Does your garden ACTUALLY save you $ ?

[reinbeau]

I've never been a big fan of planning with equity in mind. Then again, I'm not into flipping houses, as anyone knows who knows me. I've been on this property for 32 years now. I look at a landscape as something that's going to bring me pleasure, to me it isn't work at all. Someday I'll be dead and gone, and no doubt whoever ends up with this house will grass over the gardens and just live here (I discovered old gardens as I began to garden here, even a brick patio was grassed over!!). That's their prerogative. Mine is to putter around and garden as I see fit. As I said before, the reward to me has nothing to do with money and everything to do with peace and satisfaction.

 

[ducks4you]

Someday I'll be dead and gone, and no doubt whoever ends up with this house will grass over the gardens and just live here .

That's what EVERYBODY does!! **sigh** :/....and another **sigh**:/

 

[Wifezilla]

I've told hubby that if it wasn't for the ducks and the garden, there would be a trail of bodies.....

 

[~gd]

I spent $5 each on my grape vines. Last year I harvested well over 50lbs of grape!

And with grapes going for over $2 and $3 a pound, how can you argue with that? LOL

I can say for the $2 I spent on a packet of peas, I'll harvest well over that amount money-wise when you price out organic peas at the market. My broccoli is the same way!

Does your time have no value, your hard work free and you NEVER have a crop fail? I am recently retired so my time isn't worth a lot, but I have spent the last 25 mostly sitting on my butt and the old joints ache and muscles underused are often sore. Maybe 30% of what I try to produce actually ends up on my table and is not great quality and strictly depends on the weather. I'll admit to being a pestimist (who can't spell) but is your life really so rose colored?

 

[~gd]

So are you telling me that my $50 tomato's are too expensive? You strike me at the heart, friend. LOL

All kidding aside, your question is a good one. I am one of the types that buys the tools and stuff for the garden at first and then uses it for years thereafter, which is how I got the cost of my tomato down to $50 last year. But one thing is for certain. Good tools make the work easier and if you have to work as I do, time is a precious commodity and little is available most days.

Your question really has a much more important answer and many of us here have felt the same question in the past based on the amount of work, cost of materials, cost of our time, cost of seed, etc and the answer still remains PEACE OF MIND. A garden 4x16 properly managed (raised bed type) will feed you for a year. This may sound absurd but it is true. Yes, canning jars, and the like will increase the cost but that is NOT what this is about. Each year you do your own work, the cost goes down. It will never go away, but it can be controlled by good management, a willing and strong spirit and a happy heart.

We, who pursue the SS life till and tend a garden because we aren't sure when that skill will be the most important of all...that day after TSHTF. We all appear to believe that things are not stable in our land and our earth. We believe that taking care of ourselves is the first step in being a contributing member to the society of neighbors around us so that we support each other in bad times. Yes, I know that hasn't happened since 1929 but just like other things, you'd rather be ready and not have to do it, than have to do it and not be ready.

Gardening is a skill; some are better than others at it. but mostly it is a way of life. One writer above mentions wanting to skip the garden each year but then when spring happens, they run outside as fast as they can in order to see that first sprout coming up. Would you be ready to do it if you waited till the day after TSHTF? No, I doubt it. You develop your skills when the going isn't so tough. That way you are ready when the road gets bumpy.

The bottom line though, is that gardening and canning (which go hand in hand) are two skills which provide us with life sustaining food allowing us to support our families and ourselves. We can probably NOT imagine what we will feel on the day after TSHTF but those who have developed the gardening skill will be able to think clearly and plan accordingly. What we worry about is the folks who never did and now think they are "entitled" to what we have worked for while they didn't. Right now, our entire country is about to come un-glued for exactly the same problem; which is the very reason we are working toward SS.

Yes, our garden costs a bit more than we had planned or could afford at times, but then if food became scarce and grocery stores couldn't get supply, gardeners will sit back and smile while they enjoy "the fruits of their labors". Most, if they are like my neighbors will get together and help each other. That will be the day your question is answered unequivocally...

Best
Trim

So the best investment is in firearms and bullets since farmers are usually easy targets for the roamers, drifters, hunters. (I am only partly kidding if you really think the Shtf is really coming you might consider this)

 

[Wifezilla]

The grape vine is very low maintenance. It doesn't get bugs. No diseases (knock on wood). I do lose crops (no apples last year - blossoms froze), and some years aren't as good as others, but the grapes have had consistent output with little effort starting on year 3. I do trim it in the fall, but that takes me about 1/2 hour. The only reason it takes that long is because I have to be careful not to trip on the ducks under foot

This year my seedless is not nearly as full as last year, but my concord vine is LOADED. AND I will get apples.

