How do I make my garden "worth-it"?

[TheGadfly]

This is a question for mustachian gardeners out there.

This summer I am going to be working a ~350 sq. ft. plot in a community garden near my apartment.  In late March I paid $80 for the plot for the season and thought, "I can definitely harvest $80-worth of produce from 350 square feet! Awesome!"

Now I'm realizing the actual cost (estimated):

rental plot.................$80
Compost..................$72
Compost delivery........$55
Mulch......................$60
Seeds......................$20
Plants/seedlings.........$70
Other supplies?..........$20-40?

Total: $350-$400

Since I live in a small apartment, I don't have room to make my own compost (although I did just start a worm compost bin in my kitchen).  I also don't own a pick-up so I need compost delivered from the city compost facility.  I started some herbs from seed but, since Spring is upon us, I will need to order some viable tomato and pepper plants, plus a few flowers to attract the right insects.

Other supplies will likely include row covers, trellises and maybe some gloves.  The community garden provides most gardening tools I will need.

Don't get me wrong, I love to garden and I will thoroughly enjoy harvesting my fresh organic tomatoes regardless of the cost. Still, my mustachian impulses are driving me to also treat this garden like an investment.

What (and how) should I grow to make this a financially worthwhile venture?
Are their ways I can cut costs while also ensuring a good yield?
What 'expensive' veggies can I grow to tip the balance?

I am keeping an eye toward preserving as much of my yield as possible, especially since my wife and I will only be able to eat so much produce each week.  One idea I have is to buy a food dehydrator (found one on craigslist for $30) to dry my tomatoes and herbs; everything else except the salad greens can be frozen or canned.

Any advice?

[TheOldestYoungMan]

To make it economically viable, it's going to need to replace a significant portion of your food supply.  Once you get good at it, supposedly you can feed a family of four on like 24 sq. ft. of garden.  So if you think of it like that, your entire food budget becomes your garden budget.

I sort of like to eat meat sometimes though.  And I occasionally ignore the garden, which affects yields.

Depending on where you live, different veggies are going to grow better.  High calorie vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, the root type stuff, that's how you would supplant a lionshare of your food budget.  Those also tend to be fairly cheap to just buy though.

If your area can do it, broccoli or cauliflower is nice to have.  Asparagus is great too, as you can keep the same plant if you are good about it.  I end up losing mine fairly frequently, but my neighbor has one that's like 15 years old.  Squash produces very well.  To the point where it's like, how the f*** am I gonna eat all this squash.

I don't particularly care for tomato and found that it attracted alot of pests, but in a community garden someone is going to be growing them so there will be bugs.

If you develop some relationships, you might find that someone there grows an excess of something that they'll trade you for.  I trade figs for eggs as an example.  My grandma used to trade 20 lb sacks of pecans for whatever was in season.

The big thing is to not get your heart set on any one thing.  The first year I'd plant a little of everything, plus a little more, and see what does well.  There's things I really like to eat, but are such a hassle to grow that having it in the garden discouraged me from gardening.

[Mr FrugalNL]

Mulch is basically dead plant matter like mown grass, wood chips and fallen leaves, right? You could probably collect your own rather than paying 60 bucks for it. Heck, some people would even pay you to get rid of it for them.

[Trudie]

In terms of pure "dollars and cents" your garden probably won't pay for itself -- especially if you have access to a good farmer's market and/or Costco.  My husband and I used to garden on our own but gave it up.

It's important to ask yourself why you are doing it.  If it's just to save money, then stop now.  You will spend far more money than you get back in produce and it takes time -- especially if your garden is not by your house.  It will also start feeling like a time suck.  But if it's because you like working outside, you take satisfaction in growing your own food, you like the convenience of stepping outside and grabbing something fresh, or you like certain varieties (e.g. heirloom tomatoes), then forge ahead.  Are you part of a community garden and you like doing it because it's a chance to spend time with people who share your interest?  That's another great reason.

If you decide to go ahead, here are my recommendations:
(1)  Look on Craigslist or other sources for good used garden equipment.  Consider how things you have can be used in the garden.
(2)  Concentrate on growing things that are pricey to purchase.  I still herb garden for this reason.
(3)  Learn how to preserve your harvest -- through freezing, drying, and canning.  I prefer the first two methods because they are relatively low effort.
(4)  Don't waste your time on crops that are cheap/easy to purchase or really fussy (e.g. celery).
(5)  Learn what you can do with the remnants of your harvest to reduce waste -- such as green tomatoes, or vegetables that might be a bit off (can they be used for veggie broth, for instance?)
(6)  Research free sources of gardening information and advice.  Your state cooperative extension service is an excellent, free resource (and available to city slickers.)  I'm also a big fan of the awaytogarden.com website.
(7)  Can you eat what you raise?  Do you have places to store your preserved foods?

I love gardening and it's something I'm going to devote myself to in retirement, but not for financial reasons.  We decided that at this juncture in our lives we could use the time we'd spent gardening on getting fit and relaxing in other ways.  We buy our 10 pound bags of onions and lots of organic produce at Costco, our local farmer's market and farmstands.

But again, do what brings you joy.  There's a lot to be said for gaining skills and knowing that if you had to feed yourself you could.  It's not all about money.

[Trudie]

Many cities/counties have free sources of compost, if you can haul it.

State cooperative extension services also have wonderful (free) resources on preservation.  Sometimes they even offer free or low cost classes to the public.  Where are you located?

I would definitely try used equipment for preserving, if you can find it.  Try it before you go all in.

Your local library would have tons of great books on preserving techniques.

