Does Growing Your Own Vegetables Save Money? Value per Plant and per Square Foot

Last updated: 21 October 2026.

The often quoted “$530 return” from a 600 sq ft garden comes from a 2009 National Gardening Association survey, which used one average yield (0.5 lb per sq ft) and one average price ($2.00 per lb) for every crop. This page values home-grown vegetables crop by crop, with official retail prices on one side and published yields on the other. Seeds, plants, compost and water appear as separate cost lines, and the first year is shown apart from later years.

The US comes first, in dollars, pounds and feet. The UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands follow in pounds sterling or euros, kilograms and square metres. Each price is the latest official retail average for that country: USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) 2023 for the US, and 2025 or 2024 figures from national statistics offices, agriculture ministries and their agencies in Europe (for Germany, an industry consumer panel republished by the agriculture ministry). Where a country publishes no per-kilogram price for a crop, its cell is empty.

The yields are the same figures as Leaftide’s vegetable garden yields page, so the two pages agree. Every number on this page is reproducible from one script and its input file, listed under methodology.

Does growing your own vegetables save money?

Growing your own vegetables saves money on high-value crops and loses money on cheap staples. A whole new garden loses money in its first year, mostly because new beds need a thick layer of compost.

1. The crop matters most. At 2023 US retail prices (USDA ERS), 100 sq ft of tomatoes grown at median UK allotment yields (MYHarvest) is worth about $209. The same 100 sq ft of cabbage is worth about $33.
2. Buying started plants can cancel the saving. A started bell pepper plant costs $4.98 to $9.00 in the US (Bonnie Plants), and a field pepper plant produces $1.88 to $3.76 of peppers at 2023 ERS prices. A pepper seed costs $0.02 to $0.26.
3. The first year costs the most. The worked example below grows $113 of vegetables on 96 sq ft at median yields and costs $89.97 to plant. Compost for new beds adds $157.68 to $210.24 in year one; in later years, compost and water add $22.40 to $61.82.

None of these figures puts a price on the gardener’s time. Studies that do count labour, such as CoDyre et al. (2015) in Ontario and Glavan et al. (2018) in London, Ljubljana and Milan, find that home-grown food costs more than shop-bought food once hours are paid at the minimum or average wage.

Value of a tomato plant

A field-grown slicing tomato plant produces 2 to 6 lb (0.9 to 2.7 kg) of fruit, according to University of Minnesota Extension (reviewed 2026). The table values that yield at each country’s latest official retail price for fresh tomatoes.

The Italian price is for round red sauce tomatoes (pomodori da sugo), the only tomato type priced in all three cities. Salad tomatoes cost more where they are priced, so the Italian values here are likely on the low side.

A cherry tomato plant with the same 2 to 6 lb yield is worth $8.31 to $24.93 at the ERS price of $4.16 per lb for grape and cherry tomatoes (2023). In France, where FranceAgriMer’s supermarket survey priced cherry tomatoes at €9.11 per kg in 2025, the same plant is worth €8.26 to €24.79. In Italy, at €4.65 per kg (2025), it is worth €4.22 to €12.66.

The Minnesota figure comes from a planning table for vegetable farmers. University of Wisconsin Extension (2017) expects 12 to 15 lb per plant from home gardens in southern and central Wisconsin. At $2.14 per lb, 12 to 15 lb of tomatoes is worth $25.71 to $32.14. The yields page lists every tomato source.

Value per plant

These are US values per plant, using University of Minnesota Extension’s expected yield per plant (reviewed 2026) and USDA ERS average retail prices for 2023. The midpoint is the middle of the yield range. Seed cost per plant is the packet price divided by the seeds in the packet, from Burpee, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Baker Creek and Territorial Seed. Started plant cost is the price of one bought plant from Bonnie Plants (at Home Depot and bonnieplants.com), Burpee and Territorial, counting single pots and multi-packs alike. All seller prices were read on 21 October 2026.

A bell pepper plant bought for $4.98 to $9.00 loses money at 2023 US retail prices even at the top of University of Minnesota Extension’s expected yield (2.5 lb). The ERS pepper price is for green bell peppers, which cost less than red ones ($1.71 per lb in 2023).

Seed cost per plant assumes every seed becomes a plant and ignores the rest of the packet. A packet usually holds far more seed than a home garden can use in one year. The worked example charges whole packets instead.

Value per plant in the UK and Europe

The same per-plant yields valued at each European country’s prices give the following midpoints. Seed costs come from Suttons (UK) and Kiepenkerl or Sperli (euro countries); Kiepenkerl and Sperli state how many plants a packet is enough for rather than a seed count.

