Is A Garden Worth Growing?

Is a garden worth growing? What a great question. When you factor in all expenses including your time, many wonder if a garden is worth it. Do I get enough return for my investment of time and labor? Does raising a garden save me money? I decided to find out.

Recording Station

I did a study for the 2024 garden season to determine if a garden is worth it. Here’s how I did it and the results.

Expenses

I kept track of all expenses associated with the 2024 garden season. They are listed below. I did not factor in the 25 year old tiller as an expense as it has long since paid for itself. Nor did I add in the fencing for the same reason as that was erected years ago.

Regarding my time and effort. The garden is my passion and a labor of love. I get far too much joy and satisfaction out of it to consider raising a garden an expense.

Seed Planter $260.00

Seeds $ 95.88

Onion sets $ 23.99

Lime $258.00

Weed Barrier $ 71.34

Watering Can $ 31.00

Netting $ 42.00

Nursery order (8 trees, 6 $980.00

cranberry bushes)

50 Strawberry Plants $ 42.00

Orchard supplies $436.71

36 Sweet Potato Slips $107.00

Fertilizers $ 26.00

Apples for Cider $ 147.00

Total $2,520.92

One additional comment on expenses. Some items are a one time expense such as the seed planter, nursery order and sweet potato slips and just happened to be purchased this year. Others such as the lime, netting and weed barrier will not need to be purchased again for several more years.

As our apple trees come into bearing, we shouldn’t need to buy apples for cider in the future nor should we need to buy sweet potato slips as we can generate our own from now on. So the point is our expenses will be considerably less for future years.

Recording Station

Because I knew I’d have a hard time remembering to weigh and measure all produce harvested each day, at the beginning of the season, I set up a permanent recording station that included a hanging scale for weighing large loads, a smaller kitchen scale that sat on the counter and paper and pen for recording results. This went a long way to reminding me to weigh or measure each item every day.

Pricing

How did I assign value to the produce we harvested? Simple. I used grocery store prices. If I couldn’t find an item in the supermarket, I did a search and used that price.

For example, the store had no red, black or white currants so I found a site for a Pick Your Own farm and used their price as that is exactly what I did. Pick my Own. Literally.

Results

I kept results for not only the vegetables but for fruits and herbs we grew and harvested. Here’s the amounts we grew along with their assigned value.

Bottom Line

Value of Harvested Produce $8,070.39

Expenses $2,520.92

Net Worth $5,549.47

What Do You Do With it All?

Going by the quantities we grow, you can probably tell which items are our staples and favorites. Yet you may be wondering…… How can two people eat so much food?

Answer.

We don’t. We share extra with friends but most importantly many surplus vegetables make great supplemental livestock feed. In fact I grew some things exclusively for animal feed.

For instance, I grow Swiss Chard solely for the chickens. Surplus lettuce is a real favorite of theirs too. All root crops are great feed for pigs or cows. Ditto for winter squash and pumpkins. Cows love cabbage too.

Conclusions

So what do you think? Is a garden worth it?

We think the numbers speak for themselves. The answer is most definitely a resounding YES! It’s safe to say we grew over a ton of food and I mean that literally. We are in the neighborhood of 2500 pounds worth of food grown. Wow! What a cool experiment and study.

A garden can not only feed you and your family but also help feed any livestock you have so you aren’t so dependent on the feed store.

Until next time, keep the dream alive! We wish you a great day!

Ron and Johanna

Please subscribe to our blog if you would like email notification of new posts.

Please follow and like us: