If you’re looking to reduce your grocery bills and improve your health, then gardening is the answer. Not only are home grown vegetables healthier than store bought produce, they are cheaper as well. Besides that you will also get a great sense of accomplishment when you harvest your own produce.

According to many botanists there are many ways to reduce the cost of starting and maintaining gardens . If you have the patience, using seeds instead of seedlings can be a good investment. When you think about it, all the nursery is doing is putting the seeds in the ground and waiting a week. That’s clearly something that you could do yourself if you had the inclination. Don’t forget that after the first round, if you’re careful you can save seeds from the plants you grow. Done properly, you’ll only have to buy seeds once.

Aside from the cost of seeds and potting soil, the remaining expenses come down to fertilizer and tools. Fertilizer needs to be replaced constantly but tools are a one time expense. If you live in a suburb then your yard is an invaluable source of fertilizer in the form of lawn clippings and dead leaves. Tools, on the other hand, you shouldn’t skimp on. You’ll only have to buy a good tool once so there’s no reason to economize. I’m not recommending that you get yourself gold plated shovels but at least get something that you can rely on.

Our parents generation used to have dozens of books on gardening. Thanks to the internet, that’s no longer necessary. You can find the equivalent of millions of books available on the internet for free and on subjects that you would be hard pressed to find a paper book on.