Well, I certainly disagree with the man about corn. At its cheapest, it is about $3 a dozen now around here as a loss leader in the grocery stores in August, perhaps $2.50 for a super duper special. But, that is at the grocery store, where its sat for 3 days. Cheapest at the farmers markets is about $4 a dozen. I can grow a lot of dozens of ears of corn out of a $20 package of seed of a super-premium variety.

Anything I grow in my garden is worth many times the price at the store/farmers market. Including the corn. Our corn in the stores are expensive here, and I know what was or wasnt spraid on them.

I agree corn is a waste. When you figure the space it takes up & how much you actually harvest. Corn is not worth growing for me. Prices have increased, but I can still get it for $24 a bushel & it didn't take any labor or space. A box of tomatoes would cost twice that. I have noticed I get much more bananna peppers than I do regular peppers no matter the variety of the plant. I began planting more bananna peppers & using them in place of bell peppers frequently. I am sure it would be hard to market bananna peppers as easily, but for my personal use it works well.

I found this link interesting. Wish it included prices per pound or unit that the produce cost in the area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Profitable plants

We quit growing corn too. Sure, it tastes good, but takes up way too much space, time, and fert. Your family will tell you what makes sense - if they eat it and want more, you're good. If they don't eat it, you wasted your time and money.

Dan

Cucumbers were 88cents each last week at the supermarket. One productive vine will earn back the cost of a whole seed packet in a week.

The value of corn is having it in the varieties you like without driving several miles to buy corn that isn't so fresh. Besides, I like raising it. It isn't all about the last dollar and cent in my garden. Besides also, how much is the exercise worth?...much.

Interesting. I love growing sweet corn. I fertilize once and that is lightly. I don't spray any chemicals on it. It comes from the stalk to the pot of water on the stove. I really enjoy it! It's no fun growing something you don't enjoy! I love to watch it grow too. I wish we had a cheap farmer's market like you have! It's 3 for $2.00 in the store now.

I think the best crops are the ones you grow. I can agree though that in certain areas, it maked more cents (pun intended) to just buy it versus growing it. I live in a country town, where there are corn stands on every main corner, and they fetch about $1 for a dozen. It is locally grown and hand picked, and I am supporting my local farmers. It costs more for a packet of seeds than it does to buy it, and I can agree that it can really wipe out the nutrients from your soil. But, enough with the corn.

As I said, the best crop is the ones each of us love to grow. There is nothing better than eating the crops YOU planted, took care of, and watched mature & ripen. This includes corn. For me, my most valuable crop is sugar snap peas, and pole beans. Myself, my wife, and my 2 girls can snack on them all day long, so it makes great sense for us, especially the peas, because a little baggie of them at the store is quite pricey when I eat the whole bag for lunch. Tomatoes don't go over well in my house, because none of us really eat them as is, they only go in salads, pastas, and on burger. So, one plant is more than enough. Peppers are all mine, especially the hot ones. Cukes are in the average catagory, except the pickle bushes, which lord knows that kids love pickes.

All in all, I think it's more the experience that is valuable, but money wise, I would have to say that it varies depending what each of use likes to eat in abundance.

Joe

Since I grow pretty much all my veggies, they all make financial sense!
Broad beans (fava beans) are well worth it. I value the stalks for compost/mulch and the beans equally.
Raspberries. Madly productive plants, insanely expensive fruit.

it's personal taste as well. pride and satisfaction in growing. Having a healthful hobby.

Not everything is dollars and cents. and not everyone is cramped for space.

I have very little room on my city lot, but I do enjoy growing things to eat......my personal struggle is with winter squash and melons....Just dabbling, and they wipe out a ton of space, and I'm seeing only 2 viable squash so far out of 6 hills of squash and melon, but I'm enjoying it.... and will have much more success next year....I can feel it....

Haven't given up on this year.....yet....

One of my biggest failures this year was never getting the sq ft beds planted ... busy working 50-70 hrs at work and coming home to drag hoses to that which looked the most desperate.

