Ask Lemmy

What do you normally buy? If you live on potatoes then your food bill is very low and you should grow potatoes to bring it down.

But potatoes are also very cheap to buy, which makes them a poor choice if you want high value per m². Herbs are what I started with in my garden. Rosemary, sage, chives and mint. Got some bay trees that I started from cuttings last year, hopefully they will become productive at some point.

Then got an allotment this year, high value crops I have are:

Jerusalem artichokes - tubers that are used like potatoes but rarely see them in shops and when you do they cost a lot. Related to sunflowers.

Taunton Deane kale - a perennial kale that grows up to 2m tall.

Hope to keep growing both for years to come.

I'd say raspberries are the only thing that pay for themselves out of everything we grow.

Tomatoes have the highest yield I think, and over a long period of the year. That would be the best as a "food source", although not cheaper than store bought.

In general it's just a hobby, it's not economic and you need a lot of land and effort to supply even for a single person. No wonder some 95% of population were farmers in pre-industrial era.

It really depends on where you live. I'm in zone 10 (subtropical) and can grow successfully:

In the cold season - fennel, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro, arugula, lettuces. Sometimes radishes. Eggplant and peppers (eggplant can last a few years here if no freeze)

In the hot season - okra, watermelon, basil, eggplant and peppers, sweet potato (Stokes Purple). Tomatoes. Hong tsoi (plant survives winter but produces in the rainy season)

Trees - citrus, figs, carambola, longan, loquat, bananas.

If you are in a cold place with little space, radishes are fast growing. Potatoes are filling and good to do in containers so you can find them. Greens are very healthy with so much nutrition per calorie, and collards don't mind a freeze, neither does fennel.

Search Huw Richards on YouTube. He has a book as well. I guess it's suited to British climate so will work in new York and anything south of that.

Key take aways: cucumbers beans and peas are the easiest and fastest things to grow, if you haven't grown anything before.

Potatoes are viable and give a big harvest

I would recommend any root vegetables because, A) its satisfying, B) they're less susceptible to bug and slug attack. Carrots are super good for you.

Edit: if you have no garden space, just pots, beans cucumbers pease work well in that.

Potatoes are even viable in this method if you have a lot of surplus water (e.g from a clothes dryer or a dehumidifier or from washing up or cooking or tea drinking.)

The only useful thing I can think of is herbs. They won't fill your stomach, but theyre nutritious and flavorful and expensive in a grocery store. I have a potted rosemary that's been alive for ~6 years. Unfortunately, rosemary is one herb we rarely eat. What I really need is an enormous amount of basil.

You will be better off using your time on a side gig.

Veggies are cheap and take a ton of effort for anything decent usually. It's a hobby, not a money saver in most cases.

You can't save grocery money by growing food at home.

Unless you have significant amount of land and you've already invested in the resources.

Growing food is expensive. My garden every year costs me $200 or more, but I am not getting that much produce from it, maybe $50.

Potatoes grow in small spaces and don't require a lot of attention, but they won't save you much money.

I think the most bang for your buck home garden are things you wouldn't buy because they are too expensive but can grow easily. Herbs are a good choice.

In my garden I mix those with things that are cheap, but fun:

• asparagus (perennial, almost zero effort, get a few delicious means out of the 5 plants we have each year)
• fresh beans (easy to grow if they don't get eaten by various garden mammals) and not something I usually buy fresh.
• dried beans (not a good use of a small space because the yield is low compared to fresh beans but super fun)
• potatoes (fun, use last year's as seed and augment)
• sweet potatoes (fun, still producing them from slips I bought in 2022.)
• tomatoes (local fresh tomatoes are outside of my budget in general except for the ones I buy for canning in September)
• garlic (very, very low effort and I use last year's as seed)
• carrots (fun and delicious)
• raspberries (I never buy fresh berries, and the raspberries need nothing more than pruning in the spring)
• weed (almost free weed rules)

I don't grow lettuce or most leafy greens because I have a slug problem (no advice please) but have hydro lettuce on my "want to try list".

There's a whole 1 m^2^ home growing hydroponics community to get inspired from, I am sure there are people that has the same requirements as you.

Or else ask here: !hydroponics@slrpnk.net

Some things are going to depend on your climate, so what has worked for me may not be a good fit for you.

