nereo]

Any input, @arebelspy, @FrugalToque ?

[arebelspy]

Any thoughts on a subforum specifically for gardening questions?

I would think a gardening forum would suit that purpose better, no?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gardening+forum&ia=web

[ender]

Any thoughts on a subforum specifically for gardening questions?

I would think a gardening forum would suit that purpose better, no?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gardening+forum&ia=web

Come on, really?

You could say the same thing about... well, most of the forum sections. And perhaps even the entire forum for that matter as there are other forums that have existed long before this one around nearly the same topics.

If this is true, every section in "Learning, Sharing, and Teaching" with the exception of Ask a Mustachian/Case Study section should be closed for its own dedicated forum. Well over 1/2 of the sections here on this entire forum, especially if you add in all the generic sections in "General Discussion" and "Mustachian Community" too, fit this same criteria.

[Roots&Wings]

I would think a gardening forum would suit that purpose better, no?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gardening+forum&ia=web

No. Mustachian gardening tends to be a different kind, and like others have said, the various garden threads can be hard to find and have a wealth of information.

[nereo]

I would think a gardening forum would suit that purpose better, no?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gardening+forum&ia=web

No. Mustachian gardening tends to be a different kind, and like others have said, the various garden threads can be hard to find and have a wealth of information.

I agree.  Most of the gardening forums I've perused differ from the approach a 'mustachian' might take in at least one of three ways

• they prioritize aesthetics over productivity
• Cost-benefit is rarely discussed
• There's little emphasis on being good ecological stewards (e.g. RoundUp®, over-fertilization, plastic sheeting)

As an example, when building my raised beds at my new suburban home I did a bit of research, but most gardening sub-forums recommended contracting out a ground-works crew to level the soil and provide proper drainage, then a dumptruck load of rounded gravel cedar timbers and bags upon bags of potting soil -- all at an estimated cost of $2k-5k for "something that will be a feature as well as a garden!". 
Meanwhile I'm looking for ways to get similar results for ~$200 while not tanking my resale value or resorting to poison-laced 'sleepers'.

I'm also keen on knowing and sharing which crops and critters hit that right balance between being manageable and profitable.  Quite a few common garden plants don't hit one or both of those marks.  Others (e.g. many herbs) are both easy and save substantial money at the grocery store.

This can be extended to other areas of homesteading which lack a great forum... building chicken/duck runs, etc,

[Roots&Wings]

The Planting and Growing Your Own thread alone has at least 15 subtopics, from permaculture, beekeeping, biochar, creative plant sources, growing grocery store stubs, diy fertilizer/urea, rainbarrels, chickens/rabbits, annual veggies, etc.

[maisymouser]

+1, it's about time this happened on the forum.

The forum isn't just about MONEY and FINANCE, it's about creating a better and more sustainable planet. Edible gardening and other (though not all) homesteading practices and topics fit into the broader MMM goals.

[SomedayStache]

I would enjoy such a section. I don't want to dive into the long threads that currently exist.
Here's our garden now, crossing fingers the projected hail misses us today!

[simonsez]

COVID-19 really opened my eyes to that feeling of societal dependence and helplessness, in part to not having much of a garden beyond a few herbs.  Doing your own gardening really does seem to be part and parcel with the MMM ethos or at least more so than other current forum sections (independence, DIY, learning new skills that have ancillary effects, environmentally conscious, healthy, etc.).  Otherwise, why have a tax section when you could go to a tax forum?  Why have a real estate section when you could go to a real estate forum?  I'm not arguing against those existing on MMM forum, it just seems if those sections are there then one about gardening is very reasonable.

I'd love to hear more (or at least in a more easily found and organized section) from the farmers, homesteaders, and expert gardeners who have all that experience combined with their frugality muscles.  It would be good for green thumbs and black thumbs alike.

[maizefolk]

I understand the desire not to continue to add subforums indefinitely. I think the last new one was on Entrepreneurship which launched with a lot of excitement and hasn't been particularly active. Although there have been some really good threads over the years.

Would it make sense to add gardening as a child board under "Do It Yourself"? Like the Australia/Canada/UK child boards under the Taxes subforum. Gardening is definitely a type of Do It Yourself, but gather threads together in one place would be helpful to users who wouldn't have to wade through a lot of otherwise irrelevant threads. Just like having a specific place for Australia tax advice (even though it is clearly just a kind of tax advice), helps users who would otherwise be wading through a lot of irrelevant threads about tax law/strategies in other countries.

[maisymouser]

Any thoughts on a subforum specifically for gardening questions?

I would think a gardening forum would suit that purpose better, no?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gardening+forum&ia=web

If that's true why do we have a Singles section when there are plenty of dating sites, relationship advice forums, etc out there on the broader web? How does this relate, exactly, to MMM? As @ender said, you could easily argue that forums exist elsewhere for almost all the other sections.

It seems to me that gardening is much more related to Mustachianism than dating, and would probably be pertinent to the same number of people or more who have questions to ask and advice to provide.

Would a poll be a suitable method to figure out whether the community would benefit from having a dedicated mustachian gardening/homesteading section?

[arebelspy]

MOD NOTE

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/gardening-diy/

Locking thread.