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By Linda Stern
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Gardening is all about the pride of growing something good to eat. But why not turn a profit, too? Average backyard gardeners spend $71 a year on their herbs and veggies, says Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association. These crops, he says, will give you the best return on that investment.
Herbs. It's hard to get more cost effective than basil: one packet of seeds can keep you in pesto for a year. Come fall, you'll laugh in contempt at those overpriced sprigs at the grocery store.
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Gourmet veggies. Fresh tomatoes are great, but you can usually buy them cheap right around the time the ones in your garden ripen. Buy gourmet plants instead, like yellow grape and heirloom tomatoes, Japanese eggplant or hybrid baby squash.
Salad stuff. Spinach, kale, redleaf lettuce, radicchio and radishes all cost pennies to grow and are easy to plant as seeds. Add a cucumber plant and you can fill a bowl every day for weeks. Save your money for croutons.
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