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How Much Does it Cost to Start a Garden?

2 April, 2020 by amygwh

Garden planner, trowel, fertilizer, and seeds on a small tray.

I have been moving this spring and am starting a garden in a new yard. Like many other gardeners, I prefer to keep the budget for this project fairly low. Garden costs can shoot skyward easily, but it is possible, with some thought and extra work, to keep costs down.

Near the upper end of the “garden cost” range, there is the garden of William Alexander, who wrote a book about how his beautiful, ripe tomatoes, after figuring his expenses, cost $64 apiece to grow. Not too surprisingly, his book is titled The $64 Tomato (it is a hilarious book, if you are a gardener). However, Mr. Alexander paid for things like garden design, wrought iron fences, an irrigation system, and other elements that are nice to have, but not essential for food-growing.

For gardeners who have smaller budgets and are hoping to grow food for a lower price than, say, $64 per tomato, the range of costs extends pretty far downward, to a less painful level.

Each element of the garden can be either cheap or expensive, depending on choices the gardener makes. Most of the lower-cost options involve more work or more planning or both, but they do exist.

Boundaries of the Garden

These days, it is common practice for home gardeners to build their gardens using some kind of boards or other material to create deep beds. What are our options for this element of the garden?

Veg garden in raised bed, corner of bed shows height of the boards. Bed is overflowing with plants, including the round green leaves of nasturtium and orange peppers behind.

Boards

Treated lumber is not recommended for use in organic gardens. Cedar boards are recommended, instead, for building gardens because they resist rotting without added chemicals. However, sturdy cedar boards can be expensive.

Gardeners who have access to free, non-treated lumber, such as pine, may want to use those boards. Most non-treated wood — that isn’t cedar or redwood — rots readily, and will need to be replaced every two or three years, so there will be extra work if this option is chosen.

Alternate materials

Garden beds can be raised up or edged using rocks, bricks, concrete blocks, metal roofing, or other kinds of non-toxic materials. Many of these are at greater risk (than boards) of shifting around while the gardener is working near the edges.

A couple of my Georgia gardens were edged with rocks and bricks that were mostly free (long ago, we bought some bricks), so I know they can work if the gardener remembers to be careful when working around the edges. If a gardener has access to any of these materials for free or a low price, they can be an option.

However, raised beds are not required.

An in-ground garden

One of my favorite garden books is The Joy of Gardening, by Dick Raymond, and the author uses a system called wide rows. These garden beds are slightly raised, but they are not edged with any hard material.

Newly dug and planted in-ground garden, in a sunny lawn, with corners marked by short stakes and sides by string stretched between the stakes.
An in-ground garden, not raised.

Look for the book in the library and read it. The basic idea for these wide rows is that good soil is pulled onto the designated “bed” space from around the edges. This soil, plus any amendments, gives the wide rows a little height, but not the kind of height provided by most raised beds. Each wide row is three-or-so feet across, providing plenty of space for either multiple rows of a crop or for the intensive spacing (on a grid) used in square-foot style gardening.

My experience is that the lack of edging can increase the risk of soil loss in heavy rains and allows more weeds to creep in from the lawn. In spite of those drawbacks, this is the option I am using for my new garden this year. Since I am in the learning stage for gardening in this yard, a non-permanent bed seems like the wisest choice.

Raised beds pros and cons

Gardener sitting on the edge of a raised bed.
Raised beds can mean less stooping.