In the UK, a tomato plug plant from Suttons costs £2.00 to £2.66 and a tomato seed £0.07. A courgette plant in a 9 cm pot from Suttons costs £9.99 on its own or £5.00 each in a pack of three, more than the £4.34 of courgettes a plant produces at the midpoint yield. A Suttons courgette seed costs £0.19.

Value per 10 ft row and per 100 sq ft

Row values use Virginia Cooperative Extension’s expected yield per 10 ft row (2025), which gives a low and a high figure for each crop. Area values use measured yields from the University of Sheffield’s MYHarvest project in UK allotments and gardens, 2017 to 2022: the median record and the middle half of records (25th to 75th percentile), per square metre of ground under each crop. Prices are USDA ERS averages for 2023.

The MYHarvest analysis excluded failed crops, so the per-area figures assume the crop produced something. Some crops at the top of the table were often grown under glass: 93 of 189 cucumber records, 280 of 569 tomato records and 63 of 95 pepper records came from a greenhouse or polytunnel.

The two measures rank crops differently because a 10 ft row of zucchini or winter squash takes far more ground than a 10 ft row of radishes. The per-area figures are the better guide to which crops pay for their space.

Most valuable vegetables to grow

At MYHarvest median yields, tomatoes are the most valuable vegetable per square foot in the US, UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. In Italy and Spain, cucumbers come first and tomatoes second. The ranking below uses each country’s latest official retail price.

• United States (USDA ERS, 2023), per 100 sq ft: tomatoes $209, zucchini $162, cucumbers $142, spinach $138, green beans $103.
• United Kingdom (ONS, 2025), per m²: tomatoes £17.62, courgettes £14.25, salad leaves £12.03, green beans £9.61.
• France (INSEE and FranceAgriMer, 2025), per m²: tomatoes €17.17, green beans €13.24, courgettes €12.58, garlic €9.99, peppers €9.93.
• Italy (Osservatorio Prezzi, 2025), per m²: cucumbers €13.01, tomatoes €11.71, courgettes €11.12, salad leaves €10.27, green beans €8.90.
• Spain (MAPA, 2025), per m²: cucumbers €11.80, tomatoes €11.27, green beans €8.71, courgettes €8.23, salad leaves €5.98.
• Netherlands (CBS, 2025), per m²: tomatoes €15.07, green beans €7.41.
• Germany (BMLEH yearbook, 2024), per m²: tomatoes €11.13.

About half of the MYHarvest tomato and cucumber records came from a greenhouse or polytunnel, which helps put both crops near the top.

Cherry tomatoes are the most valuable crop per plant: $8.31 to $24.93 per plant at 2023 US prices. Salad leaves are valued at the price of bagged salad, which is £8.91 per kg in the UK (ONS, 2025) and €7.61 per kg in Italy, and at Spain’s price for bagged ready-to-eat vegetables and salads (IV gama), €4.43 per kg.

The high-value crops either crop heavily over a long season or cost a lot per kilogram in shops. Tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers yield 4.8 to 6.3 kg per m² for the median MYHarvest record, and green beans and spinach sell for $2.66 and $4.50 per lb in the US (ERS, 2023).

Least valuable vegetables to grow

Asparagus, cabbage, onions, broccoli, carrots and potatoes are the least valuable vegetables per square foot. At 2023 US retail prices, 100 sq ft of each is worth $29 to $51, against $209 for tomatoes. In the UK at 2025 ONS prices, a square metre is worth £1.93 of broccoli, £1.95 of onions, £2.10 of carrots and £2.64 of potatoes, against £17.62 of tomatoes. They are cheap in shops (UK carrots £0.91 per kg, potatoes £0.98 per kg) or slow to produce per square metre (broccoli 0.73 kg per m² and asparagus 0.44 kg per m² for the median MYHarvest record).

Asparagus is a perennial, so one planting keeps cropping for many years; the figure here is one year’s harvest.

Value per square metre in the UK and Europe

The table gives values per square metre at the median MYHarvest yield and each country’s latest official retail price, with the price per kilogram in brackets. An empty cell means that country publishes no official per-kilogram retail price for the crop.

For the middle half of MYHarvest records, a square metre of tomatoes is worth £8.05 to £37.53 in the UK and €7.85 to €36.58 in France. A square metre of potatoes is worth £1.45 to £4.42 in the UK and €2.75 to €8.42 in France. The script output in the methodology section has the 25th to 75th percentile range for every cell.

