Is Gardening Cheaper?

 

With food costs rising, many people are contemplating starting a garden. This makes sense, since human beings have been growing their own food for thousands of years. The stuff just comes out of the ground and literally grows on trees. Gardening offers a lot of benefits: It can be spiritually and emotionally fulfilling, improves the look of your property, and provides delicious sustenance. The potential to save money doesn’t hurt, either.

At first blush, this might seem like an obvious win: Once you get a tomato plant going, for example, you get free tomatoes as opposed to having to buy them all the time like a sucker. But gardens have hidden costs, and not all crops are the same in terms of cost-effectiveness. Can you really save money by growing your own food? The answer is yes, but you have to be thoughtful about it.

Do some garden math
Once again, your high school algebra teacher wins. This is yet another moment in your life where you will use math.

The starting point is your initial investment. The good news here is that gardens are relatively cheap. A few years ago, the National Gardening Association conducted a costs survey and concluded that most home gardens required about $70 in initial investment. That money goes toward seeds, soil and/or fertilizer, cages, covers, water, tools, and fences, if those are necessary. 

The better news is that you can expect an annual return of about $600 and moving forward, seeds are incredibly cheap compared to grown fruits and veggies in the grocery. Tomatoes on the vine cost about $2 a pound, but a packet of seeds will be about $4 and each plant that grows is capable of yielding anywhere from eight to 30 pounds of tomatoes (though there’s no guarantee you’ll get that much, of course).  READ MORE...