Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

I shouldn't be amazed at the number of practices that are good for both planet and wallet. Writing for both a personal finance and an environmental web site, I'm often left wondering, "where does this belong?" (And usually the answer is, everywhere! Green is just good sense.) Today's edition of green (two ways): vegetable gardening.

In one of its marketing emails, my favorite seed company compared the costs of many of its seeds to the retail value of the potential produce. So, a packet of cauliflower seeds would yield about 65 heads, $3.65 turns into $100 or $200 of vegetables! I know, it's not quite that easy. But still, it's a good selling point. And a bunch of little baby garlic plants in my back yard -- cost, $4 in garlic bulbs last fall -- have me doing the math in my head and rubbing my hands in glee. Seed savers can increase their returns to Madoff-shaming levels.

The people at Kitchen Gardeners International logged their garden's produce last year, so we don't have to (or maybe we're just the tiniest bit tempted?). Jacqueline and Roger weighed everything from the asparagus and greens in May to the Belgian endives forced in the basement a few weeks ago, and yielded somewhere between $2196 and $2498 in produce (depending on whose prices you're comparing to). With around $280 in costs, no matter how you cut it, those numbers are good.

And for those who wonder, at what cost, your time to grow it? You're clearly missing the point. Growing your own organic produce may pay off little in hourly wages but the rewards in quality of life are enormous. Go, plant, grow, eat, save money, and save the world.