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Anyone on here actually getting enough food from their garden to make a visible, net positive dent in your food budget? Especially interested in responses from people in small lot suburban locations, rather than large lot or rural areas.
So far after a few years I think we are still deep in the hole compared to where we would be if we had never taken up gardening.
We have a small garden and I think that it does help with the food expense. We eat lots of tomatoes, and they are so much better than store bought. Plus the sauces that can be made and stored. Carrots, cucumbers, peppers, strawberries and varied other stuff is what we grow. I love it when I am hungry and don't want to cook. I just graze the garden.
The biggest garden cost would be soil and nutrients. If one is having to buy soil and amendments each season, that cuts into the savings. But if one is composting, or has chickens, rabbits or access to horse manure, then great! That's going to save a lot of money as well as provide excellent soil.
We have chickens and we compost, so it works out well for us.
If you are in the negative on a garden that you began to save money, you're doing something wrong. Seed is pretty inexpensive and fertilizer/compost can be obtained free. You don't need all the fancy stuff we see in the garden catalogs.
It's probably a push for me. I grow raspberries and strawberries, which are expensive to buy, but easy to grow. I also grow basil and dill, peppers, and tomatoes. The raspberries, strawberries, and dill come back every year (the dill self-seeds). Everything else, I buy as baby plants, so those are more expensive than seeds. There is NO WAY my cats would permit pots of soil with seeds, so I must buy plants. Some years are better than others, due to weather, bugs, hail, rain, wind, rabbits, etc. I don't garden to save money...I garden because I enjoy it.
It's probably a push for me. I grow raspberries and strawberries, which are expensive to buy, but easy to grow. I also grow basil and dill, peppers, and tomatoes. The raspberries, strawberries, and dill come back every year (the dill self-seeds). Everything else, I buy as baby plants, so those are more expensive than seeds. There is NO WAY my cats would permit pots of soil with seeds, so I must buy plants. Some years are better than others, due to weather, bugs, hail, rain, wind, rabbits, etc. I don't garden to save money...I garden because I enjoy it.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Goodness no! My wife remarked just a couple of weeks ago that the $10 tomato was worth it. With soil conditioners and fertilizer, a greenhouse, water, poles and ties, it costs a lot more than just buying. I do it for enjoyment too, but more so because for most things, especially tomatoes, they just taste soooo much better than store bought/gas ripened vegetables and fruit.
We have a running joke about our $40. tomatoes. It gets a bit better after a few years, but the only real reason I have a garden is for fresh tomatoes and herbs. Nothing else comes in enough abundance in my little garden to avoid buying from the grocery too.
Gardening is for fun, not cost effectiveness. If you want fresh go to the weekly farmer's market and buy organic.
It's not fun and can be expensive to grow some veggies then have some animal or pest get to your hard working efforts before you get a chance to pick them.
No.. It takes a lot of space to do that as well as a lot of freezing, drying. I save on some things but not really enough to cut anything off my grocery bill.
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