As a homesteader there is nothing more satisfying than looking down at a plate of food you have raised yourself. Don't you just love when your salad is made of homegrown greens? Or when you're eating garden fresh salsa made from ingredients you harvested by hand? We take pride in the fact our hard work has helped to bring quality food to our table to feed those we love, and that our garden saves money in the process since we've grown it all ourselves.

Because a vegetable garden saves money, right?

Well, it can. But there is only one way that this is true.

(Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!)

Truth is, the only way a garden saves money is if you only plant what you're actually going to use.

It never fails. Every year I stick something in the garden because it's "easy to grow" or "we have room" or "it looked cool" and it ends up being just one more thing I have to work around and we never even eat it.

Radishes! Plant radishes! They're easy to grow! (But...if you don't like radishes, you're wasting time and money.)

Plant lettuce! It grows fast! (It does...but if you can't stand the process of harvesting and washing it and it goes to seed—and then rots—you haven't saved time or money.)

I plant peas every year. I like to eat them. I really do. But I'm not kidding you, for the amount I actually end up eating, I could stick four seeds in the ground and have plenty—which would save me money, space, and time.

A garden only saves you money if you only plant what you're actually going to eat.Click To Tweet

To save money, there are options for cheap or free ways to get seeds. But as any hard working homesteader knows, time is also money. If you're spending precious time weeding around plants that you know aren't going to be enjoyed by anyone you know, you're also wasting money.

And while there is something to be said for experimental gardening and sticking a seed in the ground to see what happens because you might like what comes up, I'm talking about continuing to grow things that you know you aren't going to eat. That year after year, for whatever reason, are left in the garden to rot, rather than making their way into your belly.

So what can we do to make sure we're on the path that shows our garden saves money?

Plant things you know your family will eat.

Make a list of the vegetables/fruits/herbs your family eats. Don't plant carrots if no one in your family eats carrots. Don't plant an entire patch of hot peppers if only one person in your family enjoys them. Don't plant plum trees if your family isn't a fan of what they produce.

Plant things you need this year in realistic amounts.

We have so many jars of pickles and pickle relish on our shelves in the basement, we could supply the entire county during the zombie apocalypse. Take stock of what produce you've processed (canned, frozen, etc) that hasn't been eaten yet. Are you short of any items? Are you pleasantly prepared? Are your home processed goodies threatening to start their own country? Take a look at what you've already got, and plan for this year's garden accordingly.

Assess the time you have available for gardening this year.

If you know that you are dealing with special circumstances this year that will prevent you from keeping up on care or harvesting of the garden, take that into consideration when you're planting.  Remember that it's completely okay to scale back on your homesteading endeavors when necessary. Planting a garden that you already know will be difficult to keep up with this year will definitely affect your pocketbook negatively.

You can lessen at least part of the planting work by focusing part of your garden on edible perennial plants—plant once, and you're good to go for years!

But isn't it good to have extra produce? Shouldn't I be planting more?

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