You may decide that raised beds are the best choice for your yard. The following information may help you decide —

Raised bed advantages:

  • increased height can make them easier to tend
  • defined edges make them more obvious for dogs and small children to “see”, potentially reducing the number of times little feet run through the plants
  • increased depth of loose soil can improve garden productivity, IF the soil used to fill the beds is truly good stuff
  • increased height allows beds to drain faster in wet weather, decreasing risk of floods killing your plants
  • increased height also allows beds to warm up faster in spring

Raised bed disadvantages

  • can be expensive to fill with good soil
  • can be expensive to build, if free materials for edging is not located
  • improved drainage means that extra watering is needed during drought time (most of August and September, most years, in the Southeastern US)
  • hard to move if an error in garden placement has been made (location too shady or too far from a water source, or laced through with tree roots that suck up all the water and fertilizer)

The Soil

Filling a raised bed garden

If your heart is set on having a raised bed garden, the soil to fill it is the next element to consider. It can take a full cubic yard of soil to fill a 4×8 foot bed that is 10-inches deep. Buying that much garden soil in bags is going to get pricey. A cheaper option, if you have a pickup truck or a good friend who is willing to share theirs, is to buy a cubic yard of good garden soil at a landscape supply company.

I have done this, so I know it is possible. My cost at the time (years ago) was around $35 for a cubic yard of a good planting mix that included compost. The price has gone up since then, but a scoop of soil from a landscape supply place is still a lot less expensive than buying enough bagged soil at a garden center.

At a landscape supply place, the soil will get dropped into the bed of your pickup truck for you to drive home. Moving it out of the truck and into the garden is some work. Be ready with shovels, wheelbarrows, and helpers. You may need to bribe helpers (only immediate family members, this spring) with their favorite foods.

Choosing the soil product for filling raised beds

When choosing soil to fill a raised bed, DO NOT choose “top soil”. I have seen some miserable results from gardens that were filled with products labeled “top soil”.

Instead, look for a soil-product that is a mix of materials that includes compost. The product needs to drain well, so sand in the mix can be helpful. Some landscape supply places offer garden soil mixes that are designed for use in raised bed food gardens and that have a guaranteed nutrient analysis. Look for the best you can find.

If there is no garden soil option available, check to see if the place offers something like mushroom compost by the cubic yard. Growing in pure compost will be great for most crops, but it can be too “nutrient rich” for others, especially root crops.

Another option for many Georgia residents is to purchase a cubic yard bag of compost (the Big Yellow Bag) from Soil3. The price includes delivery, and it can be used “straight” to grow garden crops in. This option will cost more than a cubic yard scoop of planting mix or compost from a landscape supply place, but the convenience factor may over-rule the cost factor for some gardeners.

Amending an in-ground garden

If you choose an in-ground garden, the soil will need to be amended with compost to improve its fertility and how it holds water. Sandy soils and clay soils both will make more productive gardens if a two-inch layer of compost is worked into the garden before planting.

Tumbling type compost bin
Backyard compost tumbler.

For some soils, more compost is even better.

However, if you don’t already have a compost pile in the backyard to provide this magical assistance to your garden soil, that compost may need to be purchased. Costs for this can add up, so start a compost area for leaves and kitchen veg/fruit scraps now, for use in fall, to limit how much needs to be purchased later, when you replant for fall crops.

Some counties maintain a compost facility for yard waste, and then allow residents to come get the finished compost for free. In the metro-Atlanta area, Dekalb County is one that has done this. If your county does not offer free compost, you are stuck with buying bags from garden supply centers or buying a full cubic yard of compost from a landscape supply place.

Also, you should be wary of offers of free horse manure, even if it has been composted. In the past, some horse manures have been contaminated with a persistent herbicide. This herbicide stays active for a few years, and it is not approved for use in human food crops. In the first year or so, when it is most strong in the composted manure, the pesticide can kill some of your crops.

Fertilizers

If you’ve filled (or mostly filled) a raised bed with a good compost product like Soil3 or BlackKow, your garden may not need much (or any) additional fertilizer until next spring. For those of us whose garden soil is less nutrient-rich, fertilizer is another expense.

Look for a complete fertilizer — one that includes many nutrients and not just the “big three” of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. All of the organic fertilizer products labeled for vegetable gardens will meet this goal.

This year, my garden fertilizer is from Dr. Earth. If the summer weather is dry, I will supplement that with a fish fertilizer, since those are meant to be poured on after mixing with water.

