How much money did you spend when you started??

I am curious how much others have had to spend to get their boxes started. So far it is looking like over $200 to start 4 boxes here in STL. Is that a low or high cost??

I meant to say that it will be at least $200 to make the Mel's Mix.

By four boxes, do you mean 64 sf?

I think I'm lucky to live where the prices for some of this stuff seems to be lower than other places.

I paid about $10 ea for my 3 cu ft bags of peat and $17 ea for 4 cu ft bags of course verm. My compost varied. I think I've bought probably 8 or 9 diff types (at first I bought 2 of ea of 5 diff ones but now I buy a bag every time I see one I don't have) I never paid more than $4.99 for a 1 cu ft bag of compost and some were as little as $1.99, but most were around $3.

That being said, this is what I paid:

Built 3 boxes, all 3x6 out of 2x6's: $35

Roll of weed barrier: $10

Mel's Mix: $100

The $100 of Mel's Mix is about what I spent the first time I made it which was about 36 cu ft worth (or 3 bags of verm!) That was enough to fill my 3 beds and have enough a bunch of my various pots I have for growing bush type squash and berries and whatnot.

Obviously I also spent a bunch of $$ on seeds and roots and a few bucks here and there for plant tags and polypropylene cord for grid, peat pots, but I figure, next year, I'll be buying way less seeds, I'll just need peat pots and other small misc stuff.

Thanks, I think your prices are much lower than mine. I did just now figure out that I can realistically have 3 4'x4' boxes in my garden. If I really take off well then I can build another box next year. So that reduces my costs by $25 for the one box I am returning and by 8 cf of MM.

My lumber, from a sawmill, for nine boxes 4' by 4' by 12" deep was approx $125 and cut as required.
The brackets and screws for corners approx $40.
6 cu yds of rich garden loam delivered by truck $150.
6 peat moss and 9 composted manure by the bagsful approx $60
amendments of bone meal, blood meal, alfalfa pellets, gypsum, approx $40.
That's a bit more than $400 but I also had enough loam left over to make 3 hilled beds without lumber that are each 16' long.
I also added a dozen 7' long metal fence posts for trellis supports for 6 of my boxes that came to approx $72. so just under $500. to begin, not counting seeds.


I started before I'd ever heard of Mel's Mix in spring 2009. I still have some of the amendments in my workshop to use as needed in future.

The next year I bought 3 sets of 4' track lighting and bulbs to start my own seeds for a total of $78.

I have a compost tumbler to make my own compost as well as a worm condo for making worm compost.

Today I just had a 2" x 12" x 12' piece of lumber cut into 4 x 2' lengths so I can make a cold frame. Cost $13.91

I plan to update my beds with cinder blocks in future so made a start by buying two of them today at $1.23 each.

The costs are ongoing, but well worth it for fresh, healthy foods on our tables. I feed my son's family of 4, myself, and have some for my daughter as well.

I can tell you that I had budgeted about $300 for everything this year. 2x8 box and 4x12 box, 2 trellises, a full 12' hoophouse with two plastic layers, the lumber, MM, and screws/nails/etc, and bird netting.

I came out at $330 and a sore back.

Ask me again next year what $$ I put into those exact same boxes and I will tell you it will be under $10 if you don't count the seeds.....which I didn't figure in as "set up costs."

That makes things $165/yr over two years. $33/yr over 10 years. It's just that this all costs UP FRONT that gets people. If I could only convince folks that they get a substantially lower grocery bill, better produce, and healthier meals for an investment of $33-$50/yr, they would jump on it! And, that's not figuring in the actual savings on the bill at the grocery store. I guarantee you the savings are better than $33/yr.

I wish we would all convert ours to cost per square for ease. Just divide your cost by the number of squares and we should all have a number we can compare quickly.

Mine would be $330/64 = $5.16 per square foot. But, again, stretch that out over 10 years and it's a whopping 52 cents per square investment.

