The Cost of a Garden — Infrastructure, Soil, Plants, and Maintenance

 The Part No One Tells the Beginner

🌿 Garden Talk | by Guy Saldiveri | July 09, 2026

One thing that hits home when I look back at the design, setup, and implementation of my garden is the cost.

A couple of other things hit me as well:

 - Someone showing me a small basket of their $100 tomatoes.

 - The Master Gardener course question that asked if having a backyard garden was cost-effective—and any answer but 'no' was wrong.

Now, before I discourage any new gardeners, I'll say this: while I tip my hat to those two things, I don’t necessarily agree with them. The nod is more an acknowledgment of what went into those tomatoes and everything else that pertains to that garden.

The costs involved depend a lot on how you want the garden set up—how large it will be, how much infrastructure you want, and what you plan to grow. I also take into consideration how long the garden is in use. Spending $1,000 on a garden setup for two seasons is not the same as $1,000 being spent on one that's been worked for ten years.

Another thing many folks don't think about is that quite a bit of the money goes to pesticides, soil mixes, soil additives, and fertilizers that, in my opinion, are not actually required to have a fully functioning and viable garden. Not in the way they're actually used anyway. 

First off, I don't like pesticides and chemicals in my garden. I use them when I don't have a choice, but they're a last resort weapon for me, not a first-line defense. Secondly, I don't go for the expensive pre-mixed soils or designer fertilizers—I believe in cost-effective, bare-bones gardening.

If a garden is set up properly, with thought put into what you want to grow as the primary driver, then much of the setup falls into place and can become quite cost-effective.

When someone asks me how to set up a garden, my reply is usually: "It depends on what you want to eat." 

In other words, don't plant stuff you won't consume—that's a waste of time, space, money, and labor. And don't plant something that will yield just a little over a long time—especially when you eat a lot of it in a short period of time.

For me, garlic and onions are good examples. I grow them both, but only in limited amounts—they take months to grow and just a couple of weeks to eat. It's more cost-effective to just buy them. Since I do a lot of writing about gardening, I still grow a few for the experience. For me, an extra couple of feet in a bed or a few grow bags here or there doesn't make much difference. But again, I've already got my garden established, and I treat what I grow as a supplement to what we have rather than a replacement for what we buy.

And that's really the way most of my thoughts on gardening go. My garden supplements our grocery bill; it never produces enough for us to stop shopping. I don't have the time, space, or energy to grow a garden that large.

Here's the dirt for someone just starting out, wanting advice on how to set up a garden and what to expect as far as costs are concerned. First, identify what you'd like to grow, figure out how much overall space you have—where the sunny spots live and where the shady spots hide—then determine how much you want or can invest to start with.

And the best recommendation I can give you is: Start small!

The biggest mistake I made when starting out was setting up too big initially—too many beds, too much soil, too much infrastructure, and way too many mistakes.

Now, not everything I did was a mistake; I had a good idea of what I wanted. I just didn't realize some of the layout would have to be rearranged later on—and that's what caused me the extra work. I also had way too many plants to begin with. I started off with eight different pepper varieties and about six different tomatoes. I have three of each now—lesson learned…

Another mistake I made was a miscalculation of how much effort it would take to water everything—especially in Southern Mississippi—during the summer—in a drought—with everything spread out all over the yard—HARD lesson learned…

So taking that into consideration, here's exactly what I would recommend for a new gardener to do when they're just starting out.

Set up one trellis and one bed, but not permanent fixtures. 

Three 8-foot T-posts and a 16-foot by 50-inch cattle panel get you a solid, relocatable trellis that has an overall cost of around $65. This gives you the ability to grow all the vining plants—indeterminate tomatoes, pole beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe, peas, baby watermelon, squash, and many others. The panel and posts will last a lifetime so the expense will not be wasted. The best part is it's relocatable—granted getting t-posts out of the ground is labor—but it's relocatable.

The next thing to consider is grow bags instead of hard fixtures. I have a mix of 2-, 5-, 10-, and 25-gallon bags. They function extremely well, are inexpensive to purchase, and last 2–4 years. You can fit eight 10-gallon bags along the bottom of that cattle panel and that gives you all the room you need to play with.

Also, size-wise, eight 25-gallon bags are the functional equivalent of a full 4x7-foot raised bed. Stack them in two rows and four deep, and—voila—instant (and relocatable) raised bed with minimal effort and expense.

A quick note on why I recommend keeping things relocatable to start with. When I did my first setups, I didn't really account for the truly brutal afternoon Mississippi sun. Even though every plant or seed packet I purchased recommended planting in full sun, our full sun wound up frying them to a crisp. I wound up moving all my 'permanently' set structures because of it. If I had started with truly movable containers, that part would have gone much more smoothly. It's also something that honestly takes some trial and error. Something struggling over here will explode with growth just 50 feet away.

