HelpfulGardener.com

I have been talking to several local garden people most of them say they can't afford to plant a garden this year.

Today I went to Lowe's & Home Depot to see prices for myself. Garden plants are $5 per plant at Lowe's & Home Depot this is CRAZY. 10 lb bag of fertilizer $30 each. I think Lowe's & Home Depot are most peoples go to place they don't know any other place to go.

I tell people GO to Martins Garden Store on Broad street, 4 pack of plants for $2 and 6 pack of plants for $3. Farmers co-op has 50 lb bags of fertilizer $18 this will last 3 to 5 years. Seed packages are $1 each on Ebay 50 cents postage. 100 to 500 seeds per package.

The price of everything has gone up. Fertilizer prices quadrupled since Korea, China, and Russia stopped all exports and because the cost of producing fertilizer went up because of the cost of natural gas. This was before the war between Ukraine and Russia. Also DEF is going to be a problem too, since it needs urea.

I paid $21 for 20 lbs of sulfate of ammonia in January. Thankfully, this should last me 4-5 years. The price of potting soil has not changed all that much so far. It just isn't available. Someone bought a whole pallet of peat moss from Lowe's and the ag supplier was out too. I have to wait until next month when Lowe's gets their next shipment. The ag supplier had no idea when they would have any more peat moss.
The cost of a 4 inch starter varies from $1.98-$2.66. A four pack starter is about $4. a 6 inch pot $5.98-$8 depending on the plant. A grafted fruit tree $54-$179. I haven't had to buy too many pots, but the price of storage totes went up. I used to be able to get a 48 qt tote for $8-$12. That same tote is $27. I did find some cheaper ones at Walmart for less than $10, but they are thin walled, so they won't last as long. Today I just bought a gram. Tiger Paw orchid for $29 and that actually was quite reasonable. It came in to the store yesterday, so it was in good condition. It only had a few flowers open so it should stay in bloom for 4-5 months.

The price of everything has gone up. Just my income has gone down. I have more time on my hands now, so I am trying to keep better track of my garden expenses. So far, I am in the red, but I have figured out that I have recouped at least some of the cost from the produce I grow that I don't have to buy.