Another thing I will tell you, jy, is to watch where you shop for things. Sometimes going on a wild goose chase for that 5th type of compost at a premium store in an ecclectic neighborhood will really change things. When you say "off Warson," I know you aren't "in da hood" or "Jeffco" where things are likely cheaper.

The most expensive meal my wife and I have ever had was our first SFG salad

You don't want to know. But then I'm gardening in 2 cities, had to use kits for my own beds AND raise em in the air, and doing selfwicking beds because of the sand and high water/sewer rates at my son's house. Total of 10 4x4 beds and some potato bins and herb pots. At least my son was able to construct his beds.


Kay

Yikes, sounds a bit scarier than what I have going here....

It really is amazing the difference in prices in various regions.

Ingredients for Mel's Mix

Last year, I paid $43.75 for 3.75 cu ft of vermiculite and was lucky to get it. There are few sources here. This year I found another source for vermiculite that is $28.00 for 3.75 cu ft, same brand, same size package.

Peat Moss was about $10 for 2.2 cu ft, which expands to about 4 cu ft.

Bags of compost run anywhere from $2 to $6 per cubic foot (actually some bags are less than a cu ft so I really had to buy more than 5 bags, one of each type, then additional of the small sized bags)

Calculating last year's price for Mels' Mix only, for 4 - 4X4 beds at 6 inches deep, about $260.00, or about $3.11 per square foot. I used last years mix for various containers. There were lots of 5 gallon buckets for tomatoes and containers on the porch.

I don't ever ask for much. My husband is the "toy guy". He has a workshop full of things for several different hobbies. And he STILL has a "want" list a mile long.

So when I opened my big fat mouth in February last year and said.."Babe I want a garden and I found this book and I want to do it like this guy says in this book, my husband shrugged and said ok, when the tax return comes.

Between February and April (when our tax return came) life happened in the worst way and just kept hitting us....BAM! BAM! BAM!

By April I was a zombie, in shut down mode. I had no drive to do anything. I have said this before, so I will keep it short for everyone that has read this a couple times, but my husband took me by the hand, feet dragging, head to the ground to home depot, lowes, and every freaking garden center in a 20 mile radius gathering up all the stuff "this book" said to get.

I honestly don't know how much we spent, but it was more than we "should have". Joe didn't know what else to do for me but he knew I needed something to hang on to and in the past a garden was a daydream of mine and had been for a long time. So he took me by the hand and put the book in his other hand and he walked me through the motions.

I know I paid $29.99 each for 4 bags of 4 cu ft vermiculite. This year the price has gone up to $39.99 for the same bag. We bought redwood because hubby is a woodworker and thought it would be best. I will never do that again, I bought construction grade Douglas Fir this year for the expansion, there was no reason to spend what we did on wood that first year. We bought sealant for the outside of the boxes, I think a gallon of it was $20. We bought pvc and electrical conduit for trellises and hoop houses...cheapest things we bought I think. LOL both were like $1.50 a stick. The trellis netting was $7 for 2 trellises. The plastic (for hoop houses) was $30 I want to say for 4 boxes. The compost ran me around $4 a bag and I must have bought 15 bags before it was over with. I bought 3 bales of peat at $15 a bale. I have a bale of peat and a bag of vermiculite left over to start me out on the next 4 we are building this year.

I don't have a perfect number for you, but I know we spent over $500, I would even guess closer to $600...it could have been used for something else, but it was our tax return and hubby was throwing money at it trying to help me.

In the end I believe with all my heart that the garden and Joe did save me. I mixed Mel's Mix for hours alone outside and it started to heal me. Watching seeds sprout helped me. Harvesting what I grew and cooking with it helped a little more.

This year we are doubling the garden. Having a successful first year garden was worth every penny we spent all by itself, but having a healing room right outside my backdoor was worth so much more.

