Posted on 03/10/2022 6:43:41 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
When spring finally arrives after a long, cold winter, it always seems like a good idea to get outside.
“I’ll start a garden!” I think to myself. “I’ll save money by planting vegetables!”
But then I wonder: is it really worth it? I’m a skeptic, so I had to get to the bottom of it.
1. How much can you save per vegetable?
I looked at a few common, easy-to-grow vegetables to figure out how much they produce per seed, and therefore, how much growing one plant could save.
Cucumbers Store price: $0.69 each or $0.99 each organic per cucumber Price when you grow your own: less than $0.01 each
Generally one plant will produce about 10 cucumbers. Average price of seeds: $0.06 per seed to grow one plant Savings: About $7 for each plant grown, $10 for each organic plant grown
Carrots Store price: $0.17 per carrot Price when you grow your own: less than $0.01 per carrot
One 10-foot row of carrots would produce about 75 carrots. Average price of seeds: $2 for 500, so less than $0.01 each seed that grows one carrot Savings: About $12.50 per one row grown or 75 carrots
Onions Store price: $0.74 per onion Price when you grow your own: $0.03 per onion
One 10-foot row or about 40 onion sets planted would produce about 40 onions. Average price of sets: $1.25 for 40 sets, or $0.03 each Savings: About $28.35 for one 10-foot row of onions
Tomatoes Store price: $0.50 per tomato Price when you grow your own: $0.10 per tomato
One plant can produce as much as 50 tomatoes. Average price of plants: $5 per plant Savings: About $20 per plant grown
Radishes Store price: $0.50 per bunch (about 12 radishes), $1.50 per organic bunch Price when you grow your own: $0.03 per bunch
One 10-foot row would produce about 60 radishes. Average price of seeds: $2 for 200, so about $0.01 each Savings: About $2 for a row of 60 regular radishes, $7 for a row of 60 organic radishes
Zucchini Store price: $0.40 each or $0.70 each organic zucchini Price to grow your own: less than $0.01 each
One plant will produce about 25 zucchinis on average. Average price of seeds: $0.15 per seed to grow one plant Savings: About $10 per plant grown, $17 per organic plant grown
Green beans Store price: $2 per pound, $6 per organic pound Price to grow your own: $0.50 per pound
One 10-foot row would produce about 8 pounds of green beans. Average price of seeds: $0.10 each (40 seeds needed per 10-foot row) Savings: $12 for one row — 8 regular pounds, $44 for one row — 8 organic pounds
Watermelon Store price: $6 per melon Price when you grow your own: $0.01 per melon
One plant produces about 3 melons. Average price of seeds: $0.04 each to grow one plant Savings: $18 per plant grown
2. What about all that water?
So, clearly the data screams “It’s cheaper to plant a vegetable garden than to buy produce at the store!”
But, what about all the other things that go into it? The cost of water, for example!
The maximum recommended size for a manageable garden, especially for beginners, is 16 by 10 feet.
This would be 160 square feet of soil to water. In the summer months, this would require about 14.5 gallons of water per day. In the spring and fall, so April, May, and September, you could cut this in half, and use even less in October if you still have plants like squash and pumpkins growing.
On average across the United States, water will cost $.004 per gallon or about $.04 for every 10 gallons.
So if you used 2,000 gallons of water over the growing season, it would cost you $8, and 3,000 gallons would cost you about $12.
If we filled a 16 by 10-foot garden with two tomato plants, two cucumber plants, two zucchini plants, two watermelon plants, and one row each of carrots, onions, green beans, and radishes, we’d save $210 by not having to buy those things at the store and we’d spend $8.26 on water.
3. What else will you need?
Of course, you’ll need a few tools like shovels, hoes, rakes, and gloves. But you don’t need a lot to grow most things. Start small and then see what is really necessary.
If you have tomatoes or peppers, plan to spend a few dollars on cages or something to help them grow vertically.
If you plant in containers, that will be a big investment in the first year. Adding fertilizers, bug killers, or mulch can be another expense. Knowing what your overall savings will be can help you be super stingy about adding costs.
Don’t forget to coupon, bargain shop, and check out our Home Depot hacks where you can find gardening supplies, plants, seeds, and more.
4. Consider the time you’ll have to invest.
his is a huge one. You’ll likely spend a couple hours a week watering, weeding, pruning, and harvesting.
How much extra time do you have? What is your time worth? And how much do you enjoy being in the garden? (There are obvious physical and mental health benefits.) So…
5. Is it worth it?
With an average-sized garden, it’s pretty likely that you could save $200 on grocery bills during the growing season, even after the expenses.
