Setting up a garden can be costly initially, but once established, growing your own vegetables can help reduce expenses. Cultivating tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, arugula, spinach, and radishes, especially in containers, can lower household costs. However, vegetables like carrots, broccoli, onions, cauliflower, and cabbage may not be worth the effort of growing.
Frequent trips to the grocery store can be challenging as prices for necessary items rise regularly. Considering whether it’s worth starting to grow your own vegetables at home depends on several factors. To explore this further, we consulted two experts in gardening:
– Adam Weiss, a master gardener and founder of Pike Lane Gardens.
– Anna Hackman, a farmer and founder of The Naked Botanical.
The cost-effectiveness of growing your own vegetables depends on your initial investment in the garden. If you already have a gardening space, incorporating vegetables can be more economical. However, starting a garden from scratch may involve higher initial costs, but the long-term benefits can be rewarding.
According to Adam Weiss, creating a raised bed garden with organic soil, trellising, and mulching can be expensive, with individual tomatoes costing $45-60 each factoring in all costs. For beginners, Weiss recommends starting with a container garden to keep initial expenses low while gaining gardening experience.
Anna Hackman believes that growing vegetables is cheaper than buying them, especially considering the variety of heirloom options unavailable in stores. She suggests growing vegetables from seeds, particularly emphasizing tomatoes and peppers that are not commonly found in stores.
For easy-to-grow vegetables, both experts recommend lettuces, arugula, spinach, and radishes, known for quick harvest times and multiple yields. However, challenging vegetables like carrots, celery, and onions are better to buy due to the difficulty of growing large quantities at home.
In conclusion, while the financial aspect is crucial, the intangible benefits of growing your own vegetables, such as the satisfaction and healing nature of gardening, are priceless.
Don’t forget to water your plants. When it comes to celery, make sure you choose the right seeds to avoid a bitter taste. Onions can spoil quickly if you grow a variety that doesn’t store well, so it’s better to buy them as needed. Some vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, winter squashes, and melons take up a lot of space in your garden without yielding much, according to Weiss. Instead, consider growing certain vegetables from store-bought produce to save on initial costs. For example, you can easily grow spring onions by placing store-bought ones in water to grow roots. Similarly, celery can be sprouted from a store-bought base. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, ginger, and garlic can also be grown from store-bought produce, as long as they haven’t been treated to prevent growth.
