Assessing and Enhancing the Economic Viablility of a Home Garden

Hobby gardeners striving to produce fruit, vegetable and herb crops in home gardens rarely obtain crop yields or quality sufficient to offset the cost of inputs and labor required to produce the garden.  This project addressed the question - can a home garden be made more economically sustainable by using appropriate management practices including; a) soil amendments, b) optimum site selection for each crop, c) crop and cultivar selection, d) irrigation, e) optimum pruning, training and harvesting techniques, and f) effective disease and pest control methods.   Fifty different fruits, vegetables and herbs were grown over

the 2004, 2005 and 2006 growing seasons in a 118.53 m² urban garden in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.   Crop yields, quality and flavor characteristics as well as susceptibility to disease and pests were recorded.  Cost of production, total gross revenue and profits were calculated for each crop and for the garden as a whole.   Although most crops tested could be grown successfully under the conditions available within the garden, a more limited number produced yields sufficient to offset the cost of production (materials + labor @ $8 CDN/h).  Carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, lettuce, eggplants, peppers, spinach, Swiss chard, blackberries, raspberries and nearly all herbs were all profitable.  Selecting the most appropriate crops, cultivars and production techniques allowed the profitability of the garden to increase with each growing season.  Crop value and profitability were calculated as (value = yields*average price at nearby farmers markets) (profitability = value - costs of production).  The study showed that well managed urban gardens could represent an economically sound method of producing food that also enhances the biodiversity and aesthetic appeal of the urban environment.