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If you want to garden on a budget, raised beds are generally not needed though?
Some areas don't have the soil to support garden plants. Where I lived in New Mexico once my yard was nothing but sand. I built several raised beds and trucked in a ton of soil & compost to fill them. In other areas the ground is hard as rock and filled with clay.
What do you think the reason is more people do not garden despite food prices increasing??
I think there are way more reasons for it than what anyone can list here. And there is already a diversity of answers that have been given in response to this thread.
Perhaps many of those people have no affinity for living plants, or are not yet feeling enough sense of urgency or interest or self confidence and knowledge to make it worth their while to give up their conveniences of going to a grocery store and start learning how and where to work at growing their own food for themselves. A gardener has to be truly avid and willing to work hard to produce their own food safely and if the interest, common sense and knowledge - or desperation - isn't there then they aren't going to be very successful at it.
I think a grower's physical ability, geographical location, right climate and temperatures and reliable knowledge/education about agriculture are huge factors that inexperienced people have to take into account when considering growing food. If a person doesn't possess the above criteria their work is going to be a lot harder for them and many will eventually give it up as a lost cause and continue buying at the stores.
Not everybody lives on property with a house and lots of space. Not every apartment dweller has a balcony to put plant pots on, nor even enough space inside their apartment to devote to growing food plants while risking inviting infestations of mold and pests indoors. And it costs a lot of money to afford enough pots and soil to support enough plants for a person to eat an essential diversity of nutritious plants. Somebody who grows pots and pots of only tomatoes and peppers can't survive on those alone, and that isn't real gardening anyway, that's mono-gardening for fun, it's just a hobby.
How many, if any, K-12 schools teach any agriculture or even touch on animal husbandry as part of a mandatory curriculum to school kids that live in cities? I'm thinking that learning those things in K-12 schools is probably quite rare.
It takes some effort and you have to be able to withstand a learning curve.
Where I live, growing right in the soil at ground level was a never ending chore of weeds and grass choking out anything that tried to grow. I had neither the time nor the inclination to spend some time every day picking out growing weeds, if I could even tell what were weeds and what were seedlings.
Finally, fall before last, I put in a 10x4x2ft deep raised bed and filled it with compost. Overplanted in 2023 and learned some lessons but it was SO MUCH EASIER than planting directly in the ground. For me, trial and error.
I have a plan for this year. Planting less is part of the strategy. (I planted like 6 cucumber plants, yikes, planted fingerling potatoes in the raised bed - do not do this!!!! ) and tomatillos - they took over).
It is very satisfying, though, to eat the veggies you planted yourself. We had lettuce, spinach, some chard, some of the cukes, cilantro, and tomatoes (which we grew in buckets) and green beans.
Laziness, lack of knowledge, or just no place to grow. My lot is 12,000 sf but the house is 3,000 and right in the center of the lot. Then on the side we have 80-100’ tall fir and cedar trees. I am limited to a 8’x12’ greenhouse placed between two trees where it gets morning eastern sun on one side and then all afternoon western sun on the other. This last summer I grew tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peas and beans. When we retire and move next spring I’m looking for at least 1/2 acre of open space to grow food.
We also have a short growing season, so I start seeds indoors with grow lights, when Input them out in early May they have flower buds visible.
With the water, various fertilizers and other costs I don’t think one can beat the price of grocery store produce unless they grow in acreage and can freeze or can it for winter. For me it’s not the money, it’s just that it tastes so much better.
Odds are you have far fewer pesticides or herbicides contaminating you home grown produce. There is no comparison between a home grown tomato and one from a grocery store.
From a purely cost perspective I would say it's a break even over time. You can defray costs by making your own compost, keeping seed etc.
I didn’t inherit my Dad’s green thumb. He could grow anything, and he had a good acre or so in CT that was all garden, all organic. I remember him digging up huge heads of escarole in December that he had buried under leaves in the fall. So good. He grew everything, and it all thrived. Except corn, although he did grow corn a few times - - just not enough room for that.
I couldn’t grow anything there, and I can’t grow vegetables here in South Louisiana. My thumbs are both black, not green, lol.
I have had luck with basil and parsley, but the butterflies usually decimate my parsley.
The increasing popularity of gardening despite rising food prices can be attributed to a multifaceted set of reasons......
That full post was a good response about why there may be increasing popularity for gardening. For the gardeners on this forum who already love gardening you are preaching to the choir. But that didn't answer the question that was asked.
What do you think is the reason that more people do not garden despite food prices increasing? That is the question being asked. What kinds of material obstacles or mental attitudes do you think could be discouraging or preventing people from growing their own food to offset the increasing prices of food sold in markets?
But that didn't answer the question that was asked.
What do you think is the reason that more people do not garden despite food prices increasing?
Because produce is cheap, plus I can buy it at our numerous farmers markets; during the same time I would be harvesting my own in summer/fall.
But there's still things I can't buy up here I grow, like hatch peppers and rare San Marzano; of which seeds my friend brought back from Italy.
If you have room in your house, one can grow a lot of stuff inside. Grow lights aren't that expensive. Currently I have basil and mint growing in my aerogarden. Probably today Ill start cilantro, more basil, licorice, chicory and chives. In the past I've grown jalapenos in my aerogarden. I'm thinking of starting flower seeds inside next month. Maybe Ill wait until March.
And then with romaine lettuce and green onions, don't throw away the root ends. Stick them in a bowl or cup of water and they'll regrow. These are items you can put in your kitchen window.
Unless you really have room it is purely decorative. By the time the root ends of a lettuce grow into enough for a salad it takes forever and you have these halfsies hanging around the house.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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There is no way you can save money growing your own unless you have a good 1/2 acre of land. With the cost of the seeds or worse seedlings, fertilizers, soil mixes & compost, water, and in my case building a greenhouse, I probably break even on tomatoes and cucumbers, but take a loss on peppers and zucchini. Even if I had room for corn here, it's often on sale in summer 5/$1 at the farmers market, it would cost me more than that just for the water. This is why people don't do it to "despite food prices increasing". We do it for the fun and for the taste. I have never eaten a tomato from the store that had any flavor. They have to be picked green to survive shipping and shelving, then are gassed to turn them red.
If you want to garden on a budget, raised beds are generally not needed though? Just more convenient to maintain and makes the vegetable garden look more tidy (especially in winter when there's no greenery).
No in our case it was kinda the best way- we live on shale and decomposed granite. It's really crappy soil. We're also on a slope so it made it easier with raised beds. Depending on where one lives, topography and soil type, raised beds make sense.
When we bought the house the previous owners had built 2 large sections with timbers, leveled for I believe a playground, so we simply added on to that existing structure.
Our first house in WV? Perfect spot, a hugggge pile of decomposed wood/logs/vegetation right there and with little work we had a 50'x100' garden that produced incredibly. Way more than what we produce now. It only cost manpower and a weekend with a tiller.
It all depends.
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) and tomatillos - they took over). 
