Growing ur own fruit and veg, worth it?

Poppy7

Hey

I was just wondering what everyone's take on growing your own stuff. And if it cheaper and worth it for all the effort that I'd imagine that goes into it.

I am thinking about starting but was unsure where to start.


Thanks in advance

Poppy

wallbash

Financially no . Unless you value your labour at a few pence per hour!
But the exercise is good and the taste even better. But its not cheap and its not easy .

Mojisola

If you're looking at the moneysaving aspect of it, go for high value crops - we've eaten a lot of asparagus, berries and figs this year which would have cost a lot to buy.

s_b

not this year
everythings bombed in our allotment

torbrex

I have blackcurrants growing in my garden, definitely worth it, no effort required (except picking) and 21 pounds of jam from one bush :T

macma

We've got an allotment and a large veg plot in the garden plus 2 greenhouses.We grow loads of stuff but it's our hobby and as such we love it,we'd do it without the produce.That said there are some crops that are worth their weight in gold.Tomatoes although this year we lost our outdoor crop to blight.One little plant can give you pounds of the best tasting toms.Courgettes are prolific and don't seem to suffer much,I grow mine in the muck heap and they pop out fruit when you turn your back
Blackcurrants again pricey in the shops but this year we've picked pounds,we have 5 bushes but the last 4 are growing from the prunings of the first bush,just chopped 'em off and poked them in the ground :T
A packet of salad leaves sown a pinch every couple of weeks will give cuttings throught the summer.I suppose it's all about what you like to eat and how much space you have.In my book it's always worth growing something and is always rewarding.This year 2 cucumber plants in our g/house have yielded over 200 fruits and they haven't finished yet :eek:

SailorSam

I've got loads of berries growing; i'm turning green i've eaten that much lettuce but only one out of two apples trees gave fruit and i had one plum on the plum tree, very disappointed with the potatoes and not a lot better with the tomatoes.
It's been a bad year but it is fun.

macma

Yeah SailorSam we have 3 apple trees 1 plum and 2 pear trees they blossomed well but the cold nights ruined it and we had the grand total of 1 apple
Ah well 'always next year

forgotmyname

As said doing it to save money. Only if your very vey lucky.

Especially with the prices rising a lot over the last couple of years.

Fairly cheap hobby though.

Linda32

It all depends on quite alot of things. We've got an allotment which costs £19.50 per year. Obviously you would spend more than that on salad and veggies during the year. It does keep us self sufficient in veggies. Last year I bought one bag of mixed frozen veg.

For some reason peas don't grow for us so I buy these and sweetcorn.

There is the cost of the seeds but the amount of plants you get from one packet doesn't make it expensive.

You do need some room to make it pay, not necessarily an allotment but some ground would be good, in an area which gets sunshine as well.

Having said all that, if you buy the little bags of salad in supermarkets then growing your own will without a doubt be a lot cheaper. Even considering the cost of compost for the pots in the first place. (If you grow these in pots that is).

It is a nice hobby and once you get bitten by the bug, well I don't know of anyone who has given it up because they got fed up with it.

Poppy7

Wow thanks so much for all the replies. I am going to look into it for sure. My little toddler is fast becoming a fruit-aholic (in fact getting him to eat much else is the hard part) Berries seem to be expensive in the shops and from what ive seen over the last few years, the quality hasnt been great.
Id love to grow Tomatoes, Potatoes, berries or grapes id say. so need to get a book and see which is the easiest.

I would love it if it was cheaper but id like to teach my son about this kind of stuff, so best he learns on the job! :-)