Does home gardening make sense financially? I believe so.
Last Sunday at church, a dear friend was telling me how much she and her husband have been enjoying all manner of fresh greens harvested each week from their small garden. Cheap, abundant, healthy greens harvested a couple times each week.
Visiting later with another buddy, “farmer John”, later in the week, he invited me to come out and get some collard greens. “I’ve got lots to spare! You should come and get it before a hard freeze gets it!” He gives away most of what he grows as he gets all he wants.
Looking online, none other than the Investopedia website said that growing your own produce can save you money. They cited, from the national Journal of Extension, that the average value of produce from a home garden to be worth $677 with costs totaling only $238. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised.
Now, please do not think that you can go buy a large tiller and all kinds of fancy equipment and tend a small garden the size of a bedroom and make the numbers work out. As with all economic endeavors, you have to watch your input costs.
But with a raised bed and some good soil growing produce 12 months of the year, one could see a small, to modest financial return. I think the biggest hinderance is keeping your garden plot going year-round.
Bear in mind your input costs of seeds or transplants, soil and nutrients, all the tools (and perhaps a few you don’t need), structures such as fences or cages, and the water bill that will certainly peak in the summer. They will add up over time.
If you want to drill down and get serious about saving money on your grocery bill and enjoy the outdoors, consider the following. First, grow only what you like and what you need. Even a flat of six transplants of any certain vegetable can out-produce what most households can consume. See if you can buy fewer transplants or swap with friends.
Second, consider the square-foot gardening method. This gardening system looks at each square foot as a production unit. Forget the three-foot-wide rows with lots of bare ground exposed, and interplant smaller, earlier maturing produce between longer maturing types.
Lastly, for the truly frugal, start everything from seed. From a $3 package of seeds, you will have worlds of seed that you can use in successive crops to spread out the harvest, or to use half in the spring garden and the other half in a fall garden.
If you are still a little hesitant, try out growing some herbs that you really like on your back porch in a pot. The idea is to make it enjoyable and worth your time outside, in the kitchen, and in the wallet.
If you wish to learn more about building your soil or building a raised bed, the Angelina County Extension office will be hosting a noon gardening seminar on Tuesday, January 21. The focus is preparing your garden for the coming spring. Held from 12 noon to 1 pm, we will have two of our volunteer Master Gardeners speak. The Master Gardeners will be talking about how to use a raised bed, prepare the soil, and amend your soil for a tremendous growing season. Feel free to bring your lunch. There is no fee to attend.
Be sure to watch the weather and the chance for a hard freeze. We will cancel our noon program if the weather looks too difficult!