Hi veggie -

I can't even begin to think of the costs I've incurred with the garden.

I'm very limited on space so I've had to be creative and use any place I can (short of using the whole front yard).

Last year I built a 4 x 8 box on the driveway, a 2 x 16 box on the driveway, a grape arbor, two 4x4 strawberry pyramids, and a 4 x 20 raised bed in the front yard. I then spent money on a water timer, several hose accessories, and then a bunch of deer netting and PVC pipe to use as poles to hold the netting up and to use for drip irrigation.

Last year I bet I spent close to $500 on everything - including the four grape vines (two died) and a five-foot tall Granny Smith apple tree.

This year I built onto the 4 x 20 bed in the front yard - so I made another 4 x 20 bed about two feet from the other one. I then had to pay $60 for compost/soil from the compost facility to get them filled. I spent another whopping amount of PVC piping, another water timer, and cinder blocks to make a retaining wall behind the garage.

The retaining wall and rebar cost was about $90. The wood for the new 4 x 20 box was about $25. Another water timer of $25. Probably over $50 on PVC pipe. I spent about $30 on seeds and germinated all of them myself. The seed purchase will also be enough to have for next year as well.

The major expense was the rain barrel project. I probably have over $300 in the whole rain barrel project between making a raised platform and PVC pipe to connect the barrels together. So again, this year - including the rain barrel project - I bet I've spent another $500 this year.

Next year this number should be greatly reduced. I've basically used all of the space I have (unless I build another bed in the front yard which is highly unlikely). The rain barrel system is all done and I have a lot of PVC pipe and fittings for all my needs.

I fully understand the frugal part. I have a clothes line down in the basement and do the same thing as you - take the laundry out and put it on the clothes line for two days - then put in the dryer for 15 - 30 minutes to fluff a bit. The rain water was a big step forward to reduce my water consumption as my water bill was twice as high during the summer months than during winter for that reason. I have vehicles that get over 32 mpg on average. I live two miles from work and during the summer, I even ride a bike to work.

I haven't been very frugal with the garden - but just like anything - there is an initial investment. I've spent about $1,000 on everything - but I think it has helped the property value - and if the house is sold to an avid gardener or someone that appreciates them, they would be worth a pretty penny - especially the rain collection system (will have a maximum capacity of 660 gallons once all finished - right now it holes about 500 gallons). The produce received from the garden will eventually offset the cost of all of it after a few more years. Just going to the supermarket today to see that one bell pepper is $3 each is outlandish - and I had 50 pounds of bell peppers last year. Broccoli is $1.50 a head and I put out eight of those a year. Fresh green beans (not canned) is a big thing as well - with over 50 pounds of those last year. Not to mention tomatoes.

Overall, I say that I have close to about 361 square feet of usable garden space. So at $700 investment (not including rain barrel system), that is about $2 per square foot.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

I have 2 4x8, 2 3x6, 2 3x3, 1 1x8 beds and numerous pots and planters in place. My 8x8 bed got taken over by gophers.
This year I have spent $22 on a heat mat set to start my plants from seed (this saved probably $50 buying pant starts), about $30 for plant starts that I couldn't do from seed and about $50 for soil for a couple of new boxes.
I make my own compost and get aged manure from local farms, most of my seed came from a local seed bank club and a local yahoo gardening forum.
I have to say that even putting out $100, I probably get $500 worth of veges/herbs. I'm just using the last of my tomato sauce this week to make some chili! I make herb packets for Xmas (more savings!Just have to find some bottles/containers from the thrift stores!) You can make tomato sauce and freeze and give that as gifts also! Hey there's your Xmas taken care of also! Saving even MORE $!
Yes, you do have to put some $ into starting a garden (unless you don't have gophers or bad soil!), but I think it is totally worth it for the exercise, fresh produce, mental and physical well being (except for the trips to the chiropractor! LOL) and the feeling that you grew all of this!
You can make/build a trellis, I've used a closet wire shelf up-ended, this year I found a CD rack that was beautiful for my cukes. I've gone on freecycle.com and got bamboo to make teepees, I found some fencing also on FC to use as tomato supports, I got clips from the flea market to hold them up on the wire.
You sound like you're very UMM resourseful as I am! LOL
Hope this helped a bit and let me know if I can give you any more help! NT

Oh my......I don't spend nearly that much. It depends on what you refer to as garden space. I don't count my berry beds and my garden shrinks and grow, depending on what I am planting that year. This year's garden is about 2000 sq. feet. Last year it was twice that because I wanted to put in more corn and pumpkins.

