What is more profitable: to buy or to plant?

Interesting ideas

For many of us, a dacha isn't a luxury or a business venture, but a pleasure that has become an integral part of our lives. It's a bold statement, but I don't think I'm wrong. It's our hobby and our passion project. So, asking us which is cheaper: planting or growing, is pointless. However, some are curious about how much a gardening season costs, and autumn is the perfect time to balance the books. Let's do it right now and find out how much we've saved or, on the contrary, ruined our family budget.

The main thing is the facts

Accounting and economics will help us understand this issue. They operate impartially with numbers—they can't be swayed by mere human happiness. Therefore, we can safely discard the factors that gardeners like to exploit:

it's all our own, clean, no chemicals;
I know how it's grown;
Thanks to me, my grandchildren are running around in the fresh air;
At the dacha my soul rests.

Let's take a step back and look at a dacha as a business. We'll try to determine how break-even it is by calculating the costs of growing vegetables. To do this, we'll need to calculate the quantitative equivalent. Today, we're dealing with money, kilograms, and pieces.

Is our business break-even?

First, we need to define the concept: the break-even point is the point at which the dacha neither makes a profit nor breaks even. The calculations must take into account both fixed and variable costs.

Fixed costs – these don't affect production intensity. For example, land tax – no matter how many beds you plant or how many crops you grow, the amount remains the same. This category includes: membership fees, utility bills (electricity, water, gas). Transportation costs – the cost of public transportation or the gasoline needed for your car – also fall into this category.
Variable costs include the purchase of seeds, fertilizers, pest and disease control products, covering film, and other materials. This also includes the cost of electricity used for plant lighting or heating the greenhouse in early spring.
Conditionally variable items – this category includes purchases made for the long term, such as tools and containers for seedlings and harvests. We'll assume these items have a lifespan of at least five years. Add to this the fees for SNT needs, which are paid in addition to the dues.

Important: consider your own "salary." Many of us aren't used to calculating our own labor costs. In vain! We calculate the profitability of the "enterprise"—imagine if you hire employees for all the work.

Dacha: does it meet our needs?

Let's take an average plot as a basis – let's assume we own a dacha located 70 km from the city. The property area is 10 acres. The family consists of four people. We study the health requirements and calculate how many vegetables we need to plant to meet the needs of the household.

Doctors estimate that an adult needs to eat just over 140 kg of vegetables per year. And that's not counting potatoes! Residents of our country love them and eat about a hundred kilograms a year. So, to feed the whole family, we need:

potatoes - 4 centners, for the cultivation of which you will need to allocate 2 acres;
onions – 40 kg, 20 sq. m;
garlic – 7 kg, 4 sq. m;
tomatoes – 44 kg, 15 sq. m;
cucumbers - the same amount, but the area will be larger - 22 sq. m;
white cabbage/cauliflower – 68/40 kg, 14/26 sq. m respectively;
bell pepper – 24 kg, 5 sq. m;
eggplants – 20 kg, 4 sq. m;
zucchini – 20 kg, 7 sq. m;
greens – 2 kg, 2 sq.m;
peas/beans – 28 kg each, we allocate 20 sq. m for each crop;
carrots – 40 kg, 8 sq. m;
beets – 24 kg, 5 sq. m.

This list includes the basic crops grown by almost every gardener. This amount of vegetables is sufficient to meet the minimum needs of a given family. Total: about two hundred square meters (200 square meters) will be needed for vegetables, not including paths and walkways, and another two hundred square meters (200 square meters) will be needed for potatoes.

Calculating expenses

Let's keep in mind that we've owned the dacha for several years now – all the necessary tools and greenhouses have long been purchased. We have some gardening experience. To simplify the calculations, we'll assume all the seeds are purchased. So, it's time to start calculating – factoring in expenses throughout the season.

Planting material: tubers, bulbs, seeds, seedlings

The first expense item. Let's start with potatoes. To grow the required quantity, we'll need about 50 kg of medium-sized potatoes. Seed potatoes cost about 180 rubles per kg. So, the first cost is 9,000 rubles.

Onions – you need to buy a couple of kilograms of 10-15 mm sets. Half a kilo costs 200 rubles, so the cost will be 800 rubles.

