View Full Version : Is Vegetable Gardening Worth It?
My garden is producing little this year. I expect I will have spent more on seeds, plants and supplies than I get back, and to make it productive I would have to spend even more on topsoil, compost, etc. Some of this is because food prices are low right now. How about you?
ApatheticNoMore
7-15-17, 12:40pm
I suspect it often doesn't even break-even economically, however the quality of the produce should be better, better tasting tomatoes etc..? And maybe that is healthier as well. So mostly there is a non dollars and cents part.
BikingLady
7-15-17, 12:53pm
I figure a veggie garden is a long haul to get return on the dollar. Years of getting the ground tilled, manure added, plants, tubers, seeds, water. Not to add the rototiller and fencing. Oh wait that was my garden! 5 years ago I think I did the go all or nothing for a veggie garden. I had always grown assorted small veggie plants mixed in my flowers. I monitored the suns movement for a season. Then I started the process of preparing the soil. The Tiller was something I had always wanted so I bought one. Ordered and bought so much.
First year ever it flooded there!!! my hard work and money floated. It has never flooded there since either.
Dad had a garden plot for 40 years on his property, it had repaid him over and over.
SO again long time but then I think the return is there.
iris lilies
7-15-17, 1:55pm
Our main reason for growing buckets of produce is because DH is genetically programmed to do it.He is almost OCD about it.
Even the simplest cost analysis woild show us deep in the red. Hell, we bought two houses on one parcel for $42,000 just to get ownership of one vacant lot for gardening and to have a water source for the lot next door that I rent from the city.
that is is lot of cucumbers to eat to make up for that money outflow.
iris lilies
7-15-17, 1:57pm
I suspect it often doesn't even break-even economically, however the quality of the produce should be better, better tasting tomatoes etc..? And maybe that is healthier as well. So mostly there is a non dollars and cents part.
The non dollars and cents part is the built in exercise and zen training of gardening.
Even the simplest cost analysis woild show us deep in the red. Hell, we bought two houses on one parcel for $42,000 just to get ownership of one vacant lot for gardening...
I have a friend who did that. On Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. His neighbors couldn't believe a mansion wasn't getting built there, when they saw him every day growing his veggies.
I think it would have been cheaper for him to buy a Whole Foods store.
The non dollars and cents part is the built in exercise and zen training of gardening.
Absolutely. Every time DH complains that we're not going to net anything, and in fact our tomatoes are going to be VERY expensive at the end of the day, I tell him to think of gardening as a hobby. Treating it it like a way to relax and be zen--to use your apt word, IL--and also as a fun way to experiment takes your mind off the ROI.. like that old MasterCard commercial: One pound of tomatoes: $3.99. Eating a tomato salad in a restaurant: $8.00. Growing your own tomatoes: Priceless.
Simplemind
7-15-17, 3:07pm
Gardening for me is cheap therapy. In the summer we work to eat almost exclusively what we grow. That said, this year is the worst year I have ever had and we would be starving............
I think I can get the therapy from working with my ornamental perennials for free. I may change my mind by next spring though.
rosarugosa
7-15-17, 4:52pm
IL: I really like your DH although I've never even met him :)
iris lilies
7-15-17, 5:50pm
IL: I really like your DH although I've never even met him :)
haha, yeah, he is a funny little man.
goldensmom
7-15-17, 6:37pm
Financially, vegetable gardening is not worth it at all for us. With cold winter weather I give into the temptation of January seed catalogs and as I have an attached, heated greenhouse I can’t seem to help myself but to start vegetables from seed then go ahead with the garden in the spring. We don’t eat a lot of the produce, clean up in a pain but we have chickens who eat the ‘leftovers’ so in that sense it is worth it to them.
I think it is a long haul proposition, like Bikinglady said . We are on our third dinner of salad from one volunteer buttercrunch lettuce, and we have enough Parris Island and Speckles now to eat nothing but salad for the next several weeks. We threw out a bunch of potatoes that had eyes over the spring and pretty soon we will be up to our necks in potatoes. I grew some dill so we will eat potato salad for dinners. No tomatoes yet.
I'm still feeding the dogs with the squash I grew last summer. I make dog food now for them using either turkey, beef, liver, fish, or chicken, and potatoes, squash, carrots, apples--whatever else is still int eh freezer, which I am trying to clear out fast before this summer starts coming in. People feed deer around her and there are bags of apples and carrots at the gas station for 5 dollars for a huge bag, so we bought a bag of carrots last year and shredded them and froze them. We're still making dog food out of that bag, and the apples gives it some sweetness that they like.
i have never put a pen to it, but I probably do OK money wise with the garden. There are ways to be a frugal gardener and ways to spend a lot of money. I have things I've bought in earlier years, but my garden expenditure this year is probably less than $50. I will get at least that much in return with tomatoes alone relative to farmer's market prices. I plant some unusual things like heirloom eggplant, leeks, Italian peppers, or kohlrabi that are pricey or hard to find and add something different to cook with. And depending on the season I can walk out the back door and have fresh lettuce, spinach, kale, or basil, all of which are easy to grow and quite productive.
