Does your garden ACTUALLY save you $ ?

[Wifezilla]

That is what I love about Abi...her subtlety

 

[me&thegals]

Absolutely! While I plant, I always think how a $1-2 packet of spinach seed grows enough to put in 5 CSA spring shares for 4 weeks, share with at least 10 friends and family members, eat for 2-3 months in spring and sometimes even sell at the farmer's market, sometimes earning almost $100. That's just one example.

Of course, there are those things I plant that never do a think--like rutabagas and salsify. They bring down the average.

Then, there's a $2 package of tomatoes that plants out 30 plants and could easily make me and my family 30 quarts of plain tomatoes, 40 quarts of salsa, 10 quarts of sauce and endless fresh eating.

I have a CSA, so my garden always pays for itself in the sales through that and the farmer's market. It's one of the reasons I started it: I get customers who pay for my expenses, and I eat free!

 

[VickiLynn]

Mine does. Last year, I calculated everything I grew in the garden, and priced it at what I would pay at the store. It came to $750. Then at some point, I realized I should have been pricing it by the cost of organic produce, so it would have been even more. Even with having to buy a new tiller and the cost of the seed, we came out ahead.

This year we should do even better, since the asparagus and blueberry bushes we planted 2 years ago and the strawberries from last year should be producing. Since that was paid in previous years, it'll feel like it's free now.

I really like the idea of investing in plants that will produce for years in the future. It's so cool to pick apples, pears and plums without having to do anything.

 

[dragonlaurel]

At this point I'm behind... but that's because I've only had my garden for 2 years, so a lot of the one time costs have been within the last two years. We're spending about $250 on fruit trees this spring.

I have 8 raised beds (different sizes, from 4x20, 2x10, 4x4 etc.), which I had to buy some lumber for (I bought cheap lumber, hence the weird sizes). I filled it with composted horse/sheep/cow manure (free), and some vermiculite ($20 for 4 cubic feet - I got 16 cubic feet), and peat. A sort of fence (7foot deer netting - $30) was put up this spring.

Most of my seeds came from Ebay or my mom so I guess it would be around $20 for seeds.

We're having a baby this fall and I'm collecting as many really small jars as I can to can my own organic baby food so I don't have to buy any. I'm also going to freeze, dehydrate and store as much as I possibly can for the winter. Veggies can be horribly expensive here during the winter, and this way I'll always have organic veggies that I grew myself. That's worth more than whether I made a 'profit' from the garden or not.

Plus, sitting out there tending and weeding is relaxing to me

I like the idea of keeping track with a spreadsheet... I think I'll try that for the next season and see how I make out

I read one lady saying that she makes baby food from her garden stuff, then freezes it in ice cube trays and saves the cubes in baggies. She said the cubes are a great serving size and it sounds easy and fast to do.

 

[Beekissed]

Over on TEG they have a thread where they want you to weigh all of your produce out of your garden so that you can see how many pounds of food you've grown this year. Would be fun if you all participated! So much easier than calculating dollars and cents....how many pounds of food can you grow?

 

[dragonlaurel]

I put my post on there too. Some people need to start small, and they can relate to it.

 

[big brown horse]

"According to the National Gardening Association, a seventy-dollar investment in a vegetable garden will yield six hundred dollars' worth of food." ~Michael Pollan

(Bee, I've got my scale out! Everything I bring in this summer is going on it and I'm adding it up! Including my fruit trees, ohmigosh, that is going to add up!! What a great project for my 13 year old girl!)

 

[Farmfresh]

I have been doing that.

I try to weigh most things, mark down berries and things like that by volume. It is easy with a lot of things, but gets hard to keep track of say the lettuce you pick for dinner, herbs and what I graze on in the garden. To be scientific it all should be weighed.

 

[freemotion]

Don't forget to factor in the peels and cores and tops and such that get fed to your critters, as Bee said earlier, and factor in saved animal feed costs. I also use squash and pumpkins in my year's catfood....365 pints a year, 366 in leap year! Maybe I'll grow the greens for this, too, this year. Thanks, hadn't thought of that...

 

[pioneergirl]

Good idea Bee....one guy told us that with the amount of potatoes we planted, which is approximately 5lbs, should yield us 600lbs....yes, I typed that correctly....600lbs of potatoes. That is on average, so I'll be anxious to see if he's right.

I'm going to dust off my scale now.....