Rooftop/Kitchen Garden Costing

• The home garden as an affordable way to bring more nutrition and

flavor to the typical diet.
• When done correctly, even the smallest backyard plot can, indeed,
produce a windfall of the finest produce specimens, and possibly
even a significant savings to the grocery budget.
• The total bill plot will vary by type of plant grown, number of plants
and the length of a growing season.
• To calculate the true cost to start a garden and maintain it throughout
the year, add together the following factors:
1. Cost of plants or seeds.
2. Cost to provide nutrient rich soil (dirt, fertilizer, worms).
3. Cost to protect and structure plants (cages, coverings, fences).
4. Cost to water plants.
5. Cost of tools and accessories (tiller, gloves, spade).
 The Return On The Investment
• An average gardening household in 2009 experienced a Rupees 34206.56 return on their
average Rupees 4517.85 investment to garden.
• When events such as drought and disease further restrict the availability of certain foods to
be purchased at a reasonable price from the grocer each year, the value of home-grown
vegetables, for example, will double or triple.
 Ways To Save

1. Start early with seeds started indoors:

Picking the strongest from the bunch for transplanting
outdoors will give you a comparable alternative to that expensive plant from the nursery – but at
a cost of around Rupees 6.42 a plant.

2. Give square-foot gardening a try:

This popular gardening technique isn't just highly effective at
producing the healthiest plants with the smallest effort, it's affordable, too.

3. Grow only what you need:

Consider just one or two of each of the plants you like most, and
avoid planting rows and rows of veggies simply because you have the room. Food waste is a
common problem for overzealous gardeners.
 The Bottom Line
In the end, the decision to garden is a truly personal one. Don't feel that it's necessary
to go 100% into a gardening scenario; many gardeners grow those things that are
easiest to produce (tomatoes, for example) and leave the trickier varieties to the
professionals at the farmer's market. Doing your research before the planting season
is the best way to find out how cost effective a backyard garden will be for your
personal lifestyle.
An Example Of Rooftop Gardening
Costing
 1. Amending Your Soil
• If you’re double digging an 8′ x 4′ vegetable bed you will need 1/3 cubic yard of compost.
This will give you an overall depth of 3″ to add to your soil.
• At The Natural Gardener you can bag your own compost. I suggest the revitalizer blend. You
will need 6 bags to be approximate 1/3 of a yard.
• Twice a year you should add 1″ of compost or 2 bags.
• I also recommend adding 1 cup of green sand to your soil when you start and twice a year
after. The 8 lb. bag should last you a minimum of 2 years.
• So that’s a total of :

Description Cost
6 BAGS OF COMPOST Rs. 1355.87
1-8lb BAG OF GREEN SAND Rs. 322.82
TOTAL Rs. 1679.34
 2. Plants + Seeds
• Now you could plant any number of different combinations of plants +
seeds in an 8′ x 4′ bed. So to make things less confusing I went ahead and
designed an example layout. Half the bed is planted with seeds and half
with plant transplants.
 3. Organic Fertilizer + Pesticide
• The all purpose 8-2-4 fertilizer is the easiest way to get your plants the nutrients they’ll
need.
• There are some pests that you’ll need to watch out for. You can buy things like BT for
caterpillars, orange oil works for most other pests and can be made at home, and
organic soap such as Dr. Brauner’s.
• If you buy all these things your first year they should last you a minimum of 2 years.

6LB BAG OF 8-2-4 FERTILIZER Rs. 645.75

1QT BOTTLE OF ORANGE OIL Rs. 1485.11
8OZ BOTTLE OF Dr. BRAUNER’S Rs. 452.03
BT Rs. 774.90
TOTAL Rs. 3357.64
 FINAL SUMMARY
• First Season Total Garden Price Rs. 7426.12.
• That is if you buy everything on this list for a successful first garden.
• Following Seasons Total Garden Price Rs. 3487.50.