Yes, it is cheaper to grow your vegetables, but you will not be able to buy an expensive car for the cost you save by growing your own fruits and vegetables.
There are many small costs involved in growing vegetables, besides buying seeds, that you don’t take into account.
Groceries are getting more expensive, and people are trying to live more frugally in more and more ways. Life is getting more expensive, so you start looking for ways to save money. By starting a vegetable garden, you learn a lot about nature and growing fruits and vegetables, and you become more conscious about food. But is it also cheaper to grow your vegetables?
If you only look at the purchase of seeds, it is cheaper to grow your vegetables. But there is a lot involved, like buying the right soil, fertilizing the soil, and watering daily. And for some vegetables, you still need materials to support the plant. All small expenses that are easily forgotten are part of the equation when you want to calculate whether it is cheaper to grow your vegetables.
Of course, these expenses also depend on the vegetable or fruit. If you want to grow apples, you will have to grow an apple tree. This can take years before you can harvest apples.
While a crop of lettuce can be harvested within two months.
Expenses you can have to grow vegetables
- Seeds
- Containers or materials for raised beds
- Water
- Soil
- Manure
- Compost (you can make a compost bin to save money on this)
- Perhaps a greenhouse or cold frame.
- And of course not forgetting the hours you spend working on the vegetable garden yourself.
Now many of the above things can be used more often, and from a bag of seeds, you grow a lot of vegetables. So plan everything well and you will be able to harvest a lot.
When you know what is needed before you start growing vegetables, it is time to make a plan for growing the vegetables.
If you want to start a vegetable garden to save money you will have to look for plants that give a lot of vegetables but are cheap to buy. Take tomatoes, for example, the seeds are only a few dollars but when you grow the plants properly you can harvest very many bunches of tomatoes.
The best vegetables to grow and save money
The important thing is that you grow enough vegetables for your family to eat. In addition, you want to plan it so that you don’t have to throw vegetables away. So don’t plant too much, but see what you can eat and need as a family.
Top 5 vegetables to plant and save money
Tomatoes – Tomatoes cost a few dollars a pound in the store. When you start growing your own tomatoes you can start with a seed for a few dollars, from this you can grow different plants. Per tomato plant you can grow up to 10 pounds of tomatoes. So you can save a lot on tomatoes when you grow them yourself.
Lettuce – Lettuce can be used with many dishes, and with a new harvest every two weeks it grows very fast. So it is a great vegetable to grow. In addition, lettuce costs a few dollars per head in the supermarket, while for a few dollars you can buy a lot of seed to grow several crops.
Herbs – Herbs can be quite expensive to buy in the supermarket, while many herbs are very easy to grow yourself. Some herbs you can keep harvesting, and they grow back very quickly. Often you won’t use very many of these herbs in making your favorite dish, but you will need to buy large packages. You can hardly store herbs that are harvested once so you waste a lot. When you can harvest what you need to prepare your dish you will harvest much more efficiently.
Zucchini – Zucchini and Squash tend to grow very fast, and from one zucchini plant you can harvest an average of four to eight pounds. This is about 25 to 35 zucchini per plant, in the store you pay about $15 for this. While you can buy a packet of seeds for less than 3 dollars. Again, don’t forget that we didn’t charge anything for the soil, water and extra costs to run the vegetable garden.
Beans – Beans are great to grow yourself, and from one plant you can harvest a lot of beans. About 5 to 6 pounds per plant. In the store you pay about 1.70 dollars per pound, this comes out to about 9 dollars. Seeds can be bought for a few dollars and can be used to grow several plants. Remember that it takes about 50 days before you can harvest the beans.
Additional costs of growing vegetables
Of course, you should not forget that besides buying the seeds there are many additional (investment) costs. Water can be obtained by collecting rain, but if you live in a dry area you will collect little rain and will have to water your vegetables a lot.
If you want to grow from seeds you will have to start in seed trays, once the plants are big and strong enough you can transplant them into the soil of your vegetable garden.
Your plants need enough nutrition so you want to keep the soil rich with nutrients, for this, you will need to fertilize. Now you can also make your own compost by making a good compost bin or compost pile.
If you want to extend the growing season you will have to think about a greenhouse, you will have to buy or build one. And if you want to grow beans, for example, you will need to install a frame for the plants to climb along. These are all “costs” that are not included in the examples, but are very important.
Why start a vegetable garden?
Not to mention, of course, the hours you spend working in the vegetable garden to get a good harvest. You don’t have to start a vegetable garden to save money, but one of the reasons many new vegetable garden owners mention is to become more aware of healthy eating.
Straight from the vegetable garden and eating vegetables you know what happened to them.
It will take a few seasons to figure out what the best schedule is in your vegetable garden. In the beginning, you will often grow too much of one vegetable, while you can harvest too little of another. This takes time to get right, but enjoy it and make your harvest better every time.