Does Gardening Really Save You Money?

There’s an interesting year-long piece at Get Rich Slowly about the actual costs and savings of gardening. If you think you’d like to garden in order to save cash, you’ll really want to give this piece a whirl. Over 2008 the bloggers tracked their costs of seeds and fertilizer, approximate water usage, time spent planting, weeding, and harvesting, amount of food harvested, and the cost-equivalent from the local grocery store.

It’s interesting because every thrifty blogger I know and plenty of gardening bloggers too – point to gardening as a way to save money, and it surely can be BUT you do have to factor in issues like…

• Start up costs which can be substantial, especially if you lack a proper plot to begin with.
• Time involved (A LOT) and time for many of us is truly money.
• Mistakes you’ll make (yes, you will).
• Mother Nature – nice as she may be, she’ll get ya with a surprise frost or hale storm and kill stuff.
• Waste from a huge harvest that you don’t do anything productive with. Honestly you can only eat or can so many tomatoes or berries.
• Energy used to start seeds + water usage.
• Time you’ve been gardening – for example, a long time gardener may have much better soil prepped and mature fruit trees vs. trees bearing no fruit and soil that needs extra care.
• Classes, books, and more support you need to get growing.
• And more.

Fact – Gardening for those who have been gardening for a while can be a huge money saver, even make you money if you harvest enough to sell or give as gifts vs. buying gifts, but for a newbie you may just come out even and sometimes even lose money.

Read the piece at Get Rich Slowly and before you start a garden with thoughts of greenbacks in your head, have a concrete plan, know your stuff, and be prepared for a possible slow start.

[image via stock.xchng]