[thd7t]

To make it economically viable, it's going to need to replace a significant portion of your food supply.  Once you get good at it, supposedly you can feed a family of four on like 24 sq. ft. of garden.  So if you think of it like that, your entire food budget becomes your garden budget.

I sort of like to eat meat sometimes though.  And I occasionally ignore the garden, which affects yields.

Depending on where you live, different veggies are going to grow better.  High calorie vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, the root type stuff, that's how you would supplant a lionshare of your food budget.  Those also tend to be fairly cheap to just buy though.

If your area can do it, broccoli or cauliflower is nice to have.  Asparagus is great too, as you can keep the same plant if you are good about it.  I end up losing mine fairly frequently, but my neighbor has one that's like 15 years old.  Squash produces very well.  To the point where it's like, how the f*** am I gonna eat all this squash.

I don't particularly care for tomato and found that it attracted alot of pests, but in a community garden someone is going to be growing them so there will be bugs.

If you develop some relationships, you might find that someone there grows an excess of something that they'll trade you for.  I trade figs for eggs as an example.  My grandma used to trade 20 lb sacks of pecans for whatever was in season.

The big thing is to not get your heart set on any one thing.  The first year I'd plant a little of everything, plus a little more, and see what does well.  There's things I really like to eat, but are such a hassle to grow that having it in the garden discouraged me from gardening.

I was coming to recommend asparagus, too, but in a community garden plot, it might not be worth it.  Can you give some pointers to feed a family of four on 24 sf?  That seems crazily low, but I'm not great at getting my yields up (except my asparagus, which is going great, five years in!). 

[Axecleaver]

Check out "square foot gardening" which maximizes yields in limited space.

But with 350 sqft of space, you have plenty of room to plant whatever you want for one person.

Follow Thomas Jefferson's advice and plant "a thimble-full of lettuce every week." Set aside an area for spinach and lettuce. Buy between two and ten different kinds of lettuce, dump them all in a tupperware container and add a cup of sand. Shake it up. Once a week, plant six feet of seeds. In three or four weeks you can start pulling the outer leaves off the first plantings, and thinning it out. You stagger the planting so your harvest is staggered. Full growth in six to eight weeks, make sure to harvest it all before the height of summer when lettuce bolts and turns bitter. Start up again in August for a fall harvest.

Pole beans. These will make use of the height in the garden, harvesting them makes the plants produce more. Once they start to produce, you can harvest them every day, or let them mature and get dried beans you can enjoy all winter.

You may run out of seeds or energy before you run out of space. Make use of the extra space with winter squash and melons, which need a lot of room.

The price for compost appears high; how much did you get? You only need to put 2-3" of compost on the parts of the plot you plan to plant stuff; the space between rows doesn't typically get enriched. Since other gardeners will be buying the same stuff, maybe you don't need to pay the full delivery charge. I bet it's the same charge if you get one yard or ten yards.

[iris lily]

Our community garden creates these costs:

$25 for garden rental bed
$35 for neighborhood association dues--an indirect cost of the garden plot
whatever you plant

compost and wood chip mulch are free form the city
soil exists already in the bed

Seeds are expensive, as are bedding plants. But often you can get gleanings from other gardeners.

I think you must live in an expensive part of the ocuntry.

[Krnten]

When my sibs and I were kids my mom assented to our begging for a garden but then would calculate out the cost of all the food that came out of it.  Ie "this tomato cost $7!"  I suspect she just didn't want to buy and haul bags of mulch and topsoil.  Anyways we quit pretty quickly.

[TGod]

Building a garden up from nothing is a long term commitment. Unless you have a pile of free stuff that can be piled together into a lasagna bed, you are going to be putting out cash up front to get everything to the point that you can produce veggies if your goals is to be growing this season.

My first question to you is, are you going to be using this same plot next year?  If yes, then your production this year doesn't need to cover your total costs from this set up. It can be spread over several years that you are using this plot to grow vegetables. Next year, don't buy compost, if you can, overwritten green manure on the beds and till it in next spring.  Don't buy mulch, if your city doesn't produce it for free, go rake leaves and bag 'em up and overwinter them and use them in the spring as mulch. Save seeds this year to limit the amount you need to spend on seeds next year.  Try to limit buying starts if you can. Greens and tomatoes can be started under a very modest grow light set up on a tiny window sill or even in a closet.

 If this is a one-off thing and you don't know whether you will have the same plot next year, then ya, you will most likely not break even. Even in my established garden I still ask myself the question, what tastes better grown in my garden, what gives me the best bag for my buck? This last question is a good one if you tend to buy organic veggies, there are some that can be much more expensive than their non-organic counterparts. I always grow:

Carrots - because nothing beats a fresh carrot from the garden.
Cucumbers - because organic cukes can be pricey
Tomatoes - I grow lots for canning, but if I couldn't grow a lot of plants, I'd grow a couple cherry tomatoes and one yummy heritage tomato.
Garlic - you could sow this in the early spring if you don't have access to the garden over winter
Greens, greens, greens - kale, spinach, lettuce. Kale and spinach if you have bumper crops that you can't keep up with harvest, blanch, and freeze in water.
Potatoes - cause fresh potatoes are yummy and organic ones can be pricey and they are one of the worst for chemicals if they aren't organic.
Beans - trellis the heck out of em and you will get lots of beans that you can turn into spicy pickled beans.

Grow what you will eat. The most wasteful gardening experiences I have had are when I decide to try a bunch of new things or new varieties and then they either don't work out or I don't use them because they are not in my day-to-day cooking.

[DecD]

I love gardening.  I do it for love, and relaxation, and for delicious veggies, not for cost savings.

