The reason for this is that Green Onions are very simple to grow and they also can be used in many different dishes from around the globe including salads, meats, tapas, and casseroles. Comparing this … We don’t use commercial fertilizers, but did add about $5 in peat moss and $5 in amendments like rock phosphate and lime. 3.3m members in the gardening community. The leafy varieties are easy to harvest by picking the outer leaves, and this lets the plant continue to grow and produce. We’ve even had a few hardy plants continue to produce while covered in snow. Additionally, they have gotten quite expensive at local supermarkets. (And the Spring Mix, a ready to serve assorted lettuce mix sold in a plastic box, cost $4 per 300 grams!) Potatoes. It’s difficult to come up with an accurate figure for the cost of tomatoes because the cost varies so much by season and region. Particularly if you enjoy Mediterranean food, tomatoes should be your vegetable of choice for your garden. Farm Gardens Outdoor Gardens Growing Gardens Permaculture Organic Gardening Gardening Tips … By Katie Avis-Riordan. By doing this, you have an affordable and healthy vegetable growing in your garden without pesticide. My favorites are beans and winter squash. For this reason, bell peppers are considered one of the most cost-effective and low maintenance vegetables to grow at home. Broccoli is an interesting plant in that it can also surprise gardeners and produce edible cloves when there is snow on the ground. administrator | July 7, 2016 | Health, Uncategorized | No Comments. #1 Lettuce Lettuce will grow wherever grass will grow in your yard, making it a pretty easy crop to grow. This will ensure a steady supply of fresh greens for the table. Broccoli is a cool-season crop, and can be grown both as a spring and a fall crop. Tomatoes. After cutting off the central head, many side shoots will grow below, and will equal two to three times the original crown. Our homegrown garlic, grown from cloves saved from the previous crop, cost less than $.50 a pound to grow ourselves. CM Burns is a former film geek, world traveler and late starter dad. This is precisely why they are such an easy addition to anyone’s garden. These are the types of vegetables that don't require expensive soil, fertilizers, or even special care. Thus, be sure to water properly and you will have another affordable and productive addition to your home garden. Here are the top vegetables to grow at home this month if you're looking to slash your supermarket shopping bill. Although we are fortunate to have plenty of ground space for gardening, the work required to keep the beds fertile and weed free discourages us from planting some crops which are ‘dirt cheap’ when bought in season. We plant our beds in green manure during the off-season which is a low-cost way of fertilizing the soil. I would estimate that we grew 80 pounds of tomatoes (worth $160 – $320) for a cost of about $40. Easy to grow, peppers are commonly started early in small pots and transplanted when it’s warm enough outside. Greg Seaman For raised garden beds, composters, and other products to help you grow, check out our online store here. Some vegetables are simply cheaper to buy at the grocery store, and no amount of gardening savvy will result in a cost-saving benefit. The key is to pick out the outer leaves so that the plant can flourish. Growing garlic is best achieved when planting it before winter. Originally from Long Island, NY, Greg Seaman founded Eartheasy in 2000 out of concern for the environment and a desire to help others live more sustainably. Bell Peppers are a distinct vegetable in that they are able to add to both meat dishes and salads. Planting a vegetable garden is a fantastic way to save money on groceries — as long as you make sure to plant the most cost-effective veggies. We aren’t talking about saving money, but we are talking about growing healthy vegetables. The cost for a bunch of lettuce at the grocery store is usually somewhere around $2. Garlic is often grown over winter which makes good use of garden space. Carrots are very affordable and easy to grow. Growing your own vegetables can be a great way to help the environment and also save some pennies. We were given the starter plants, and spent about $15 in soil amendments. Tomatoes are a wonderful investment to your garden because they are so delicious and can be combined with a plethora of dishes from around the globe. Harvesting on time and curing properly are important for producing bulbs with good keeping qualities. Easily the most versatile of vegetables, the potato is one of our cost-effective favourites! Not only are these vegetables delectable; they also come in at prices that prove they’re the luxury of the produce industry. You can leave some plants unpicked if you want the peppers to sweeten and turn yellow or red; however, these plants will produce fewer peppers. Ready to get dirty and plant that backyard garden? The reason that so many gardeners enjoy Winter Squash in their gardens is that Winter Squash does not require any weeding after planting and also is quite expensive in the supermarket. Broccoli is an interesting plant in that it can also surprise gardeners and produce edible cloves when there is snow on the ground. And it’s a great way to spend more time with your kids outdoors while teaching them about where the food they eat actually comes from. As any gardener knows, growing vegetables is more than about saving money. A packet of seeds only costs £1 and it takes a speedy six weeks to grow. I bought a seed packet for $.99 and made a small dent in it to plant out 40 leek seedlings yesterday – they’re quite expensive at the grocery store! As cucumber plants are known to suffer from a mid-season decline, … Garden Seeds. If you don’t need a ton of cucumbers from your plants, you may try the bush varieties, which produce much less fruit per growing season. Time and space are usually the limiting factors. You'll get plenty of vitamin D from being outdoors in the sunshine. Recently, I spent about $70.00 on transplants, pots, and supplies. Swiss Chard is a great choice for any garden because of its ability to thrive in many different climates. FREE SHIPPING! Taking the top spot is curly kale, which is healthy, low in calories and a versatile cooking ingredient. Feb 15, 2019 Ron Evans Getty Images. Having a ready supply of tomatoes for cooking during the winter months adds value, since the price of tomatoes goes up in winter. It’s really not as hard as you think. A true calculation of cost efficient vegetable raising means considering such factors as fertilizers, amendments and how much water those vegetables require. We do not grow head-forming lettuce, like Iceberg, because it takes longer to mature and when ready it gives us too much lettuce at one time. Pepper starter plants, however, cost about $1 each at our local nursery. £3.60. The only aspect regarding growing cabbage that you have to remember is that you have to transplant the cabbage on time. Pick the green peppers as soon as they reach size; this will stimulate new fruiting and increase the yield per plant. At a nearby market today, red leaf lettuce cost $1.79 for a small bunch. At the grocery stores, they usually range anywhere between $3 to $5 per pound so if you grow them in your garden it will be a big cost cutting factor. You can grow quite a few cucumbers in a small space, as long as you have a vertical trellis or structure for them to climb. In 1940 a noble prime minister asked us to “Dig for Victory!” I doubt that “Dig for Austerity!” could arouse similar fervour. The figures used in this article are approximate. 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