Grow or buy? Careful gardening can pay off

Tag : Vegetable Garden Gardening Organic Vegetables
Grow or buy? Careful gardening can pay off Source: AP Posted: 08/05/08 7:02PM Filed Under: Lifestyle Features
The weather was bleak and the ground unworkable in March, when J.D.Roth and his wife began tracking whether their gardening effortswould result in savings on their food bills.
It wasn't looking good by the end of May. He had a handful ofstrawberries, $300 in bills and 21 hours invested in the garden. Tomake matters worse, it was still unclear whether the tomatoes thathis wife, Kris Gates, had nurtured from seed would survive an Aprilhailstorm.
But within weeks, the balanced shifted. The strawberries werecoming in by the basket and the snow peas were flourishing. ComeJuly, the couple was harvesting a wide variety of berries, alongwith green beans, snow peas, zucchini and cucumbers.
According to Roth's calculations, they had spent 39 hours and $320on the garden by the end of July, harvesting $175 worth of food,not counting the excess berries they traded with other gardenersfor lettuce and carrots.
"We're sure to come out ahead financially," said Roth,who lives just outside Portland, Ore. "But it's not only aboutthe money. Working in the garden is satisfying for both of us. Wewould do this even if it cost us money."
Across the country, there is growing interest in gardening to putfood on the table - and it's not just about money.
"I think there's a real interest in people trying to growtheir own food partly because its fun, partly because it tastesgood and partly because it saves money," said Roth, who istracking the results of his gardening on his blog atgetrichslowly.org.
But is it practical to think that a home gardener's efforts willreally translate into a meaningful difference? Maybe.
Experts suggest that careful planning and thoughtful spending arekey to making that happen.
Gardening can be expensive, particularly if you want to start andraise plants indoors. An online survey of prices found grow lightsranging in price from $7.70 up to $53.94 for incandescent orfluorescent lights. Specialty lighting that takes plants fromsprout to harvest or for use in hydroponics can cost a few hundreddollars.
Then there are timers to turn the lights on and off ($9.97 to$39.93), power surge protectors ($24.99 to $49.99) and any numberof miscellaneous items from seedling trays to extension cords topots. Not to mention the impact on the electricity and water bills.
Whether growing inside or out, the cost of basics can also add up.While a $1.99 packet of seeds will yield dozens of plants, buyingmature seedlings can become costly quickly. A 4-inch pot containingan organic tomato can easily cost $4.99 and tools, containers,fertilizers and other related items can send costs into thehundreds if not thousands of dollars.
"You can spend a lot of money on gardening," said BeckyGrube, sustainable horticulture specialist at the University of NewHampshire Cooperative Extension. "But you don't have to make abig investment."
Emily Kerns and Pete Petron, who started a vegetable garden thisspring in Fairfield, Conn., wanted to go organic with their20-by-40-foot garden. Not only was it going to be costly - oneperson said they would need to replace much of the soil - theprocess would take three to five years, they were told.
They chose a simpler route, deciding they would just steer clear ofusing chemicals in their garden while they learned more aboutmaintaining their garden. They had to spend $3,000 for a deerfence, but they kept plant costs to about $100 for a wide varietyof annual vegetables and borrowed gardening tools and a rototillerto get started.
To cultivate success and avoid overspending, start small. Don't getswept into thinking that gardening requires a lot of fancyequipment.
All that's really needed to get started is some soil, seeds orseedlings, water and something to turn the soil. A pair of glovesis also nice. And, for those gardening in smaller spaces, pots mayalso be a requirement.
"See what works well for you," Grube said. "Peopleoften find out that their site doesn't work well for what theyreally wanted to grow."
Maintaining a few pots of herbs is convenient and particularly costeffective. A mature plant or pack of seedlings will cost about thesame as one packaged container of herbs in the store and for thosewilling to work with seeds, repeat sowing will keep the supplygoing for months.
When it comes to growing vegetables, some plants make more sensethan others, said Stephanie Turner, director of seed products withPark Seeds in Greenwood, S.C.
She noted that most vegetables require at least 6 hours of directsunlight, plants like tomatoes and peppers - among the most popularplants in vegetable gardens - tend to be water-sensitive, requiringa little more attention.
Grube suggests steering clear of vegetables like asparagus, celeryand rhubarb because they are perennials that only start to produceafter several years. But, she said, it makes sense in even thesmallest spaces to have at least some herbs growing.
For those with patios, there are special types of tomatoes for potsand lettuce and peppers are particularly well-suited to containergardening.
However, even if you have enough land to put in a full-fledgegarden, it's best to not get carried away.
"Start with a few things you know you like to eat," saidRoth, noting the couple put something like 50 peppers and 30tomatoes in their first vegetable garden.
"It was just dumb," he said. "It was an overwhelmingamount of work. It's easy to grow just three tomato plants. Startthere and work up."