How much does it cost to grow your own vegetables?

The main costs are seeds or started plants, compost and water. Seed is cheap per plant; started plants, seed potatoes, onion sets and compost are not. Compost costs most in the first year, because new beds need 3 to 4 inches and existing beds 1/4 to 1 inch a year (Oregon State University Extension).

Seller prices were read on 21 October 2026, between seasons. Several items, including Burpee seed potatoes and most Suttons plants, were listed as currently unavailable at the listed price. France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands all use German seller prices (Kiepenkerl, Sperli, OBI) so that the euro countries are priced alike; Franchi in Italy and Batlle in Spain list no online prices. Delivery charges are not included.

Worked example: what a 96 sq ft garden is worth

The median US food garden measured 96 sq ft in the National Gardening Association’s 2009 survey. This example plants that 96 sq ft (8.9 m²) with seven common crops. Each bed is valued at 2023 USDA ERS retail prices and MYHarvest yields per square foot, which come from UK allotments and gardens; about half the tomato records were grown under glass, and failed crops are excluded. The lettuce bed is valued at the price of salad leaves wherever a bagged-salad price exists (UK, Italy, Spain).

The low case puts every bed at its 25th-percentile MYHarvest yield at once, and the high case puts every bed at its 75th percentile. A real garden is unlikely to be at either end in every bed. The total at median yields is the sum of each crop’s median, not the median of whole gardens.

The zucchini bed’s 15.9 lb from two plants comes from MYHarvest’s yield per square metre. University of Minnesota Extension’s per-plant figure (3 to 3.5 lb) would give far less, so the two yield sources do not agree for this crop.

Costs of the 96 sq ft garden in the US

The compost depths are Oregon State University Extension’s advice: “For new vegetable beds, add 3–4 inches of compost. For existing vegetable beds, add one-quarter to 1 inch of compost per year.” Compost is priced in 1 cu ft bags and costed by volume, not by whole bag; bulk deliveries were not priced. The watering rate is Iowa State University Extension’s “about 1 inch of water per week from rainfall and irrigation combined”. Charging all of it to the tap makes the water line an upper bound. The 20-week season is an assumption.

Value after costs

The low case pairs 25th-percentile yields with the thicker compost layer, and the high case pairs 75th-percentile yields with the thinner one. The from-seed rows count only the seed packet; seed-starting mix, cell trays and any grow light are not costed.

Later years in this calculation still buy every seed packet, set and plant again. Leftover seed and home-made compost (see composting basics) would lower that cost, but by how much depends on the garden, so it is not modelled here. The garden’s 63 lb harvest works out at 0.66 lb per sq ft, between the 0.51 lb per sq ft measured in Laramie, Wyoming (Conk and Porter, 2016) and the 0.75 lb per sq ft measured in San Jose community gardens (Algert et al., 2014).

The same garden in the UK and Europe

UK costs use Suttons seeds, sets, seed potatoes and a 6-pack of tomato plug plants, B&Q soil improver and Thames Water’s metered rate. With tomatoes from Suttons seed (£3.29), the UK garden’s start cost is £33.43 and it returns £25 in later years (−£36 to £124) and −£66 in year one. Euro costs use Kiepenkerl seed with tomatoes raised from seed, because Kiepenkerl listed no started plants in October, plus OBI compost and each country’s water price. Italy’s water price (ARERA) includes sewerage and treatment, while Spain’s (INE) is the supply part only.

France, Germany and the Netherlands are left out of the net comparison because one or more of the seven crops has no official per-kilogram price there. On the beds that can be priced, the French garden grows €91 of vegetables on 88 of the 96 sq ft (no lettuce price). The Dutch garden grows €49 on 56 sq ft (tomatoes, beans and potatoes only). The German garden grows €33 on 56 sq ft (tomatoes, carrots, onions and potatoes only).

How this compares with published studies

Studies that weighed or estimated real harvests found produce values in the same range as this calculation. Those that subtracted input costs found anything from a 39% premium over shop prices (Guelph) to gross margins of €16 to €221 a year (Glavan et al.), and losses in all three of Glavan’s cities once labour was paid.

This calculation’s 96 sq ft garden produces $1.18 of vegetables per sq ft at 2023 US prices and median yields. That is close to the National Gardening Association’s $1.00 per sq ft (0.5 lb at $2.00) and below the $1.67 per sq ft measured in Laramie at farmers’ market and organic grocery prices.