There are so many things we could have done cheaper that first year, had my head been in the game. Cheaper wood, left off the sealant, little things like that. I would have still made the Mel's Mix just like Mel said..I just would have been thriftier elsewhere. That's all.

This year I am cutting those corners....but I didn't think twice about that $10 increase on the vermiculite...I just bit a stick and shelled it out. After watching my garden grow for a year with Mel's Mix...I knew I wasn't gonna regret it, not a tiny bit!

Jennie
Admin

If you have to ask.....

It was a big chunk of change.
Got Vermiculite for $26 at the Farm Co-op, Peat was about $4 to 6 for the big bag and the compost all came out of my bin.

The price went up from there, but my husband and sons just come home with the stuff every now and then.....usually after baskets of vegetables disappear.

Middlemamma......wow. Just wow.

BYBG-LOL....you are easy to impress

I forgot to mention...screws...these cost more than I expected. I think we spent $40 of screws that first year. It was easier to buy them by the pound. We used 2 1/2 inch deck screws I think.

Screws are going up, as is wood and such, when gas goes up, so does everything else. However, don't save money by using nails, use the screws-work smarter not harder.

Middlemomma, my mother said she could always tell when I have been working in the yard - flowers or vegs - because the was a certain lilt in my voice. I know my garden made me feel better when I was depressed. I think gardening is one of the best spirit raisers avaiable. Beats prozac in my mind.

Kay

I can see were Middlemamma is coming from. Last year I was in a bad way. My grandma passed in April. I was not doing so good. Of course it messed up the M.S. I found an old version of SFG at the half price book store. I so missed my gardening. Due to stupid disease I can't hoe, weeding even messes up my hands. My hubby asked how much was the bottom line for making ONE bed. Wood- he bought 2 8ft 2x8, he don't remember how much they cost, and made my bed. Just flat on the ground, not level or nothing. He bought 10 bags of compost (all the same brand and kind) about $2.99 apiece and topped it with 3 bags of fertilized soil of some kind $4.99 apiece. Put up two fence posts and one for the top and set me up a water barrel and got me back on track. I fell in love with the system! When all around me were getting rained out I was picking veggies!

This year we are adding 2 2x4, 2 4x4. This is costing wood-out of the leftover bins! About $50 total. Vermiculite-6 bags at $15.99= approx $100. Compost-- 15 bags of various kinds at various prices I am estimating $50. Total of $200 plus various pvc, plastic, screws, brackets, string, seeds, and misc approx $100.

So that will be about $300 for veggies that will feed hubby and I, daughter, daughter and two little kids. And some left to freeze.

But the cost next year? I see no reason for it to be over $100 seeds and all!

Cost for my sanity: priceless!

I agree.I've had a lot of struggles with my own identity since quitting photography to stay home with my boys. Already, just the time spent on this garden, the reading and building, planting the little bits I have out there, has helped me more than I had thought possible. It's something I enjoy doing, I'm spending "real" quality time with my oldest son, and feeding my family good food that I won't have to drive downtown to the farm market to buy. It's worth any amount to me to feel this way.

Also, I think I've always been a fantastic gardener "in my head" I've
collected gardening books for years, always done a few things and
planned out so many gardens on paper, it's ridiculous. This is the
first book I've read that actually catapulted me past the planning stage
into the doing!

I'm new to this and so don't know if this counts as I've not even gotten thru all the beginning expense yet - but I bought one 4x4 and a tomato tower from SFG and that was
1 x Mel's Tomato Tower in 4 lengths (4' Wide) ($44.99)
_________________________________________________________
1 x 4x4 Amish Cedar Ground Box- Pin Design. Square Foot Garden Box (Red Cedar)
($70.00)
_________________________________________________________

Total: $140.47

I bought the materials to fill it with Mel's Mix all at one nursery for $80
I bought a tarp to mix the soil - $8
A garbage can for compost $15, stretch cords for the lid- $6
and so far I've spent $12 on plants
Garden tools (only need one of the 5 tools, but was only $5 for 5 tools)

