Why is starting a garden so expensive?

Growing one’s own food should not cost a small fortune to dabble in, but, unfortunately, gardening is one of the most expensive hobbies you can jump all-into. Especially considering modern trends like raised beds, seed starting, and even hydroponics – gardening can quickly add up.

The irony is that this, what many people call a ‘hobby,’ is one of the essential practices of being human, tilling the earth by the sweat of our brow. But it seems that we have abandoned the curse altogether, resulting in buying everything from the store or, if possible, farmers markets.

This bothers me, and after attempting to cultivate my first garden last year, I quickly realized three things:

1)       Buying many seeds adds up quickly

2)       Many seeds are wasted after growing what you need

3)       Many people are interested in gardening

The first one is explanatory. If one is interested in trying many varieties of plants, the cost will quickly add up to 50, 100, or even $200 depending on your appetite.

Second, after getting my tiny seeds to sprout, in my makeshift toilet paper roll pots, I noticed so many leftover seeds remained. When a pack contained maybe 25 seeds, I only used 5 or 10. This felt weird and wasteful.

Third, I had several friends visit my garden that year and others who I just told about it. I was quite amazed at how many people caught interest in it. Many expressed interest in starting one that did not have one of their own.

With all of this knowledge adding up over the year, my mind quickly made links to each of these datapoints. Seeds are expensive, I get extra of them when ordering, and many people are interested in gardening. Why not trade seeds or sell them to recoup the cost?

This excited me greatly, as, first, I would be helping other people get into gardening – especially those who are on the fence, second, I would get to start a small entrepreneurial enterprise in my basement using extra seeds (sounded exciting), and, third, I could potentially make back all the dollars I spent on seeds, and, if better, the equipment for future years of production and profit.

And so, here we are, Spring 2025. I’ve placed the required orders and already have some exciting reports. First, let me lay out my plan in detail:

1)       Order my desired seeds for the year and designate specific varieties to offer for resale or trade.

2)       Order needed supplies to grow starts in my basement considering extra production for others.

3)       Begin starts & share the opportunity with others (offer seeds alone too), create a FB to get involved with gardening groups online, and enjoy the growing process. List seeds for sale/trade of FB Marketplace.

4)       Once seedlings are of a decent size, create high quality seedling listings on FB Marketplace for sale/trade.

5)       Adapt & Enjoy

I think the trickiest part of this is the supplies, and this is where it adds up particularly quickly and frustratingly for the typical gardener. Windowsill methods do work but are certainly not vigorous. I tried this method last year and it was OK. It did the job, but my plants were definitely behind and not strong.

After extensive research, with my plan in mind, I concluded that I needed to get grow lights and heating pads. Germination and growth need to be controlled as much as possible on a large scale, so I bought four of each. Soil obviously is a given. Then comes the hard part. How many trays, what kind of cells, and containers would be best?

I did not realize how expensive these would be. Good quality cells are pricey, and they need trays to be watered in as well, then if I am doing this at a large scale, it will get expensive, quick. That is until I discovered soil blocks.

Now I never knew these things existed. I do like the science behind them and I did notice some root balling last year. However, there are two things I liked about them. First, I loved the ease of watering them by just filling a tray with water. Second, they look very marketable as they are visually appealing, portray professionalism, and extremely sustainable. Win, win, win!

All in – here are my costs for the seed set up. I will note, I was interested in upgrading my starter setup this year anyway, but I went larger on scale for better production to make more profit.

1)       $56 Seeds - I spent $56 on marketable seeds.

2)       $91 Other Garden Plants – These are my other garden plants: potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, and flowers.

3)       $63 Soil – Because these will be my pots, I purchase very high-quality soil.

4)       $34 Heat Mats – I got 4 of them 10inx20in

5)       $50 Grow Lights – Really ‘shop lights.’ Much cheaper than marketed ‘grow lights.’

6)       $23 Trays – I purchased metal trays to reduce plastic & ensure they last.

7)       $0 Soil Blockers – No, I’m not cheating.

That’s right – I’m not paying for soil blockers. At $35 a piece and most people recommend you buy two sizes; it’s not in the budget, but I have found you can make soil balls by just using your hands instead. I’m going to give it a shot, but, if you are interested in purchasing, I linked those as well.

All that leaves is the goals for profit. I made 4 tiers.

Tier 1 - $56 (This is my minimum goal, to pay for the seeds I’m selling extras of)

Tier 2 - $147 (This pays for all of my plants for the year)

Tier 3 - $210 (This pays for plants + soil)

Tier 4 - $317+ (The ultimate goal, pay for everything)

(I understand other costs like electricity and water are not included. For simplicity I don’t have them on here. I might calculate this later.)

That is it!

Maybe gardening is an opportunity for entrepreneurship and personal growth as well as plant growth and flourishing.

I expect to make between tier 2 and tier 3. I will also be resourceful and include trading as a value amount to this as well because trading is common in gardening. I’ll do a ‘midway’ report on this once April is about to hit. If you would like to get that notification when it is sent out, please subscribe to my newsletter, where I explore ideas I’m wrestling with related to mere living.

Cheers!

Nicholas Harper