The San Jose studies report savings before most costs. Algert et al. (2014) recorded overheads but noted that compost was free and many gardeners reused seed. The Guelph study counted soil, fertiliser, plants and seeds (not water or labour), and found that the average gardener spent more than the food was worth. This page finds a similar gap between buying started plants and raising them from seed, and a larger one between a new garden and an established one.

Burpee’s widely repeated claim that $50 of seeds and fertiliser grows $1,250 of produce (a 1:25 ratio, reported in the Christian Science Monitor in April 2009) comes from a Burpee cost analysis whose method was not published. The highest ratio among the studies listed here is the National Gardening Association’s, roughly 9:1 ($600 of produce for $70 of average spending).

Methodology

Formula. Produce value equals yield multiplied by the retail price per unit of weight. Value after costs equals produce value minus what is bought: seed packets, onion sets, seed potatoes and started plants, then compost and water as separate lines. Compost is shown for new beds (year one) and existing beds (later years). The gardener’s time, tools, beds, fencing, seed-starting supplies, delivery charges, pest losses and unused gluts are not counted.

Prices. Each country’s latest official average retail price for the fresh vegetable:

Are 2023 US prices out of date? The latest ERS release uses 2023 data. Bureau of Labor Statistics average prices show that from 2023 to January to September 2026, field-grown tomatoes rose 11% ($1.919 to $2.139 per lb), romaine lettuce rose 26% ($2.767 to $3.495 per lb) and white potatoes fell 10% ($1.005 to $0.908 per lb). The 2023 prices therefore understate the current value of tomatoes and lettuce.

Yields. All yields are the same figures as Leaftide’s vegetable garden yields page:

• Per plant: University of Minnesota Extension’s expected yield per plant (reviewed 2026), low and high. The midpoint is the middle of that range.
• Per 10 ft row: Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 426-331 (2025), low and high.
• Per square foot and square metre: the MYHarvest open dataset (Gulyas et al. 2025, University of Sheffield, CC BY 4.0), with the median record as the typical value and the 25th to 75th percentile as the range. These are UK yields from allotments and gardens between 2017 and 2022, measured on the ground under each crop. Whole plots, including paths and unplanted ground, yield less per square metre. The MYHarvest analysis excluded failed crops, and 93 of 189 cucumber records, 280 of 569 tomato records and 63 of 95 pepper records came from a greenhouse or polytunnel.

Costs. Seed, plant, compost and seller prices are the listed prices on 21 October 2026 from Burpee, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Baker Creek, Territorial Seed, Bonnie Plants (Home Depot and bonnieplants.com), Suttons, Kiepenkerl, Sperli, Home Depot, B&Q and OBI. Seed cost per plant divides the packet price by the stated seed count, or by Kiepenkerl’s and Sperli’s own “enough for about N plants”. Started plant cost divides the pack price by the plants in the pack. Water prices are the US average residential rate for 2024 (EPA WaterSense estimate based on AWWA rate surveys), Thames Water’s metered rate from April 2026, Destatis (Germany, January 2025, without the standing charge), OIEau/SISPEA (France, January 2025), INE (Spain, 2022), Vewin (Netherlands, 2026) and ARERA (Italy, 2021). Supply-only rates are used where the source splits supply and sewerage; ARERA does not, so Italy’s rate includes sewerage.

Units. 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg; 1 m² = 10.7639 sq ft; 1 inch = 2.54 cm; 1 m³ = 264.17 US gallons = 35.31 cu ft.

Crops and countries left out.

• Fresh herbs (basil, parsley, coriander): no official per-kilogram retail price in any of the seven countries. ONS lists only dried herbs, and USDA’s weekly advertised-price report lists fresh herbs per bunch without a weight.
• Peas, sweetcorn and beetroot: no official fresh per-kilogram price was found. ERS prices peas only frozen or canned and beets only canned; ERS prices sweetcorn per lb of husked cobs, while the published yields do not say whether husks are included.
• UK peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, cauliflower and cabbage: ONS prices them per item, with no weight, so they cannot be valued per kilogram.
• Germany is limited to tomatoes, carrots, onions and potatoes, and the Netherlands to tomatoes, green beans and potatoes, because no other official per-kilogram retail prices exist.
• Kale, Brussels sprouts and cherry tomatoes appear only where a country publishes a separate price.

Reproduce it. The calculation is scripts/grow_your_own_value.py in Leaftide’s repository, with every input, source and year in scripts/grow_your_own_value_inputs.yaml. Running the script prints every table on this page. To refresh the page when new prices are released, update the price and year in the input file and run the script again.

