Meals & Deals in Southwest Virginia

Plan your garden now and you’ll reap savings

Feb 22, 2012 Tips & Lingo

Skip the grocery store and shop for veggies in your own yard this summer. Stock photo.

As painful as it is to see food prices creeping up each year, for some people the thought of gardening might be worse.

Sure, first lady Michelle Obama managed to start a vegetable garden at the White House, but she has a whole staff to help her. Where’s the time for gardening when you have a job, kids and pets, and you have to get dinner on the table by six?

Well, if you start now, which is the ideal time to plan before you have to plant the first seed, you might just find the time to garden in the coming months — especially when you realize the savings you’ll reap.

For the beginner, starting a garden may seem like an expensive task. You need tools, seeds and/or plants, water and possibly fertilizers. However, the National Gardening Association has estimated that for every $70 spent by the average family on their vegetable garden, they’ll grow an estimated $600 worth of vegetables.

I recently stumbled upon a project on Get Rich Slowly (www.getrichslowly.org), which tracked how much two Oregon residents, J.D. Roth and his wife, Kris, saved in one year by having their own fruit and vegetable garden. Even though this couple had been gardening for years and were pretty well established by the time this project started, it was an eye-opening read.

After planning their garden in February, starting their own seeds indoors during the remaining winter months and finally planting everything in early spring, the Roths harvested about $607 worth of fruits and vegetables, while investing about $318. And as they pointed out, your costs should become less each year because so many tools and gardening accessories are one-time purchases.

A few things you can do to keep the cost of a vegetable garden down include buying seed packets instead of starter plants, making your own rain barrel for watering, making your own “green” pesticides (the Roths mentioned using a dish of beer to rid a garden of slugs), and picking out fruit and vegetables that thrive in our area (you’ll get the most out of your dollar).

One of the best local, and free, resources around is the information from the Virginia Cooperative Extension (www.ext.vt.edu, 231-5299).

Starting small is also a good thing to keep in mind. It’s easy to get carried away when you’re browsing through seed books and retailers picking out all of your new toys. But it’s best to try a few easy-to-grow plants first such as tomatoes, peppers or squash. A small garden will also help you figure out how much time gardening will consume. Then if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t lost too much money in the process.

Once your green thumb really sprouts, try canning some of your harvest. This will save you money on vegetables throughout the winter and liven up the dreary, cold months.

If you can’t grow your own fruits or vegetables, visit one of the local U-pick farms. These fruits and vegetables are generally cheaper and fresher than what you’ll find in the grocery store.

Local farmers markets are also a great option. The vendors can give you more details about the produce you’re buying and answer questions about pesticides, the plant variety or storage of the food.

How do you save money on fruits and vegetables? Does your garden prove to be profitable?

Posted at 09:00 by Rebecca Holland