"David Hare-Scott" wrote
Brooklyn1 wrote:

You don't make any sense, you are simply attempting to defend the
indefensible... home veggie gardening is a hobby like all others,
primarilly gives pleasure but saves not a mot on ones grocery bill.
I've had a veggie garden every year for more than 60 years and never
saved a penny on food... canning and freezing costs more than buying
at the stupidmarket.

Your experience does not make it universally so. Unless you cost my time
I am in front by many hundreds of dollars a year every year. I bottle and
freeze quite a lot and once again it costs me almost nothing (people give
me boxes of preserving jars, lids and seals) and my time. Why is this an
article of faith with you? At some time in your history you totalled up
what gardening was costing you and you had an Ah Hah moment and decided
that you couldn't justify it financially. That's fine but it doesn't
apply to everybody.

Thats's his take. It doesn't match mine at all. Sure I do it for fun and
so I can know what is really in my foods, but the savings can be really
obvious with a small 'garden'.

Take one part only of mine. 12$ for a container bought a decade or more
ago. I got 2 bunches of chives (bulb on) and 2 of green onions (bulb on).
Used the tops and planted the bulbs with a bit of the green. First year I
had to crop carefully as they recovered. Since then, I get enough to even
dehydrate enough for the winter use. Since I moved back stateside in Oct
2007 (ITCS USN Ret), I had to restart a container in spring 2008. That
needed soil bought as I don't have enough topsoil to just strip some from
the yard (about 15$ worth). In 2009 and 2010, I didn't have to buy ANY
chives or green onion tops. I only bought a few in 2008 (replanting 1/2 the
bulbs). Once a year I add about 2$ worth of fresh soil and a little
fertilizer (mixed in a water jug).

I easily this past year cropped 30$ worth store-price chives and green
onions with a 2$ or so outlay. Even in 2008, I broke even although if I had
had to also get the container, first year would have been a loss.

I don't grow enough to be more than for 'fun' with most things but that's
just a choice in how much time I want to spend at it. You may 'scoff' at
container gardening, but with 26 years of apartment living, it's often the
only option so I got pretty good at it.