Does it Pay to Grow A Garden?

 

 

 

Do you save money when you grow a garden? For the past few years I’ve had a small patch on a vacant lot, with a few peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and herbs. Every spring, I have visions of juicy ripe tomatoes and crisp cuke slices dancing in my head, as well as dollar signs. Because, of course, I’m going to slash my food budget!

But I don’t end up saving hundreds of dollars. This year, I lost a cumber and two zucchini plants to squash bugs (more about that in this post). I didn’t get my tomatoes and peppers in until around Memorial Day, so they didn’t begin maturing until September. One tomato plant just wilted away. I have a feeling the super-hot, dry July and August weather didn’t help things. Although I’ve enjoyed some of the tomatoes, many won’t be ripe by the time the snow starts falling.  So my harvest was smaller than expected.

In truth, most veggies are inexpensive in the grocery store, farmers market or roadside stands, so you won’t save a bundle when you grow a garden.   But here some other benefits that make it worth the effort:

• Super-fresh produce. You can slice plump, ripe tomatoes and serve them within minutes of picking. Corn is never sweeter than when it’s cooked a few minutes from being pulled from the stalks.
• It lures my family into eating better, because I have a lot more fresh veggies in my kitchen.  I rarely buy tomatoes grocery store tomatoes,  due to the tennis-ball texture. But home-grown tomatoes are so sweet and juicy they’re hard to resist. During the summer, I end up bringing a cup of grape tomatoes along with me in the car.  I seldom buy cucumbers or zucchini at the grocery store, either. But when they’re growing in my garden, I don’t let them go to waste.

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  It sparks some creativity. This year I tried making stuffed zucchini (I’m still working on improving the recipe; stay tuned.). I developed a love for cucumber limeade. I’ve slow-roasted tomatoes to make thick rich pasta sauce. I’ve sautéed bell peppers for fajitas. If I fail, it doesn’t seem like such a waste because there will be more veggies ripening tomorrow.

•  It makes me appreciate the bygone generations who lived off of their harvest. Imagine what hard winters must have been like if the squash bugs, crickets, hail storms and other bad stuff ruined the crops. I’d hate to try to survive mainly on what I could grow.
•  It gets me out in the sunshine, watching things grow, and teaching my grandkids where food really comes from. And it’s nice to be able to share something I’ve grown myself.

Every year I’m learning a little more about how to improve my garden.  Next year will be the year where I’ll save a bazillion dollars!

I’d like to hear from those of you who garden: what’s your motivation and do you find you save money or not?