I use manure from my chicken flock, so no fertiliser expense. I only water when absolutely necessary, and if I do will run a couple houses from the spigots in the g'house, so no rain buds.

All of the garden is grown from seeds I start myself, either in the g'house or in situ in the garden. You know, many of the dollar or hardware stores have those deeply discounted seed racks where packets of seed go from 10 to 39 cents. They're just as good as any fancy seed.

If you are only gardening a 4 x 8 bed, consider buying your veggie starts from places who sell cell packs and flats, and not the box stores where they charge by the plant in little container for two or three dollars a pop or up. So, the only outlay this year on my garden is probably ten dollars in seed. I saved the green bean and broccoli seed, pepper and some of the tomato seed from last years plants after harvest. They're perfectly acceptable.

Oh.......we also paid a man to come in with his big tractor, since I don't have a tiller to run off mine. My son or g'son would have done it for nothing, and the garden is really too big to want to till it with a walk-behind. So we gave him more, but he would have done it for $35.

My only hope is to break even this year.....

but if you count previous years - I'm deep in the hole!

Estimating our costs is very difficult. We have a small farm, with adequate room for four large vegetable gardens, two herb beds and as asparagus bed. The asparagus is easy--$39 for crowns. We start most of our own plants, but this year our vegetable gardening space doubled because part of our old delapidated barn came down and gave us--a big, raised vegetable bed, knee-deep in composted manure! I ended up buying more tomato, eggplant, and pepper seedlings at $2.50 per six pack, so that cost me about $12.50.
I ordered $16.50 in seeds, and swapped seeds with other nearby gardeners. We don't have expenditures for fertilizer--what our hens don't provide, our neighbors cattle do (doo doo).
In all, I'd estimate with the gas for the tiller, and the cost of seeds and seedlings, we have slightly under $75 invested in this year's garden.

Thanks for the responses.

calliope - I let some of my peas pods grow big enough to collect peas for planting this year. This year I am going to make an effort to do the same with my edamame, green beans, and cucumbers. There is something highly appealing about gathering your own seeds.

Nancyjane- I know what you mean about using your garden to create Xmas gifts. Last Xmas I gave out tea kits. I grew chamomile, mint, and lemon balm. Then I dried everything, and used that $5 coupon Bed, Bath & Beyond is forever sending everyone to buy spice jars. I did manage to find a collection of spice jars at Goodwill, but they smelled too much like the herbs they had been holding.

This Xmas I hope to expand my tea kits to spice kits as well. Or maybe I will just hand out bottles of my own Italian seasoning. Either way, I still need to buy chamomile for the year, and then I am drawing the line - no more seedlings. (Ha, we'll see how long before I cross that line.)

