I consider gardening partly hobby. If I pay myself less than minimum wage, a pound tomato can be unaffordable.

On the other hand I consider cost of lighting fixture and soil (bough) an investment not a one time expense.

Cost of electricty is not that much. Each tube uses 32W or 64w per unit. If I run it 16/24 for 2 month it will use about 60 kwh. That is not much. @ 10 cents per kwh it is just $6.. That is the price of two cups of coffee at Starbucks.
YMMV

Seysonn

Agree there can be a big initial outlay of $$ that has to be considered. But assuming one is in it for the long haul you can easily recoup all that initial cost and then some.

Once your new beds are established - and costs there can be reduced using free or less expensive sources and actively composting - and if you limit yourself to what you can deal with without hired help and only gradually increase your gardens rather than doing it all at once, the profit returns come quicker.

As we age our desires to do things are often out-paced by our body's inability to do things. :) Just as patience is part of gardening, so is pacing yourself and your pocketbook.

Dave

We moved our garden plot to a different location last year, so these first two years, we'll be spending more than our garden output, because of building supplies, compost, and building our seed collection. But after this year, our costs should be pretty low and we'll be making "profit" off the garden.

However, even though the initial costs are high, I place a huge value on convenience and no matter how close a grocery store is, my backyard is closer.

It is closer, and the tomatoes are better.

Personally, I would not recommend a gardener trying to save money by doing what you are doing. It must come from the heart...and be fun and affordable for you. That being said...you can always start out small and then expand your garden later. That is usually what happens anyway. Eight yards of soil is quite a bit....although it disappears quickly. Would you consider raised beds? You are right about home-grown maters tasting better than most market maters. You also feel "a little bit proud" if you grow them yourself! haha

Asm198, that is exactly what I was saying. Fire duck, perhaps you have not read the decades of posts here I have made, if you had, you would know that gardening has always been in my heart.

I thought when I gave up my larger house and garden a few years back due to getting older, that was it for me, but I love it so I am starting anew on a smaller scale. I already have a few raised beds, plan on a few more.

I estimated each hour of gardening is worth about $10 ... in other words, I pay $10 for the pleasure of gardening, and in exchange get exercise, relaxation, and something to look forward to, like the babies growing up (and they never talk back). I figure I don't gamble or smoke, and, well you get the idea ;-)

Considering some people pay therapists to bring some of the same elements into their lives @ average between $100-$200/hr, and a stinky monthly gym membership indoors costs $30 plus membership initiation, I decided it was worth it.

I do look at it a different way by cost of tomatoes per pound each growing cycle, but don't prorate any expenses since nothing is really an investment, and I could quit at any time with no strings attached and throw everything away and clean the house/yard up for other things. My fall-winter tomatoes are expenses are around $8-$10/pound, right on target this year, and I "work" free in exchange for all these benefits, including often eating a delicious tomato with a little mold --usually a splitter- instead of a commercial pesticides ;-) Spring's crop will come in at about $1.50/lb, if I can start harvesting on time.

Just really saying that there are many ways to attribute costs and profits (both saved and earned). Those of us not supplementing our enthusiasm with sales all make our own personal decisions usually related to the pursuit of happiness. There are other things I could do and give up growing tomatoes and be perfectly happy, but then I try the flavorless "heirlooms" at the local stores, and I put doing them off with just one taste, or even one look, yuck. Still, it is nice to be able to sit out any season I want, which is what keeps me from trying to make this into a business with obligations and risks which tend to make things a little less fun when you are on your own...

PC

It all depends on how you look at it. Most of my peers spend their time going to starbucks daily, buying and playing video games, buying fancy health-food smoothies and taking yoga classes, renting cottages and going on expensive trips. I do none of these things, and choose to garden instead. It's very relaxing and I get a lot of satisfaction growing my own beautiful tomatoes. Some produce pays off more than others. Consider lettuce, which is almost $2.00 a head even in the summer - I can grow a LOT of lettuce in a few square feet with one pack of seeds that cost less than that! Heirloom tomatoes at my local market are at least $1.00 a piece, or $4.00 for a pint of cherry tomatoes. I pull off 4-5 pints worth daily through all of August. My 'extravagant' summer lunches of grilled zucchini, cherry tomatoes and mixed greens with a bit of crumbled feta or bocconcini would cost an awful lot at a nice cafe, or even a farmers market and I can have it every day!

Lucille, sorry, I have not read your decades of posts. I would agree with you...after decades of growing...it must be in your heart! I would recommend continuing your hobby...even on a small scale. I liked Pups post...and thought he said it well. goodluck

If I gardened to save money, I would have quit long ago. I am not a commercial grower, that's another ball game. I grow about 50 tomato plants... Between chemicals, seeds, pots, soil, electricity, maintenance on my big tiller and my mantis, the mulch, trellises, cages, soil amendments, fertilizer, drip irrigation maintenance, well, you get the drift.

But I would not have it any other way. It is my therapy also. It is already Spring in my basement!

ariadne11, what varieties of tomatoes do you grow to get such a great harvest daily?

Zzackey - I grow 16 plants. That probably explains it. :) This year I am growing Sungold, Ambrosia Gold, Ambrosia Red, Pink Bumblebee, Purple Bumblebee, Ildi, Snow White Cherry, Blush, Black Plum, Anna Russian heart, Striped German, Purple Cherokee, Copper River, Pink Berkley Tie-Dye and Azoychka. I have what you would consider a short season (Ontario Canada) but I get 8-9 foot plants that are very productive. Through most of August I pick bowls and bowls of cherries!

I've never grown that many. Usually 4-6 plants. I enjoy going outside and finding something ready to eat. I don't grow as much as I'd like to, Lucille. Having a bum shoulder and arm keeps me from going whole hog.

i believe book said $64 per tomato

Well, lets say you buy a big plant for $15. , Buy a fancy pot for $35, Buy a bag of potting soil for $14, Buy some fertilizer for $12. .. ( Total = $77) and you end up harvesting 5 ponds of tomato then each pound of tomato will cost $ 15.40.
This is not counting the cost of water and your time.

But I spend about the same $77 (seeds, electricity ..) and grow 40 plants. So my cost per plant is about 2 bucks. This is not counting money spent on soil, raised bed lumber 2 years ago. If I distribute those costs over 10 years, my cost per plant would be like $2.50. YMMV

Seysonn

I built raised beds - 4 of them and had to buy 2 yards of soil a few years ago. That was about a $150 investment. I use my own compost to ammend my soil, and raise from seed I have saved and traded (I almost never buy new seeds now, except lettuce). I don't till, use wood chips from a tree that was taken down on my property for mulch, the lighting set up to grow the seeds was given to me by someone who wasn't using it anymore, etc. In just three years, those 4 raised beds will have raised 75 tomato/cucumber/pepper/eggplant plants. That's not counting lettuce, which is even more cost efficient. I don't count my 'time', because I am a stay at home mom. This is what I do to supplement our grocery bills with healthy fresh food. My kids love veggies, we eat well. It's hard to put a price on that.

Way to go, Aria.
That is how most experienced gardeners do, make your own compost, save your own seeds, etc

Seysonn