Ok some readers asked some pertinent questions about my garden harvest totals from yesterday HERE.
I thought it best to address them in a new post.
Offhand my purchases were just the 12 plants(I misspoke yesterday, it was 10 tomato plants and 2 zucchini plants).
We had fertilizer left over from previous year and any compost we amended the soil with was free kitchen scraps and yard clippings. So I guess $24($2 per plant) was my cost outlay? I may have watered with the hose a few times but the extra water costs were negligible. I should count the cost of the tree netting that Hubs bought to cover the garden area and keep critters from munching on my crops, but I don't know what he spent.....and besides he used a free hardware store gift card we got with c/c points to pay. lolz
I went back and broke down how much was harvested of each crop and the lowest price in season I could buy said crop at the local grocery store for---
Acorn Squash--5.26 lbs. @ .99¢ lb.=$5.20
Zucchini--8.05 lbs. @ $1.49 lb.=$11.99
Tomato--30.50 lbs. @ $1.99 lb=$60.69
* Of course the store bought tomatoes taste NOTHING like a home garden grown ones. 8-)))
That totals $77.88 worth of veggies I didn't spend at the store for, which cost me $24 in supplies.
A savings percentage of 69.18% so I good monetary ROI. Not even counting the flavor and nutrition ROI. ;-)
I'd say it was well worth the little bit of time and effort the garden turned out to be.
Now I could have developed a more strategic plan for the garden.
* I could have not waited until the last minute and started my own plants from seeds, which would have brought costs down more as a pack of seeds or two costs far less than a dozen seedlings purchased.
* I could have grown veggies that cost the most if purchased at the grocery store. Summer squashes are fairly cheap and Winter/Fall squashes are rather cheap in season but tomatoes while plentiful at the grocery store and still reasonably priced just don't taste as good. Plus unless you live down South you can NOT get green tomatoes(unripe red tomatoes)at a Northern grocery store.....EVER!(Unless of course a boutique type market carries them in season but I'd never be caught in one of those places so I just don't know if they'd stock green tomatoes.)
Some of the most expensive veggies that can be grown well in my climate are cauliflower and asparagus.
Asparagus won't happen here because they are real work and starting from scratch they don't really produce enough for a few years and they have to be left undisturbed between growing seasons. I am too impatient. lolz Cauliflower is a little more work too, since you have to keep the heads covered so they stay white plus the plants take up a lot of garden real estate(same goes for Collards/Cabbage/etc.) and you only get one bunch/head per plant.
I suppose the most expensive veggie I've grown before are fancy salad greens. The cost of a packet of seeds and the little work they require plus the short time it takes them to grow until ready to harvest make them a good garden value.....if you like salad greens and you don't have a family of rabbits living in a warren under your shed like I do. ;-)
Anyway, this is the last update on 2016's Garden Talk. It's time to start tinkering with next year's garden plans(if any). Maybe I'll get more mojo to do a better job at it in 2017.
So how did your garden work out this season?
Are you pleased with the results?
Sluggy
Quite a few of my veg comes back for free. We only buy basil and tomato plants. To me, it seems not to be cost effective. We got piles of cherry tomatoes this year but containers of them were going for $.50. The basil caught a fungus and had to be destroyed. The parsley did great and it was one of the things that replanted itself. I don't really want to put in more plants next year but maybe by the time Spring rolls around, I will be in the mood. Plus we go nuts with the flowers so why not plant food? I spend a lot of time watering. Oh and complaining.
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