If it's $55 for compost delivery, why not rent a pickup from Home Depot and haul it yourself?  That should come in under $55.

How is the soil now?  Are you sure you need to amend it?  Have you checked it out?  Maybe it's in awesome shape and doesn't need cartloads of compost this year? 

Can you mulch with a bale of straw instead of cedar mulch or whatever you have planned?  That might be cheaper. 

What are row covers used for?  That's one I've never used myself.

Grow what you like to eat.  I like to grow green beans, tomatoes, onions, serranos, and basil as my primary crops because I get good success and they taste amazing fresh and I use so many of them.  I also have sugar snap peas going this year.  Some years I do a bigger herb garden as well.  I would love to grow zucchini, but the squash vine borers take them out here.  Will have success with them someday I hope!

I would love to have such a huge garden!  Have a blast. 

[Spondulix]

I was also going to suggest renting a truck yourself, finding someone with a truck on Craigslist - or even better, leave a note at the garden (or start talking to other gardeners there). You might be able to join in on another order (or find someone with a truck). I'd also try to meet the other gardeners just to find out what grows best in that garden and what kinds of pests are commonly found.

To cut costs, you could also start some seedlings on your porch now (not too late). Squash, beans, and tomatoes are easy to start at home and then transfer. It's cheaper to make your own seed starting mix than bags (I use perlite, vermeculite, peat moss and worm castings mixed in a bucket). Then, when it comes time to start your plot, you're just buying plants to supplement.

For other supplies, I would factor in pest treatment (neem oil or others as needed) and maybe mid-season fertilizer (fish emulsion or worm castings)

[Doulos]

I thought the idea of a community garden was a fun Charity farming hobby, where you know for sure everything is 100% organic. 
Not to be economically viable vs buying commercial grade GMO stuff.

[Gone Fishing]

I garden 1000+ sq ft for very very little cash outlay each year.

Here are some thoughts: 

Where are you located?  That will make it easier to make planting recommendations. (Peppers give us a great $ return for the space they occupy, but may not grow in your area)

What type of vehicle do you have.  Would you be willing to get it a little dirty?  If so, you can haul quite a bit of compost in whatever totes and bins you have around the house in the trunk/back seat. Even one tote worth on a bike trailer would be a good start.

Can you make compost in a trash can or something at your plot?  Also, is there a community compost pile for anyone to use? 

Compost is great, but not strictly necesary, as any organic mulch will break down into compost given a little time. 

Not quite the right time of the year, but in town, bagged leaves would be my go to mulch/soil amendment.  Just pick them up from the curb and put them down in a 3 inch, or so, layer over the soil. They will compost on their own. No need to dig them in (which might actually be bad in the short run).  Avoid walnut leaves if you have walnut trees in your area.  Grass clipping are great too, but may be suspect due to sprays and might introduce in weed seed.   If leaves/clippings are not available, purchased straw would probably be my next choice.  A little goes a long way and it too can be transported in a car (kinda messy though). 

You can also mulch/feed with pulled weeds.  I have been using this method for several years and not noticed a significant increase in weed growth, just try to pull them before they go to seed and pile them around your plants with the roots sticking up in the air as much as possible so they don't reroot (but they won't really anyway as long as you get most of the dirt off). They die pretty quickly and compost in place.
 

Seeds are much cheaper than plants.  Bulk seeds are much cheaper than the dinky little packages they sell at the stores in town.  Look for a old school feed store which is probably a fair ways from town (try to couple with some other road trip). $2-3 will usually buy a 10 year+ supply of any given plant. 
In my experience, most of the fall/cool weather plants any of the summer/warm season plants with big seeds germinate well directly seeded in the ground as long as you can keep water on them.  Where I have trouble is with small seeded summer plants which for the most part are tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.  So those are the only plants I buy.  Once again, do not get them at the box store. Most of the box stores have gone to expensive single plant pots, instead find some place that sells them in 3+ packs.  They are almost always cheaper this way. 
 
Are you trying to go organic?  If not, 10-10-10 fertilizer is very cheap, probably around $10-15 for a 40lb bag that will last you for YEARS.

Save those worm castings to go directly in the planting hole or right next to an established plant.  Anything else is a waste.

As far as trellises and other supports go, just use stuff you find at the curb.  Bamboo is nice, but other branches will work just fine.  Use some twine to tie them together.  I don't wear gloves while gardening unless I am in briars you shouldn't have many of these.  They actually make my hands hot, damp, and more prone to blisters. Keep your nails short and you should be good to go.   
 
So there you have it, here is your new list:

Mulch/compost: Free
Seeds: $20-30 for 10 years worth so $2-3 per year
Plants: $10 or so
Trellis: Free
Fertilizer (if desired):$1 per year

So a total of around $15-20 per year plus your rent fee.  I am sure you can probably make that worth your while. 
     

[Indio]

Our local library offers a seed lending program similar to book borrowing. You pick out the veg herb or flower, take as many seeds out of the packet as you need. Then save the seeds when the crop matures, label the envelope and return them. We get unusual, non gmo, heirloom veg that way. Learn to save your seeds so next year garden start up costs are cheaper. Also food will start to taste better as seeds pick up terroir of the soil and local environment.
For compost, our local supermarket and starbux produce a lot of leftovers that are great for the garden. I leave a bucket at starbux and pick it up twice a week. The grinds are great on acid loving plants. Mixing it with leaves, shredded paper and other greens makes it compost quickly.
A bottle molasses is a cheap nutrient drench to encourage helpful anaerobic bacteria in soil and compost. Mix 1 tbs molasses in the watering can and use it to water plants and foliar feeding. Way cheaper than buying all sorts of fertilizer.
Try planting 3 sisters- corn, beans and squash as a way to optimize soace, simi.ar to sq ft gardening already recommended. There are winter squashes that will stay good all the way into March if they arent stored next to other veg with negative off gassing.
Growing your food is a great way to save on your food bill. I cut ours down by 90% 6 months out of the year. We are in northeast and already eating kale, arugula, spinach from the garden.

