Is Gardening Cheaper Than Buying Fruits and Vegetables?

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.

 

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).

Those are good numbers, but keep in mind that there are ongoing costs as well. Water, for one, will be a regular line item on your budget. You’ll need to handle pesticides and use other measures to protect your crops, too. Plus, there will be breakage, meaning some of your crops will die off. Frost can come in unexpectedly and destroy more and every wild, living thing nearby will be eyeing your garden hungrily. Those breakage factors will make your initial sunny estimates of return on your investment look silly once they’re done with you.

The other consideration is what you plant. Some plants are more cost-effective than others, but there’s no point in planting a high-return plant if you’re not going to eat it. When planning your garden, choose fruits and vegetables that you enjoy and will actually eat, because to get a big budget impact from your garden you’ll need to eat a lot of what it produces.

These are the most cost-effective crops

So you’re going to conquer economic anxiety by planting a home garden and living off your own crops. What are the best plants to invest in? Here are some of the most cost-effective crops you can plant.

Tomatoes. As noted above, tomatoes are a terrific investment. They don’t take up much space and can be very easy to grow. Seeds are cheapest and produce the most economic benefit, but they take a long time to yield. Buying a seedling or mature plant will run you anywhere from $4 to $8, but will get you those red beauties much faster, and since you’ll still get at least around eight pounds worth of tomatoes, you’ll be saving yourself about $3 per pound.

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).

Those are good numbers, but keep in mind that there are ongoing costs as well. Water, for one, will be a regular line item on your budget. You’ll need to handle pesticides and use other measures to protect your crops, too. Plus, there will be breakage, meaning some of your crops will die off. Frost can come in unexpectedly and destroy more and every wild, living thing nearby will be eyeing your garden hungrily. Those breakage factors will make your initial sunny estimates of return on your investment look silly once they’re done with you.

The other consideration is what you plant. Some plants are more cost-effective than others, but there’s no point in planting a high-return plant if you’re not going to eat it. When planning your garden, choose fruits and vegetables that you enjoy and will actually eat, because to get a big budget impact from your garden you’ll need to eat a lot of what it produces.

These are the most cost-effective crops

So you’re going to conquer economic anxiety by planting a home garden and living off your own crops. What are the best plants to invest in? Here are some of the most cost-effective crops you can plant.

Tomatoes. As noted above, tomatoes are a terrific investment. They don’t take up much space and can be very easy to grow. Seeds are cheapest and produce the most economic benefit, but they take a long time to yield. Buying a seedling or mature plant will run you anywhere from $4 to $8, but will get you those red beauties much faster, and since you’ll still get at least around eight pounds worth of tomatoes, you’ll be saving yourself about $3 per pound.