So for one 4x4 box = $260ish

I am lucky as my brother is going to foot the bill for the wood and fenceing to keep out dogs, cats and raccoons. Our agro. extenction office has free compost from time to time and I am hitting up all my composting friends for some of thiers so getting that for free. Vermiculite is pricey 4 cubic feet is going to cost me 20 bucks (had to special order it from a feed store). I'm putting down 2 layers of card board as weed barrier (free from work). I have yet to price peat moss and am hoping my bro already has a tarp for mixing. So far I have spent $20. We will make our own trellis for the toms. I will use nails and kite string for the grid, I have done that in the past and it stays white, since it is nylon it lasts year after year. I love to reuse discarded things when ever I can. Less money and less for the land fill. I want a deep box and will keep you posted on how much every thing costs in the end.

i don't remember the specific costs of things from the first year i was doing SFG but i can tell you it was very low for these reasons:

wood for boxes: i scavenged this from construction sites around my neighborhood (older urban area that is undergoing "gentrification"). all of it was free, all of it was NEW, leftovers from renovations. my boxes are 8" deep because that was the size i was given. i did not put sand in the bottom, because i have this "thing" about encouraging earthworms and they won't cross a sand barrier 2" deep. and because sand costs money.

filler: i was working from the old book at the time, which i bought secondhand at a local used bookstore ($1.50!). but i knew from reading little house in the suburbs that she had good success with the boxes which is why i used them instead of using existing soil. i did not have much money for filler, so i used my own compost plus a little that i bought and some from a neighbor. i mixed this with some topsoil i was given from the above-mentioned renovation sites--it was about 60% compost and 40% topsoil.

grids: i used string, actually cotton yarn from my knitting stash.

screws: i used deck screws given to me from the above-mentioned renovation sites.

trellis: on one of our afternoon walks i found that a neighbor had thinned out a stand of bamboo. they let me have all i wanted, so i built trellis from those and more of the cotton yarn.

the only thing i recall spending actual money on that year were seeds and transplants. since then i have started nearly everything from seed, mostly seeds i've saved or traded for, but every year i buy a few new varieties to try. this year i'm trying japanese varieties, and i have set aside one SFG box as an honor and memorial garden for japan.

over time, i add what is missing or needed, as money permits--last year i added hoop houses, from money i made selling some veggies to neighbors--this year i added the conduit trellis, using money i made from selling stuff on craigslist. i have one box "up to code" meaning it fits all the parameters from the new book (trellis, PVC hoop house cover, mel's mix, permanent grid), which i used as my demonstration garden for getting my certification. i plan to use money i earn by teaching SFG to bring the other boxes to the same point. i'm hoping i'll make enough from the existing gardens and from teaching to be able to enlarge my gardens by four boxes, so i can grow a full year harvest and still allow some boxes to rest with a cover crop.

I'm not telling... my wife might read this...

We have 2- 4x8 and 1- 4x4 box for this first year.

Wood (2x8 pine) and paint: $45

MM ingredients: $150 (I live near Menard's, and ours had Vermiculite at a very reasonable price)

Hardwire cloth: $50

Grand total: $245


We wouldn't have had to use 8" lumber, but I liked the look, and I don't plan to fill it to the top with MM. We have over 3/4 a gallon of paint left over that we plan to use on our house this summer, and I don't think we have a mole problem, but I figured it's better to be safe than sorry and bought the hardware cloth for the bottom.

I just happened to have an $80 gift card to Menard's, so after using that, I haven't spent much out of pocket. I know seeds and transplants will cost something as well, but I was expecting far worse on the start-up costs. In January when I first read the book, I started stashing away whatever was left from our grocery budget every couple of weeks, and I still have some of that left, so I feel like I'm in good shape!

This is probably bigger than I should be starting, but the 4x4 is all strawberries, and when I get interested in something new, I tend to get a little obsessive for a while.