Due to the financial crisis it’s been reported by a throng of media outlets that people have been turning back to gardening as a source of saving money. In some cases – apparently – people are halving their grocery budgets and are rekindling their passion for growing their own fruit and vegetables.

But, in the cold, hard light of day has this been a reality? And, should we expect that it could be?
Let me introduce you to Mr & Mrs Thrift and their 2.3 children. The Thrift’s have never gardened before primarily because they never had the time. Mr Thrift was laid off from his high-paying executive job 6 months ago and has had to supplement his new night-fill work with the irregular consultancy job. Mrs Thrift has also had to start working and her meagre income helps keep the “wolf-from-the-door” and a roof over their heads.

With very little hope of this situation easing in the near future and their lifestyle returning to what it had once been, the Thrift’s have decided to start growing their own fruit and vegetables.

Their first task is to get fruit trees in the ground. However, after planting they realise that most fruit trees, at best, take 2-3 years to fruit and some upwards of seven. Their choices of a mandarin, apple and fig tree set them back $70 with no hope of a yield in the short-term.

Fortunately the Thrift’s wisened up quickly and decided to invest their minimal spare cash into veggies and bought a few packets of seeds at the local nursey. They chose staple varieties such as carrots, seed potatoes, lettuces, cabbages, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers.

They knew that the soil had to be enriched somehow so bought a few different fertilisers, chemicals and sprays to help. They were even able to source some manure from the local dairy which they dug into their veggie patch.

Then they sprinkled their seeds into the soil, as per the directions on the packet, and watered them in. A few months later they were able to make their first harvest of what hadn’t been eaten by the slugs, snails, caterpillars and moths.

This is what their harvest looked like;

  • The carrots were stunted and mostly bifurcated because of the rocky soil
  • The tomatoes had blossom-end rot and weren’t too appealing to eat
  • The eggplants had shown so much promise flowering profusely mid-season but nothing had come to fruition
  • The potatoes hadn’t been dug into the ground deep enough, because of the rocks, so most of the ones that seeded had turned green and were now inedible
  • The lettuces had been successful and they were able to get a good yield from these but they were now finishing
  • They even got a few peppers which surprised them but they looked quite small and were a little bitter compared to the shop-bought ones
  • And finally the cabbages, which had survived the caterpillars and moths, were only sprouting outer leaves with the heart very un-developed

The Thrift’s concluded that the time and effort just wasn’t worth it and decided to leave gardening to the “experts”. After counting the cost of the garden experience the Thrift’s also concluded that they hadn’t saved any money at all but had instead spent more for their produce.

While this is a hypothetical scenario I’m sure there are many situations not too dissimilar. In any new venture the costs always outweigh the benefits – initially. It takes time, effort and dollars to learn new skills and to pick yourself up from your failures.

So how can newbie gardeners like the Thrift’s experience success and continue their gardening experience beyond one season? I’ll hand this one over to you…