You know, we have to consider things other than costs. For the first time this year, we started growing vegetables. I built two, 10x4' raised beds and bought topsoil, mushroom compost and other compost to fill them. Then I cleared an area about 20x4' for beans and picked out all the rocks and roots and created raised beds with same soil as above and bordered it with the rocks. I also made two smaller beds for squash and zuchinni again, bordered by the rocks I dug. I also dug two lawn borders approximately 30' each and planted 50 strawberries. I have a 35' row dug(again with thousands of rocks removed) and planted Yukon Gold potatoes. I spent $100 at Burpee for tomatos, peppers, strawberries and seeds. I've bought seed locally, and spent money with Gurney and Parks. I bought tomato stakes, starter peat pellets, soil, compost, more soil and more compost, straw for mulching, twine, pruning tools, hand spades and children's hoes and rakes for my little girl, every week it seemed more and more money was being spent. I started keeping up with expense just to see what it all would end up costing but somewhere in the middle of it all, I decided I really didn't want to know, fearful to know how much I had spent as it was adding up quickly. I spent another $30 today at the local garden center buying peppers to replace the ones killed by a cold wind earlier this week. Three of them I just bought last week and set out, only to have them killed two days later.
Tonight we had a nice salad of spinach, baby romaine, and mesclun mix. With a few scallions and tiny radishes thrown in. I commented that we've probably collected $25 worth of salad greens already this season. My wife agreed and added, "maybe more". Then I said, "So another $975 dollars worth and we'll be breaking even!" We both laughed.
But I have spent enjoyable hours of labor in this so far. My little four year old has had loads of fun and is learning that food doesn't originate in the grocery store. Every morning she wants to go out and tell her peas "good morning" and every evening tells her peas, "nightnight"! The sheer enjoyment of eating that which you've grown. The pleasure of taking a container of baby greens over to the neighbor next door, who is ill and can't get out. The knowledge that, if things went really bad, we could at least grow enough to supplement what we had to buy. The exercise of digging in this rocky ground. Just being outside and having your hands in the dirt...all of this is part of what we do. Who can put a price on that? You've got to do SOMETHING other than vegetate in front of meaningless drivel on the TV. What better to do than grow your own food. If I had more space, I'd expand and grow more.
But speaking strictly dollars and cents...I'm deeply in the hole! But I figure the raised containers aren't going anywhere and the ground is taken care of so, from here on out, each season should be more "profitable", so to speak, as this initial investment is an up-front expense that I won't have in future seasons.

bigtrout - I think many serious gardeners go into gardening with the idea that they will save money by growing their own veggies. Maybe there is a gardener out there who has saved him/herself a significant amount of money by growing their own veggies. I am trying to be that gardener, but I don't think I am quite there yet.

I prefer to buy organic food, which can be pricey. My husband tells me growing my own veggies and fruit is definitely a savings over buying organic in the grocery store.

That being said, there are many health benefits to gardening - both physical and emotional. Last year, when I was laid off, my garden was a place where I could center myself and truly get my mind off all my worries. This year I am struggling with a very wayward student who will likely find himself in a juvenile detention center before he reaches high school. I come home to my garden and physically feel the stress leaving my body. I can honestly say my garden has been the best "therapy" out there. Given one therapy sessions can cost way more than I spend on my garden in one season, I may be way ahead financially.

You can start broccoli & cauliflower in milk jugs (wintersowing, even if it's spring, check out the WS forum on GW or wintersown.org). I start my lettuce, spinach, broccoli etc that way. Sow them in the jugs, plop them on the porch, wait for the garden to warm up. There are some who do toms & peppers that way but I tried it last year without success.

In 2010 I have spent around $40 I think (I checked my spreadsheet but I may be missing a couple things). I didn't need to spend that much but I just couldn't seem to walk away from the seed racks. I think I spent $315 last year (includes $189 for fruit trees, berries & perennial edibles)and about $365 in 2008 (when I started the garden)which included some non-essential puchases (like the $60 used chipper/shredder that I accidentally broke the same season).

I am, uhm, thrifty... I scavenged most of the materials I built with. If I had to, I could garden for a while with the seed I have already accumulated, though I might require a few additions. I could work harder at saving seed, but I still want to try some new varieties before I do to decide what I like best.

I harvested 148 pounds in 2009. I think I harvested about 50 pounds in 2008 (I expanded the garden in 2009) though I didn't track the entire season that year. I think I can ultimately get a higher yield- I'm still learning the tricks of gardening at 7000 feet elevation. It can be tricky.

Whether or not I save money, I definitely eat healthier foods by gardening. I consume a lot more veggies - got to eat them before they spoil... Some days last summer I had zucchini for lunch, zucchini with dinner with a cucumber appetizer...