[The Happy Philosopher]

If you use herbs in cooking this is the biggest bang for the buck.

Tomatoes are pretty foolproof and taste soooo much better fresh from the garden.

Strawberries/raspberries (very expensive) if in the right climate. Raspberries are more of a plant in yard though, not garden.

Lettuce.

Chives (easy to grow and you usually only use a small amount, like herbs)

[Bob W]

Guesstimate. 1/2 to 3/4 lb per sq ft.  So maybe 250 lbs if no one steals it.

[horsepoor]

$127 is a lot to pay for compost with delivery.  You might be able to rent a truck for cheaper and go get some free compost from a horse farm or something (look on Craigslist), or just go to Home Depot and buy bags of the composted steer manure for like $1 apiece and mix that in.  For mulch, you can get a couple bales of straw for like $10.  Just put them in big plastic bags and haul them in your car.  Last time I bought a couple, I asked about the bales that had gotten wet, and they sold them to me for half price.

To me, a garden is "worth it" if it gives me produce I wouldn't otherwise have, and stuff I can process and enjoy all year.  So for instance, I grew Italian and Thai basil and made tons of pesto from them that is an awesome treat in the winter.  Sundried cherry tomatoes packed in oil, preserved eggplant and lactofermented pickles are some other good ones.  The pickles are nearly free, and better than the $7/jar Bubbies pickles.  I like to grow some really excellent tomato varieties because I just can't buy a perfect Black from Tula tomato, or a Rosa Bianca eggplant, or good fresh okra anywhere.

Stuff that will bear over a long period is also a good bet, because it will be cutting your food bill for a longer time over the season.  Collards and kale are great for this, because you can take the leaves you need, and the plant will keep going.  Plus, it's easy to plant other things around them.  Zucchini is great because it's so prolific and versatile.  If you have room, do a spaghetti squash, which is really productive, and the fruits store well, so you can be enjoying squash in March if you store it properly.  Other winter squash are good for this too.

[Spiffsome]

Short answer: don't buy anything you don't have to (I know, really helpful). Seriously, though, some examples:

• Stakes. Don't pay for sticks if you don't have to. Find a tree that's dropped some branches and cut some thin, sturdy pieces off.
• Fertiliser. Does anyone you know own horses or chickens? Are you good with a shovel? Human urine is also high in nitrogen and there are resources online on how to use it.
• Seeds. Seeds will always be cheaper than seedlings. You can make seedling pots from toilet tubes or newspaper to get them started inside before you transplant into the yard. Saving seeds from the produce you buy at the shops is a gamble, since they're usually hybrids, but they're usually fertile. My grandmother saves her tomato seeds from the supermarket and plants them: she never gets the same result, but she usually gets something. Other gardeners are a good source as well - if there's a gardening club (especially organic gardeners) in your area, join it: they often have access to resources that you don't, and will frequently give away extras from their own gardens that they don't want.
• Dirt. If there's roadworks or other construction going on in your area, ask if there's any topsoil they're trying to get rid of (but be careful, you want topsoil, not the stuff with rocks and garbage in or the 'fill' which is mostly rocks as well).

[louloulou]

few ideas-

Could you set up a compost pile on the corner of your allotment? mix with standard dirt, often building sites will let you take it away.
Grow from seed. Find out if any local seed swaps are around, often if you don't have any seeds to swap you can pay a nominal fee.
Ask around for tools supplies, check out freecycle, local dump shop (if you have one), ask friends/family.
Link in with any local food, gardening, permaculture type groups, they have a wealth of info and happy to share.

[Erica/NWEdible]

Here's the thing about edible gardening.

At the end of the day, you do it because you can't not do it. You will know pretty quickly if that is you. If it's not, spend your dollars at your local farmers market or produce stand and call it a day.

If gardening is deep in your bones, then all you can do it mitigate the cost. Here's a few observations:

The whole "feed a family on 24 square feet" thing is bullshit. You can get a decent salad several times a week during the growing season with that, or a huge haul of strawberries in June, or a small selection of veggies throughout the growing season, but you will not provide all your fresh eating veg for the year in 24 square feet unless you hardly eat any veg. (I know you said you have a 350 sq ft plot, but I just had to put this out there.)

The cost of inputs goes down dramatically with long term gardening. I don't buy compost anymore - I used to spend hundreds a year on it.

Infrastructure like trellises can be scrounged. If you buy, go for a versatile buy-it-once type thing. My current favorite trellis is a 4x8 sheet of concrete reinforcing mesh zip-tied to two T-Posts. Boom, easy, pretty cheap, and will last forever.

Maximize your wins by planting what you'll really eat. Don't go crazy on radicchio and eggplant unless you know you love them.

Find someone LOCAL to you who can give you the over-the-fence deets about what will really thrive with little fuss in your area.

Long term, your best return for initial investment is often perennials, but in a community plot that might not be reasonable.

Dollar for dollar herbs and salad greens and small fruits (berries) give the best return.

I'd advise that you focus on crops where the homegrown quality really, really matters. The staple crops like sweet corn and potatoes and onions that you can buy anywhere for cheap take up a lot of space. YES, homegrown potatoes are better, but honestly, they are not SO MUCH better that I consider them a different crop entirely. Now, Snap Peas? Totally different crop - garden fresh snap peas are the most delicious thing in the world. Store bought ones taste like masticated cardboard. Homegrown cherry tomatoes are the same. Strawberries, too.