As for disappointments, I never get more than a few strawberries and all my daikon's bolted.

On the other hand, I am getting bumper crops of vivian lettuce (it's delicious!), spinach and jersey cabbage, and my apple tree and pear trees are loaded. I also have a really good herb garden, and with the exception of my rosemary, everything is doing great.

As for my time, gardening is therapy. It is hard work, but I find it relaxing and enjoyable. Gardening saves me a trip to the couch and time in the gym. What is a psych visit now days? How much per month is a gym membership?

So the best investment is in firearms and bullets since farmers are usually easy targets for the roamers, drifters, hunters. (I am only partly kidding if you really think the Shtf is really coming you might consider this)

Of COURSE we have already thought of this

 

[Icu4dzs]

The grape vine is very low maintenance. It doesn't get bugs. No diseases (knock on wood). I do lose crops (no apples last year - blossoms froze), and some years aren't as good as others, but the grapes have had consistent output with little effort starting on year 3. I do trim it in the fall, but that takes me about 1/2 hour. The only reason it takes that long is because I have to be careful not to trip on the ducks under foot

This year my seedless is not nearly as full as last year, but my concord vine is LOADED. AND I will get apples.

As for my time, gardening is therapy. It is hard work, but I find it relaxing and enjoyable. Gardening saves me a trip to the couch and time in the gym. What is a psych visit now days? How much per month is a gym membership?

So the best investment is in firearms and bullets since farmers are usually easy targets for the roamers, drifters, hunters. (I am only partly kidding if you really think the Shtf is really coming you might consider this)

Of COURSE we have already thought of this

So glad ~gd is "only partly kidding" because the "unfortunate and inconvenient truth" is that he is right. The roamers will attempt to help themselves to the fruits of the labors of others. They may well be carrying firearms, but my guess is that they are only good with those firearms at close distance and with mostly luck. I on the other hand spent a long time in the employ of my rich Uncle, among whose teachings was the use of firearms, explosives and a number of techniques designed to deter an assault and discourage unwanted "roamers"...particularly from a distance.

Would anyone like to buy any marksmanship medals...cheap? They are of no use now but what they represent apparantly still has great value.

YMMV
De Opresso Liber
Trim

 

[Mackay]

So far my garden is a big sucker!
But I wouldn't trade it in for anything.

 

[pioneergirl]

I spent $5 each on my grape vines. Last year I harvested well over 50lbs of grape!

And with grapes going for over $2 and $3 a pound, how can you argue with that? LOL

I can say for the $2 I spent on a packet of peas, I'll harvest well over that amount money-wise when you price out organic peas at the market. My broccoli is the same way!

Does your time have no value, your hard work free and you NEVER have a crop fail? I am recently retired so my time isn't worth a lot, but I have spent the last 25 mostly sitting on my butt and the old joints ache and muscles underused are often sore. Maybe 30% of what I try to produce actually ends up on my table and is not great quality and strictly depends on the weather. I'll admit to being a pestimist (who can't spell) but is your life really so rose colored?

And here we go......

No, my life isn't rose colored, yes my time is worth something, and I do have crops fail. So what? Doesn't every farmer? Yes, I'm sore from spending 3 hours on my hands and knees weeding, yes, my feet hurt from standing over 2 pressure cookers all day canning the fruits of my labor, but I tell you what, that effort has saved our behinds.....DH has lost his job, and without that hard work we'd be starving. ALL of my produce ends up on my table....that is, all that makes it. I've had peppers fail, a dozen potato plants that didn't produce, corn that has drowned, carrots that didn't make it at all, and I could go on and on just for this year! But I say again.....It has saved us, so YES, my garden saves me money, and my life!

 

[reinbeau]

Roamers can try to steal my crops, they won't be the only one with guns - or plenty of ammo.

I am actually rather intrigued at those who are trying to downplay or discourage people growing their own food. I grow a lot, and it isn't marginal in quality at all, there's nothing better than stepping out into my garden and gathering veggies for supper, they taste fantastic, and I have enough to share with my family members. There isn't any waste, because if things bolt they just go into the compost bins and are returned to the garden next year as soil building compost. Crop failures? They happen, but stuff happens all the time, deal with it and move on. My time is valuable, I choose to spend it in the garden. My glasses aren't rose colored at all, they help me see things very clearly.