I read a great article, which Debbie emailed me from CNN.com yesterday, about the resurgence of "Victory Gardens" or as they are often now called "Recession Gardens". It seems like gardening is very in vogue right now, as a means of saving money.

The problem is, if you follow the advice in most gardening books, you will spend quite a bit more money than you will save. Many gardening books I have read include tips and tricks for a perfect garden which may cost you more than buying your food from a farmer's market when you sit down and calculate it out, to say nothing of the cost of your labor. Shameless plug: my ebook on the topic of saving money on your groceries while gardening focuses on frugal gardening tips.

Here in Mid Michigan, we had snow just a few days ago again, so I am not so it's a battle for me to get into the garden groove right now. :-) Still, I get plenty of emailed questions about whether or not gardening really does save money. My answer: it can if you are careful and wise about it. The problem is, this really depends on so many things, such as your area, the cost of groceries, what you like to eat, the quality of your soil, etc.

Here are my top money saving gardening tips:

1. Grow Only What you Need
   Makes sense, right? Yeah, until you are shopping for seeds or seedlings while hungry. If you have no idea what you are going to do with it once it is mature, don't plant it.
2. Don't plant the whole seed packet (at least not at once)
   No one needs all of the zucchini which 1 packet of zucchini seeds will create, unless you just really love zucchini.
3. Figure out (before harvest time!) how you will preserve your bounty
   The problem with fresh fruits and vegetables is that most of them do not have a long shelf life. Many first time gardeners find themselves with several bushels of rotting bio-matter if they don't plan properly.
4. Focus on foods you love, which are expensive when purchased at the store
   This includes our favorites: soft fruits. We love raspberries and strawberries, but last year I was not about to pay $5 or more per pint for them! Thankfully, I have soft fruits a-plenty in my garden. We have many raspberry canes, which are easy to grow (some may say too easy, as they spread quickly over the years). We also have a large bed of strawberries, and we replant some "runners" off of those strawberries each year as the season ends. We also have a large number of other fruits including grapes (somewhat harder to grow) and gooseberries (easy to grow but contains thorns).

   In addition to the soft fruits, we plant lots of fresh herbs, providing us with fresh basil, cilantro, parsley, and others. I even grow stevia for the sweetness in teas. I have at least a three dozen different herbs in my herb bed.

5. 5. Compost your Biodegradable Kitchen Scraps for free fertilizer
   Recycling is a great way to help the environment and your garden. I have posted extensively in the past on composting, and have also written about it in my book, Momma's Guide to Growing Your Groceries.
   
   Recently, I discovered that Starbucks Coffee has a great program called "Grounds for your Garden", where you can grab free bags of used coffee grounds from your local Starbucks to use in your garden. This makes great compost/mulch. Thanks, Starbucks!