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

I save money every year by growing our vegetables. I'm a low-input gardener, though. No raised beds. No special soil. No amendments except in flower beds (roses and clematis get special attention). I rarely fertilize or spray... just give my plants good spacing. We compost everything we can hubby even collects from the staff room at work every day  and when I have time, I haul manure from our horse shelter (though that's exhausting because it's all compacted. We maybe replace one or two broken hand tools a year, but that's it. The rototiller came with our acreage from the previous owners and we use it once or twice a year. I don't buy any starter plants at all... I have 12 full flats downstairs under lights right now and I haven't even potted on the 400+ onions and leeks yet (no more shelf space). Once you factor in seeds and seed potatoes, starter mix, gas for the tiller, electricity for the lights and the few cell packs I need to buy to replace broken ones... I'd estimate $150 at the very most spent each year (on average) on 2750 sq ft garden (50 by 55 feet). The one year I actually got out the calculator, I think I made my money back on tomato sauce and salsa alone  everything else was bonus. Pumpkins, potatoes, carrots, pickled beets, lettuce and herbs. I packed a small deep freeze, too  green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus (started from seed years ago).

You can defiantly save tons of money growing your own I tend to spend to much also since it is my hobby I still think never buying produce ends up being worth it I know I have a bit over 100 in seeds this year thats for 5000 square feet I am trying to get my self set for saving seeds to save costs also although those seeds could have been picked up on the bargain shelf rather than mail ordered

Here is an article from backwoods home magazine which someones mother challenged them to a 1 dollar garden

This is my very first year ever gardening, in less you count the one container of rosemary I grew in an apartment once. I the initial cost has been more than I thought it would be, I put in two 4'x4' raised beds and the soil for that, the boards, the pvc pipes to hold bird netting to keep the neighbors cat out of them, the seeds, the fertilizer, the tools, I know it is has been more than 400 bucks so far. Then I wised up and started to make more beds in ground the cost went way down at that point. On my 7' x 20' bed I spent 5 bucks amending the soil and another 5 on seeds. I have one more raised bed I want to put in (only because I like matching stuff, :) ) and maybe one more next year to equal a set of 4. Then the rest is cheap in ground beds. I am a cheapsake at heart, this is getting costly. My hope in all this is to get good enough at gardening I can just walk by the produce section of the grocery store. Which for some reason produce is very costly here...

"bigtrout - I think many serious gardeners go into gardening with the idea that they will save money by growing their own veggies. Maybe there is a gardener out there who has saved him/herself a significant amount of money by growing their own veggies. I am trying to be that gardener, but I don't think I am quite there yet. "

One thing I can tell you I am way ahead on:

in 2004, I first bought the house and tried a veggie garden - I was in an accident, hadn't lived amongst rabbits before and everything died. Except this little mint......paid maybe 3 dollars for the "organic" start at a farmers market.

well - the garden area obviously was a weed field (bought house in winter - don't do this!!) and it stayed that way for many years. These are crazy 4-6 foot tall weeds - many perennial.

Finally I have rehabilitated the area - I think! - lots of weeds still, but made good progress last year and trying to stay on top of things this year.

The mint expanded - no surprise, and now I have a very large mint patch which I am harvesting about 10 cups per week. Saw organic mint for sale at whole foods for 15/pound! No joke, I nearly burst out laughing.

Now - with organically grown baby greens - these go for 10/pound or more.

So I guess what I'm saying is we eat differently - I wouldn't be buying mint for 15/pound, and baby greens would be a treat, but rowing my own - I can eat at a standard I wouldn't dream of purchasing at the store.

Now - I'm in chicago, so very urban=pricier food. I know for some farmers markets are reasonable, fresh and wholesome alternatives. we do have farmers markets....but they cost more than the corner store. It's become a yuppish thing to some to whom money is of little object, hence - higher prices and I'm sure the city has it's fee out there too. As I said - this is chicago!

Oh - I meant to say with my mint example, that one thing we can do is identify crops with higher returns on investment than other.

If growing space is limited - plant what you can't buy - or what the price differential is highest on - or where the store vs garden quality is most apparent.

So when costs are issues, plant from a business perspective.

But definitely - start up costs are discouraging. I'm just starting out - I need more beds, fences, etc. It's hard to allocate funds when there are other needs for the money.

healthy eating, all!

Fencing is my main cost. You are lucky if you dont need a large fence.
I think if you are willing to dig enough, raised beds arn't necessary.
If you truly enjoy gardening, then just think of the cost in your entertainment budget.
If you are on food stamps, you can buy seeds with them, i'm not sure about seedlings.

