10 Ways to Save Money Growing Food

ByJulianne

When you pick up your first seedling from the garden section and think, ‘why don’t I just grow my own tomatoes instead of having to pay for them?’ I don’t think you realize the rabbit hole you are falling down. Next thing you know, you’ve got 4 different types of tomatoes, cucumbers, and some pepper plants. You think, maybe I could raise chickens in my backyard, and you’ve developed a straw-hat fetish.

The thing is, if you aren’t smart, gardening adds up. If you’re buying all your started seedlings at the beginning of the season, you’re looking at 4-8 dollar investment in each of those plants. Then you have to think about the cost of soil, fertilizer, even your waterbill can add up. Suddenly, your tomatoes are actually more expensive than getting them from the grocery. And honestly, they might not even taste that good, with mother nature there is expertise and there is also a good deal of luck.

Here are my top ten ways to save money while growing food:

  1. Grow your plants from seeds. Now this is a no brainer. It’s just simple math. If you buy a pack seeds, assuming all of these seeds have good germination (which they should), then you are looking at anywhere from 10-100 plants, give or take. If I buy a pack of 40 seeds for $4, it can be assumed that I can grow 40 plants. This would require some simple supplies but hey, if you want to be super cheap, you can buy all the things you need even from the dollarstore. Meanwhile, if you bought fully established seedlings from the nursery at $6 a pop, growing 40 of them would be $260. It just makes sense, the more labour you have to put into the plants yourself, the less you have to pay for them.
  2. Sell some of your seedlings. Now of course this only really works if you are growing them from seed yourself, but if you grow all 40 of your $4 seeds, you put in $1 worth of soil, and $1 pot, each seedling now cost you $2.10 to grow. If you sell that at $3 per plant, which is super cheap around here, you are making a little profit already.
  3. Check a seed library. Lots of libraries participate in a seed library program now. This means people can come by and pick up or drop off whichever seeds they would like to use or any they have decided just were not for them. That’s totally free seeds, no more upfront cost at all.
  4. Seed swaps or seedling swaps. You might have to keep a look-out for these, but around spring time many farmer’s markets will do seedling or seed swaps, where you can diversify your plants without having to buy a whole bunch of seeds when you can only grow the one rare melon you just couldn’t find as a seedling. Check out facebook for some of the local farming communities or farmers markets nearby to see if they have posted any events in early to mid spring.
  5. Make your own soil mix. Now this isn’t always economical, but if you are working on a larger scale, buying in bulk is a good option. This means instead of buying certain types of specific soils for your specific plants, buy perlite, vermiculite, manure, peat or black earth, whatever you want to work with, and mix it yourself. There are plenty or recipes online and definitely a lot of people touting their mix for being the best but there is no ‘good for every plant’ mix out there because all plants like to live in their own specific conditions. Don’t get bogged down, just go for a mix and get mixing, they’re all relatively the same.
  6. Rain barrels. Full stop. You don’t realize how much water you’ll need gardening until you get hit by a dry spell and you’re out there watering twice a day. If you have the ability to facilitate a rain barrel, get a rain barrel. There is no reason not to use what mother nature gives us.
  7. Don’t make a raised bed. A lot of people who are new to gardening see raised beds and think they need to do that. No, you don’t. They’re really nice looking, uniform, and elevated so it’s definitely better on your body, but it’s not necessary at all. Farms have been using the ground for quite a while with success and you can too. It’s a good idea if you’re working with very poor soil to amend and build up that soil and that can be easier with a raised bed, but it’s definitely not needed. You can just pile dirt on the ground, and make your own raised lump to work with.
  8. Don’t buy fertilizer. Mulched leaves will break down overtime; home compost is a free byproduct of what you eat and it is perfect for your garden. Fertilizer is simply all around you, and it’s free, you just have to take a few more steps to put it on your plants rather than just buying it and pouring it on.
  9. Sell it if your not going to eat it. Now some of us have the ability to have a farmstand or have enough garden to sell to farmers markets, grocery stores or restaurants. Most of us don’t. Thing is, people will buy produce off of you because you grew it yourself and they know where it came from. Spread the word around that you’ve got produce to sell and likely someone will buy. Otherwise, put it up on facebook marketplace. If you got 20lbs of zucchini and you’re only going to eat 5, put it up and see if someone will buy it. If you don’t use any chemical fertilizers or sprays, mention that too, it’s a great way to market your produce.
  10. Just wait. The supermarkets can’t have a garden centre going forever and they will discount their seedlings far earlier than their trees or shrubs. They might not take the best care of them, they might be scrawny and scragily, but you can generally find some that are not too far gone. The only problem with this is you have to keep in mind what your growing season is like and make sure you have enough time for it to bounce back and make it to harvest time before the frost kicks it to the curb. I generally do grab a bunch of shrubs near the end of the season while they look horrible and take them home so they can grow better the next year. So far that has worked for me.

I always aim for profit from my seedling and harvest sales but I am happy with a little loss. Remember if you’re making a budget that every item of food you get from your harvest would be an expense if you were to buy it from the grocery, and if you grow organic it would be higher in price. Everytime you use your harvest as an ingredient, remember those items would be even more expensive generally.

And remember that you are providing good food for you and your family and that is priceless.

Good luck Gardening,

Julie Ya.