There's no reason to buy commercial mulch. Use whatever you have, including plain cardboard, to keep soil moisture protected and cut down on weeds.

Ask around for seeds. I always have a ton and would always share with a fellow gardener. Need any rainbow chard seeds? I have tons - I can send you some.

I'm sure more things will pop into my head. But for now - good luck! Gardening is my passion, if I can help let me know.

[LouLou]

I want to piggy back on this! Are there any good guides for newbies?  Books or websites?

I want to start a garden in my yard. I will live in this house indefinitely and I have a lot of space.

[Misstachian]

I'd suggest going to the library to flip through some garden cookbooks and see what recipes appeal to you, and which of those have ingredient lists you could mostly grow (or which supplemental ingredients will not be too expensive).

That helps me pick what to grow in our teensy plot and what to get at the market. Your huge garden could be amazing!

My favorites:
Serving Up the Harvest, Chesman
Tender, Slater
Seasonal Recipes from the Garden, P. Allen Smith

Others:
Deborah Madison's
James Peterson
Barefoot Contessa
Jamie Oliver
Mark Bittman

[Erica/NWEdible]

I want to piggy back on this! Are there any good guides for newbies?  Books or websites?

I want to start a garden in my yard. I will live in this house indefinitely and I have a lot of space.

Um....not to pimp my own site, but I talk about gardening for beginners a ton. I grow near Seattle, so there's a Pac NW slant. Where are you? I might be able to recommend a gardening site local to you.

My site: Northwest Edible Life - http://www.nwedible.com

Also highly recommended:
- A Way To Garden - http://awaytogarden.com/ (Edibles and ornamentals in Upstate NY from one of the absolute best in the business.)
- Mother of A Hubbard- http://www.motherofahubbard.com/ (Year round cold weather gardening. Tons of info on season extension.)

My recommendations for best gardening books: http://www.nwedible.com/books-for-gardeners

[MayDay]

As the proud "owner" of an 800 sq ft community garden plot I thought I better chime in.

For my garden, the cost is either 25 or 40 (can't remember) and as long as I pay every January, I can keep it forever. So I've put some perennials in. I have asparagus, strawberries, and raspberries. Those take about 1/4 the space, and all I do it weed them every spring and put some compost or commercial fertilizer on them.

I made a compost pile in my plot, and that provides most of my soil amendments. I don't add additional stuff unless I come across free manure. I do have some commercial vegetable fertilizer that I use if I run short on compost.

For trellis stuff, I found metal t posts work best, then I stretch netting or wire or random stuff like a crib rail from the trash, across them. Other than the initial purchase of about 8 posts, I don't spend money on it.

[Tris Prior]

I'm on my third year of gardening in a community plot (today was opening day, actually!). We pay $75 for the plot, and it comes filled with compost. Water is also included (which, given Chicago water rates, is a great deal).

The organizers of my plot gave us these tips, my first year: Grow things you like to eat, and eat a lot of. Also, do not expect to feed a family of 4 from your plot. NOt everything is ready at the same time - in my area, for example, I'll be buried in greens for the next month but won't get tomatoes until midsummer at the earliest, and then only a handful. The tomatoes seem to wait to explode in fruit until it's almost time for the garden to close for the year!

Have you seen this garden planning tool? http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/kitchen-garden-planner/kgp_home.html It is pretty awesome, if you are going to do square-foot gardening.

The first thing that jumps out at me from your expenses list is the $70 on plants. You do not need to spend that much! Seeds are much cheaper and most things are not hard to grow from seed. Some vegetables, like greens, you can just sow right into your bed - no need for seed-starting equipment. That worked fine for me last year.

I do buy some vegetables as plants when I see a good sale, or when I want to grow something that I've been unsuccessful starting from seed. (peppers, I am looking at you! They just never germinate for me.) I did splurge on a dwarf raspberry this year... but I eat a TON of raspberries and it's a perennial so as long as I don't kill it, it will generate fruit for years.

I'm not sure what sort of group you're gardening with, but mine really encourages community and there are a lot of how-to classes and events designed to help you meet other gardeners. They're active on social media, too. It's common for people to post on the Facebook page asking for things they need for the garden, or wanting to give away extra seedlings they don't have room for, etc. So that's also a great way to get stuff for free.

For me, a lot of the cost savings in gardening comes from the lack of waste. Especially with herbs that are expensive to buy. For example - I'm growing cilantro and basil because that way, when I make a recipe that calls for it, I snip off just what I need. As opposed to buying a bunch of it at the grocery store - because that's how it comes - and having a ton left over, which then turns to inedible rotten mush in my refrigerator because I forget it's there.

[KiwiSonya]

Great advice in this thread,  I'm keen to follow.

[birdie55]

If you only amend the planting area and it is between 3 and 4 feet wide, you will save on fertilizer and compost.  Use the area between as walking paths and do not put compost or mulch on the walking paths, unless there is a weed problem.  Then mulch that area.  That will save you money on mulch and compost.  I use straw bales as mulch which last multiple years. 

After planting I mulch around the plants.  At the end of the season before removing plants, pull all the mulch off and put it on a tarp.  Then after fertilizing and digging it into the soil, plant and put the same mulch back on.  One straw bale can last a long time using it this way.

The plot might already have some comport mixed into the soil.  By breaking the area into planting beds, that will reduce the planting space and you might be able to buy bagged compost for cheaper than the compost and delivery fee. 