I'm lucky because my house came with ten raised garden beds. Of course when I bought the house, the raised beds were filled with nothing but weeds. Plus there were two large black walnut trees next to the garden beds. At the time the beds were useless. I can be thankful about not having to invest the money in raised beds, but I think I still incurred quite a cost having those two black walnut trees removed. Not to mention the time it cost me. I wasn't able to garden for at least five years after moving into the house. Had to let the soil cleanse itself of black walnut.

hey veggiefaery -

how did the black walnut affect the veggie beds?

I started my first raised bed garden last year. My original intention was to make one 4x8 raised bed where the previous homeowners had laid out base boards for one, although they never built them up, and there was no usable soil there, so it was really just a rectangle of wood sunken into the ground. Since I only planned on the one, I used pricey redwood lumber and metal brackets, and I think that one bed ended up costing around $100 in materials alone, and then another $100 in bagged soil because I didn't know any better/different.

Looking at those numbers makes me cringe now.

As everyone well knows, once you get started with one garden plot, it's basically a guarantee that you'll start eyeballing other places in your yard that will fit more crops, and I was no exception. I looked around online and found some prefabricated raised beds for $35 a piece, and thought that was the ultimate bargain, considering how much my redwood bed had cost me, and promptly ordered two, along with more bagged soil from Home Depot (thankfully I had some competitor's coupons to help defray the cost). I'd say that tacked on another $100 to the total for my backyard.

As it so happened, I once again came to the conclusion that 3 beds were not enough, and began looking for more space to expand to. The only place left was my front lawn, which was less of a lawn and more of a weed patch, so I figured, why not? At that point, it was near the end of summer, but I knew I'd be able to plant fall and winter veggies in the completed beds, so I did it anyway. I also wised up in terms of buying materials. Instead of expensive wood, I bought cheap landscaping timbers from Home Depot, and instead of bagged soil, I had several cu. yards of it delivered, along with a bunch of wood chips to act as mulch over the cardboard that I laid over the "lawn". For what amounted to an entire front yard overhaul that included (3) 4x4 beds, and (1) 4x8 bed, the soil, and the mulch (cardboard was collected from people on Freecycle and at Trader Joe's), I ended up spending around $350.

So, all told, just for materials for 144 sq. ft. of growing space, I've spent around $650. Then tack on the cost of plant starts, seeds, fertilizer, and more compost to top things off, and it's probably closer to $750.

This year, I've added more compost to the mix ($34), picked up more plant starts because I was too busy to start my own seeds (I've got some tomatoes, eggplant and peppers in now, and will be transplanting more once I get off my duff and prep the rest of the beds. If the tomatoes work out this year and I can manage to get 5 lbs./week for 12 weeks (totally unlikely, even given my long growing season, but I can dream!), I'll have made back what I spent in materials for the front yard because during the summer months, I spend at least $20/week on heirlooms @ $4.99/lb. (shameful, I know).

Regardless of the cost, I love gardening so much that it's been a small price to pay for the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment it has given me.

If you learn to use hoop houses or cloches, you can start your seedlings outside in your garden or in small portion of your garden and transplant later saving you lots of money for individual plants and allowing you to use seed.

You don't have to have a plant half grown for planting at the beginning of growing season, but it will be longer to see the results. Seeds are much cheaper and you can freeze what you don't use for next year or buy a type of plant you can collect seed from, Heritage type plants.

Gardening can be a lot cheaper than many of us make it.

Lots of things can be scrounged, if you have the time and the courage to ask people/businesses for things that they might want to get rid of - old lumber, organic scraps for composting, manure, spoiled hay, that kind of thing, or scouring yard sales for tools etc. Some people love doing that, the thrill of the chase, I guess...but maybe that's not your thing. We all tend to do what we feel comfortable with.

As for not having space to start seeds, unless your house is *really* packed to the rafters, there probably is space for a shelf or two with a light. Many people have posted on the forum about basic rigs they have scrounged or set up cheaply, but maybe it's not a priority for you for reasons other than space.

