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3 On Your Side: Grow Your Own Groceries

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Aug 4, 2008 4:37 pm US/Eastern

3 On Your Side: Grow Your Own Groceries

Reporting
Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― It doesn't take too many trips down the supermarket aisle to see that the cost of food is up - way up. So what's a hungry family to do? 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan found that more and more people are trading trips to the grocer in favor of some time in their back yard.

The Federal Government says food prices rose faster this spring than they have in 18 years, so the backyard vegetable garden is becoming more popular than ever.

Even though she's never been a gardener before, a growing grocery bill prompted Michele von Turkovich to start growing some food of her own.

She says, "My goal was to minimize the amount of money that went into it, to maximize the money I got out of it," and Michele and her family are not alone.

Charlie Nardozzi of the National Gardening Association says, "We're seeing new people coming into vegetable and edible gardening that weren't there before, and we're see people who have been edible gardening or vegetable gardening in the past have increased the amount of gardening they're doing."

The savings from gardening can be significant.

According to Nardozzi "If you buy a $2 tomato transplant, you can probably get about $10 worth of tomatoes off of that one plant. So even though across the country and depending on the plant it's going to vary, you can save probably hundreds of dollars by growing your own food."

Along with the cost of the plant, there's soil, mulch and planting materials to consider-but you should still come out ahead.

Von Turkovich says, "I'm just hoping to be able to afford healthy, local organic food out of my own garden for as much of the season as I can before I have to jump back into the grocery store."

For many, gardening is not just about prices, many are interested in avoiding contaminated food supplies, increasing nutrition, and going 'green'.

To find more advice on starting a vegetable garden, visit the link below.

National Gardening Association

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