Garden: The cost and benefits of growing a garden in Boulder

Homeowner Lindasue Smollen has an illustrious garden surrounding her North Boulder residence. She sprouts an array of fruits, vegetables, and flowers annually. To her, the benefits of the outdoor hobby are beyond mere cost.

“I say that it’s my therapy, but it’s cheaper than therapy,” Smollen says. “It’s the joy that you get. It’s just difficult to put a price tag on.”

Smollen somehow finds the time for gardening in between running a bakery business and practicing law. She grew up in New York, where her father was a gardener. She describes gardening as being in her blood. The house she lives in now sort of “lent itself to gardening,” she explains. After 38 years of having her home in Boulder, she utilizes the entire space.

Smollen is one of many Boulderites with an affinity for horticulture. That much is apparent in the hundreds of filled community garden plots provided by the non-profit Growing Gardens. Growing Gardens operates seven community garden spaces across Boulder County. Currently, there is a waitlist for all of them.

“In the last couple of years since the pandemic, people have just really felt drawn to better connect with nature and with how their food gets to them, gets in the kitchen and gets into their body,” Operations and Community Garden Manager Shawn Connell says.

Those who want a plot with Growing Gardens can register annually. Gardeners pay a small plot fee and use it to grow almost anything they please. Many gardeners grow flowers and produce. Although they are not allowed to sell these items, they can use them, share them, or even donate them.

“What is the value of a tree in the forest? You can think about it in terms of how much money you could make if you sold it to be turned into paper or lumber,” says Connell. “But it has a lot of other value”

Is growing your own food and flowers cheaper than going to the market?

When growing your own food, the sown result is highly nutrient-dense organic produce, Connell says. This type of food is generally more expensive than its nonorganic counterpart at the grocery store. Amazon Fresh, for example, sells organic produce at a higher cost.

“If you simply put a consumer price tag on it, it’s probably not economical,” Smollen said. “Some things certainly are. This year I had a bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes that I never could have bought the volume of. I used them for everything.”

Smollen shares that the people in Boulder’s gardening community are often open to sharing their yields, especially if they grew too much. In that sense, the activity is economical.

Starting a Garden

When starting a garden, there are many costs to consider. Garden beds, seeds, soil, warming tools and gardening tools are a few examples. Home Depot sells wooden garden beds for anywhere from $36.60 to $499.99, depending on the quality and size one is looking for. A vegetable seed garden starter kit is $29.10 online. So while there are affordable options for gardening, it can also get pricey

The cost of gardening depends on the way one goes about it.

Adoree Faul shows a garden at University Hill Elementary School on Nov. 11, 2024.

“I think there’s like a culture to it, but I think that gardening can be as expensive as you want it to be,” Adoree Faul, the garden director of Garden to Table explains. “I’ve worked in permaculture gardens where we used old wine bottles to line the beds and then put the soil around. The wine bottles or beer bottles, tires and stones we would harvest from the ocean, and that cost nothing.”

Garden to Table is a nonprofit organization serving schools in the Boulder Valley School District and one school in Golden. It provides gardens and curriculum to students at these schools. Title 1 schools received garden educators. In the program, students learn about science and gardening.

If using recycled materials, gardeners can go a long way without spending much. But getting started can be costly. Faul experienced budget gardening during a farming trip in Patagonia, Chile. There, she says, the practice is rather looked down upon. It symbolizes not having enough money to go to the grocery store. She notices the juxtaposition as in Boulder, it is looked at almost as a posh hobby. To save money on gardening, Faul recalls making her own compost or getting manure from local farms.

Faul says that many people spend lots of time and money on creating elaborate vegetable gardens. When adding up all the expenses, the hobby can get costly.

“So for one garden bed, you would get the wood, which one like a 10-foot piece of wood is around like $15, and you’d need at least five of them to make a raised bed, and that’s a lot of money,” Faul says. “Then you’d need to buy the brackets and the big screws as well, so it’d be at least $100 per bed. I think it is expensive if you make it expensive, but I don’t think it has to be.”

According to Lawn Starter, the average cost for a raised garden bed kit is $145.48. This cost varies depending on factors such as quality, size, materials and location. Gardeners also have the option of planting an in-ground garden. This would not require the same materials as a garden bed, but it could still be costly, depending on the materials and seeds used.

“I think if you’re determined enough, anyone can garden,” says Faul. “I don’t think money needs to be a factor if you use recycled materials and make your own compost.”

As for florals, growing bouquets is certainly economical according to Smollen. The cost of flowers can vary greatly, depending on the kind and where they’re bought. Most of Smollen’s flowers have already been established as perennials, so they keep coming back every year at no cost to Smollen.

“Once that stuff is in after a couple of years, it’s free,” Smollen says.

Priceless benefits

In addition to potential economic benefits, gardening also has an array of intangible positive effects. For Smollen, gardening improves her sense of community.

“I say all the time if I’m out gardening in the summer, spring, summer, fall, whatever, it is my social life,” she says. “Everybody wants to stop and talk about my gardens.”

