"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:

And I also find that things tend to even out over time. If I have a good
year with one veg and a not so good year with another, it doesn't really
matter. If I'd decided to plant only a few of any one vegetable or even
only one or two varieties of vegetables, I would have missed out because the
conditions for whatever didn't do well coul dhave had an impact on my only a
few veg/varieties.

So essentially you are concurring, home vegetable gardening is a
hobby, you're mostly in it for the personal enjoyment of growing
stuff, and you get to eat some too. Sure home grown tomatoes taste
better than the typical store bought but mostly they all come in at
once within a relatively short period as do all crops, one can eat
only so much. Unless one goes into crops on a large enough scale to
supply several families there is no way that supermarket prices can be
beat... and even with a little truck farm crops can fail and often do
and for a number of reasons outside ones control, and then there's the
cost of supplies, tools, and powered equipment and those get used up
and fail too. Who do you think supports the plant nurseries and
gardening product aisles at the big box stores, home gardeners is who.
Believe it or not folks tend to home veggie gardens for exactly the
same reason folks tend to lawns, personal satisfaction is all... even
though one can't eat that grass neither holds sway over the other,
both are hobbies. No hobby is profitable monetarilly, as soon as it
is it's called a business. I do gardening too, I'm motivated by
enjoyment, not saving money... no way can one save money from any kind
of home gardening.