Other ways to save money are by buying only what is cheap in terms of seeds & transplants, letting that determine the vegetables and varieties that you grow. But most of us don't want to do that, we want what we want, not what's on sale.

I could stop buying seeds now and fill my garden for years to come with seeds from in my freezer and saved from my garden...and if I was really broke that is just what I would do. But for now reading seed catalogues and trying new or unusual varieties is a pleasure that I consider worth spending twenty or thirty dollars a year on.

I hope you can learn to look at your gardening and see benefits other than saved dollars. It's one thing to keep lid on costs - that's a good thing - but some of the most important things in life can't be measured in terms of money.

I am definitely a person who gets a thrill in finding things for cheap or free that I can give a new home or new life to. My roommate, who is possibly one of the most wasteful people I know, must be getting a little annoyed with me. She keeps taking perfectly good things out to the curb to be trashed. First it was a broken shelving unit. The top part of the shelving unit is made of metal and has decorative metal spirals on it. My hubby grabbed that up for me, and it now sits in my pea bed with my pea plants just starting to grow up it.

This weekend my roommate threw out a portable closet. It had a metal, square frame. I grabbed up the metal frame part of the closet, pulled the wheels off, and tied hemp twine around it. It is now sitting in my pea bed as a second trellis.

Meanwhile, my roommate is using both a mini microwave and mini cube fridge I rescued from the trash. I'm not sure she would make an effort to rescue things like that from the trash herself, but she has no problem using them when someone else retrieves them from the trash for her. *Sigh*

On another note, I was back at Home Depot today buying more 98 cent pepper plants. I also grabbed up all the big plastic containers they had. An employee told me that the containers were going to be recycled. My roma tomato plant, three pepper plants, and sweet marjoram are now all happily transplanted into these free containers.

Below is a link to pictures of my garden this year. You should be able to see the containers and make-shift trellis I rescued. The new closet trellis is not in the pictures as I just put it out 20 min ago.

* Posted by t-bird (My Page) on
Sun, May 2, 10 at 13:07

hey veggiefaery -

how did the black walnut affect the veggie beds?

I was told the previous owners (2 owners back) could grow nothing. We live in a condominium duplex, and my neighbor who shares the other half was good friends with the couple (the "2 owners back") who was unable to grow anything. My neighbor and the couple actually each bought one half of the condo at the same time. The couple put in ten raised garden beds, but couldn't get anything to grow in them. Apparently the wife really wanted tomatoes, but never got any. My neighbor tells me the couple gave up trying to grow anything after a season or two.

Before I planted anything in the raised beds, I waited for the walnut trees to be removed and the stumps ground down. Then I waited another three years after that before attempting to put in a garden.

when I started gardening, paying for itself was not a consideration, it was a hobby, a way of teaching my children and getting veg I craved from home, I figured my husband's telescope will never pay for itself, or his camera's, his record player and the million and one records to go with it, and his hunger for new technology, to give him his due he rarely buys new, even the laptop I am typing on was second hand, brand new in box, unwanted wedding present? the mind boggles?
I brought all my raised beds those recycled plastic jobs, not cheap, I think after I had trawled the web I got my first 2 for $100 each,4x8 ft when discounts codes I found where added, then to fill them I seem to remember it was about $70 each bed. then all the oh! I need that's?? frightening, I hate to think? at least $400, Bird netting, garden fabric, fleeces, canes, trellis, garden string, poly tunnel plastic, tools, WOW! and I kid you not $100 on seeds and fruit starts, this year, I have added 5 beds, again brought, 31/2 x 3 1/2 ft, $39.99 each and in fact i brought six as 1 am doing one double height, this year my soil costs are down to about a $100, for all the beds as I got an unexpected benefit from last years growing, in that I gave a friend some tomatoes when I visited and his wife was so blow away by the taste she agreed after 27 years of marriage to let him have a veg patch, he brought his soil in bulk and had too much :-) yay for me :-) so I have just amended, with brought compost. (mine would not stretch.
I have brought more fruit bushes this year, and horseradish!!! this has gone in ground in a space where nothing will grow, and not part of my veg patch.
my strawberries that are in ground produced nothing last year, but things are on the up this year loads of flowers and fruit forming.
the point is yes the cost have been high, these last 2 years, but, I am also thrifty, compost heap made from free pallets, and next year I should have enough :-) for my needs, the netting, fleece, trellis, tools are going strong, seeds this year about $5 and should be about the same next year, I actually wish i had spent more last year, as I would be reaping the benefit now, such as rhubarb, and asparagus, which I still haven't brought this year :-(, over the years a garden becomes cheaper, as the basic's are in place, so I will continue on and enjoy the taste of summer.

