If you want to grow food to replace what you get a the store, I suggest growing lettuce and green hydroponically either indoors or an outdoor tower. Lettuce and greens (and actually also herbs) grow quickly and easily in hydroponics. Start off with one of the smaller AeroGarden’s to see if you like it and then expand from there.

herbs are worth it in my book--get a rail planter so you can have them right on the deck right near the door--or a big pot or two. Grow basil, cilantro, parsley thyme. Those are things that are expensive and i find if i buy them at the store I use a little and end up wasting a lot. Plus a pot or two isn't expensive

arugula and lettuce also worth it, arugula is ridiculously expensive and super easy to grow and reseed in the cooler weather. unfortunately my kids refuse to eat it...

I'm having a ton of success with my EarthBox! I was a little skeptical but wow. I'm a first-timer by the way. Growing tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and cantaloupe

It is worth it if you can put in the time (or money) and if you are willing to keep building the soil, and building a fence to keep out the critters in your area (I have no deer, but I think the rabbits around here might be paid vegetable assassins).

Upsides: you can grow all sorts of whackadoo veggies and rare types of regular veggies that you can’t get most places. Seed Savers and Baker Seeds have you covered.
It’s a great hobby, putting you out in nature and connecting with something other than work or a screen. It gives a real appreciation for the work farmers and farm workers put into our food year round.
It is a really green habit for the earth, too. Every time you aren’t getting vegetables from California, you’re saving on fuel.

Downside: you do have to preserve it if you want it to last longer than the feast in the summer. That might be canning or you might need a deep freezer.
A garden is both hands off and intensive. The Ruth Stoat No Till method is ugly as hell (to me) but gosh if that straw didn’t save my soil this winter!

It blows my frigging mind that both my grandmothers had these acre-sized gardens and they had allll those plants and did all that care and preserving.

Upstart/knowledge takes time. I enjoy it. I plan to turn it into a hobby business as I age.

Anonymous wrote:Most gardening does take quite a bit of time, and I don't actually save money. I do it because I enjoy it, and appreciate the just-picked ripe veggies.

Things that I think are 'worth it':
Tomatoes
Lettuce - can plant a big bed with a small pinch of seeds every 2 weeks
Herbs - they'll keep producing all summer (I grow thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, sage, oregano, mint - but keep the mint in a pot, not the ground!!!)
Snap peas - expensive to buy, and grow like weeds
Cucumbers - one plant has us drowning in cucumbers

Herbs are the winner!!!! You get the highest value. I have a book that lists veggies/fruit where you get the biggest value and Herbs are #1. I can't find the book right now, but when I do I'll come back and post the top 10.

Most gardening does take quite a bit of time, and I don't actually save money. I do it because I enjoy it, and appreciate the just-picked ripe veggies.

Things that I think are 'worth it':
Tomatoes
Lettuce - can plant a big bed with a small pinch of seeds every 2 weeks
Herbs - they'll keep producing all summer (I grow thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, sage, oregano, mint - but keep the mint in a pot, not the ground!!!)
Snap peas - expensive to buy, and grow like weeds
Cucumbers - one plant has us drowning in cucumbers