Don;t forget to fertilize.  Compost breaks down slowly and releases small amounts of nitrogen for the plant to take in.  They also need nitrogen fertilizer and  organic is used more slowly by the plants.  Compost improves the tilth of the soil which will enable the soil to retain moisture better.  Chicken manure is higher in nitrogen than other manures or you can use fish emulsion and kelp (both liquids) mixed with water as a monthly feeding. 

And plant what you like, so you eat it. Good luck, vegetable gardening is very rewarding. 

[MayDay]

Another comment:  my community garden has hellacious weeds.  I believe this is caused by the occasional lackadaisical gardener who doesn't bother to weed the whole season, and ends up with wasit high weeds instead of vegetables.  Then the seeds blow everywhere.  My garden has an "if you pay, you stay" philosophy so these non-gardeners never get kicked out. 

Anyway, long story short, I have to be relentless about weeds.  I can either spend a ton of time weeding (no thanks) or mulch/cover like mad.  I've gone with option 2.  All my paths have cardboard laid down (found free at grocery stores and the like), held down by rocks.  Whenever I dig up a fist sized or larger rock, at the CG or at home, it goes to my rock pile to hold down cardboard.  The cardboard breaks down after be out 1 season. 

Around my plants on the beds themselves, I collect landscape fabric people are throwing away (a shocking number of people use it once then replace the next season) and use it around the base of the larger plants like peppers and tomatoes.  I buy 2 bales of straw each season (like 4$ each) that I can haul one at a time in the trunk of my Civic, reuse as much as possible, but quite a bit does break down.  In the fall, if I see neighbors with bagged leaves out for pickup, I take as many as I can (about 15 last year) and use it for mulch.  If weeds are really bad you have to lay down newspaper or cardboard under the straw, or the weeds will just pop through. 

The number one reason people end up with no food from their CG here is they tick they can just plant it all in may, and come back in August.  If you do that, you will have a lovely crop of weeds but nothing edible. 

[Thegoblinchief]

mayDay - How often are you up at your garden plot? Do you need the heavy mulch for water retention as well?

If you're there 1x/week and don't necessarily need the mulch for water retention, look at getting a collinear hoe from Johnny's. I have the narrow one and the thing is the best weeding device known to man if you're okay with bare soil or very light mulch. Okay, not technically a weeding device, but rather a tool for doing preventative shallow cultivation, but I can do 800sqft in 30 minutes a week, occasionally bending to pull or hand hoe out anything that's too well rooted for the hoe to get out.

To the OP, I'll just say never try to make the financial argument. It will kill the hobby. Especially since, as I found, after the first few weeks of excitement, it becomes a pain to weigh and record every harvest, and without records, the financial analysis falls apart. So just stop right now unless spreadsheets give you a major turn on.

 Or, at best, give yourself a few years of learning what works and what doesn't. Climate, plant species, and varieties within species all take time to learn. Take notes on nearby plots that kickass. Hopefully you'll catch the gardeners there and can ask questions. Gardeners almost universally love to talk about what they're growing. And even gardeners or farmers are always devoting some planting space to trials of new varieties in case there is something better.

But if you insist on easy, and you have decent heat,decent rain (or irrigation): summer squash, bush cucumbers, acorn squash (winter squash that doesn't vine like crazy). If you make a durable trellis out of posts and concrete mesh,cucumbers, smaller butternut squashes, and a few other things trellis well. Just make sure to put trellises to the NORTH.

Most of the books I read are biased to homesteading or farming, but there's good general advice in Carol Deppe's "The Resilient Gardener", her newest book is even more garden focused but I haven't read it, and Eliot Coleman's "New Organic Grower".

[waltworks]

There is really no question that you will not be able to match the efficiencies of commercial agriculture (even organic commercial agriculture) where full-time professionals are keeping tens or hundreds or thousands of acres under cultivation and have decades of experience, professional equipment, and probably a superior location/weather than wherever you happen to be.

So if you are motivated by cost, forget it - don't do it at all. If you want a fun hobby, then forget about the cost, because it'll just drive you crazy to think about when you see a pound of strawberries (that aren't pre-munched by ants) on sale for $1 at the store.

-W

[MayDay]

Goblin Chief- I go once a week usually, I don't necessarily need high moisture retention but it's a nice bonus.

[horsepoor]

There is really no question that you will not be able to match the efficiencies of commercial agriculture (even organic commercial agriculture) where full-time professionals are keeping tens or hundreds or thousands of acres under cultivation and have decades of experience, professional equipment, and probably a superior location/weather than wherever you happen to be.

So if you are motivated by cost, forget it - don't do it at all. If you want a fun hobby, then forget about the cost, because it'll just drive you crazy to think about when you see a pound of strawberries (that aren't pre-munched by ants) on sale for $1 at the store.

-W

Hmm, I disagree with that, unless you factor your labor in as part of the production cost.  Last year I planted a couple spaghetti squash seeds and got probably 20 or more spaghetti squash.  The last one I bought in the store was $4.  I may have spent $2 on water + seeds.  Let's be generous and say $4 with compost and mulch.  However, if I didn't have a veggie garden there, we'd have grass that would require as much or more water, plus mowing and fertilization.  I'd much rather have $80 worth of squash.  Not every veggie is such a good ROI, but that's an example.

It also doesn't factor in that commercially produced veg needs to be trucked from the field, to the processing plant, and then to the store.  So there are lots of transportation costs added to the actual field production costs.  From an environmental standpoint, producing that same leaf of lettuce at home makes a lot more sense.  I also find that gardens can be a good place for repurposing what might otherwise be thrown away - old single-pane windows as cold frames, scrap wood for bed sides, cardboard for mulch, etc.

