Vegetable gardening may not be financially profitable during your first season

I was thinking back to my first vegetable gardening experience in suburbia a few years ago. After many trips to the local home and garden store I accumulated the following:

Soil amendments (compost/peat moss/perlite) $ 33.00
Garden tools (rake/fork) $ 16.00
Organic fertilizer $ 3.00
Seeds and seed starter kit $ 24.00
Kid garden tools (shovel/watering can) $ 5.00
Miscellaneous $ 10.00

Total $ 91.00

In the end of the season we probably grew about $5 worth of tomatoes and fresh flowers but doesn’t even compare to the quality time spent with my daughter watering and as she would say “picking food” which made that season especially profitable.

4 Responses to “Vegetable gardening may not be financially profitable during your first season”

  1. mss @ Zanthan Gardens Says:

    The cost of the tools should be spread out over the number of years you have them thus bringing down the price for this year’s tomatoes a bit.


  2. The Cheap Vegetable Gardener Says:

    That is very true, guess I could make the same argument for seeds since I stored them for a few years. Would also say soil amendments but I have moved since then, wish I could have brought my soil and my finished compost but sure my wife wouldn’t have understood 🙂


  3. Keri-Ann Says:

    You have a square foot garden! We are just starting ours… building the boxes tomorrow and just started pricing out the vermiculite, peat moss and compost. (Whoa, investment!) Did you use coconut coir instead of both the vermiculite and peat moss? Where do you get your supplies? When our kids are healthy again can we come see your garden? Please please? :)(Great blog, btw!)


  4. 1st Blog-Iversary - The Cheap Vegetable Gardener Says:

    […] one year ago I wrote the first post for The Cheap Vegetable Gardener.  Over this short time I have had a tremendous response, more […]


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