Gardening
Digging the Dirt: Is Growing Your Own Economical?
by debra roby

Is growing your own vegetables economical? With many families starting new victory gardens this year, the question is timely. Michael Tortorello analyzed the costs/value of his new garden this year and his conclusion: based only on a cost/savings analysis, growing your own is anything but a money-saving hobby. 

The numbers tell a story: For me, growing home vegetables makes about as much sense as manufacturing American cars. And yet I can’t say that I’m particularly bothered that my starter garden is operating in the red. I could depreciate the costs against next year’s garden–although that’s surely no way to appreciate anything. If gardening were ultimately about cash yields, we’d all move to California and plant medical marijuana.

It is important to note that Tortorello's costs must heavily factor the costs of building a new garden bed.  These costs can-and often do- include renting a rototiller for a day (roughly $70 for a day, plus the cost of gasoline); lumber or other edging materials (let's say roughly $1/running foot or $200 for a 10x20' garden); supplemental commercial compost or commercial soil (the cheapest I've found it is about $1/cubic foot so maybe about $50 for that imaginary 10x20' garden); mulch  (additional $50); supports- like tomato cages ($15?), gardening tools (Woah! Depending on impulse buys and new vs. used -$10-100). Then there are starting plants and seeds.

Costs here are mounting tremendously, and we haven't even considered the cost of water!

Most of the above costs can be amortized over time -somewhere between 2 years and a lifetime- which would drop the costs of gardening considerably.  For myself, this year we built one new bed to my terraced vegetable garden.  Averaging 2' deep and one foot wide that bed cost about $100 (mostly in lumber) to build and will last without additional extra expenditures for at least 5 years.  If I can average $20 worth of additional produce a year from it, than this bed was worth adding.  This year (with ALL my vegetables destroyed by critters) not so much. 

Still, commentor Laurie told the delightful tale of her lazy first venture into vegetable gardening this summer.  She knew how to do it right!

Still, many who, like me, have vegetable gardened for years do not necessarily view the act as cost-effective.  Especially if you preserve your harvest for winter use- slow-roasting tomatoes, freezing pumpkin, canning pickles.  The energy expenditures that go along with preserving food at home often makes this a very expensive proposition.  That's why I stopped canning tomatoes- when I can buy organically grown and commercially processed tomatoes for less than $2 a can, spending hours consuming heat energy and using gallons of water becomes to can my own makes no sense.  I slow-roast some tomatoes and solar-dry other vegetables because the pure taste of summer is worth the cost.

If vegetable gardening isn't an act of economy, why do I continue to do it? 

  • There is something essentially soul satisfying about working in the soil. 
  • I love to brag when most of a dish I serve was fully alive and growing less than 12 hours before we eat it.
  • As one commenter in Tortorello's article explained: no matter the cost, it's cheaper than psychiatric therapy.

Another commenter brings up a key question: if lower-income families are being encouraged to grow their own for health and economic reason, how do lower-income families afford the initial costs?

How about you?  Do you think about the cost when vegetable gardening or is it simply an activity you enjoy?  Is your garden paying off this year?

Other Garden Bloggers Are Talking About:

Clair from An Alameda Garden believes she has found the World's Ugliest Tree and hope her city will replace it. 

Whereas, An Accomplished Woman would hug this tree.

Pam from Digging shows a beautiful xeriscaped front yard.  Or do I simply thing so because this my gardening goal for the fall and winter?

Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time and her journey to fitness at Weight for Deb.

Submitted by debra roby (view blog) on Sat, 09/05/2009 - 11:08am

Comments

 

Growing Food with Children

I grow a vegetable garden with my four boys because it's an opportunity for them to form a connection with our earth.  When everything comes wrapped in plastic from the supermarket, we should remind our children, and ourselves, where our food comes from.  They also learn that must treat the earth with respect and a sense of responsibility because we rely on it for everything.  It's also a great bonding activity for the whole family, because we all pitch in, and the boys are more enthusiastic to eat and try different vegetables.

www.mothersraisingboys.com

Follow me on Twitter: momraisingboys

 

 

Submitted by momraisingboys on Sun, 09/06/2009 - 08:13
 

why garden?