[waltworks]

Not factoring in your labor is pretty much the definition of a "hobby" vs a profitable exercise. OP is asking if he/she can make this profitable. The answer is no. That's not to say it's not worth doing, but if what you want is $80 worth of squash, an hour of your normal job pays for it, assuming you're a vaguely decently paid professional.

If what you want is the satisfaction of growing something and maybe better taste and some time outside, then it's worth it. But so are lots of hobbies, and none of them are profitable. OP needs to forget about the costs and just enjoy gardening.

-W

Hmm, I disagree with that, unless you factor your labor in as part of the production cost.

[Thegoblinchief]

There is really no question that you will not be able to match the efficiencies of commercial agriculture (even organic commercial agriculture) where full-time professionals are keeping tens or hundreds or thousands of acres under cultivation and have decades of experience, professional equipment, and probably a superior location/weather than wherever you happen to be.

So if you are motivated by cost, forget it - don't do it at all. If you want a fun hobby, then forget about the cost, because it'll just drive you crazy to think about when you see a pound of strawberries (that aren't pre-munched by ants) on sale for $1 at the store.

-W

If you go down the rabbit hole of remineralization and nutrient balanced soils, however, you can grow food that literally can't be bought - at any price. Probably won't be in my current house for long enough to really get the soil there, but that's definitely the goal when I decamp.

Definitely agree with you about emphasizing the hobby versus the numbers of it, however.

[kimmarg]

I want to piggy back on this! Are there any good guides for newbies?  Books or websites?

I want to start a garden in my yard. I will live in this house indefinitely and I have a lot of space.

I'm fairly obsessed with Erica's website, but As she said local sources are best. She's in Seattle , I'm in Maine. Her garden list for March was like "plant peas" mine was "refuel snowblower and drool over seed catalogs" chat with the other gardeners in your plot.

Square foot gardening is a classic and good for a beginner.

What to grow: what you love!!! I tried kale last year because my hipster sister said I should eat it.well it grows well - waist high by the time I pulled it but I don't like it!  My go to ones are snap peas, green beans, brocolli, cukes and tomatoes and more tomatoes. Herbs are also a good bang for your buck. A patch of lettuce for summer long salad is nice too.  Cost? I don't keep track. I have a garden budget for seeds, etc. the flavor is soooo much better that I don't care if it's a $5 tomato. Plus picking salad for dinner from the yard in your bear feet is just one of those invaluable things.

[horsepoor]

Not factoring in your labor is pretty much the definition of a "hobby" vs a profitable exercise. OP is asking if he/she can make this profitable. The answer is no. That's not to say it's not worth doing, but if what you want is $80 worth of squash, an hour of your normal job pays for it, assuming you're a vaguely decently paid professional.

If what you want is the satisfaction of growing something and maybe better taste and some time outside, then it's worth it. But so are lots of hobbies, and none of them are profitable. OP needs to forget about the costs and just enjoy gardening.

-W

Hmm, I disagree with that, unless you factor your labor in as part of the production cost.

Wait, "vaguely decently paid professional" makes $80 per hour after taxes? 

The OP was asking about how to get the garden's actual monetary costs to balance out with the value of it's food output, not how to get the garden to essentially pay a professional wage.  The list of costs doesn't calculate in X # of hours at $150/hour (guessing at what you'd need to make to net $80 an hour).  And I don't buy the "just work another hour" thing... it is virtually impossible for me to get overtime at my job, and gardening is completely different, mentally and physically.  No one said it wasn't a hobby, but some hobbies can pay for themselves, or at least come close.  I'm sure my "wage" for gardening is below minimum wage, but that doesn't mean that the food I grow doesn't offset my food bill.

[waltworks]

Let me restate: trying to break down costs of hobby gardening will just make the OP not want to garden. They should not worry about the costs too much and enjoy gardening.

If the main goal is to eat cheaply, there are much easier ways to do so.

-W

[mrsggrowsveg]

I would definitely focus on the foods that you like to eat the most.  I wouldn't worry so much about growing the expensive vegetables to get your moneys worth unless you really love them.  Since you have a small area, you may also consider growing crops with a short growing season.  This will allow you to grow more.  Companion planting can really help you get more out of your plot.  For example, you can grow carrots and radishes very close together.  You can harvest the radishes before the carrots get large enough to start running into them.  I do not think you need to spend a bunch on mulching.  We rarely mulch our plants.  You may be able to get some seeds for free.  In our area, there are often free seed fairs and local gardening groups give out free seeds.  A cheap way to pick up some exciting heirloom seeds and starts is to go to eBay or Craigslist.

[mpcharles]

Learn what plants you can grow from cuttings and take them for free from other plants.

[Erica/NWEdible]

I'm fairly obsessed with Erica's website, but As she said local sources are best. She's in Seattle , I'm in Maine. Her garden list for March was like "plant peas" mine was "refuel snowblower and drool over seed catalogs" chat with the other gardeners in your plot.

Check out AWayToGarden.com. My friend and mentor Margaret writes it. She's in upstate NY, Zone 5 I think - far closer to you climactically. She does monthly To Do lists that will be more helpful.
(But thank you for reading my site!! <3)

[4alpacas]

I'm a newbie, but I thought I would share what has been helpful for me to get a few things growing without many start-up costs.

I want to piggy back on this! Are there any good guides for newbies?  Books or websites?

I want to start a garden in my yard. I will live in this house indefinitely and I have a lot of space.

Um....not to pimp my own site, but I talk about gardening for beginners a ton. I grow near Seattle, so there's a Pac NW slant. Where are you? I might be able to recommend a gardening site local to you.

