A dollar saved is a dollar earned

They also taste way better than store-bought ones.

Honestly, with my raised beds, between compost, seeds and fertilizer I probably lose money compared to buying tomatoes from the store. Home grown garden tomatoes are 10x better quality than grocery store tomatoes.

Gardening is a hobby. You don't do it to get cheap fruits and veggies.

The results speak for themselves though, and you absolutely cannot beat a tomato right off the vine.

For real though, you don't plant your own tomatoes to save money, you plant your own tomatoes because your crop is going to taste so good that you'll be chasing that flavor any time you're stuck buying them from the store. Just so far beyond storebought.

It's the one crop I keep coming back to every year - the effort is worth it.

That's definitely from someone who never tasted a home grown tomatoe or waters theirs a lot too often, you can buy tomatoes but they taste like literal shit in comparison! ;)

Home-grown fruit, like tomatoes (and especially strawberries!) are, like, an entirely different fruit than store-bought. They are SO freaking good! It is like opening Pandora's Box, because you'll never enjoy store-bought again.

Home grown taste like a real tomato, the super Market once taste mostly like water

But they taste SOOOOOO much better than the flavorless ones from the store

But store-bought tomatoes are nearly tasteless...

I agree with other comments here (about quality, cost of growing, availability, difficulties and especially with tomato varieties being optimized for convenient commercial farming, not taste.

I'm gardening for psychological safety, myself.

When I was a kid, Soviet Union collapsed, economy was in chaos, and though I never went hungry, fancier food (like meat) was unavailable commercially, so we raised it, grew our potatoes and basic veggies. It was a ton of work.

At the moment, stores are full of yummies. However, I can imagine them yummies disappearing - there was a brief food scare at the beginning of Covid (or whenever it was), then the Ukraine war started, scaring the whole Eastern Europe into thinking "Hey, my country is not too different from Ukraine - can we be next?"

Thus we bought a farm, last year, and started a basic garden. Last year we planted some basic foodstuffs - tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic. Two kinds of mint for tea. They produced next to nothing, though. This year, it's more tomatoes, more cucumbers, potatoes, a selection of different herbs. The mints are perennial, and they're crazy weeds - you wouldn't be able to get rid of the beastly things if you wanted to. The yields are OK - I counted around 10 mid-sized potatoes grown from 1 large-sized potato planted, for something like 3x ROI (sample size: 1 plant, the rest keep growing). Tomatoes are sweet and tastier than anything.

You'll ask if it's worth the effort. Now I have a summer home (yet with a fiber optic network connection, yum!), for kids to run around in. I invest minor effort and minor funds (except for the farm, heh, hand tools are inexpensive), getting some food that I need to acquire anyway. Growing foodstuffs is linearly scalable. In the possible event of dung-ventilation, I'll have land, hand tools, and some basic proficiency in growing stuff. Thus it's like prepping, without really spending any money. Anything I buy will get used to grow food and recoups costs within the season. Oh, and I'm getting some badly needed exercise, spading my plant beds.

I don't have a plan for the case of zombie invasion (or hungry mobs spilling out of large cities), except being in the middle of nowhere. I'm hoping this scenario won't come to pass. If it does - the hypothetical robbed me won't be any worse off than a city dweller, either.

That reminds me - I should call my neighbor and order a tractor trailer full of bullshit (that's 15 tons, IIRC), costing 200€. I can pay now, get it here, and let it ripen for a couple of years.

Growing tomatoes is awesome once you have the right stakes & cages, but when end rot hits ya, and ruins your entire crop, months of watching those little buds grow, it will break your fucking heart

Most small gardens are not profitable. But it is therapeutic and the food tastes better.

1.33?

I can easily go through a tomato a day. The only thing limiting me is the cost. if I grew my own I would definitely go through at least 2 tomatoes a day.

I also get to avoid slave labor in the supply chain, so...

It is true. I planted zucchinis this year. I've gotten at least a dozen of them and they're massive. There's still at least a dozen coming and they make for the best soup ever. You can make a whole pan of soup (10L) with one big or two small zuchini. Meanwhile I've got 5 small tomatoes

Waste of time? You know, you can do other stuff while the tomatoes are growing. I have a job and a kid and a house and a social life. I also have some tomato plants. The latter doesn’t take away any time from the rest.

Or if you like gardening.

It'd potentially eventually pay for itself and save you a $1.33 or much more over a lifetime, but actually when you factor in all the costs of the gardening supplies and water and just all the associated costs with setting yourself up to grow them it's going to take a lot longer for you to save that $1.33. Hope you like tomatoes, you'll need to eat plenty to make it worthwhile.

Growing weed saves a lot of money tbh

It's not about the money!!

Too many people think growing shit also takes a lot of effort. Nah, literally just plant shit, weed once, then wait. You literally don't even have to water in most areas lol.

People think gardening or farming takes a lot of effort. It does if you want a pretty little area that's more eye pleasing. But if you just want food? Put seeds in. Wait. Food lol. Might not be the greatest harvest but any seed you'd buy at a store is hearty as fuck now.

Edit: Holy shit, yes guys. People on the internet live in the desert and even Antarctica too. My comment wasn't meant for you contrarian buttwipes lol. It was meant for anyone who doesn't live in a hellhole and has access to a little land lol. And even in those hellholes and places with shitty soil, it's just because you're trying to grow shit not meant for there lol.

any tips for a beginner gardener? my tomatoes are always tiny, and how do i keep bugs from eating my leaves??

the system depends on you only being able to do one thing effectively, and needing to pay other people to do all the things you need but can't do. When you do that, you have to go through several layers of government and corporate bureaucrats who all squeeze you for a little bit extra just because they've positioned themselves between you and what you need to live. To be self-sufficient is to cut all of these middlemen out from between you and the necessities of life. Gardening is a revolutionary act, it's propaganda of the deed writ small.

I’m tired of zombie tomatoes from supermarkets

Do they think they have to sit and watch them grow?..

If you're getting into a hobby for monetary reasons, chances are you aren't going to enjoy it in the long run.

I tried home grown runner beans. They're lovely.

glad to see my fellow humans have a voice here that think that making the earth make me food is freaking incredible.

i grew indoor potatoes, got 3 small ones in 3 months. juiciest potatoes i ever had!

I just got out of a water conference. The big takeaway was for me was that where sewer spills happened, tomatoes grow later.

once you start composting youll end up having free tomatos pop up wherever you use it. you just gotta make sure the deer dont eat them.

Tomatoes are too fickle as far as I'm concerned. I grow all kinds of stuff, but never have luck with tomatoes. The flowers don't pollinate without vibration, they need temperatures in a tight range to fruit, basically every pest on earth destroys them, just not worth it to me anymore. Which is a shame because I love them, but I'm basically over growing tomatoes.

This is why I just grow my weed. Fill my jar and start over which by the time I'm close to done with my cured bud my fresh batch is ready to dry.

If you're concerned a out time either get faster growing species or plant a larger amount and properly store them until needed

Maybe it would be a good idea to collaborate with neighbours or friends or such, economies of scale and whatnot.

Sure seems that way. Now try chili.

Beats taking care of a flower, all the work and you're not even supposed to eat it?