Gardeners May Not Make It Grow on Trees, but . . .
Interested in an investment that can return three times your initial outlay in a few months--tax-free?
Think green. Not money--plants.
Now that spring is in the air, seeds are plentiful; growing times are short, and amateur gardeners have the opportunity to save a bundle with a few well-chosen crops.
And because you are saving money rather than earning it, you’re not paying income taxes on the proceeds. To put it more clearly, not spending $10 is equivalent to earning $12.80 for somebody who pays 28% of his or her income in taxes.
But if you’re planting for fun and profit, it’s worth noting that there are some crops that are high-return and others that may not be worth the price of seeds, much less labor.
Consider carrots. A packet of carrot seeds will set you back about $1. If all goes well, you’ll have several pounds of edible roots in a few months. But a five-pound bag of carrots costs just $1.89 in the grocery store. So if you save any money planting rather than purchasing this vegetable, it’d be negligible.
On the other end of the spectrum are costly spices such as basil.
Buy a bag of fresh basil in the grocery store and you’ll pay $1.39 for just enough to season one or two meals. And you’d better use it fast, because it’ll spoil, says Frances Pollock, an Alhambra resident who grows herbs, vegetables and fruit.
A small plant or a package of seeds, on the other hand, costs between 50 cents and $1.50, depending on when and where you buy it. Add a little dirt, sun and water, and you’ll pick--rather than purchase--your pasta spices all summer. Assuming you do that just five times a season, your return on investment works out to a tidy 300% to 400%.
Oregano, rosemary and mint can be even better buys because they don’t die out over the winter, says Diane Lapostol of La Crescenta. For those who prefer their spices fresh--they cost a bit less when packaged dried--the bottom line is significant savings.
“We grow the things that are expensive in the grocery store,” Lapostol says. “Over the entire season, I save a lot of money because I don’t have to buy corn, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins--all sorts of things.”
But planting spices isn’t the only way to turn a tiny investment into a tidy profit. Gardeners posit that tomatoes may produce the best returns of all.
Moira Hummel of La Canada Flintridge spent about $2.50 on a few starter plants last summer. By fall, she says, she had picked more than 50 big red tomatoes. Given that tomatoes now sell for about $1.69 a pound--Hummel estimates there are three to five of her tomatoes in a pound--she figures her return on investment at 1,000%. Even had the plant been less prolific, it would have been well worth the price, she says.
“It’s such a small investment that even if you only get five tomatoes, you’ve paid for the plant. It’s a great deal.”
Summer squash, strawberries and peppers also fare well in warm climates. A host of apples, beans and lettuces produce bumper crops in places where the weather is crisp, gardeners say.
Over long periods of time, fruit trees can really pay off, Pollock says. But they’re more expensive to buy--usually $10 to $20--and it can take them years to bear a significant amount of fruit.
*
What’s the catch? As with any high-return investment, the chance of losing your initial outlay is almost as great as the potential for profit.
The risks: A late frost can wipe out your crops before a single vegetable can be plucked. Raccoons, squirrels, mice, birds and other wildlife may eat the fruit and vegetables before you can. If your soil needs help, you may have to buy fertilizer, which would boost your costs.
And then there are bugs. If your garden becomes infested, you could spend $2 a bottle on nontoxic bug sprays or upward of $5 on a container of so-called beneficial insects--ladybugs and green lacewings, for example--that eat the destructive pests. Indeed, pest control can cost more than the plants themselves--and there’s no guarantee that you’ll get rid of the bugs. Some amateur gardeners moan that the bug sprays killed their plants but the bugs kept coming.
There’s also the question of space and water. Those who have a lot of space and live where there’s little rain could see their water bills soar. The effort to plant, spray, prune and harvest might be fun or exercise, but if it’s drudgery to you, you need to consider the value of your time too.
As for those who simply don’t have the real estate for an outdoor garden--apartment and condominium dwellers, for example--need indoor pots and planting beds that can run $3 to $30. You can build your own for less, of course. But you don’t want your $10 herb garden to leak and ruin the $300 carpet.
The bottom line: You could save a bundle or you could lose your entire investment and then some. Still, says Lapostol, since the initial investment is often about $10 to $20 a season, it’s a gamble most families can afford.