Sources

Retail prices

• USDA Economic Research Service (2025). Fruit and Vegetable Prices, 2023 data, last updated 9 December 2025. ers.usda.gov/data-products/fruit-and-vegetable-prices
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Average Price Data, US city average, series APU0000712311, APU0000FL2101 and APU0000712112. download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ap/
• Office for National Statistics. Shopping prices comparison tool, average prices (cpi-items-actions). ons.gov.uk
• INSEE. Prix moyens annuels de vente au détail en métropole. insee.fr/fr/statistiques/series/103157792
• FranceAgriMer, Réseau des Nouvelles des Marchés. Légumes France, détail GMS. rnm.franceagrimer.fr
• BMLEH (2025). Statistisches Jahrbuch über Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten, Table 230. bmel-statistik.de
• MIMIT Osservatorio Prezzi e Tariffe. Rilevazioni mensili, beni e servizi di largo consumo. osservaprezzi.mise.gov.it
• MAPA (2026). Panel de consumo alimentario en hogares, datos anuales 2025. mapa.gob.es
• CBS (2026). Gemiddelde consumentenprijzen in supermarkten voor 8 producten, 2024-2025. cbs.nl

Yields

• Hoidal, N. University of Minnesota Extension (reviewed 2026). “Crop and field planning tools for vegetable farmers.” extension.umn.edu
• Jadrnicek, S. and Hessler, A. Virginia Cooperative Extension (2025). Publication 426-331 (SPES-673P), Table 5. pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-331/426-331.html
• Gulyas, B. et al. (2025). Measure Your Harvest dataset. University of Sheffield. CC BY 4.0. doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.30675815
• Harrison, H.C. and Krokowski, K. University of Wisconsin Extension (revised 2017). Homegrown Tomatoes for Wisconsin, A1691. hort.extension.wisc.edu

Costs

• Seed and plant sellers, prices read 21 October 2026: Burpee, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Baker Creek, Territorial Seed, Bonnie Plants, Home Depot, Suttons, Kiepenkerl, Sperli, B&Q, OBI.
• Oregon State University Extension. How to use compost in gardens and landscapes, EM 9308. extension.oregonstate.edu/pub/em-9308
• Iowa State University Extension. “Watering the home vegetable garden.” yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu
• US EPA WaterSense. Data and information used by WaterSense (2024 estimate based on AWWA rate surveys). epa.gov/watersense/data-and-information-used-watersense
• Water prices for Europe: Thames Water, Destatis, OIEau, INE, Vewin, ARERA.

Studies of garden value

• Algert, S.J., Baameur, A. and Renvall, M.J. (2014). “Vegetable output and cost savings of community gardens in San Jose, California.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 114(7): 1072–1076. doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.02.030
• Algert, S.J., Baameur, A., Diekmann, L.O., Gray, L. and Ortiz, D. (2016). “Vegetable output, cost savings, and nutritional value of low-income families’ home gardens in San Jose, CA.” Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 11(3): 328–336. doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2015.1128866
• Conk, S.J. and Porter, C.M. (2016). “Food gardeners’ productivity in Laramie, Wyoming: more than a hobby.” American Journal of Public Health 106(5): 854–856. doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303108
• CoDyre, M., Fraser, E.D.G. and Landman, K. (2015). “How does your garden grow? An empirical evaluation of the costs and potential of urban gardening.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 14(1): 72–79. doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2014.11.001
• Glavan, M., Schmutz, U., Williams, S. et al. (2018). “The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities: examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 36: 100–122. doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.10.009
• National Gardening Association (2009). The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America. gardenresearch.com
• Christian Science Monitor (14 April 2009). “Will that vegetable garden save the Obamas money?” csmonitor.com

Cite this data

Leaftide’s calculations and article text are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Retail prices, yields and study results remain attributed to their original publishers.

How to cite: Leaftide (2026). “Does Growing Your Own Vegetables Save Money? Value per Plant and per Square Foot.” Retrieved from https://leaftide.com/learn/does-growing-your-own-vegetables-save-money/. Leaftide analysis of USDA ERS, ONS, INSEE, FranceAgriMer, BMLEH, MIMIT, MAPA and CBS retail prices, with yields from University of Minnesota Extension, Virginia Cooperative Extension and MYHarvest.

Last updated: 21 October 2026.

For how much each crop yields, see vegetable garden yields. For how far apart to plant, see the plant spacing guide. To weigh and record your own harvest and work out your own garden’s value, see garden harvest tracking and yield recording.