Smollen often connects with her neighbors through gardening. Oftentimes, people stop to ask her about the garden surrounding her home. She’s even built a bench into her wall for bikers to take a break and leaves out a water canister for thirsty pets.

“We have a lot of older people that garden. For them, this is an opportunity to really connect with their neighbors,” says Connell. “Getting out of the house, talking to people daily, feeling like you’re heard and seen – is a struggle that a lot of the elders in our community experience. How do you put a price tag on that?”

Sometimes, Smollen grows too much and needs to thin out the garden. In this case, she lets the community know that she has extra of something and then people come out to get it. Smollen and others end up chatting and gardening together. She also allows local photographers to come in and take pictures of the garden.

Smollen emphasizes the differences between gardening and yard work. She says one is a love, and the other is a task.

“If I’m going to go out gardening, it’s a very happy little thing,” says Smollen. “And so there’s a way to do things in life without being overwhelmed.”

The happiness Smollen feels when gardening is a mental health benefit that many gardeners experience.

Shawn Connell gives a tour of the community garden plots at Growing Garden’s main location in North Boulder.

“The mental and physical benefits would be from the vitamin D that you get from the sunlight,” says Faul. “I studied nutrition at university, so we talked a lot about the benefits of vitamins. Vitamin D is really great for your muscles and bones, but also for your mental health. It helps with some pieces of depression.”

Vitamin D can have many physical and mental benefits, according to Healthline. Some mental benefits include potentially regulating one’s mood and reducing depression. Physically, vitamin D helps regulate the absorption of calcium and facilitates healthy immune system function.

“It’s a very physical work to be out there to be gardening,” says Connell. “So then you potentially have the equivalent of a gym membership.”

According to Faul, the kids participating in the Garden to Table program also derive some happiness from gardening.

“The kids absolutely love it,” says Faul. “I started 4,320 lettuces in the greenhouse last year, and we distribute them to the schools, and the kids plant them in their garden. They remember exactly which lettuce is theirs, and they watch it grow and the same with the summer harvest.”

After the growing is complete, the lettuce is used in the school cafeteria for Rainbow Day, Faul says. So, there is also an educational aspect to gardening. Garden to Table often incorporates science lessons into its curriculum so kids learn while gardening.

In other cases, students plant their vegetables and let them grow over the summer. When they return, they can take their crops home to their families. Growing their own food creates a connection to it, says Faul. It makes them more likely to eat some.

Gardening for the planet

Many community gardens use sustainable or regenerative agriculture. According to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension website, sustainable agriculture aims to maintain and decrease land degradation. Regenerative agriculture works to restore the land and promote soil health.

“I think there’s an endless list of benefits to gardening. For me, the biggest thing is just growing my own food and being more sustainable,” says Faul.

Growing Gardens uses regenerative urban agriculture practices in its farming techniques. Adding the urban piece adds a new layer to the practice. Essentially, they practice regenerative agriculture in the Boulder area, which is rather different than rural farmland. Many plots are surrounded by neighborhoods and businesses.

“And so we’re not just practicing regenerative agriculture, but we’re practicing it in a way that keeps in mind the fact that we’re in a neighborhood full of people,” says Connell. “We don’t want to attract rats, mice, and things like that.”

Regenerative agriculture is great for the environment. Those who use recycled materials for gardening are also reducing their ecological footprint. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation website lists many benefits of the practice.

Climate change is an ongoing threat in today’s world. Regenerative agriculture captures a substantial amount of carbon from the air and stores it in the soil. Therefore, it can help mitigate the effects of climate change. It also improves soil health, which leads to increased farm productivity. Finally, it produces nutrient-dense food without chemical contaminants. So growing your own garden, especially while using the practices of regenerative agriculture, can benefit not only yourself but the world around you.

The outcome of gardening

So, is having a garden worth it? For many people, the answer is yes. Gardening is what you make of it. It can be cheap, expensive, stressful, or peaceful. If one is considering gardening, there are plenty of benefits to retrieve from the practice. For some, it may be the beauty of seeing where their food came from. For others, it may be the happiness of knowing that they are making a small positive impact on the planet and/or society.

Some things you just can’t put a price tag on. Gardening is one of those things. Smollen, Connell, and Faul all shared their personal connections with the practice and showed how it has not only positively impacted their lives but also the lives of others. Gardening helps Smollen connect with her community; it is a passion of Connell’s that led him to meet his wife on a farm; and it brought Faul to Patagonia, Chile. In each of their stories, sharing their passion with others has made a positive impact on the world.

Smollen feels the joy and brightness of gardening each year when her perennials sprout. They create a spectrum of colors around her home.

“There’s daffodils, tulips and hyacines. They just come up in a wonder and they’re all different colors,” Smollen says. “The winter is over. Everything is still dead. And all of a sudden, all these beautiful flowers just pop up. They’re just the brightness for everybody.”