Poll: How much did you spend on your garden?

nsees

This is our first year, and the investment is adding up.  Although I know in the long run it's minimal and on top of having yummy healthy food, we'll still be saving money.

Our investment so far is around $70 which has mainly been for fencing supplies and weed mat (suggestion of one of DH's patients and makes sense since that is how his dad does things at the greenhouse).

We were able to repurpose wood for the garden surround.  It is kind of a raised bed...kinda sorta.  We got free compost, seeds, and seedlings.  Lots of free DH manual labor as well!

I'm curious though when you don't have families in the business to get freebies from...I'm thinking you could be sinking some major money into your garden after seeing the seedling prices at the greenhouse this weekend.

So how much have you spent this year? And how many years have you had your garden?

Meg41208

around $150 to build the raised beds and fill with dirt and to purchase seeds and seedlings from seed savers exchange

ElloPoppet

about $110. The beds are already there and I bought half seeds & half potted plants and a couple cheap plastic garden tools. This is the first year I have planted in this particular garden. I will have seeds leftover to try next year, and the raspberries will be there next year if they survive winter.

I intend to start composting, too, so that's going to be another chunk of money.

CABunny

We have raised beds, but used repurposed wood to build them.  I spent $18 in seeds, bought dirt & other soil stuff & chicken wire - don't remember the cost of those, but I imagine we kept it under $100.  This is our first year gardening.

satreece

Last year (when we started) we spent probably around $150 for wood for the raised beds (4x20 feet) and soil ammendments (though we got tons of free composted manure from dh's school).  I usually spend around $50 buying seedlings and have seeds from years past.

This year, I've spent probably $20-$30 on compost (but I will have my own compost bin before the end of the summer b/c I hate spending that money).  About $50 on seedlings.  We are working on "sprucing up the backyard" and that involved a stone path around the garden (around$150) and we are buying crushed shell to eliminate the rest of the grass on the garden side of the back yard.  That will probably cost about $50.  I also spent $20 buying the stuff I need to make a permanent trellis (instead of tomato cages).

Really... besides crafts, gardening is my #1 hobby... so it's money spent on food (hopefully) and also my hobby.  we hardly eat out, never go to the movies (now that ds is born), and that's about it...  I really, really enjoy it, so it's worth every penny to me.

Beebee09

My first year we spent about $250, we made new raised beds and purchased new filtered soil, which was super expensive, but totally worth it.  THen, we had to purchase the weed matting, trellises, cages for tomatoes, and a few minor things.  This year now that everything is set up, I think I've only spent about $40 for seedling supplies and a few new cages.

barnwife

I have no idea. The garden is one thing that we don't really seem to keep track of expenses for. That being said, we didn't need to buy many seeds this year as we still had some. Okay, we still have tons even after planting this year. DH has had this huge garden since he bought this place about 5 years ago.

Oh, he did buy some more trees this year. And I did buy some onion seeds because DH wanted to try some other varieties.

We are very lucky and have great soil. (We live on a former farm. Much of the garden used to be a giant manure pile.) As for what we plant: strawberries, raspberries, lettuce, spinach, squash, green beans, onions, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, cucumbers, zuchinni, various herbs, corn, and I'm probably forgetting things. It's worth it though. It definitely keeps the grocery bill down!

kdello

Probably $150 the first year and maybe $50/yr after that. (This would be less if I were patient enough to use more seeds and less seedlings!)

I have a worm farm, so I make my own compost. My initial cost was high due to choosing a composite recycled plastic "wood" for our raised beds to protect against leaching of chemicals from pressure treated lumber. Non-pressure-treated lumber seems to only last a couple of years, so we just went with the high end stuff.

thejennigirl

We bought a tiller for the tractor this year, and that was $550.  BUT, to insure my family is getting the best food possible, it is worth it to me.  Not to mention, we'll be gardening & canning for the rest of our lives, so the tiller will eventually pay for itself.

Small scale, a container garden could cost under $75.  Especially if you reuse containers from other projects, and collect rain water (a kiddie swimming pool at the bottom of a gutter drain pipe would be quite effent & cost $8 if bought new.)

 

Lvneveryminuteofit

Two years ago we put a garden in at my parents house. All told the costs came to about 200 for 8 raised beds and all the seeds. We also added organic compost to the soil because we've tried a garden a few times with shotty results. We repurposed wood from the old deck to make the fence and a couple of the beds. This year we expanded it, and probably only spent about 40 honestly. We planted cantelope and watermelon and pumpkins in the expansion.

This is the first year I have done a garden at my place (its a new place and I finally have room for one!) The bed was already there so I just bought the soil, plants and seeds and a couple of bamboo stakes for my tomatoes. I spent about 60.

jennterrell

we've been gardening in the same 4 12x12' beds for several years now, so we don't have the start-up costs as a lot of you do...  i  had saved some seed from previous years. Already had strawberry plants, herbs, blueberry bushes.

$3.50 for sweet potato plants, 1.50 for potato sets, $4 for onion sets,  3.50 for tomato seedlings, maybe $5 total for seeds needed for lettuce, carrots, spinach, zucchini, squash, beans and peas. A few $ for seed starter potting mix.   So maybe $25 total???

we should get enough lettuce and spinach to last the season, as well as fresh squash and zucchini and peas. I hope to can tomatoes and beans and maybe some carrots. We are going to try to store the onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes better, as we usually end up wasting some due to spoilage.

babybird7

We've been doing a garden for the last 5 years so we already have all the fencing, trellis, stakes, etc.  We use our own compost and started collecting rain water this year.  I don't know what we spent in years past but this year it's probably under $30 for seeds and a few plants. 

 We have a fairly large garden and grow tomatoes, squash, zucchini, green beans, cucumber, onion, garlic, potatoes, snow peas, lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli, peppers, and strawberries.  I LOVE our garden.

Alibean

Our garden is a money pit!  DH is the one who does the gardening b/c if it were up to me, we would just join a CSA since I have a black thumb.  I would have to ask DH for exact costs, but this is the 3rd year he's gardened and we hardly get anything to harvest.  He had to build a pretty sturdy fence to keep the dogs out.  He didn't do raised beds and has bought a _ton_ of compost.  The soil here has a lot of clay in it and I think that has been a lot of our problem.  Last year, we only got a handful of cherry tomatoes at the garden's peak.  DH has planted lots of things directly in the ground this year and nothing has made it yet.  He bought a grow light for the basement to give the starters a little more of a chance this year.  

DH is busy at work today but I'll ask him tonight and respond w/his estimates. 

mrsjjd

We're probably at $150 or so.