That said, things I've had success with as a lazy gardener in a cool temperate climate:

• beans: pick every few days and eat fresh; keeps producing through the season
• lettuce: choose a variety from which you can pick a few leaves at a time rather than harvesting the whole head
• silverbeet/chard and spinach: pick leaves as needed
• Jerusalem artichokes: takes all season to grow, but produces an abundance of tubers; use them like potatoes
• leeks and spring onions: use the green part, leave the roots in the ground and it will regrow
• radishes: quick to grow, can be eaten fresh or cooked
• beets: can pick occasional leaves to eat while the roots are growing
• perennial herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives)
• parsley
• Asian greens (pak choy, choy sum, tatsoi, etc)

Mostly those things have grown with little attention from me apart from water when it's dry. Many of them can be grown easily from seed, which is cheaper than seedlings but takes longer.

Let a plant go to seed and you get more for free. Leeks, spring onions, radishes, leafy greens, parsley are very easy to do this with. Save a few Jerusalem artichoke tubers for next season's crop. Let a couple of bean pods dry on the plant, save the beans and plant them next season.

If there is a community garden near you, that's a great place to ask for advice about what grows well in your area. They may also be able to help you get started with seeds or cuttings.

As others pointed out herbs might be the only thing that come close to being cheaper. Speaking oft herbs - Weed might be the only thing that fits your requirements thats actually cheaper this way.

It either saves you money or it doesn't take a lot of effort. Can't have both. Growing even 5% of the food you eat is barely a hobby anymore but rather a job.

Green onion and leeks grow with almost no effort.

Northern Europe:

There is an issue with effort vs cost in the store. The easy stuff is usually really cheap in the store (eg potato). The expensive stuff (eg paprika) usually requires a greenhouse to survive. I've tried growing it indoors in the window but they don't thrive there.

One exception I can think of is strawberries. Reasonably easy, space per plant is low, somewhat expensive in the store.

If you have a tiny yard you can try red/blackcurrants and raspberries.

Maybe sprouts?

Depending on how small the space is you won't be saving much money because yields aren't as great as one might think, but it is worth trying if only for the experience and what you could learn from it.

Tomatoes can be grown in a relatively small space with some creativity.
Cherry tomatoes can be grown in small flowerpots around the house.
Potatoes can be grown in planters, I've seen potatoes grown in planters made out of two or three tires stacked.
Mushrooms can grown in closets.

What I think it is most important to save some money is to learn to preserve, either what you manage to grow or whatever you can buy cheap when it is in season.

Also I would stay away from hydroponics, those things are like taking care of a fish tank.

My garden is about 10ft by 12ft. I grow two varieties of tomatoes on a total of four plants, two varieties of cucumber on a total of fourteen vines, two varieties of zucchini on a total of four plants, two varieties of winter squash on a total of fourteen plants, and I have seven small watermelon vines plus seven cantaloupe vines.

Attention and work to make it happen can depend on a lot of things. I am able to grow so much because I am using as much vertical space as possible. I have six large fence posts supporting two five foot by eight foot heavy wire panels that support my tomatoes and watermelon plus cantaloupe. I have two lighter gauge panels that are four foot by eight foot bent into an "A" shape to support my cucumbers and winter squash. I have some cheap tomato cages to support my zucchini. The ground has been covered with cardboard where all plastic tape and labels have been removed and it's just the cheap brown stuff without printing. It was a full day worth of work to put everything in but the end result is relatively cheap fresh food and if you continue using the materials and replant seeds you save the cost goes down every year.

For watering I'm using a misting system that sprays water directly onto the planting areas that is controlled with a zigbee hose valve which is controlled by HomeAssistant. I had a couple soil moisture sensors but even though they said they were outdoor rated they all died... so for now I have to manually chose when to turn it on or off.

You will still have to worry about pests but diatomaceous earth (the super fine stuff) helps keep a lot of them at bay along with neem oil plus some dish soap in a sprayer. But you have to reapply after a storm and look for them every couple days.

Remember that your garden will be dependant on your local conditions. And you need to get started ASAP to maximize your growing season, a seed packet will show the minimum days to harvest but you will get food to grow on many plants for a few months. If you buy plants that are already started your time to harvest will be shorter than from seed unless you are able to eat the sprouts but you are not going to get food next week. The caveat is that plants cost more and will often be root bound so you need to get the roots freed up so they can grow.

It's also worth getting a soil test done because some things need more potassium and phosphorus to produce food. And you may want to add a little fertilizer part way through the season.

I remember one summer growing up my parents cooked a lot of zucchini. It got to the point where we were like "pump the brakes on the zucchini we can't take much more". Turns out it was growing in the compost pile quite a bit from discarded seeds. Granted, that compost pile is very healthy with red worms.

Veal ticks all your boxes! /s

Potato is supposed to be easy, though I haven't had the adversed success.

Our zucchini got bugs and stopped producing.

We regularly get more tomatoes than we can eat. But they need to be protected from large animals. Canning could make that last all year.

Perhaps onions?