Uhhh, lets see:

Tractor $5,500; Greenhouse $5,000; Garage (tractor storage) $50,000. Lot next door (to use for garden space, tractor storage building, space for greenhouse, etc. $25,000........

How am I doing, so far? Got anything left in the budget?

That tomato cost how much??????

Mine was 500$ US this year and next year it will be about 100$ US. I am going to save seeds from this years harvest and I already have the soil from this year, I will turn it in the compost that I am making this year so I will be ready to go in the fall!!

Wow, you guys spend a lot!

The only things I buy are seeds on clearance at the end of the year for 2 to 10 cents a packet (I save 90% of my own) and some potting soil (on sale with coupons) to start seeds in folded newspaper pots or by winter sowing.

The only other thing that has ever cost me was the light stand I put together 5 years ago for less than 70 bucks total.
My fertilizer is compost. My tools are a hoe and my hands. Everything else I use are free finds, my own compost and end-of-the-year clearance sales. I got most of my perennials for 25 to 50 cents each that way, the rest were trades or passalongs.

We have a huge garden (almost a quarter acre) that feeds four people all year long - plus, I freeze and can enough veggies every year to get us to the next year's harvest. I never have to buy veg - ever. And I give an awful lot away to friends and neighbors.

I think of it this way - all this fancy-dancy stuff wasn't around when my ancestors had to grow all their own food to get a family through the winter or face starvation (literally!), so what the heck do I need it for?

My garden costs me about 20 bucks a year (if that) to start, I've never priced what I get in harvest, but I can bet it's in the thousands.

It scares me to even begin to think about what I spend. But, it's my passion in life. I hope that justifies it.

Seriously, I'm probably spending 6 to 7 grand a year total on various aspects of gardening. A lot of that, though, in the past few years is long term investment in structures, equipment, so on, which will diminish other than repair/maintenance and replacement costs.

I incur the majority of my costs w. purchasing potting mix; I do containers. Walmart carries the 2ft³ bags of Miracle-Gro for $8. Given I've got so much to fill, thats where the majority of it goes every year, I'd say a good $125 or so. Obtaining the containers wasnt cheap either. I have six 27" long, 10" deep flower boxes I use for root crops, ten to fifteen 12" pots, no less than ten 5-gallon paint buckets, and other pots of varying sizes. Oh, and a $55 Earthbox, which will be joined by two more in a few weeks.

No one said that was a cheap hobby, but the rewards make it worth it ;-)

I'm cheap and still spend some money. Asparagus crowns, a 3" pot with 10-15 tomato starts, a few (very few) seeds, seed potatoes, and fertilizer on sale. I'm probably between $50 and $100. The little things add up.

I made my raised beds by stacking old fence boards (flat) and am working on compost for the beds. Last year they were essentially lasagna beds with an earth peat mix for the top layer. They did ok. This year I collected leaves from around the neighbourhood and should be working with them right now. :) Next year I should have a good supply of compost. I'm going to use leaf mulch on the garden to control moisture loss, which means I will need slug bait (I'll drink the beer thank you). You might of noticed I bought peat as well. Seeds came from a local seed exchange and neighbour. Trading really works. Just complimenting someone on their garden can get you some plants as well.

Going without can really keep costs down. :)

t-bird...how did the black walnut affect the veggie beds?

There is a chemical that the roots give out into the soil that is a kind of plant poison, prevents things from growing.

I spend a lot on my gardening, but as another poster stated, it is needed therapy. And we eat a large variety of high quality vegetables, many that I couldn't afford to buy at the store if I had too.

Wow bomber095, only $8? For the regular Miracle Gro? It's $10 at Walmart here. ...worst walmart in the world by the way...so busy, crammed, dirty, all the time, grrh. But it's cheap!

