I have shared many times about my DIY (do it yourself) attitude.

I have wanted to start a square foot garden, setup rain barrels on all my down spouts, and setup my own drip irrigation for a long time.

  1. Washing machine incinerator (ellisbenus.com)
  2. Compost instead of using the trash (ellisbenus.com)
  3. The square foot garden
  4. Wired.com Square foot garden
  5. Double Barrel Composting
  6. Storage container self watering tomato planters
  7. Maximize savings in a small garden with profitable plants
  8. My favorite: Geek Gardening: A Wired.com Guide to Domestic Terraforming

Here is another great article about choosing to grow foods which will cost less to grow than to purchase.

There is no (little) point in growing something which you can purchase at the store, or your local farmer’s market, for less money (unless you just want to).

So MSN Money tells us about 5 foods that are much cheaper to grow than purchase.

  1. Fruit trees
  2. Lettuce
  3. Herbs
  4. Vine vegetables
  5. Bell peppers

I am the most excited about the vine vegetables and fruit trees as my wife and I both love fruits and vegetables, but everyone knows these are among the most expensive purchases at any grocery store.

MSN also points out 5 foods to avoid growing because they are cost prohibitive:

  1. Potatoes
  2. Carrots
  3. Celery
  4. Asparagus
  5. Wheat

Finally, the second part of the article gives some tips on gardening cost efficiently, my favorite being the last, “Be a Minimalist.”

  • Choose cost-effective crops for where you live
  • Use drip irrigation
  • Do the work yourself
  • Buy seeds you can reuse
  • Plan to put food away for winter
  • Use as few chemicals as possible
  • Compost
  • Be a minimalist

As I’m trying to turn over a new leaf and actually do some of the crap I think up, I plan to be posting about my own raised, square foot garden (similar pictured above) soon!