It needs bush-hogging now and is yet another failure of the year to be rectified "next year".

In 2009, a 4x8 bed spit out 8 dozen ears of corn ( planted 4 per square) ... and 4 sq ft on each end was planted in cukes ( which, combined with the 6 ft bean trellises and a string on each length, added support). They ( Silver Queen) cleared 8 ft.

So corn doesn't HAVE to take up so much space ... though I am the worst at trying to plant long rows and take it up.

{{gwi:48700}}

I think that if I had enough space, then *all* crops would make financial sense to me. But I have only a small garden and therefore have to grow the things that I enjoy the most or that make the most sense space-wise.

Things that are worth it to me: shelly beans, gourmet snap beans, lima beans, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, multiplier onions, shelling peas, snap peas, New Mexican chiles, eggplant, strawberries, kale, chard, lettuce, collards, arugula, okra, tomatillos, beit alpha cucumbers, rhubarb and asparagus (among others).

Things I *love* but have to sacrifice to be able to grow all my other stuff: old-timey sweet corn, flint corn, winter squash, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, apples, peaches, pears, etc.. These are things that I have to source out from local growers or ask my parents or my brother to grow out for me in their more spacious gardens.

Things I kind of like but do not really crave and therefore do not want to dedicate space for them in my small garden: muskmelons, watermelons and cauliflower.

Everyone has different tastes and different priorities and different reasons for wanting to garden.

I am also a big fan of Steve Solomon's books, by the way, as well as Carol Deppe's books, who takes a slightly different take on Solomon's general themes.

I agree, for a small gardener, or even a market gardener with small acerage, sweet corn in a poor use of space. Especially for me when I can look from my front porch and see 12 rows, 1/2 mile long planted under a center pivot irrigation system. Many people in my area have irrigation pivots and they almost all plant a big patch at the edge of a soybean field. Then their kids pick and sell it. Sweet corn is cheap and not worth my time. Not even to mention the raccoons who will always eat their fill too!

Jay

I always regard backyard production gardens as a hobby since they require human work, resources, etc. You can't truly say "Oh I only spent 99 cents on a packet of carrot seeds" and consider the entire cost to be 99 cents.

On the plus side you can pick your produce when it's at the peak rather than have to pick it for transport.

I don't look at a per-crop return, because it can be discouraging. But it all adds up. We grow home fruits along with veggies and herbs, none for sale, yet we estimate that our horticultural endeavors "save" us around $5000 in after-tax dollars. It's a lot of work, like a part time job, but I love it.

I'm a container gardenr. With the price of my potting mix added into my costs, I doubt I'm saving a dime by growing my own veggies. But the value of home grown, freshly harvested veggies is priceless.

Plus, with the way grocery prices are increasing today, in future years my little harvests may be worth their weight in gold.

There is corn, and then there is corn.

For example, sweet corn is a finicky pampered animal, and if one doesn't have a good quality loam, as I don't, then I agree it isn't worth bothering with. Heirloom grain maize is another thing. There is no replacement for fresh fall grain made into pone - if you havn't tasted it then you'll never know. It is a much easier crop to produce, it likes the best land but will do ok on less than the best with some help.

A good measure of investment is what you spend per gram of phytochemical, or per gram of vitamins/minerals. Then the garden looks better cmp to the supermarket. Do not forget to count vitamin D.

Like other I agree except for the corn part. Unless... I can see if you are only concerned with saving money and have limited space. Under those conditions corn would be cheaper at the store. Myself I grow corn not to save $$$, but because I enjoy doing it. And I admit corn take smost of my time in the garned.

The tomatoes are definatly a no-brainer. My local sells the crappy gashouse slicers for over $2 a pound... heirloom and "local grown" as they call them are more.

Herbs... The stores rip people off big time selling 2 sprigs for $1. And its been sitting for how long? Ive only bought the rosemary like that once and the flavor was pretty dull. My wife killed our rosemary bush one year :( I had it in a huge pot and always brought it inside when the temp went down into the single digits. She insisted it would live... it didnt. So this year I have a new one started in the ground, Ill try piling hay around it this winter.