Organic products are not as concentrated as many of the chemical fertilizers, so be aware that your garden may need more of these than you think.

In addition, you may need to apply more as the plants grow, if the package says to side-dress at certain times through the growing season. Read the fertilizer labels carefully to find your best option.

For gardeners whose budgets are very tight, the cheapest fertilizer option may be a chemical fertilizer. If this is all that your budget will allow, look for a complete fertilizer similar to MiracleGro, and avoid the products that include only the three major nutrients (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus). Reading fertilizer labels will help you identify the best fertilizer for your situation.

Plants and Seeds

newly planted small tomato plant with label poked into the ground beside it, showing that this purchased plant is the variety 'Creole' and grown by Bonnie Plants.

The final big expense for the garden is the actual crops. Some may need to be purchased as plants, but some should be planted as seeds directly into the garden.

Crops to buy as plants

For plants to set into the ground, we typically purchase the kinds that take a long time to reach maturity. For summer crops, these include tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Sweet potatoes are another summer crop to set into the ground as plants, because seeds are not typically available. Sweet potato plants are grown from stem cuttings.

To save money on plants, buy the smallest size available. A 4-inch potted tomato plant may cost around $4; a larger plant will cost a lot more. If some plants are available in “6-packs”, those are usually the most economical.

Starting with smaller plants may mean that the first harvest from those plants is a little later than it might be for larger plants. However, the delay may be only a week or two.

Crops to buy as seeds

Almost every other crop that you hope to plant will be more economical when planted as seeds, unless you are planting only one or two of a particular crop. This includes cucumbers and squashes, all the beans and summer peas, corn, okra, Swiss chard, amaranth, grain sorghum, and more.

Garden planner, trowel, fertilizer, and seeds on a small tray.
Seeds, fertilizer, and journal, set for planting.

If you can find another gardener to share seed packets with, you can split the cost. In this spring of pandemic weirdness, the sharing may get a bit tricky, but it should be possible to arrange drop-off locations for seeds, to help maintain your “social distance”.

An additional savings for seeds is that, stored properly, this year’s seeds can also be planted in next year’s garden. Store leftover seeds in an airtight container (not a plastic bag) in the fridge.

In the past, I have pooled my seed order with a friend, to reduce shipping costs in addition to sharing the contents of our seed packets. However, the mail-order seed companies are running out of seeds this spring, and they are also running behind in filling seed orders. Gardeners who have waited until now to buy seeds may find that their selection is limited.

A warning: it is possible to get carried away with seeds. Each packet may not be all that expensive, but I have seen “seed stashes” that represent hundreds of dollars in costs. Leftover seeds can be used for a few years, for most crops, but around year three or four, many seeds will not reliably make good plants. Only buy what you think you will need.

Extras

For preparing the garden, some tools are needed. The basics include a shovel, a hoe, and a trowel. Keep the hoe and shovel sharpened, so they can slide through the soil more easily. It helps to have a bucket, too, for gathering weeds (to add to a compost pile) and for moving compost.

Front cover of Garden Planner and Notebook: a vegetable garden guide and journal

The shovel is for digging. The hoe is for moving soil (pushing/pulling) and for scraping out the weeds. The trowel is for planting — digging holes, especially.

Another totally optional but nice to have item is a journal to keep track of garden activities. I have been using the one I created, and it is good to have written down exactly which varieties of crops are going into the garden, which fruiting plants I’ve added to the yard (‘Albemarle’ muscadine, Chickasaw plum), and how the ground was prepared for each crop.

Creating a record of amendments, crops, weather, pests, and more will help improve the productivity of future gardens.

Best wishes for great gardening!

Filed Under: frugal gardening Tagged With: garden cost, summer garden

That Seed-Buying Time of Year

6 February, 2015 by amygwh

If your inbox looks anything like mine at this time of year, it is crammed with messages from seed companies that are hoping we all will  buy more seeds. This year, a great little ad came to my email from Park seed company that hints at how much money we can all save by buying seeds.

