The most cost-effective veg to grow

janibrown

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Leeks - 3 for £1.99 in the shops. Outrageous. 99p for a packet of 600 seeds. Bargain.

To be honest, the best thing to do is to sow little and often the things that you use most of that you get most annoyed paying for in the shops.

So, for me, in one year - the cost of my raspberries [I bought 18 bare root plants, 3 different types and they last about 4 months of picking] produced enough in the first year to offset the cost of the original plants; and I still have 3 gallons of rasp wine fermenting; and have enough new plants to sell some one; so will recoup that cost many times over.

Sorry to be dense but you say you have enough new rasberry plants to sell some how did you do that can you split them ? I have just bought 6 plants this year any advice on growing them would be great
:D:D:D:D:D:D

WestonDave

The most cost effective veg to grow is what you will eat! Out of that pick the things which cost most to buy and that you can get a reasonable crop in your available space. Soft fruit is always expensive because its hard to transport without damage, as are other things of the same nature which have a short shelf life (e.g salad). On the other hand root crops are cheap.

Another trick is to save your own seed - we grow what the supermarkets sell as fine beans - in garden speak French Beans. Blue Lake variety crop heavily from even a few plants, and we've generally found that there are enough beans left at the end of the season to harvest some seeds, which we leave in a dry envelope and plant next year (if you're unsure double sow them to make sure you get at least one plant per pot). You can't necessarily do this with everything but where you can it obviously saves seed costs.

Rhubarb is very cost effective especially if you can scrounge part of a crown from a friend - it then just keeps coming. (Mmmm rhubarb ice-cream - soon be time for a new batch!)

WestonDave

Rasberries canes are normally a one or two year lifespan, so each year the root throws up new shoots - some will be some distance from the original plant as they spread underground. You can easily dig these off and pot them up as new plants if you don't want them where they are.

Sambucus_Nigra

janibrown wrote: »

Sorry to be dense but you say you have enough new rasberry plants to sell some how did you do that can you split them ? I have just bought 6 plants this year any advice on growing them would be great
:D:D:D:D:D:D

Next year they will throw up suckers, which you dig out, root in pots and then they can go to someone else.

Mine will be sold at a seed swap probably, and the £ will go to the charity that I do some work for.

Usually, the best place to get rasps is off someone on the same allotment as you as they are usually happy for you to come and dig the suckers out as it saves them a job.

budgetboo

Stuff that grows well in the UK climate yet makes you weep in the shops. By eating seasonally you get the most nutritional benefit.

From my top 3 pick your fave variety of each as we all have individual faves:-

1. ANY berry. Strawberries (England) and Raspberries, (scotland) are easy to grow and you only need to buy once if you look after them. Take new runners each year to propagate the crop. Blackcurrants and gooseberries are getting harder to find in the shops and more expensive when you do get hod of them year on year.

2. Baby salad leaves. These are a pound a bag in the shops yet a window box, a 99p pack of seeds and a 99p bag of compost can last a few months. No slimey bags in the fridge or chlorine after taste either.
Our fave is spainach for the calcium content.

3. Make ordinary dinners taste like expensive gourmet fare with HERBS. Reduce the need for pesticides in the rest of the garden by crafty companion planting of herbs in your veg patch so they do double duty. e.g Dill next to cucumbers, sage next to cabbages and carrots.


Plants that do double duty as a crop.

We plant beetroot and root parsley as we can eat both roots and leaves. Raw beetroot is hard to find in my area and my son loves beetroot leaves in bubble and squeak. I also find beetroot more resilient to slug attack than the more traditional and cheaper cabbage. Use beetroot leaves in recipes just as you would chard.

Root parsley, (also called Hamburg or Romanian Parsley as it's very popular in central Europe) gives me the leaves which I use like the usual herbs and the roots which I use instead of parsnip for cooking (parsnip is getting pricier year on year in the shops). It's a good winter veg as it can left in the ground till spring. If you want to save seeds, remember they don't keep well and don't plant near standard parsley.

Plants that seem awfully expensive for no good reason in your area.

Leeks and parsnip seem to be very expensive for no good reason in my area. They used to be cheap as chips - for this reason I've added leeks and root parsley to my planting plans this year. Since when did the humble leek become a gourmet food? Leeks don't seem particularly well known amongst the high immigrant population in my area so I suspect has been edged off the popularity list by more "exotic" veg flown in from overseas, the limited popularity may be making it less cost effective for commercial growers.

Plant and forget, but not everyone likes it.

Rhubarb- give it a bit of manure in the spring and leave it be, and it'll keep coming year on year. Divide the clumps after a few years. This is mad expensive to buy at the supermarket, yet a traditiona l British "peasant" crop.

Asparagus - cos it takes 4 years for a bed to get established it's always pricey in the shops, yet English asparagus is world famous. Only plant if you have space for it though as the ground it occupies will be out of action for anything else permanently.