If it were just money alone, I'd probably not do it. It's a lot of work, besides.
If it were just money alone, I'd probably not do it. It's a lot of work, besides.
Last year was the first year we put in a "real" garden; maybe 60 square feet, tops. Several of the plants produced nothing. Others were minimal producers. Only the collard greens were productive. I didn't have that much money into it: I bartered with the neighbor for use of his tiller. And I had enough compost and rabbit fencing and stakes and such that I didn't need to buy any. But I thought it was a lot of effort for what little I got out of it. I didn't plant a garden this year.
I'd say that, at the scale of most people's gardens, it's not a moneysaver. But if you enjoy the activity and consider the flowers/fruits/veggies you get as a bonus, then it's worth spending the money. I just did not enjoy the process so much I would want to do it again. Plenty of other plants to care for around here.
Last year was the first year we put in a "real" garden; maybe 60 square feet, tops. Several of the plants produced nothing. Others were minimal producers. Only the collard greens were productive.
I totally understand someone not liking gardening work. I think a person also has to be a little bit of a foodie to enjoy the harvest. It's also easy to be discouraged. I have a 4'X4' raised bed and a fairly small open space garden. It's taken time to discover what grows best and where. At least for me, it's probably taken four of five seasons to find what grows well and what I can actually use to cook with. Now, I get a pretty decent amount of food. I save time and space by avoiding things that won't do well, aren't very productive, or that I won't enjoy eating. There is a learning curve to economizing on space and time. Still, it's not for everyone.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360768
'$64 Tomato': A Quest for the Perfect Garden
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5360768
'$64 Tomato': A Quest for the Perfect Garden
Thanks for that link creaker!
We used to do a big garden and it was fun to work in it, but as we have aged...now I just do tomatoes and my husband wants onions...I do have a large yard with many flowers, so that takes up our time. We do have a large patch of 12 blueberry bushes. They produce magnificently, the labor involved -weeding, netting, pruning, picking is worth the gallon bags of blueberries in my freezer and having my friend come up to pick a big share as well. We've replanted asparagus and the labor there is minimal. Production has been minimal for 2 years, but am expecting a much bigger harvest next year. The plants look good and strong.
catherine
7-16-17, 11:32am
We used to do a big garden and it was fun to work in it, but as we have aged...now I just do tomatoes and my husband wants onions...I do have a large yard with many flowers, so that takes up our time. We do have a large patch of 12 blueberry bushes. They produce magnificently, the labor involved -weeding, netting, pruning, picking is worth the gallon bags of blueberries in my freezer and having my friend come up to pick a big share as well. We've replanted asparagus and the labor there is minimal. Production has been minimal for 2 years, but am expecting a much bigger harvest next year. The plants look good and strong.
To your point, I think that, now that I've been gardening on and off for many years, is to keep it simple. I read a great article on Attainable Sustainable (http://www.attainable-sustainable.net) (which is a great site, and I recommend it) from someone who said that she's decided to ONLY grow 4 things: tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and basil. I think that's a good strategy: figure out what you eat the most, and then you learn exactly what those particular things need. You're not spreading yourself too thin, wasting money, time and energy.
I think it's a great idea to "do blueberries" and little else. I pretty much do the tomato/cuke/squash thing. I've found that mizuna is pretty indestructible, so I occasionally do that. I like to do the standards and then throw in a wild card. Maybe it's beets, maybe it's garlic. If it grows, it grows, but I don't buy a lot. It's just an experiment.
Teacher Terry
7-16-17, 1:45pm
My DH has a small garden and my son and DIL plant stuff in there too. The 3 of them enjoy it. They never plant more then 3 or 4 different items. However, this year the squirrel that lives under the neighbor's tree ate everything except the tomatoes. I guess he doesn't like them:))
It really boils down to 1) Do you enjoy gardening? 2) Do you grow what you normally eat? 3) Do you love the flavor of food fresh from the ground rather than 3-5w old in the grocery store picked long before it's ripe and ready to eat?
Compost is a must every year if you're organic gardening. (Those who do Miracle Grow don't need it or so they tell me). We have a compost mini-mountain that has built up over 20 years...and I didn't use but perhaps 1/3 of it dressing my garden beds this spring and I put a LOT of compost everywhere. No-cost compost here but I would buy it if I didn't make it myself.