But the stores only sell what sells. I know alot of people who rarely even cook fresh food. They think cooking is putting a bag of frozen pre-cooked pasta in a pan and heating it up, or microwaving a bag of steamables. So putting effort into something they wouldnt use much of doesnt make sense. Better to buy for more $$$ when you need it.

Thanks for posting, alot of what you said makes good sense!

I like planting vegetable, fruit, and herbs that are perennial and require lower fertilizer input for good results. I have a great growing zone with no frost, so its economical to grow plants that constantly produce.

One of my favorite new additions is 'Greek Columnar' perennial basil. Fresh organic basil all year round can save a lot of money.

OK, turn the original question around -- what crops DO NOT make financial sense.

Based on my experience, some of those would be: dry beans, peas, grains, off the top of my head. Don't get me wrong, all of those can be a really fun project, and I especially think its important that we all know HOW these things grow, how they can be processed, and in general where our food comes from.

But, to spend hours and hours of labor to get the same amount of end product you can buy at a grocery store for a couple of dollars is not economically viable. When I grew wheat, a pound of seed wheat from Johnny's cost me around $6, I believe. I got maybe 3 lbs of wheat from it in the end, and it was a LOT of work to harvest and process. Fun, and great bragging rights to say "I made this bread from flour I ground out of wheat I grew", but when I consider I could have bought the same amount of hard red spring wheat berries at Whole Foods for probably $2, not financially very practical.

Corn is also a racoon and deer magnate...even for heirloom grain maize.

Garlic and shallots are economical. High priced in the store and you replant from your harvest. At store prices I don't use much garlic but from growing my own I have a lot of roasted garlic and pickled garlic.

Potatoes are arguable. Productive and easy to grow but probably only economical if you are willing to pay big bucks for true new potatoes and/or grow specialty varieties...probably not if you grow Russet Burbanks.
Potatoes can be worth it if you grow specialty varieties and compare to the price of true 'new potatoes'.

Sweet corn makes financial sense for us. $6.29 worth of seed gives us a year's worth of corn for our family of four. I can't stand grocery store frozen corn, so I'm comparing the cost of tins. No brainer.

My husband hates that I plant shelling peas because he sees no difference between them and the good-quality ones from the grocery freezer. I taste the difference, but it's very small. When you factor in the value of my time shelling them, I have to agree that they're not cost effective to grow in our garden. That said, I'll still grow at least some just to be able to snack on them fresh. I'm re-evaluating growing 200' for the freezer (pout).

Potatoes are definitely worthwhile for us. We have sub-par soil (working on that gradually) and still get average to above average returns. We don't tend to hill them, so they're essentially a plant-and-forget crop for us.

Hubby and I both agree that for us, the most beneficial crops for our pocketbook are tomatoes and snap beans. Neither compare to anything we can buy in the store (we don't have a farmers' market) in taste or price.

Another aspect of this discussion of financial sense: eat what you grow, rather than buying out of season produce on a regular basis. We find that is what makes the garden the money-saver that it is. We do grow quite a variety of vegetables, but there are weeks when we are eating a lot of chard! We only buy vegetables if we have a special occasion for someone who likes a particular dish, or in the middle of winter when we really need a change from freezer food, winter squash, and hoop house lettuce. (Actually, that doesn't even sound so bad, but we are trying to be "normal" here, besides saving money.)

Another thought about potatoes, and perhaps corn, is that they can be fit in to a spot vacated by lettuce, or dead zukes (can you tell I can't remember how to spell zucchini?!)or some other crop failure. Even if the return isn't as good as those planted at the traditional time, there is still some return for an otherwise blank spot in the garden.

Of course, everyone's calculations need to make sense to them, hence this interesting discussion.