The cost for grow bags can vary, but as of this writing the ones I purchased are currently priced:

• 20-pack 02 gallon — $23
• 20-pack 05 gallon — $31
• 20-pack 10 gallon — $35
• 10-pack 25 gallon — $38

Now compare that to building a fixed bed, purchasing a stainless steel bed, or separate similar-sized containers, and you can see the cost is much less. What goes into them is the same and this gives you about three years to figure out not only if you want to garden or not, but where your garden needs to be.

Can you just plow up some ground and drop in seeds? Absolutely, but I have to say, taking care of plants in containers is MUCH easier than hoeing weeds and grass in the ground. Pest management is a lot less complicated as well—especially when it comes to critters like rabbits and turtles.

I go into much more detail about choosing between containers, raised beds, hybrid beds, and in-ground gardening in my companion article, Container vs In-Ground Gardening — Growing In the Space You Have.

Now we need to talk about soil and soil amendments. As a gardener, this is the significant and continual expense you will be incurring year after year. The initial soil you purchase won't go bad, but it loses its punch over time. Nutrients and organic matter break down due to plants feeding, rain, weather, and just our regular watering. And this is why I like to point out that those expensive mixes are not always worth the money you spend on them.

No matter what the soil has in it to start, after it's used for a year, it's just as depleted as any other soil you could have purchased. It will need to be replaced or amended just like anything else. Now don't get me wrong, for a few containers or small pots in the house, I always suggest using pre-mixed soil. It's much more cost-effective for smaller applications. When it comes to filling a bed or several 25-gallon grow bags, mixing your own is much more cost-effective. I have a link at the end to how I make my mix—it's very easy, cost-effective, and works very well.

The other expense in this arena is mulch. Is it a requirement? Nope. Is it a good thing to have? YES. Mulch is organic material that breaks down slowly over time and adds life to the soil. It feeds microbes, provides nitrogen and other nutrients as it decomposes, and helps a great deal with moisture control. If a few dollars' worth of mulch can reduce your water bill and make your plants happier, it's well worth the extra cost.

Now let's talk about tools. It's one thing we all need, use, and wind up purchasing. It's also the one thing that seldom gets put in the budget.

You'll start with a shovel. Then it's a rake, hoe, hand trowel, pruners, loppers, wheelbarrow, hoses, sprayers, seed trays, thermometers, moisture meters... You get the idea.  None of them are very expensive individually, but together they become part of the real cost of gardening.

Now to put things into real perspective: In my shed, I have three different pruners, two different sized loppers, and both flat- and round-point shovels. Those sit beside my post-hole digger, t-post driver, leaf rake, hard-tine soil rake, and wheelbarrow.

Over the years I've collected many other tools as well, but that's maintenance for an acre of land and multiple gardens. The moisture meters, thermometers, and about 1,500 various trays, nursery pots, and other smaller items are spread throughout. All of these were purchased over a 30-plus-year timeframe, so you don't have to worry about getting everything at once—I was just giving you an idea.

One other thing I'd like to point out is that gardening is a hobby, and hobbies have value beyond the dollars spent. You can assign costs for each item you purchase, all the labor you perform, and the water used—but you can't put a price on the satisfaction you get from hauling in an armful of veggies and watching your neighbors drool…

Gardening has a cost, like any hobby—I mean, you could have chosen something like photography instead, right? The real takeaway is the enjoyment and satisfaction it gives you, and when you add that in, gardening is not only affordable, it's priceless.

If you'd like to take a deeper dive into the things a beginning gardener should be aware of, here are a few links to my main hub pages that have all the articles you need. Keep in mind that while I list a few specific subjects below, the hub pages contain plenty of other useful information as well.

How-To

For information on how to build a raised bed using cement blocks, basic soil information and how to make your own mix, seed stratification, and more.

Garden Talk

For garden layouts, mulching, understanding hardiness zones, and using pesticides.

Pests & Diseases

For information on hornworms, leaf-footed bugs, squash bugs, and vine borers.

There's one final recommendation I'd like to give those of you just starting out—DON'T PANIC—and no, you don't need a towel—unless it's to wipe off the sweat 😂 What I mean is forget what you see in the garden magazines. Your real-life garden is going to be messy. Plants will be wilted, some leaves will be full of holes, and you will have caterpillars and other pests feeding hungrily on your produce. 

Remember, this is real-world gardening. You aren't set up in a hermetically sealed and environmentally regulated greenhouse. Your plants will be productive, but don't expect pristine. They're going to look beat up and abused by the time the season is over. 

Knowing this upfront and getting into that mindset is a big stress reducer. It's just something that comes along with the territory. Many experienced gardeners will tell you—if your plants aren't getting eaten, you aren't part of the ecosystem—it's honest, and it's true.

If you enjoy these porch‑talk garden rambles, you can follow the blog over on the left — no pressure, just neighborly company. I’ll even buy the coffee 😉

Happy Gardening 🌱