I never know what to say when someone tells me their garden isn’t worth their time. To be honest, I don’t think a garden will ever be “worth” your time, because dollar for dollar a garden does take a lot of work, but it can be worth it in so many other ways than just money.
VIDEO: This Drives Me CRAZY!
I never know what to say when someone tells me their garden isn’t worth their time. To be honest, I don’t think a garden will ever be “worth” your time, because dollar for dollar a garden does take a lot of work, but it can be worth it in so many other ways than just money.
Well guys you can't find tomatoes as good as your own they don't exist in the store and even if you're willing to spend 10 times more for them they do not exist
I probably don't save a lot of money on my garden but it gets me outside and off the couch. You are so right about the quality difference between fresh out of the garden VS produce from the store. Not a huge fan of leaf lettuce from the store but I've discovered Lolla Rose leaf lettuce – I LOVE IT!!!! non gmo bicolor lettuce. The stuff from the store doesn't compare. Piddle potting around in the garden has me eating more fresh things. My little garden isn't a business, it's a hobby with fringe benefits.
If you've ever tasted a home-grown tomato fresh off the vine, you know that can't be bought. I'm learning to like kale, because it came back and it's pretty healthy stuff. Takes a bit of a learning curve to prepare it though. I love brussel sprouts and have attempted them a few times, but the bugs always win that crop. One season though, I'll win. It's the challenge, the time outside, more exercise than I thought it would be and the excitement of new life. Gardening is a little bit addicting.
Gardening is my therapy. The earth speaks to me.
Honestly gardening has helped my mental health soo much and helping me grow as a person and being a much patient person! Money isn’t everything my family and loved ones are everything and they love my fruits vegetables and flowers!
Why does this bother you? Everyone is different.
Agree!
In addition to saving thousands of dollars, you and your family also got more nutrients from your food than the one who did not grow their own food.
Totally agree with everything you say Luke. I haven't heard that particular argument used here in Aotearoa/New Zealand, all the gardeners I know do it for all the reasons you give. Really its for the Love of gardening and so I can eat organic food all year round. And yes, as in another comment, the beauty.
Very well said. Everything isn't always about money. Can't people just do anything for FUN any more? Capitalism ruins everything.
LOL, you can sure see how the cost/ benefit BS irks you (If I squint real hard, I can see the smoke coming out of your ears), and I feel the same way. Only someone who doesn't enjoy gardening would boil it down to $$ like that. If you don't enjoy gardening, DON'T GARDEN. Life is short. Do whatcha like!
Thank you! When I learned how valuable gardening is for my mental health and anxiety, it seriously wouldn’t matter how much money I sunk into it and whether or not I got that money back out of it. I will never put a value on my mental health. I feel sorry for people who focus that much on money.
so i'm a plant owner (i wouldn't call myself a gardener since i only have one plant) and i just got my first plant, a Sweet Mint, back in August of this year. not from seed, mind you. but i put it in an 8" self watering pot of my own design (cause 3d printing) based on existing designs that are out there. what i would like to know is, are there plants that absolutely hate self watering pots, for one reason or another? are there reasons to avoid self watering pots? are there benefits to traditional watering methods over self watering pots?
I garden cause I want to know what is in my food and it taste so much better.
First time doing a vegetable garden here, I don't see how much I spend, but the quality I get and they way it makes me felt seen my plants grow, I lost like 70% of my seedlings, my mistake I started them too early but I got so many tomatoes and cucumbers , I am addicted now , I just wish I have a bigger garden space and more hours or be able to work in my garden at knight.
I just watched your rant tonight. I liked you before, but I like you more now…
amen, brother.
I agree 110%
The hustle has a hold of some people too hard. Gardening and fresh food is so worth it and I give my time freely to myself.
I feel connected and whole in the garden. Connected to God, and nature; connected to a tiny seed and to the universe. So are they $10 tomatoes, or are they priceless?
My small garden got me out of the house and saved my sanity during covid. I don't think I saved any money at all as I set things up and bought netting, stakes, pots, soil etc. But the mental and physical health improvement was priceless.
This was my first year with my garden. Without a doubt, I put a huge amount of money, time and labor into it. However, most of that will not have to be duplicated next year. The other value factor is how much better my produce tastes versus what I can buy at the grocery store. Much of my cost was due to living in a rural area. I needed to build a fence around my 36'X48' garden so that I wasn't feeding the deer and bunnies. Another addition to my cost was soil amendment. I live in the high desert so the native soil is very poor. That cost will be less with each year. With all of that, the level of pleasure I received was immeasurable.
This Therapy is God given and beautiful ❤️
Yes, if opportunity cost is a major consideration, gardening is probably not the right choice, but keeping the costs down is part of the gardening experience. Buying fertilizer on sale at the end of the season, turning the neighbors' leaves into compost, saving seeds so you don't have to buy them each spring. The operative word here is FREE. 15 harvests of Swiss Chard, eating tomatoes all summer long and into the winter, giving them away to our neighbors, or picking lettuce and peppers for the casual salad makes it seem like free food. The labor that went into setting up the garden and keeping it going is forgotten. Growing things connects you to the earth in a way that nothing else can. That's worth something, though you can't really put a price on it.
I’ve always wanted a garden. I love nature and watching all the bees and butterflies that come to eat and pollinate. There is no price you can put on helping the bees, feeding family good organic veg. Plus Wonderful therapy! Worth a million to me.
It feeds my family. It also makes me money. I give away a lot of vegetables and fruit to my neighbors but I also sell some. I love having a garden. I can grow really healthy and tasty food and I can also grow stuff that is not available in stores here.
I'm retired because of injuries so it's a way I can still contribute and save money. I can drag my milk crate around and garden all day. And with today's inflation and scarcity it just makes sense.
My garden isn't big enough yet for me to be 100% self sustaining on my grocery list but, it's big enough for me to have better quality food, cheaper than what my local grocery store sells and it definitely saves me money in time and gas going to Walmart which is a 30 min drive with traffic while walking around and waiting over an hr to cash myself out at the self checkout. Nope sorry even gardening in a small scale seems well worth enough for me. The money I save, time and gas from the extra driving plus the risk lately with all the new influx of drivers in Florida from the north east who are very aggressive. Ya one less trip to the grocery store is definitely in my eyes valuable for me.
I love this! Nicely said Luke
Calculating your time as money is devaluing your time.
People just don't understand the joy that comes to your heart when you plant a seed and nuture it to fruit. Then to have it on the dinner table or to give it to family or change something like a tomato into sauce, salsa, jam, soup or a plethora of other things. It makes me feel better than good and that is worth more than any amount of money I could be making per hour. It actually is worth the time and money that I put into it. I'll be planting 70 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, 20 varieties of peppers, 10's of varieties of kale, mustards and greens, 10's of summer and winter squash next year. That's just a few of the things that I'll be planting at different times of the year. Money well spent regardless of monetary return. My heart is worth more than my wallet.