Happy Harvesting

Hepatica

I used leaves & compost in my bed.
I planted the corn 6 inches on center & watered it.
I made at least one ear per stalk & 2 ears on some.
Corn is easy here, did better then my late tomatoes.
I will not loses anything to the plant, because I will compost stalks,shuck & cobs.

Potatoes are a must for me. There is no substitute for local new potatoes grown in bio-active soil (commercial potatoes, like corn, tend to be grown in nearly dead soils).

I am finding that dry beans and peas are fairly easy if I can find the space - I don't have enough in the home garden. Fresh dry legumes are much tastier and easier to digest than store-bought, IME.

If you take the time to hunt up special varieties that simply aren't available at supermarkets, I think it's well worth it. I'm able to buy single plants @ 60 cents of heirloom tomato and pepper varieties. I never see these wonderful peppers in the supermarkets. One plant (and it's only early August) has 8 full size peppers on it.

Although winter squash takes up room, I grew two varieties last year that kept until April 1 without special storage requirements. One in a semi-heated garage. The other in the cellar just spread out on a work bench.

My husband thinks our beans taste far better than what is available in the grocery store. We pick them young and prefer filet varieties.

Frankly, I think have a bountiful harvest of sugar snap peas is well worth it. A small package costs $2.99 in the store.

I have a bountiful crop of perennial herbs year after year. Only have to buy a new plant of rosemary each year since it's not hardy in NH.

Corn in the stores here is about 3 for $2.00. And it doesnt taste as good as the ones we grow.

No one has brought up the problem with chemicals in our food. Or salmonella that the FDA has been finding in alot of our produce, whether grown here in the states or elsewhere.

I think the residual chemicals are less of a problem than the very low mineral content of commercial produce, including the corn and wheat that make up the majority of our diets.

Butternut squash, they cost upwards of $4-$5 each at the store, I have 10 harvested and sitting on a shelf.
Melons- I had a wonderful season and tons of melons, and even the smaller watermelons were $5 at the store
Eggplant- they are just beginning to pump out the fruits
And, I am keeping my fingers crossed for the sweet taters. Sweet taters are not especially pricey but if I get a good crop out of my slips I will come out with months of tasty taters.
Figs- I have 3 fig trees and they require very little care. Fresh figs are very costly and it is a real treat to go out to the back yard and have a dessert of figs still warm from the Texas sun.
Blackberries- these do not ship or store well, and so are expensive in stores but very easy to grow.

I am happy with this year's experiment putting up two trellises about 3-4 ft apart and growing butternut squash in between and up (caged in more or less). Early season, the trellises were full of sugarsnap peas, another very expensive item at the store and easy to grow here. Melons would work well this way as well.

Butternut are great because of the versatility. They are easy to prep for pan frying disks, and make great pumpkin pie too. Also very tasty at half size as a summer squash. Down side is that I like roasted squash seeds and you don't get many.

I've about given up on strawberries. They are horrible in the store, but with weeds and slugs it's hard to get more than a handfull out of my garden. It might be better to drive a few miles to a pick your own place.

A butternut costs $4 in Houston? Really? Here it will be $1 or 2 depending on size.

other things of interest. In winter it is impossible to find Michigan grown fresh vegetables. It is not only freshness, a number of vegetables which have been frosted or even frozen are much sweeter. My January kale is incomparable compared to the bitter California kale available in stores. Same for parsnip, which is the king of vegetables in February here. Then there is cardoon, which is best stored rootball and all. Supermarkets will not do that.

The other thing that makes financial sense is mushrooms. They use ground unsuitable for other crops (full shade). Not only supermarket mushrooms (other than button) are largely spoiled, they also cost $15/lb. And oyster mushrooms are 2% dry weight in statins, so if you want to save on drugs, that is your ticket.

At our house, the fact that we eat more fresh produce when we grow it is priceless. Definitely an excellent ROI, in wall street terms, and ROH (return on health.) The physical labor involved and the increased intake of "good for you" combined with the fact that we didn't and won't spray any kind of stuff on all of that food is an exponential benefit.