I compare my costs and harvest to Farmer's Market pricing since I grow organic. Cost examples:
I failed to start my eggplant seeds this year so I spent $47.70 on 12 organic plants. $1.45/pound is the current price. So after 31 pounds it's free. I'll easily far exceed that. We'll slab and grill plenty for meals and use the bulk of it in our annual ratatouille for the freezer and winter enjoyment. http://www.salon.com/2010/08/07/ratatouille_weapons_grade_style/ This stuff is AWESOME! Thanks to Kalpana for sharing it here long ago.
I started my cucumbers from leftover seeds from last year. No cost. 12 plants in the ground. Will easily get 10 pieces from each plant. 120 cucumbers for 5 minutes work per week.
I buy my tomato and pepper plants every year-my biggest cost ($4 each from my CSA farmers). I put in 12 peppers and 24 tomatoes. I like to always plant at least 6 cultivars of each and buying seed and starting just a few sounds like a pain to me. 2y ago we put up 60 pints of salsa and over 40 quarts of ratatouille. Buying all of that at Farmer's Market? Can't imagine that cost. And OMG the flavor of a warm freshly picked heirloom tomato in late August? Divine:~)
I bought my zucchini this year as well. I picked 4 this morning-my first harvest. There will be many more off my 6 plants! Never has a neighbor said no to my offer of zucchini. And if they "get away", I seed them and grate them and bag it for freezing. It gets tossed into pasta sauce, into my lasagna, or squeezed dry for winter GF chocolate zucchini bread. http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com/2012/09/chocolate-chocolate-zucchini-bread-gluten-free/
It is NOT worth it to most people I know here nor most of my family members. For all the years of growing food in the front yard, I have only 2 neighbors who grow food. 1 already did but has expanded to the front yard as of 2y ago and the other started beds in the backyard after many chats and lots of Q&A with me out there.
I don't think it's all that much work personally, for the yield. 1 full weekend up front to clean up and prep the beds, planting, composting, top dressing with more compost. Today is the first day of work out there since planting. We spent 2h out there this morning weeding, threading plants through wire trellis and tucking tomato arms back inside their cages.....I'll do maybe 1h/week maintenance until harvest begins.
I would do better if I weren't working 50+ hours per week. I could be more attentive and do a better job of getting ready in the spring. one of the many things I will do more of in retirement.;)
YMMV!
No way it's cost effective for me. Maybe at one time in my life when I grew a huge one and canned and froze tons of produce. But that is ancient history. Now it's a hobby.
BUT, growing herbs is cost effective, I think. I have some which I can access most of the year, even in winter, right out on my deck--no run to the store. The rest I've got in dried form. I really have learned to love growing herbs. I grow about 18 different ones.
I have perennial herbs, minimal work and no expense. I like perennials as a concept, but my asparagus and blueberries never did much.
This year I only planted what other gardeners gave me. I've got 5 tomato plants that I've had a big 3 tomatoes from so far, pepper plants that haven't done anything, cabbage that has also been slow. I had some lettuce, kale, spinach that did ok. I think my raised bed soil is off, I don't have a fence to keep the rabbit and deer away and I'm giving up. Oh, the blackberries had my best year ever so I'll keep those. DH brings home bags of veggies from co-workers and friends plus there are the farmer's markets. I think I'm going to admit defeat. I do not have a veggie thumb.
We got into gardening in 2009 and have maintained a plot in our community garden. One thing we learned, is that first time gardeners definitely do not save money just with having buy tools and fencing. We have managed to start plants from seed and find the best buys for getting plants that are already started, but still have to admit that between buying seeds, plants and soil amendments, it's not still not cost effective from the outset. However I have gotten great satisfaction from gardening plus I enjoy canning the produce and drying the herbs, which last us through the winter.
This year, sadly, blew the costs out of the water. Major rainstorms last weeks that caused widespread flooding including the community garden. Lost my entire tomato and pepper crop, but luckily the pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers look they have survived due to being planted in hills and a bit of TLC. I debated doing this but decided come hell or high water (no pun intended) I am going to have me some tomatoes. So I bought some Early Girls and popped them in, there's enough time in our growing season to produce.
We have a small city lot - appx 5,200 sq ft and that includes the sidewalk and parkstrip I think. So we have to be selective on what we plant. Cost wise, veggies are not really a smart choice. We have lots of farmers markets with great fresh produce at good prices because the farmers have their water subsidized and water is a huge expense here. But I do like growing herbs and we have good producing lemon trees and a not very productive persimmon tree. This fall we might build a few small raised beds for cukes, zukes, and tomatoes. The rest of the garden is heavily planted for shade and year-round flowers and foliage. We don't have central A/C so the shade trees give us a good return on investment. And having a nice-looking garden in the winter months means we use our outdoor space a lot, so that's a good investment too. I have SAD and outdoor time is critical.