Rare stuff that you love, and just can't buy.

For me if I had a permanent garden space the first thing I'd plant would be a damson tree. I have wonderful childhood memories of damson jam and pie, yet in recent years it's beome as easy to obtain and as expensive as gold dust in my neck of the woods. Mine is the only order our greengrocer gets each year.

We are planting "trail of tears" runner beans - a delicious heritage variety you just can't purchase in the shops. We love beans, find them easy to grow but are offended by the old, stringy excuses the supermarkets try to palm off as "fresh" at great cost. In line with my companion planting philosophy we are gonna grow a "3 sisters" bed this year for the first time to try and improve the yield and control weeds and pests for minimal effort. I got my hands on a heritage sweetcorn suited to the UK climate from the real seed co + have been given some Romanian melon seeds.

A 3 sisters bed is Sweetcorn, Beans and squash. The Sweetcorn acts as supports for the beans which in turn add nitrogen to the soil for the corn. The squash shades the soil so it doesn't dry out too much in high summer and the big leaves stop weed proliferation in the bed. We are going to plant 2 melons and 2 courgette plants + 1 butternut squash plant for our 3 sisters squash contribution. All are quality heritage seeds so if it works I'll be able to do it again next year without buying more seeds + over a few years the seeds I collect each year will adapt to local soil and weather conditions. None are varieties I can buy in the supermarket, and if by chance I could they'd definately be in the "finest" aisle and be priced accordingly.

What not to do on purely money saving grounds:-

Ruling out organic, taste buds, and rare varieties , potatoes, carrots and onions are still cheap as chips to buy so perhaps not worth bothering with is space is limited and budget is your primary consideration.

cootambear

WestonDave wrote: »

The most cost effective veg to grow is what you will eat! Out of that pick the things which cost most to buy and that you can get a reasonable crop in your available space. Soft fruit is always expensive because its hard to transport without damage, as are other things of the same nature which have a short shelf life (e.g salad). On the other hand root crops are cheap.

Another trick is to save your own seed - we grow what the supermarkets sell as fine beans - in garden speak French Beans. Blue Lake variety crop heavily from even a few plants, and we've generally found that there are enough beans left at the end of the season to harvest some seeds, which we leave in a dry envelope and plant next year (if you're unsure double sow them to make sure you get at least one plant per pot). You can't necessarily do this with everything but where you can it obviously saves seed costs.

Rhubarb is very cost effective especially if you can scrounge part of a crown from a friend - it then just keeps coming. (Mmmm rhubarb ice-cream - soon be time for a new batch!)

i simmer rhubarb down with sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream

[Deleted User]

Oh thanks all of you. I have the beginnings (seeds and crowns) of all your suggestions except the asparagus. Very interesting reading

tomatoes are so expensive for the nicest ones and I cannot abide the big spanish strawberries with white ends so have ordered sweet, red ones

re damsons: the plot is surrounded by damsons, we picked 12 lb in an hour or two. Love damson jam and jelly

I even ordered sorrel and dill seeds a few days ago, I remember my dad making sorrel soup from wild sorrel but hard to find here

oh it IS going to be a busy spring

Sambucus_Nigra

* Three Sisters.

This technique was used by the native Americans - however the veg that they grew were all for winter crops.

The squashes would be left until they were hard and used over winter
The corn was not sweetcorn but was for drying and grinding
The beans were also left on for drying

this meant that all 3 could be harvested at once.

When we grow sweetcorn, green beans and squashes - you can't get to the beans to pick them as the squash leaves scratch you, and the sweetcorn cannot be easily tested for ripeness as you have to tread all over the squash leaves to get to them, and the courgettes you can't get to or you end up dragging beans down.

Just thought I'd mention it - it only works when all 3 are left until just before the first frosts and then harvested.

[Deleted User]

I would add kale to the list as it is such a good staple through the hungry gap and have got a few pentland brig seeds

my purple sprouting is sprouting at last. I was so determined to grow some this winter as it is madly expensive and we love it. We only took over the allotment last july and it was full of couch grass and bindweed. I cannot tell you haw hard we worked to clear it but oh so worth it

Onions will be worth growing to us as we have a dehydrator and I want to dry lots through the summer, when our pv panels will be producing electricity

irishwexford

I agree with the other posters. We now try to grow what we know we will be eating. Stopped growing caulies and cabbages in summer as we want to eat salads with beetroot, radishes, spring onions followed by strawberries and raspberries. In the winter we want greens, swedes, carrots and parsnips. Our crop of squashes have kept us in soup all winter but I would not want to be making soup in summer, would rather be out on allotment. We have just finished the sweetcorn but would rather eat this fresh, same for runner beans. I will be planting lots of things little and often.