Think You Can’t Garden? 3 Easy Vegetables You Can Grow To Save Money

Are you wanting to start a garden but not sure what to plant? Why not start with 3 easy vegetables you can grow to save money?

I remember the first garden my mother ever grew. I was pretty young, but I knew she was interested in homesteading-type stuff, and I knew she wanted to garden.

So one day, she dug up a corner of our yard, and planted two things: tomatoes, and green beans.

Now, for a beginning gardener who was looking to put in the least work for the most produce, I wouldn’t suggest tomatoes, and sure enough, she spent quite a bit of time caging those tomato plants and trying to tie the vines up where they wouldn’t fall over. But in the end, it actually worked out pretty well thanks to our rich Illinois dirt, and man, oh man, those homegrown tomatoes were good!

Now that it’s April, our gardening efforts here in Texas are in full swing, and I promise you that tomatoes would NOT be my first choice in unamended soil.

We’re literally planting everything. Or at least, everything we’re planning to plant. You can read what to plant in April to know dow deep into gardening you can get right now in your area.

For the most part, I like to focus on the veggies that are really going to produce a lot of food and save us money, and then throw in a few things just for fun. I’d say growing strawberries covers both categories, whereas plating onions is just for food. 😉

Because space may not really be limited for us, time and energy sure are, so we’re going for the most part, we’re trying to get the most bang for our energy bucks.

So what are the top three things you can grow to save money that are space and time conservative, that will produce enough to actually save you money over the cost of seed and potential dirt (if you’re container gardening)? 

3 Easy Things You Can Grow To Save Money

Leaf Lettuce

I pay $3-5 for a tub of organic salad greens every week, which is crazy, because salad greens are SO easy to grow! All you need is loose dirt with good drainage. Plant your seeds 1/8 inch deep, water, and watch them grow. The beauty of lettuce is that you can plant them close enough, and they grow quickly enough, that weeds aren’t really an issue. You can create three patches, sowing and harvesting a new one every week, for continuous supply. I like to mix varieties like red sails, oak leaf, black seeded simpson, and spinach for a pretty salad mix.

Green Beans

If you have a fence in your yard, till up and add compost to the dirt next to it, plant pole beans, and sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor day after day after day. If a fence isn’t an option, you can of course set up your own trellis, but since we’re going for least effort here, plant bush beans! 

These are so easy, and produce so abundantly, they’re well worth the little time you’ll put into them! Kentucky wonder pole beansh, and Roma II bush beans are excellent varieties.

Summer Squash

It’s so common among home gardeners it’s almost a cliche, but summer squash and zucchini grow almost like weeds, and barring disaster will often continue producing squash from the time they reach maturity, until your first frost. I like straight neck squash like butter stick or saffron. 

So what exactly does it take to grow these easy veggies?

• Dirt with good drainage (i.e. doesn’t hold standing water after rain)
• A shovel to do the initial digging and make the soil nice and loose for your seeds to get started. And by the way, you still have plenty of time to get your garden ready for spring.
• Water
• You, remembering to water your veggies if the weather gets too dry, and to pick your produce every other day once it starts bearing.
• Optional: some compost or topsoil if your dirt is exceptionally poor.

And that’s about it.

The only other instructions you’ll need will be on the back of your seed packets – how deep to plant your seeds, how far apart to space them, when to plant them.

It really is easy to start a small garden that will save you money!

Are you gardening this year? I’d love to hear what you’re growing!

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