Hmmmm.... maybe I'll see what winter crops would work well since our cukes/zukes/tomatoes are all warm-weather plants. Of course that might make the soil too depleted if we grow stuff year-round so I would need to change out the soil twice a year I guess. That seems like a lot of work.
Question for you experienced veggie gardeners:
How often do I need to change out/supplement the soil if I grow veggies every year? We have heavy clay soil.
I'll add that my garden is a very meditative/zen place even though I don't grow veggies, so I don't think it's what you grow, but rather just the process of growing and tending a garden that seems to provide the wonderful benefits. My garden is my spiritual place.
Question for you experienced veggie gardeners:
How often do I need to change out/supplement the soil if I grow veggies every year? We have heavy clay soil. .
Every time you pull stuff up and every time you plant (if they are not one and the same). I will add more compost to my beds in a few weeks where I can get to the soil around plants.
Every time you pull stuff up and every time you plant (if they are not one and the same). I will add more compost to my beds in a few weeks where I can get to the soil around plants.
We add every time we plant. We don't garden all year so in the spring after the community plots have been tilled, we add compost to the areas we are planting. For the most part we plant directly in the ground except for root vegetables which go into a small raised bed. Ground is heavily clay, but works ok as so long we keep it aerated
I started out gardening with the "square foot garden" method. I followed the advice in the book almost to the T. It uses a shallow box with Mel's magic mix of peat moss, vermiculite and compost, equal parts. My 4'x4' box cost maybe $100 to set up and other than that, add a bag or two of compost every year. It's great for people who have limited space or poor soil as well as being really easy to grow many things. I plant leafy greens in the springtime and rotate in herbs later and grow tomatoes on one end on a trellis. It's not very well suited for other things I've tried. The special soil mix seems to retain moisture but is difficult to over water. It's not exactly work free, but much easier to manage than my open space garden.
I might recall that Mel died recently, but it looks like his web site is still up and I suppose the book is cheap used (or at the library).
http://squarefootgardening.org/
My raised beds have deteriorated over the years although I used pressure treated lumber. Every 3 years I fallow any given section, but I got lazy and stopped making compost. At one point I was even collecting waste at the office, but I never seemed to make enough in my bin for my medium sized garden. My soil is clayey and I've bought truckloads of topsoil before. I just think it is not meant to be a break even activity for me, and this is why when other parts of the US opened up to settlement farmers left New England and its ledge in droves.
My raised beds have deteriorated over the years although I used pressure treated lumber. Every 3 years I fallow any given section, but I got lazy and stopped making compost. At one point I was even collecting waste at the office, but I never seemed to make enough in my bin for my medium sized garden. My soil is clayey and I've bought truckloads of topsoil before. I just think it is not meant to be a break even activity for me, and this is why when other parts of the US opened up to settlement farmers left New England and its ledge in droves.
Clay soil needs to be made lighter and does take more time to develop into good garden soil. Topsoil helps but also need to amend with lots of compost and peat moss to make it lighter. Think 1/3 each. Good garden soil takes 3-5years to create.
You could consider raised beds to get what you want. We recycled boards from a falling down structure to make ours. You can then "harvest" all that expensive topsoil into those raised beds and amend with compost and peat moss and you'll be well on your way.
Think small. What do you WANT to grow? Make just 1 or 2 beds first year and grow from there. Our gardens have been a work in progress for many years. Just last year we put in another raised bed when I thought we were done.
A friend recently tore down his deteriorating raised beds and rebuilt them using the same boards they use for composite decking. He was able to find a place that sold left over odds and ends for a discount. They are expensive otherwise, but probably last almost forever.
My neighbor, who is referred to as the "tomato king" mulches leaves into his mower catcher in the fall and rototills them into his garden. That's an abundant source of organic material. Of course then you need a rototiller. I picked up a small electric one that was new/refurbished off Amazon for less than a hundred dollars. It's not exactly industrial, but does the job.
My neighbor, who is referred to as the "tomato king" mulches leaves into his mower catcher in the fall and rototills them into his garden. That's an abundant source of organic material. Of course then you need a rototiller. I picked up a small electric one that was new/refurbished off Amazon for less than a hundred dollars. It's not exactly industrial, but does the job.
Tilling disturbs lots of microbes in the soil and is not recommended. Layering brown with compost is preferred.
I would also need a lawn mower, and a new shed to store it in due to building codes.
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