5 Awesome Reasons How Vegetable Gardening Saves You Money

Food is getting expensive.  You went to the grocery store to buy some fruits and vegetables. And the prices were shocking. You wonder what’s going on with this rise in the cost of good food.

Junk food seems to be a bit cheaper. Maybe you should buy hot dogs. Maybe buy that pack of pizza. Or maybe just eat at McDonald’s.

But what about your health? And that of your kids?

Everyone knows what harm processed foods can do. And you don’t want your kids to suffer, do you?

Thankfully, there is a way to feed your family the healthy, nutritious, and tasty food they deserve.  Vegetable gardening can help you grow your own food. And you can save some money in the process.

What is vegetable gardening?

Gardening is growing plants. And vegetable gardening means growing vegetable plants.

Simple, isn’t it? But there’s more to a vegetable garden.

Since your growing vegetables, your garden needs more attention than a regular garden. You need to take care to provide it with the right soil, nutrients, water, and weather.

The best thing you can add to your soil is compost. The rich, dark, organic matter that contains essential nutrients for your vegetable plants.

If you use good compost, you don’t need to use fertilizer. Else you’ll need to understand what your vegetable garden is lacking and add the necessary fertilizer.

The important nutrients for your plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Nitrogen is important for leafy vegetables to grow good foliage. Phosphorus is important for growing healthy roots and fruits. Potassium is the nutrient that keeps your plants healthy and free from diseases.

Some of your vegetables will need a lot of water and you need to take care to provide them plenty of it otherwise they won’t grow.

The vegetables you plant can be cool-season or warm-season. The cool-season vegetables grow well before the start of spring. The warm-season ones grow well in summer.

Some cool-season vegetables include:

• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Kale

Some warm-season vegetables include:

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Eggplant.

1. It’ll save you money on doctor’s bills

Health is wealth.

We know that but continue to eat junk food.

Growing your own vegetables will help you quit this bad habit.

It takes hard work to grow vegetables because you need to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, water them, take care of pests, diseases, and weeds.

Spending time in the garden doing this work means you get a workout that is good for your body.
And doing this hard work means you’ll eat a lot of the vegetables you grow.

The more vegetables you eat, the better your body becomes in resisting problems like heart disease, stroke, obesity, and many forms of cancer.

Spending time in the sun will help you get the required dose of Vitamin D that keeps your bones healthy.

And having a hobby like gardening will help keep your mind healthy and active.

2. You won’t like to eat out as often

Some people feel vegetables don’t taste good.

And you can’t blame them.

The store-bought vegetables are not meant to taste delicious. They are grown and harvested before reaching maturity so they can turn ripe when they reach you.

Sometimes chemicals are sprayed on the vegetables to keep them from going bad.

But doing these effects the quality and taste of the vegetables.

The mass-produced vegetables are also limited in the variety of the plant. Because only the plants that have a long shelf life and are resistant to certain diseases are grown.

But this means you’re missing out on varieties of plants that are more nutritious and delicious in taste.

You won’t have these problems when you grow your own vegetables.

You’ll take care to use the right soil, nutrients, and water to grow the best vegetables possible.

You’ll harvest these vegetables when you want to eat them.

This means you get the highest quality vegetables with the most nutrients and taste.

You’ll feel good about eating the delicious vegetables your grow. And you’ll spend less money on eating out or spending on junk food.

 

3. You’ll grow your own food and save money

I don’t have to tell you this — You will save money when you grow your own food.

No longer will you depend on mass-produced food that can be expensive thanks to the shortage in production, bad weather, or a particular disease affecting the crops.

Growing your own vegetables means a reduction in your grocery bills.

The only expense you have is to purchase the seedlings or seeds. Seeds are really cheap and with a handful of seeds you can grow many plants and get a big harvest of vegetables.

You’ll have no need to visit the grocery store as often and save money on gas as well. All you need to do is walk out the door and grab the vegetables you want right from your garden.

4. You won’t waste food and save money

It’s a sad situation.

People tend to buy a surplus of vegetables at the grocery store. And then throw them away in the garbage.

When something is easily available, we tend to forget its value.

But when you grow your own vegetables, you know the hard work that went into it.

You tend to the soil, start your plants from seed, water them, and take care of them.

And when you put that much effort in your garden, you’ll make sure to consume all the vegetables you grow.

Even if you don’t consume the vegetables, you’ll give them away to friends, family, and neighbors so it doesn’t go to waste.
You could also donate it to soup kitchens or community centers near you so they can have a nutritious meal.

Even if you have some leftover vegetables, you could make use of them to create compost so they don’t get wasted.

You save your money when you don’t waste the vegetables you grow. And you earn some good karma as well.

 

5. Your Vegetable garden can make you money

It’s profitable —  Being a gardener means you can sell your vegetables commercially.

There’s a great demand for organic vegetables and that’s something easy to achieve when you have your own vegetable garden.

You might not be certified as organic but people would still love to buy food that you’ve grown using natural, organic methods.

You could sell your vegetables in farmers markets or roadside stands. You could sell your vegetables to restaurants, grocery stores, and markets.

• No longer do you have to worry about food prices.
• No longer do you need to eat junk food.
• And no longer do you need to worry about your kids’ health.
• Grow your own vegetable garden and you’ll save money and your health.

Author Bio:
Kevin Rodrigues is the founder of https://gardeningmentor.com. He’s a software developer that wants to transition into a full-time gardener. He plans to grow an organic garden that can help sustain his family. His love for gardening drives him to share tips, guides, and resources on his website.