Having read this, I can only justify growing tomatoes, due to the fact that I can't find tomatoes with that homegrown taste anywhere!!

And I do like the learning that occurs with my kids, though that is a bonus.

I also wonder about the extra cost of the water, though.  My ONE tomato plant was mighty thirsty this summer and only yielded about 8 medium tomatoes.  With an initial investment of only $15, I think the water probably put me in the red.

Submitted by magsmadison on Sun, 09/06/2009 - 16:15
 

One tomato plant..

With one tomato plant, you could quite easily container grow it (kind of hope you did).  Except that I have always found container plants want MUCH more water than those growing in the ground.

There are lots of reason to garden (as I said), but I'm seriously questioning if "economics" is a legitimate reason for many.

Debra

A Stitch In Time
Weight for Deb

Submitted by debra roby on Sun, 09/06/2009 - 16:49
 

So glad to see

That I wasn't the only one who's garden completely pooped out this year.Between the weather, the critters and the negligence of the farmer it was a pretty bad year.  Better luck next year right?

Kate

I blog at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.com 

Submitted by aftercancer on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 06:29
 

Small Garden & Cities Can Do Community
Gardens.

Great topic! We started a small veggie garden last year, it did save some money for us because for the overall cost to start it up it will only cost a very small amount to continue it.  We didn't rent any equipment or pay a lot of money. We bought some stakes and wire fencing, we dug the dirt and turned it by hand (shovel).  And we got seeds and a few starter plants from a local farmer's market.  Our inner city has a larger farmer's market that we could have gone to as well. It didn't cost much at all. We did buy some dirt for planting.  We could have bought seeds and starter plants from a traditional store too, but we have many local farmer's markets here in the Rust Belt.  All in all it probably cost maybe $40 (if even) to start it up the first year, we saved that up & paid out of pocket. We did it a lot like Laurie. 

The start up cost is only one year, after that no large costs. Sauces, spinach salads, carrots, and other veggies that we purchase a lot of we grow & have whenever we want.  Eating in season & having it in the backyard, saves us costs. No extra cost for purchasing out of season & no gas money to drive to the store. 

However, cities can do community gardens.  The Nation profiles Detroit's efforts in its recent edition on its efforts to offer fresh gardents to the inner city.  Allowing the poor in cities to develop gardens.  A similar model could work in rural and suburban setting, with minor adjustments to accomodate the settings.

I agree that there are more benefits too besides simple cost reduction on food purchases (although this can be done, if you don't make it overly complex) community gardens and gardening in general offer--learning how to grow food, developing a sense of what manual labor entails, being able to subsist, caring for the land, sharing food & community experiences.  These all do translate to an economic gain, if people understand healthy foods & develop a better sense of community it can translate into a stronger economy by people being better nourished to be productive (if one wants to look at it from a macro pov).

The Nation's recent edition, talks about Detroit's community gardens: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921

beth aka confusedhomemaker

http://theconfusedhomemaker.com/

Submitted by confusedhomemaker on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 16:57
 

Intrinsic Value of Gardening

It's so great to see all the writing about having a garden - be it in your back yard or part of a community garden. And although I agree that it can be an incredibly costly endeavour, particularly when you're just starting the garden, I do think that looking at it sheerly from a cost-yield perspectives leaves out something really important - the intrinsic value of your garden, its output, and how this can translate to some economic and personal benefit.


Although it was touched upon by momsraisingboys and confusedhomemaker, what we tend not to value in monetary terms (even though I personally believe it's just as important and can even translate to monetary gain) is the importance of understanding where our food comes from, what goes into a garden in order to actually get any sort of yield, and learning more about nature and our relationship to it. I think a lot of what we gain from that helps us to understand why organic foods may be more expensive, and why it's important to buy them as well as support our local farmers!


The other important value of home gardens is our health - by eating better, working for our food, and even gaining access to things we may not otherwise have bought (like planting a vegetable or fruit we wouldn't normally buy), we're getting exercise (less $$ at the gym), we're eating well (less $$ at the grocery store AND less $$ on meds or healthcare), and it can be SO rewarding seeing all the yummy and gorgeous food YOUR hardwork helped make!!


