Readers’ ideas about money-saving vegetable gardening provide a fascinating glimpse into how people garden.
I received an email from Liz Dunn, a local gardener, who shared the following tips for money-saving vegetable gardening. She gave me permission to post it verbatim, so here’s Liz’s note to me:
“As you pointed out, you did not include what you ate out of the garden in your savings. That would be a huge amount!! Even in the middle of the summer tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers still are expensive. I saw red bell peppers while shopping the other day for $1.34 each. I probably have 6 or 7 red ones on the vine right now.
“Another savings can be on seed since some seed will save for 5-6 years. Tomato seeds can be saved for long periods and quite often for home use you don’t need forty seedlings and can just plant 4 or 5 seeds of each variety that you want and once the plants get some size trim down to 1 or 2. You save the cost of buying seed for a number of years. Cucumber seeds, squash, and others save well too.
“I know you compost. Your vegetable debris goes right into your compost pile creating another savings in making your own compost instead of buying it.
“It’s amazing how “rewarding” gardening can be!”
You might enjoy this publication from Virginia Tech Extension.
– Liz
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