The ad reads:

Home Gardens Save Money

On average, a family that spends $50 on seeds and fertilizer will produce $1,250 in produce!

While I totally agree that home gardens can be a great source of less-expensive, healthy food for families, I have known people with quite small gardens to spend this much and harvest much less. Hopefully, though, all of my gardening friends have developed cost-effective plans to make the most out of whatever space is available for their gardens.

One of my gardening friends and I have worked out our annual seed-buying deal that saves us both a little money. This year, I will be placing our joint order for seeds from Sandhill Preservation, and she will be in charge of the order from Baker Creek/Rare Seeds. We will be getting together this weekend to finalize and place our orders. This is always a great way to spend time with a gardening friend!

I am not ordering as many seed packets as usual, because I have a surprisingly large supply of seeds in the fridge that are still new enough to have good-enough germination rates. As seeds age, they lose viability, and they can get so old that they just won’t grow. That aging-time varies with crop type, but I seem to have bought a lot of seeds in the past couple of years. Very few packets have date stamps further back than 2012.

This weekend is forecast to be warm and sunny, with highs up around 60 degrees F. I plan to spend some of that beautiful weather pruning berry-canes, the persimmon, and the plum. Hope that everyone else has a great, garden-filled weekend!

Filed Under: frugal gardening, seed sources

Seed Orders for 2010

17 January, 2010 by amygwh

I’ve made the major decisions about what to grow this year and am posting the list here. I also have seeds from last year (and the year before that) to plant this year, including Pigott Family Heirloom crowder peas, Dakota Black popcorn, Wuhib paste tomato, SloBolt lettuce, and MANY more.

This is a lot of seeds, and the garden space isn’t exactly huge. However, the seeds – and transplants grown from the seeds – won’t all go into the garden at the same time; some of these are for spring, some for fall, and some for summer.

From Fedco Seeds, in Maine:

Little Leaf H-19 cucumber
Rocky Ford green flesh melon
Raven zucchini
Cherokee Purple tomato
Scarlet Nantes carrot
French Breakfast radish
Evergreen Hardy White scallions
Jimmy Nardello pepper
Black Czech pepper
Rutgers tomato
Golden Detroit beet

Total $14.00 (no S/H charges since I ordered with a friend; together, we got above the no S/H minimum)

From The Cook’s Garden, in Pennsylvania, but owned by the CEO of Burpee:

Sugar Nut hybrid melon (2 packets)
Costoluto Genovese tomato
Cilantro

Total $13.35 (plus $5.95 S/H)

From Sandhill Preservation Center, in Iowa:

Blue Marbut pole beans
Ukranian Beauty eggplant
Red Russian kale
Vegetable mallow
Aunt Molly’s ground cherry
Pollock Rocky Ford melon (orange flesh variety)
Detroit Dark Red beet
Marvel of Four Seasons lettuce
Winter radishes mix
Straight Nine cucumber
Yellow Out Red In tomato
Sweet Genovese basil

Total 20.25 (no S/H)

From Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, in Virginia:

Oxheart carrots
Hanover Salad kale
Forest Green parsley
Capitan lettuce
Cajun Jewel okra
Napolean Sweet pepper
Ice Bred White turnip

Total $17.24 (plus 3.50 S/H)

The grand total cost for seeds (so far) is $64.84. With S/H charges included, it’s $74.29. When onion sets become available, I will be buying a bundle of those. Last year, one bundle cost $1.50, and I am expecting this year’s bundle to be a similar price.

If I were more strapped for cash, I would have ordered from just Fedco and/or Sandhill preservation. They have more varieties for lower prices than other sources I’ve seen, and they have no S/H charge on orders above a minimum ($30 for Fedco, $10 for Sandhill Preservation). If my seed-ordering friend and I could find a few more people to order with us, we could get a “volume discount” from Fedco (10% off orders above $100).

Filed Under: frugal gardening, garden planning

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