海角大神

Saving Pennies or Dollars is a new semi-regular series on The Simple Dollar, inspired by a concerning frugal tactics that might not really save that much money. I鈥檓 going to take some of the scenarios described by the readers there and try to break down the numbers to see if the savings is really worth the time invested.

Amy writes in: Is having a garden cheaper than say the farmers market? By the time you count materials, watering, etc. I just don鈥檛 know!

The answer depends heavily on how you approach gardening. If gardening for you requires piles of brand new tools, a big tiller, plants that have all been started at a greenhouse for you, and other such expenses, gardening is going to really add up. On the other hand, if you try to use minimal tools and use them until they wear out and keep your own seeds, gardening can be really inexpensive.

I鈥檒l use our own gardening situation. Most of our garden implements were either gifts or were bought at yard sales, adding up to perhaps $10. Most of our plants are grown from seed in potting soil in our house in the late winter, then moved outside once the frost danger is out of the way. We mostly use a hoe for our garden to turn over the soil and mix in our compost, which is our fertilizer source and is made out of table scraps. We use hay out of a field near us for much of our mulch.

This type of gardening doesn鈥檛 add up to a whole lot of expense. We just don鈥檛 put a whole lot of money into our garden each year.

Now, let鈥檚 say we decided next spring that we wanted a garden. We go down to our local home improvement super store, buy a bunch of plants, buy a bunch of gardening tools, buy a small tiller, and stagger out with a pretty big charge on our credit card. We buy Miracle-Gro as our fertilizer and since we bought starts from the local store, we don鈥檛 bother saving seeds because the plants are hybridized.

The expense for the vegetables in this scenario is going to be quite high. Even if you spread the cost of all of those implements across several years of gardening, you鈥檙e still going to have quite an expense.

I鈥檒l use tomatoes as an example. A single tomato plant will yield 10 to 15 pounds of tomatoes if properly cared for. How much does it cost to get there?

Most sources where I live sell tomato starts in the spring for about $5 each 鈥� or even a bit more. My parents can get them for $2-$3 from a person they鈥檝e been buying plants from for years. Alternately, you can buy a for $2-$3 or so, along with a reusable tray ($5-$10), a grow light ($30-$40), and a source of soil, and you can grow them in your own home, reusing the seeds year after year.

You鈥檒l need some gardening implements to plant them 鈥� at the very least, a shovel and a hoe. You鈥檒l also need a source of food (compost, which can be free; manure, which can also be free; or a commercial fertilizer, which is easier but can be expensive, on the order of a dollar per plant per year), a fence to protect the plants (we built ours for about $20 per year of use, or maybe $0.25 per plant per year), water (maybe $0.05 per plant), and some insect protection (you can make passable insecticides for pennies, but store-bought ones that work better can also cost you, let鈥檚 say, $1 per plant per year).

You鈥檙e easily reaching a cost of $10 per tomato plant. Assuming, of course, that your plant doesn鈥檛 get attacked by insects or animals and doesn鈥檛 die of blight or another illness, you鈥檒l get ten or fifteen pounds of tomatoes out of the plant. That鈥檚 actually a pretty solid savings on your tomatoes.

However, to get to that point, you have invested quite a lot of time. You鈥檝e started the plants from seed or bought starts at the store. You鈥檝e cultivated the ground and planted them. You鈥檝e weeded around them. You鈥檝e mulched them. You鈥檝e watered them and fed them. You鈥檝e given them insect protection and disease protection.

Unless you enjoy that time invested, the time invested isn鈥檛 going to pay off for you. Yes, you鈥檒l save money with a garden, but the hourly rate you鈥檒l be saving on those plants and vegetables will quickly head toward $1 per hour or so.

If you enjoy gardening 鈥� and I do, in reasonable doses 鈥� it鈥檚 all well worth it and you can certainly save some dollars from gardening. If you don鈥檛 enjoy it too much, find something else productive to do with those hours and enjoy the fine produce available at your local farmers market.