Final Garden Update 2009

Thanksgiving week seems the perfect time to give the final update on our garden, including my estimated cost vs. yield breakdown.  The garden actually continued to live and give us a harvest through the end of October; the first real frost at the beginning of November was what really killed the remaining plants.  Even now, we have a few radishes, carrots, and salad greens still to harvest, which are the last bright spots of green in our bare beds.  Last weekend we pulled out the other plants, and we plan to turn them into compost.

I really enjoy gardening, and it is a great family activity and hobby that we absolutely plan to continue.  However, saving money was definitely also a consideration in planting the garden, so I tried to keep decent records both of what we spent on the garden and what we harvested.  I knew that we spent a good deal in the spring on tools to create our garden bed, as well as seeds and soil, so I was willing to accept that we might not have a return on our investment this year.

Here are my final tallies. The garden yield is not exact; it is to the best of our memory and our imperfect record-keeping.  The approximate grocery store prices are in parentheses, using HT's online grocery store as a guide.  I used prices for conventionally grown produce, since that's what I would have purchased, but in reality our homegrown produce is organic, which increases its actual value.

Investment:
Home Depot - $112.91 (tools and supplies)
Home Depot - $36.65 (seeds, starting mix)
Walmart - about $40 (stakes)
Home Depot - about $30 (soil)
Total: about $220

Harvest:
30 cucumbers (@ $.75/each) = $22.50
29 bell peppers (@$1.00/each) = $29
61 jalepeno peppers (@ .25 each) = $16.25
7 bunches of radishes (@ 1.00/each) = $7.00
15 carrots (@ 2.00 total) = $2.00
120+ cherry tomatoes (@ 2.99 for 50) = $7.50
16 packed cups of fresh basil leaves (@ 1.99 for 2 cups) = $15.92
1 spice jar full dried basil (@ 3.00) = $3.00
1 gallon storage bag dried mint tea (@ 4 x 2.50) = $10
2 spice jars full of dried parsley (@ 2.00 each) = $4.00
2 bunches fresh parsley (@ 1.79 each) = $3.58
salad greens for 10 people (@ 3.19 for 4 people) = $.7.98
Total approximate value of produce: $128.73

So technically, we spent about $100 more on the garden than we yielded this year.  However, the vast majority of what we spent was on tools and equipment which can be reused next year.  We also experimented with saving the seeds of many of our plants, so we may be able to reduce what we spend on seeds next year as well.  Further, I think that with better planning and care we could have yielded a lot more on the garden, which will be something to work towards in the future.


Overall I'm actually quite happy with our garden this year, and I'm confident that next year we will actually save money by doing it.  I look at it as something that we are incorporating into our lifestyle, which might take a little time to reach its full potential.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
                                                                                                                - Deut. 8:10