The Garden Project: Worth the cost?
As I mentioned in my last “Garden Project” post, we kept track of the cost of the garden, so we could add it all up when we were done, compare it to what we got out of the garden (and our time there) and see if it was all worth it. Here it is:
The total cost of the project was $150.45. We will receive $10 of that back (our garden deposit) and interestingly, about $71.85 of it was in investment supplies.
It’s hard to guesstimate how much time we spent at the garden. I blogged about it nearly every time we went there, so I am going to guess that total, between the two of us, we spent between 50-60 hours at the garden (that does count some times when there were two people there at once).
It’s a little bit easier to keep track of the produce we got, because I took pictures (it would have been easier to keep track of it as I was going along though – note for future):
July 11 – 2 cucumbers, green beans, 2 zucchini, onions and lettuce
July 16 – more cucumbers
July 24 – 1o cucumbers, 1 LARGE zucchini, a few green beans
July 29 – a zillion more cucumbers
August 13 – 4 zillion cucumbers, 1 zucchini, a bunch of onions, and our first TOMATOES!
August 22– MORE TOMATOES!, cucumbers, a few green beans, 1 zucchini, and some onions
September 13 – our ONLY pepper, cucumber, lots of tomatoes!
November 6 – a bunch of sweet potatoes
Wow. Looking at all of the pictures, I feel that the money, time and effort we put in was well worth it. And of course, you can’t even calculate the worth of the quality time I got to spend with Steven (barf).
Comparing the cost versus the produce we picked – do you think the Garden Project was worth it?
I think we could have picked a lot more if we hadn’t been gone so much in August and September.
Themocracy
I think it was worth it for sure. First of all, the tools and things are items you can reuse so you really have to divide the cost of them over however many years you will do this. Then you have to consider that this was your “learning” year. Right now if you divide up the cost as a per vegetable price, it seems expensive but I still think it was worth it.
Do you think you will do this again next year? If it were me I would.
Oh gosh. This was TOTALLY our learning year. We learned SO MUCH. I can’t wait to see how much better next year is! If we still live here I think we will do it. 🙂
I love my garden, and I spent nearly $200 for a ton of hot peppers that you can buy for $.08 a pound. Not smart economically. But, I love watching stuff grow, and it is a hobby I really love. I say go for it!
I love that you had a pepper garden. What was your secret to getting them to grow? Only one of ours grew! (Out of 6 plants!)
Wow, you got a whole lot of loot! I would most definitely say it was worth the cost, especially being your first year doing it. Plus, there’s just something sweet about being your own gardener.
Well. You know me and my garden. It’s totally about calming The Crazy, so really? My garden was worth every penny. I haven’t totaled up how much I spent on it, but since I already had the tools and got some free seeds from The Harvest Table, there wasn’t much cost and I got a TON of produce. But really? I don’t even care about that. The time that I got to spend out there, meditating and nurturning was worth everything to me.
Holy sweet potatoes!! And cucumbers – I cant believe you got so many.
I would agree its totally worth it, especially if you keep it going next year. You already have the tools, so it turns from being worth the money, to saving a freaking fortune! 🙂
Well, how about the intangible/cost benefits? Did you feel satisfaction from growing your own food and spending time with Stephen on the project? Or did you feel annoyance from having to go out there and weed when you would have rather done something else. I’m guessing the former, but what do you think?
I enjoyed it almost all of the time, except for when I got covered in mosquito bites! 🙂
I did feel uncomfortable in the beginning because I didn’t know what to do, but we learned!
Oh, yeah, I remember that!
wow! You guys ended up doing great! What I want to know is, what did you do with all those zillions of cucumbers?
We ate a lot of them (they tasted so much better than store bought ones), gave a few away, and unfortunately, threw away a few. That is something we need to plan for better next year!
I think this was totally worth it!!
You did get a lot out of it for the cost you put in – the tools don’t count since they are tangible and you could sell those on craigslist for part of their original value.
AND you learned a lot and are now able to make sure you can survive when the world goes to shit and grocery stores are closed and we are all fighting over the last available cans of spaghettios (gross).
Sweet potatoes! Nice! I’d say it was worth the investment for sure. Next year if you do it again, you won’t spend as much because you already have the equipment! Dump the peppers next year – those silly underperformers!
Yeah, but how many phalic jokes were you able to make BEFORE you had the garden? Maybe like what….10-15 a day? With the garden you can easily double that, right?
Ha. Yes. And I will let you know, my sister and I totally had butternut squash penises today. But Steven wouldn’t take a picture. 🙁 What a poopy pants!
Wow, you had a lot of cucumbers this summer! You should learn to can and you can make pickles 🙂