How much does gardening cost?

One of the reasons for Paul starting the GAMCOD project was to try and dispell some of the myths surrounding home gardening. There was quite a bit of discussion on it in the recent GAMCOD smackdown.
One of the myths is that "gardening is expensive". Does gardening have to cost lots of money? How can a new gardener save money when setting up?


Joshua's garden pictured here

We've got a few threads already that may help:

Free seeds: https://permies.com/t/free-seed
Cheap garden plants: https://permies.com/t/174778/find-cheapest-plants-seeds (don't forget our own flea market forum for that too - no harm in asking!)
Soil building: https://permies.com/t/217275 (although Paul prefers zero outside inputs in case of gick)
Getting started on a budget: https://permies.com/t/139608/started-tight-budget
Gardening without any land: https://permies.com/t/53723/rat-race-homestead-savings-money

How much money do you think a new gardener would need? How much money for an annual spend? How would you make it less expensive? Any other budget saving resources to share?

If you are located in a place with humid summer climate and fertile soils, the investment is basically seeds and a few tools. I tried it, almost no effort and instant success.
If you live in a place that is arid, has intense sun, poor soils, drought and extreme temperature variations, it may be difficult to recoup the cost of time and money spent on irrigation, plant protection from rodents, shading and experimenting.

Gardening does not have to be expensive at all.

I will concede that sometimes the payback from spending a little coin can be decent such as having the proper tool for some jobs but in many cases there are multiple ways to make due with other things.

One of the best things for cost savings in my personal garden has been keeping an eye out on local social media for cheap or (even better) free things through various seasons. Deals appear when they appear so its good to take advantage of them when possible. I've found things from hand tools to plant starts out there for free that could be utilized for a garden.

I would agree with previous comments mentioning that irrigation can be something of a money sink depending on your climate but depending on your style of gardening there are options out there. I'm personally working on a passive rain catchment system that will use gravity to distribute water to my raised garden beds. I am waiting for a few components to turn up but time is on my side for this project. I get a fair bit of natural rainfall.

Plants and seeds can be free through a network of other gardeners, either at organized plant and seed swaps or just friends and family who have extras.
Our library has a seed bank and even the local thrift store will have out of date seed pkts from a big box store.

Plant exchanges are my favorite way to meet neighbors, talk gardening, promote organic growing methods and throw permaculture into the conversation and go home with lots of plants and seeds ...all for free.

https://permies.com/t/16133/permaculture/host-local-plant-exchange-source

Bed preparation can be gradual and as simple as mowing short and adding heavy mulch along with a lot of patience.  We prepare most with a broadfork (or garden fork) and cover crops to be cut as mulch.

I will add that this is my experience in the Ozarks in the USA where there is a variety of soil, four seasons, a usual summer drought and a whole lot of insects, fungi and nibblers.

I'm probably not the best person to contribute to this thread as gardening is my hobby and I admit to spending quite a bit on that. I also live in a temperate rain forest, so can't help with the irrigation comment either - it would be interesting to get hints from a frugal gardener in an arid climate...I'm thinking wicking beds perhaps, I'm pretty sure Paul would promote hugelkulture!
I collected my tools over a number of years, some bought myself, some as presents. I think you can do a lot with a good fork, a trowel, and maybe a spade to start off with. Old tools are often better than any you can buy new, unless you do spend a bit. I'm not sure if we have a thread on a beginner tool set and how to obtain it....
I'm in the process of building up my landraces, but hope to spend less on seed this year. Other than that I don't think I spend anything on my annual veg patch....(but far too much on my experimental plantings and my polytunnel this year )

Watering in my case is not expensive - the problem is that it does not really help, because air temperatures are too high for development of fruits on vegetable plants. When daily temperature is optimal then the night is too cold.. So I'm thinking about some extensive shading system and overhead sprinkling to lower the temperature, but at the same time it's very not permie so I don't want to do it, because it's too much effort that may still result in failure. That's the price of growing something in an area where nobody grows anything so there is no source of any wisdom. These who grow live in different microclimates. After the extreme heat wave of 2024 when even irrigated figs died I came to terms with the fact that my land is great for ranching sheep (almost zero effort) and growing fruit trees (fruit bushes fail). Vegetables are extremely difficult to grow and this is what I mean as high cost gardening. Maybe it can be done but with constant load of time and money.

I think it depends. I don't mind spending money on gardening since it brings me joy and I consider it an investment in my own health and that of others (and the planet). I prefer to buy high quality tools, even if expensive. However, I was initially more hesitant to invest in any continuous inputs that I have to repurchase/acquire again. With that being said, my soil is not well balanced (highly leached clay). While I don't have to water constantly, I DO import some amendments now.

The second issue is how the garden looks. I certainly had an option not to spend on some things, like supports and metal labels, but I chose to buy those (hopefully, just once). I save money elsewhere in the garden - saving all of my seeds (except corn), propagating just about all of my perennials. Sometimes, I prefer buying something that is well designed rather than making my own for free. This may have to do with my fear of clutter.

Trying to grow something that does not grow well in one's area can become cost prohibitive, as others have mentioned.