I'm like you ~ containers only. So my cost lies primarily in potting soil and containers. Every year, I try to buy a little more. :-)

Gardening is priceless. Without it, I'd be even more nuts than I am, LOL!

I also like to buy organic but I find them very expensive - in average, the cost is twice the regular price. For that reason, whatever I grow is worth the time and money but most importantly, when I spend time in my garden, I feel a sense of calmness and satisfaction that is simply priceless. I also give away fruits(plums mostly for now because that is my largest tree) during summer to friend and whoever is willing to come to my home and pick them themselves, and vegetables to friends and sometimes sell the extra and use the money to buy seeds etc.) I travel regularly with work and besides my family, garden is another thing that calls me home :)... I am sure everybody have their reason but for me, the sense of satisfaction to eat home-grown food and to train my children to appreciate the same is priceless.

Only expenses so far this year have been small amounts for seed pkts, onion starts, seed potatoes and potting soil, in all less than $100 for over 5,000 sq ft of garden. have put in quite a bit more than that in years past to get to this point though.
We harvest more than we can eat and share with friends and co-workers, even shipping a case of salsa and tomato sauce to family in Phoenix!!
I consider the garden to be my therapy and stress relief. It's also taught my boys the meaning of work and many other life lessons that have more value than we can calculate.
Now if only the rain would go away for a while,....

Personally, I just can't think of the cost...because if I do, it defeats the purpose.
I get enough harvest to share with everyone in the neighborhood, but if I kept it all, I'd be WAY ahead of the game.
But I'm not, because I like to share.

Fencing- Might have been around $60 last year.
Black Plastic- around $80 (gag!) for a 100 x 20 roll. I realize this year that I can get at least 2 years out of it by reusing last year's and doubling some to eliminate the holes (because I dig diff't pattern beds every year)
Seeds- don't ask. I'm a sucker for a pretty package.
Potting soil for a winter-sower: about $40 annually between flowers & veggies.
Onion starts: $30 I think this time

For what I spend to DIY, I could easily save more/spend less by going the grocery-store route with the amount that I actually keep for my own use.

I need to learn to can & freeze.
Maybe I need that Food Saver they were just advertising on QVC yesterday...($90)

It's a hobby. And I like it. The only ones getting any 'savings' from my venture are the people at work that take the offerings in the kitchen. Sigh.

Wow, reading through the thread I don't feel so bad. I guess that the cost of health bills I am not having from the working out and the good food, the therapy bills I am avoiding. hehehehe....

I tell my hubby now I am expanding the garden in the back he just shakes his head and goes about his business, bless his heart.

Right now we have a roommate because I lost my full time job and could only find a part time job. I am hoping my current school district will give me the full time teaching position opening up. There's a good possibility - fingers crossed.-

My husband would like to get of the roommate after I get a full time job. Personally I'd be happy if the roommate's dog went away, but we keep the roommate. I want to keep collecting rent to put into house repairs. Well, that's what I tell my husband, but I have visions of raised garden beds everywhere in my back yard. I want them high up to accommodate my bad hips and to keep the rodents and bunnies out. Oh and I'd love a greenhouse. All my husband wants to do is get our driveway and concrete slab in the back mud jacked or replaced. How completely practical and boring!!

1,000 sq ft garden... My start

$12 shovel (multi year)
$15 big bag o' fertilizer (multi year)
$20 Potting mix for starting seeds
$10 plastic cups for seedling pots (multi year-reused)(I could probably collect these from the trash at the local little league park etc).
$10 seeds (multi year), many more from trading.
$20 Two 48" fluorescent shoplights for starting seeds (multi year)
$5 garden twine
$10 gallon ziplocks to store produce in the freezer.

Free compost and mulch (fall leaves stolen from the neighbor's yards before the city picks them up) grass clippings. Compost pile, no $$$ bin.

Most of my trellis material and tomato stakes are recycled material, found material, or wild cut from brush.

Any beds that are raised have a trench dug around them and the soil is then piled on top to raise the bed. This effectively stops the lawn grass from entering the bed (no boards)