My site: Northwest Edible Life - http://www.nwedible.com

Also highly recommended:
- A Way To Garden - http://awaytogarden.com/ (Edibles and ornamentals in Upstate NY from one of the absolute best in the business.)
- Mother of A Hubbard- http://www.motherofahubbard.com/ (Year round cold weather gardening. Tons of info on season extension.)

My recommendations for best gardening books: http://www.nwedible.com/books-for-gardeners

I'm a HUGE fan of NWEdible. 

I also have a used copy of The Frugal Gardener (http://www.amazon.com/Frugal-Gardener-Catriona-Tudor-Erler/dp/0875968015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430147575&sr=8-1&keywords=frugal+gardener) that I like to read when I'm thinking about new things to plant/grow.

[TheGadfly]

Thank you to everyone who posted on this thread!!

This is all very helpful.

Let me reiterate--I garden for fun, not to save money.  That said, I also love saving money, which is why I appreciate all of the helpful comments.

A few updates about the costs I listed (after considering everyone's suggestions):

 - Compost - Plan A: I'm going to try to contact other folks in the community garden to see if we can collaborate or share costs for getting compost.  Plan B: I can rent a pick-up truck for $30 to load compost myself.  I read somewhere that the city gives out one free cubic yard to city residents.  Since I probably only need 2 cubic yards, I will only spend $18 for the compost itself.  Some folks suggested picking up free manure from local farms but, since none of it is aged (at least what I can find on craigslist), I don't think this is a good strategy.
 
- Seedlings – I decided I will try to direct sow as much as possible, while also trying to get some earlier yields from pre-grown tomato plants.  A local organization sells plants for $3 each. I want to get six tomatoes (cherry and paste varieties) and six pepper plants.

-Seeds – I found a community seed library where they can “lend” me seeds that I can “return” come harvest time. Seeds are now free!

- Mulch – I found out that the community garden has a partially-decomposed pile of leaves that I can use as mulch. 

- Other supplies – I will try to keep this as close to $0 as possible via craigslist, borrowing and being generally resourceful.


rental plot.................$80
Compost..................$72 $18
Compost delivery........$55 $30
Mulch......................$60
Seeds......................$20
Plants/seedlings.........$70 $36
Other supplies?..........$20-40?

Total: $164

One other thing: In the few years that I have cultivated a garden, I have used the "Biointensive" method of growing and I have had very good results.  I'm a little turned off by square-foot gardening because the space isn't used as efficiently.  Does anyone concur?  Does anyone know any good websites that have sample garden layouts that illustrate good companion planting?

Thanks!

[MustachianAccountant]

This one isn't a helpful book as much as a fun read:

The $64 Tomato

To echo a couple of points above, gardening is more a healthy hobby than a huge money saver. It can save money, but not a lot most of the time.
And certain expenses are once and done, or diminish with time.

[MayDay]

IMO square foot gardening is great if you have never gardened before, and want to put one 4x8 foot bed in your yard.  It makes no sense for bigger gardens or experienced gardeners, which is the situation you find yourself in. 

I do all my companion planting planning by hand.  I sit down with my map of last years garden, and my sheet or good and bad planting companions, and I write down on a new map what I am going to plant where.

And then I go to the garden forget my map and start digging around and I have more of this kind and less of hat kind, and it all goes out the window.  In reality I show up to my garden plot with a bag of seed potatoes, google spacing and planting depth to remind myself since it's now been a year since I planted potatoes, and put them in whatever bed makes the most sense at the time.  If I can remember what was in the bed the year before I do a quick google on companion plants to make sure it is an ok match. 

[Spondulix]

I want to piggy back on this! Are there any good guides for newbies?  Books or websites?

I want to start a garden in my yard. I will live in this house indefinitely and I have a lot of space.

There's a TON of books to get started, but I would really look for local advice. Check your local nursery for classes, or ask the gardeners at your farmers market. I've got a retired couple that has an amazing garden down the street (and have gardened in the area for decades) and they were a great resource. I took a class for $50 that taught me more than the books (and killed plants) that I paid a lot more for over the years.

To start, find out what climate zone you live in (it will be a number). Then, search for "Seed starting guide zone x" (with your zone number in there). That will dictate what you can grow in which months, which will save you a lot of time/money/effort getting started.

[Trudie]

Just reiterating a couple of points I made upthread about good sources of free garden advice:

(1) Your local cooperative extension service.  It is there for all citizens,  not just farmers.
(2)  www.awaytogarden.com.  This was mentioned by Erica too.  Sound advice and she links you to other good resources.  She's also a proponent of using your extension service.

[Gone Fishing]

A local organization sells plants for $3 each.

Ack! Unless you are really interested in supporting their cause, look around a little bit,  I just paid $.42 each for my garden plants. (3 pack for $1.25)

[sol]

I suspect that the only way to make a garden "worth it" is to minimize your input costs.   Stick some cheap/free seeds in the ground in a place that gets automatically watered, go pull the weeds once in a while, maybe get a couple pieces of produce if you're lucky.

Any plan that involves a significant investment of time and money is going to rapidly diverge from the break even point.  It would be easy to spend $1k on garden stuff and still get minimal yield, but it's harder to not break even if your total startup cost are under $3, as long as you get something to grow.  Anything at all.  And even if it doesn't, you're still only out $3.

This kind of makes it obvious to me that gardening isn't about saving money.  "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

[NoraLenderbee]

This kind of makes it obvious to me that gardening isn't about saving money.  "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

It's about a satisfying hobby that produces food more delicious than anything you can get in stores