If you spread that over the five months you are working in the garden, it’s $40 a month.
Considering you’ll likely spend two hours a week working in the garden for at least 20 weeks, that’s $200 for 40 hours of work or $5 an hour.
Honestly, that may not be worth it if gardening feels like work to you or you just don’t have that much extra time.
Therefore, it’s only worth it if you would enjoy all the other benefits of healthy eating, exercise, fresh flavor, being outdoors, and a therapeutic or family-bonding hobby.
https://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/money/does-growing-a-vegetable-garden-really-save-you-money
My wife had two raised 5X5 gardens spots last year. This year she is wanting to expand because of the economy in the crapper. We live in the woods so I will have to put up fencing around it but that is a one time expense.
She never really had a garden until last year. For a few years I would put out tomato plants near the house and had exceptional success with them but got tired of fooling with them. I have a green thumb but just don’t care much for gardening, I had to do a lot of it as a kid. Tilling, planting, weeding, harvesting.
I’m the world’s laziest gardener (except for a couple of tomato plants each year- for the flavor).
The very easy, sure, plants I grow:
Romaine lettuce. pick a few weeds out at first and then you just pick what you want, rinse it and cover with dressing.
4 or 5 plants per person. Plant 4 every two weeks.
Time per plant- about five minutes total over its lifetime.
Totally carefree: ‘walking onions’, garlic, sage.
These fruit/nut trees are also totally carefree: Hazelnut (makes a great hedge), Mulberry, American plum (it’s only good for a great jelly- which means canning, but easy canning [some years I do, some I don’t- it’s all free]).
Been growing them for years in my poor clay soil for practically no time or effort.
Also have some blackberries and raspberries. Easy, but you have to deal with the thorns.
Which are beyond price.
Absolutely love your Hobbies tagline. Good for you!
One thing people don’t seem to consider is succession planting.
Don’t plant all your crops at once. Space them put about three weeks apart.
The jackass probably eats no-kill shrink wrapped chicken and beef, too. Ya know, the kind that grows in a grocery store. /s
Even if (Diane) her prices of food are wrong, by even double, her efforts will be rewarded.
What happens to the Jackasses and sheep when bidenbucks can’t buy anything because there’s nothing on the shelves?
Corn is so cheap and plentiful in the fall, that for someone without a garden but who does like to preserve food, they can hit local farmer’s markets for fresh produce.
With age comes wisdom, for some; for most, with age comes ‘old’.
The neighbor across the street has 8-10 pineapple plants, she gave me a ripe pineapple, I cut the top off and planted it along with 3 other plants she gave me, the first plant produced a really big pineapple right around Xmas this past year, we had pineapple upside down cake for Xmas, the other 3 plants have all developed blooms in the last 3 weeks, so around Memorial Day I will start to have pineapples again.
My sincere apologies if you are not a jackass. These days it’s hard to tell. But for those thst ARE jackasses, well, you already know.
Here in western slope Colorado, you give me hope.
That’s impressive, I’m envious.
I think gardening is GREAT, for SOME people.
It doesn’t save money. (how much is your time worth?)
When your garden tomatoes are ripe, so are EVERONE else’s!
If you LOVE to work in the garden, and don’t mind getting dirt, soil, earth on your hands, then go for it! Have FUN!
I had a very large cherry tomato bush/plant last year.
When the tomatoes turned yellow (just like your traffic lights, first yellow then soon after, red.) they started to disappear. ONLY the yellow ones.
I finally saw a culprit stealing a tomato. I can’t say for certain if it was Chip or Dale, but definitely one of them.
That's what 'sealed the deal' for me...I labored hard on that corn patch, didn't yield even a bushel....and I drive up on a roadside farmer selling it for 4 bucks a bushel! LOL! "I'm out!"
There are two seasons. Good tomato season and bad tomato season. Good tomato season runs from July into October. November through June is bad tomato season.
Nov-Jun in the stores tomatoes suck. I can hardly stand to eat them on a burger let alone in a salad.
Eagerly drooling like Homer Simpson for the return of good tomato season.
Maybe if you don’t have a black thumb, like I do. My last foray into gardening, I tried *technically, I also succeded* but I calculated that one tomato cost me $300/pound. YMMV!
Apple Pies eaten in a year?
1/4 of an Apple Pie day?
Equals ~ 91 Pies...
Put me down for 91...
Really good tomatoes.
Great point!
I am doing that BIG TIME this season. Making my planting schedules now, while I still have time. I usually do spring and then fall crops while the summer stuff grows in the middle, but I want to extend that as much as possible.
Every year, I add another garden-related ‘skill’ to my arsenal. ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.