I aimed high and learned a lot. I'm a bit surprised there wasn't more value in the vegetables, but then again there were a few duds, like the spinach and cabbage. There were also some real low producers like potatoes, radishes and cucumbers.
The leader in value is the lettuce, which I estimate a $26 value over the season. It's hard to weigh lettuce, so I just said $0.50 per serving, and estimated a serving size. We harvested 52 servings over the seasons and had some delicious salads. I think lettuce is also one of the most practical things to grow. Who hasn't bought a huge head of lettuce and had half go bad in the fridge? It's just great to be able to walk out back and pick the lettuce as you're making the salad, and pick just he right amount.
Tomatoes are next up, at $21. Then carrots, then zucchini, potatoes, snap peas and broccoli.
And I can't ignore the tree fruits and nuts which we can't take much credit for as they were already mature when we moved in. We have, however, spent several days pruning and training them as they've been neglected for years. If the trees are allowed to subsidize the vegetables, then I did come out on top, but I guess that's not really fair. Here are the trees we have and their harvests for an estimated total of $163.92
Transparent apples 22 lb
Cherries few
Pears 2.5 lb
Prune plums 6.8 lb
Yellow plums 17.0 lb
Walnuts 6.2 lb
If you add it all together, we harvested $262.92 worth of food from our city lot, with a small veggie garden, and in the first year. That's sounds okay. Right? Sure. Anyway, it's a good benchmark. I'm going to try for $150 in value from the vegetables next year, and try really hard to keep costs in seeds and other things down. I have a lot of seeds left from this year that I can use again, and will hopefully make some trades with others.
I did buy some cedar landscape ties to make a bed in the front where it is sunnier for the tomatoes, basil, cucumber, and raspberries and a few other things, so that's already a $40 cost. It's hard to keep the costs down, but I really do like to know the truth. I can't say that we're saving money by growing our own food. Instead, it's a hobby that costs money but pays back a little, and is good for our health. I hope one day to make it an actual money saver.
4 comments:
There are a lot of costs. Especially when you first start up. But the cedar landscape ties will last for years. So future years won't be quite as bad. But you did well for a first year. Gardening is all about learning.
what were you comparing your costs to? i'd guess that you've been underestimating the cost of local organic produce... besides, you can't really put a price on freshness! eating things straight from the garden is like eating them still alive. think of the nutrients!
looking forward to hearing all about your gardening adventures next year. happy 2011! almost time to start planning the garden again...!
Anna: Good question. I struggled with setting prices for the produce to base my calculations on. I wanted to be conservative so that the numbers would be something that those who are not organic converts couldn't immediately dismiss. Also if it weren't for the garden we would buy a mixture of organic and conventional produce depending on what it was and the prices, so I wanted it to reflect a replacement of what we would spend if we bought the same things at the grocery store.
Having said all that, I went to our local grocery store's online shop, and set prices based on what they charge. Sometimes I used the organic price, sometimes the conventional, based on what I'd be most likely to have bought. I then tweaked the prices based on what our farmers market was charging, but didn't necessarily set them as high. I suppose my real goal was to find out how economical gardening is for the average person/family, not just those who are organic foodies. But there are many non-monetary benefits - like you say you can't put a price on freshness. Or the things we learn, or a relaxing hobby, or the enjoyment of spending more time in the yard, etc.
It's taken me this long to read about your 2010 round up...way to go CC! You've done a terrific job transforming your urban oasis. I hope your're hooked on growing. Looking forward to swaping starts with you later this season. Interested in a small coastal watermelon??!! Sonja
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