At the end of the day, I think we have to consider all the different factors that come out of something like this to really understand it's value and it's impact on our wallets. And of course, doing it with friends, sharing costs and seeds, community gardens, etc. are all ways of keeping the costs down and the benefits up. I, for one, am glad it's becoming such a popular topic and hopefully, as more and more people go back to doing things like this, the cost of it will come down too.


Laili


http://www.ecosavvydesign.com

Submitted by EcoChic on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 06:53
 

Debra- Slow Roasted

Debra- Slow Roasted tomatoes? I'd love the recipe!


I do have to agree with Laili that there is something intrinsic about gardening. I have a small vegetable garden at our lake home which we get to just weekends. But I enjoy digging in (most of the itme anway), and  cleaning it up. Just last weekend I enjoyed pulling soe fresh carrots and kohlrabi. I remember thinking how good the kohlrabi was and that I'd have to have a larger garden when we retire. Somehow, we eat more veggies out of the garden.


I keep it organic and use no fertilizer, and we have a well for water. Still using the resource, jsutnot paying for it.


But thoughtful comments on canning tomatoes will make me rethink that next year!


--
Beth


 I run my own personalized gifts by day, but enjoy blogging when time permits!

Submitted by Beth Engel on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 11:03
 

Worth the Effort!

I agree whole-heartedly that there are ways that you could start a garden that would not be economical, but I definitely don't think it has to be that way. We started one this year and did the tilling ourselves with a $20 garden claw for Home Depot that will last us the rest of our gardening days. We added a little bit of top soil, but we bought the cheap brand to cut costs in that way. We bought a little bit of wood for framing, but won't have to do that again. All in all, including our seeds, the garden claw, the soil, and the wood, we spent under $100, and we will never have to buy seeds again unless we want to go with a different kind of plant because we can collect seeds from our plants when they mature. $100 for years of tomatoes, lettuce, squash, spices, onions, peppers, etc. We love the time spent outside tending it and wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. Sometimes I think we have to quantify what exactly we are giving up by working the garden or canning and putting up our vegetables. We are probably giving up time spent watching TV or playing video games, in which case, we haven't really lost anything. Not that I don't enjoy TV when I watch it. But I think gardens invite community into your lives and draw families together as they work for their food. It brings new meaning to that. I also love the way it draws my children outside and gets them doing something that means something.

Submitted by SweetSpotSweetie on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 16:07
 

My garden saved a lot of money

There are so many ways to make gardening cheap.  We spent about $50 on our garden this year, and the food and herbs it produced easily saved us $200 or more.

We joined a community garden that costs $20 per year.  Water is included in that cost, as was the plot, its construction, the dirt, and many plants that were provided by Grow Memphis, part of a local non-profit.  I spent maybe $10 on additional plants for the garden, and another $5 for organic fertilizer.

Our home garden cost a little more, but not much.  Instead of lumber or bricks, I used empty beer and wine bottles for the edging (in honor of my own liver, I got my friends and neighbors to donate their bottles, too).  I spent $10 on cheap topsoil, which sat on top of recycled newspaper (free).  I spent another $10 on mulch.  Most of the plants were from seeds I'd collected from past gardens and cuttings from those gardens. 

Even with a modest tomato harvest (probably 200 tomatoes for the season), our basil alone made the season worth it.  At the grocery, I would have spent at least $200 on the basil I harvested (and continue to harvest) from my garden.  Our neighborhood grocery also offered to purchase any excess produce and herbs (but we were too greedy to sell ours - we ate it all).  I even made hot pepper jelly for my church's autumn harvest fundraiser (and all ten jars sold for $3 each, in just a few hours).

At this point, I'm making herbal crafts and drying herbs and hot peppers for holiday gifts.  That should save us more money since our holiday gifts will be nearly free, but should have a lot of value to their recipients.

Kaleigh
http://uptownherbs.blogspot.com
http://anotherworkingmom.blogspot.com
http://anotherworkingmomcooks.blogspot.com

Submitted by Kaleigh on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 16:22