Not all of the seeds we buy will end up yielding something to eat. But even when you add the cost of seeds you buy that produce nothing to eat, there has always been a financial gain in overall money saved at the grocery store. Critters of various types end up killing some plants or ruining some produce, but if I start sprayin stuff, there goes the money I was going to save. If I'm going to eat produce that's been sprayed, it's probably better if it's been done professionally and not by me, clueless about 'cides. So it makes more sense to me to save the trouble of all of the extra mosquito bites I would get doing it, the cost of the spray, and the need to become educated about using 'cides which I am growing produce to avoid. I think it's better to let the birds eat the bugs they can find, attract beneficials (that don't end up getting 'cided also) to handle the bad guys better next time. When the failed plants are put in the compost pile, they make a last contribution to the food chain.

Growing food that you would have otherwise paid for is a no-brainer to me. One is already paying for the space, makes a lot more sense to get something of value from it than to have just more grass that costs more money to mow.

Veggies don't have to be grown in ugly rows, or huge dedicated squares and rectangles. If you mix them in with flowers, it just looks like more leaves. It's also easier and so much more yummy to pick tomatoes, cukes, zukes, etc... off of a chain link fence than to weed-wack the fence all summer. Veggies just blend into the landscape, except corn. Monocultures are also more vulnerable to pests and diseases, so spreading your produce - tomatoes especially - throughout the yard instead of all in a row can make the difference of even getting something vs. nothing. This is also (insert number of spread-out plants) times more likely to attract beneficials who look for pests on certain plants. Like the clich� about putting all of your eggs in one basket.

If you get one bell pepper from a bought plant, you're probably already ahead financially. Same with a pack of cantaloupe or watermelon seeds. And what kid wouldn't prefer to grow a pumpkin ($1 for seeds) over buying one (starting at $5.) Cha-ching.

Lettuce and spinach was really great this year! We're not real into salad, but we ended up eating some lettuce almost every day since all I had to do was go outside and pick exactly the amount we wanted. Often when I buy lettuce or spinach, most of it goes bad. I've never understood why they only sell such big bags of spinach, or a whole head of...

I determine financial sense based on nutrients obtained by growing crops manually that cannot easily be done mechanically. I also include anti-nutrients in the formula, since many of the most popular vegetables are high in anti-nutrients. But, most people eat for pleasure and most people garden for fun, not nutrition. If you are eating or gardening for fun, then everything makes financial sense if you get the enjoyment you want.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden For Nutrition

i am using "gourmet" type cantaloupe on trellis. People will pay a premium for a 6-10 pound Sugar Queen cantaloupe and they are hard to find in stores due to less shelf life and thin rind. I get 3-6 large melons over a summers harvest and only plant abput 60 plants/ that is just 2 rows 40 ft long 3 ft apart. I sling with netting, old panty hose and cheese cloth.

I'm lucky that while I enjoy a sense of self-sufficiency, I really don't need to garden to live.

It cost me $1,000 to put together 200 sq ft of raised bed last fall. The garden is producing three plantings of three pounds per square foot each year (nine pounds of produce per year -- yes?).

In my region, organic produce of all kinds costs about $2.25-$3.50 per pound at the farmer's market, and even then it's a few days old.

So by my most conservative estimates, and even factoring in the crops that just wither on the vine and fail to produce anything at all, the raised beds are producing about $3,000 per year of veggies -- the freshest and the best.

I'm also not spending a dime on health club membership, since all my bending, stretching, pulling, lifting, and various kinds of crunches, are all happening over the vegetable beds. How much does a health club membrship cost these days, anyway?

We stand out in the vegetable garden all the time, talking to the kids about their lives, and life in general, and all of the metaphors that gardening provides -- What is the cost on psychotherapy for kids? What is the tuition savings on my kids knowing what food really is, how it grows, what goes into it, and that the best things in life come without plastic wrapping. What are the health-cost savings?

Gardening is a joy and a passion and an endless supply of life lessons -- And to me, it all makes endless financial and life sense.