Garlic – you'll need a couple of kilograms, which will cost 1,400 rubles.

Carrots cost 20 rubles per packet, beets – 2 packets for 42 rubles, tomatoes – the cost depends on personal preference. Let's assume we'll stay within 100 rubles. We'll calculate the same for all other crops. Adding up the figures, we'll spend about 13,000 rubles on seeds.

To be fair, it's worth noting that gardeners rarely buy seed potatoes, mostly using their own personal stock. If they do buy them, it's usually as a refresher or experiment, especially if it's a new, exotic variety. Gardeners also stock many other seeds—tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, beans, peas, and other crops. Therefore, it would be reasonable to divide the resulting amount by 5, as this is the degeneration period for potatoes. This would come to 2,600 rubles.

Fertilizers

Many will note that this expense isn't at all necessary—some will grow without fertilizer. The question is, how much? The quantity and quality of the harvest depends heavily on the nutrient content of the soil. Let's assume the garden is located on sod-podzolic soils, which aren't particularly rich in nitrogen and phosphorus and require deoxidation, which requires dolomite flour or lime.

Adding manure will have a positive effect on potato yields – any soil will respond favorably to this fertilizer, especially sod-podzolic soil. It's recommended to apply 30 to 60 tons of manure per hectare. For two hundred square meters, 900 kg will be needed. It's more cost-effective to share this fertilizer with neighbors – a whole truckload will save money. One such load will last for a couple of years.

It's difficult to calculate how much and what kind of fertilizers will be needed for other crops, especially considering that additional fertilizers will be needed during the growing season. Let's assume we'll need 6 kg each of urea, superphosphate, and potassium sulfate.

To feed vegetables throughout the season, we'll choose a general-purpose fertilizer, with a rate of 10 grams per 10 liters of water. This amount is sufficient for treating plants growing at 100 square meters. Various stimulants, accelerators, and other additives can be added, but we'll keep things simple. We'll use the most cost-effective options.

We will need:

manure – 900 kg per two hundred square meters for potatoes;
mineral fertilizers – phosphorus-containing in the amount of 200 rubles, potassium – 532 rubles, nitrogen – 200 rubles.

The total cost of all necessary fertilizers is just over 2,200 rubles.

Artificial sun

The gardening season starts early – some begin work as early as January, while others begin planting in March. Regardless of when you start, everyone faces the need for supplemental lighting for seedlings. We'll spend about 400 rubles on electricity – we'll be using two 18-watt grow lights. We'll be lighting for one month, eight hours a day.

Man-hour

We'll evaluate our own efforts based on the work of a greenhouse worker in a provincial town, whose salary is 21,000 rubles. If we calculate this, working on a 380 square meter garden would take approximately 50 hours, meaning a hired worker would have to pay just over 6,000 rubles for the work.

It's unusual for us to think of gardening as paid work—we imagine ourselves as unpaid labor, a volunteer inspired by a great idea to accomplish a feat of labor, or someone who works for food. Try to account for your labor at least once—especially if you've ever had to fight with loved ones, trying to convey to them the importance of overexerting yourself and ruining your health in the garden.

Transportation costs

The average summer resident drives their own car to their garden – a modern compact car consumes 7 liters per 100 km. During the gardening season, they make approximately 40-50 trips. Considering the distance to the garden, the car travels just over 3,000 km per season. Total fuel consumption is 10,000 rubles.

Membership fees and taxes

Since payment amounts vary among gardening associations, we'll use a garden plot located in the Sverdlovsk region as a basis. For a 10-hectare plot, local residents will pay 5,000 rubles. The land tax—assuming 0.3% of the plot value, assessed at 750,000 rubles—will amount to 2,250 rubles.

Let's sum it up

Now it's time for the fun part – finding out the expenses associated with gardening. Add in membership fees, land tax, utilities, transportation costs, seeds, fertilizer, and the employee's salary. The total comes to just over 50,000 rubles. This amount is approximate and doesn't include much else, such as costs for protective clothing, gardening, covering material, and so on.

Whether that's a lot or a little—it's up to you. To answer that, you'll need to calculate the income you receive from your summer cottage.