Backyard Garden—Money Hack Total Savings: $105.50

Here it is, the moment you've all (or at least I've) been waiting for: the season-end economic garden tally! Finally, we found out if all our efforts were really worth it, money-wise anyway.

We didn't spend any more money after our original costs, outlined in this post, and hardly spent any time in the garden after those first couple of weeks. We just sat back and watched, and ate! So the only thing left to do is the math. Hooray!

Produce Yields and Supermarket Costs
(All prices are quoted from Peapod, unless otherwise stated. Sales tax not included.)

swiss chard: 3 large bunches @ $1.99/bunch = $5.97

green beans: roughly 60 oz. @ $2.50/12oz. bag = $12.50

tomatoes: approx. 80 @ $0.50 ea. (on sale) = $40

watermelons: 5 1/2 (1 was pretty small) @ $3.99 ea. (Schnucks) = $21.94

cucumbers: 27 @ $0.75 ea. = $20.25

bell peppers: 16 @ $0.89 ea. = $14.24

carrots: 2 bunches @ $1.50 ea. = $3.00
(We haven't picked these yet, but we can see the tops of them, so they're nearly ready.)

Total Value of Produce: $117.90

Assuming we would have bought this much produce (not entirely accurate as we ended up giving plenty of cucumbers and tomatoes away), we saved over $100 after our expenses, and that's not including the cilantro or habaneros, which we considered extras. And, since all of our produce is organic, and organic produce is quite a bit more expensive, you might say that the savings are actually much greater.

Keeping in mind that some of our vegetables are still producing and may continue for several more weeks, it seems to us that growing your own veggies really is economical—as long as you keep your gardening expenses in check with a little DIY help from TAiMH.