Last week on our Frugal Friday post about Extreme Couponing, there was a discussion on how to save on fresh fruits and vegetables, since coupons for these items are rare. The Prudent Homemaker brought up a great point. She thinks the best way to save on produce is to grow your own.
Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal tried to estimate what a vegetable garden can save you. The key: keep your capital costs down. They estimate putting in a raised bed with compost and soil is $80. If you do this once, you’ll be reaping the benefits for years to come.
Burpee, a large seed provider, estimates if you spend $1 on the seeds of green beans, it will yield $75 worth of crops. For $1 of potato seeds, you yield $5 of potatoes.
Variable costs include water, fertilizer, and pesticide. One of the best ways to keep water costs down is a drip irrigation system. If you install this yourself (instruction on Lifehacker). It will cost around $100, but remember this is a capital cost.
Do you think you can make the math work on your garden?
This post is linked to Frugal Friday on Life as Mom.
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2 Comments until now
We’ve definitely made the math work for our vegetable garden since we’ve been gardening for at least 15 years. I’d say our capital costs are done to almost nothing at this point.
Funny, I was just working on my site and ran across a post I wrote 2 years ago about how much we’re saving by growing our own food – http://alifeinbalance.net/comparison-of-cost-of-tomatoes/
I estimated our cost per pound to be about $.25. I simply cannot buy fresh produce that cheap!
You can’t beat $0.25 per pound! Keeping a garden does take a lot of maintenance, but you’re completely right that over time, you’re capital costs go down significantly. Plus, nothing is better than a fresh tomato. Have a great weekend!
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