Frugal Gardening....Info gathered from my poll....

So gardening can be frugal.  I knew this, my parents have gardened since I was a very young child, and we have canned over those years.  Frozen food also.  So some highlights from the comments

• Work with hand tools, breaking up the ground is hard, but it can be done by hand
• Make an initial investment in heirloom seeds and then collect seeds from year to year and your costs can be cut greatly
• Plant from seeds and not live plants
• (while not done overnight) Create your own compost
• Realize your canning equipment is an investment and will last for many years.  Canning jars can be bought and used over and over.  
• Use the resources you have including look for fertilizer from animals (chickens, cows, rabbits, goats) on your land, home or from friends.  
• Raised beds save you from having to till, also non tilling gardening is popular these days
• All the fancy tools and "stuff" is not necessary, card board will help control weeds and is much cheaper than weed fabric, see what else you can find instead of that special tool.
• Check out books from the library about the many different styles of gardening. 
• Also remember you can grow food in containers (I personally am growing lettuce and tomatoes in containers on my patio. 
• Make it a challenge for yourself and your friends to garden as frugally as possible
• Garden with others for bigger benefits

So some of the benefits of gardening

• Fresh food
• Control over how your food is grown
• Mental health benefits, gardening is therapuetic.
• Sharing overage with friends and family gives tons of satisfaction
• saving money at the grocery store 
• stock up capabilities with your surplus

So happy gardening.... happy eating, and save money!!
Thanks to all the commentors who left comments to help me form this post.