Welcome! I'm also in zone 8 and like you, I garden for costs savings and also for better quality produce. I can alot of my veggies and some years we can go the entire winter w/o buying veggies, except for a few things that obviously have to be, such as lettuce and any veggies we want raw, but it's so nice to not have to buy canned beans, carrots, tomato sauces, etc.