Growing ur own fruit and veg, worth it?

lostinrates

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

But and a big but, if it goes wrong it goes wrong totally, that has to be factored in? Sooner or later we all get hit with potato/tomato blight and it's goodbye crop and hello:D Asda.

For me its health. Seems to get me just at the wrong time every year and other things take priority .


Weather doesn't help. Last year the last frosts got the plum and gauge blossom. The apples were ok though.


I think knowing what type of gardener you are realistically helps. I enjoy things like big pruning. Even when I get it wrong I feel I get something out of it beyond food. I don't think my fruits will pay me back because of the choices I've made, but woul if I'd gone for sheer economy and budget trees. My fruit trees suit my type of ' feeling well can do a lot to day ' gardening.

Parsimonia

RAS wrote: »

If you have not yet shared the joys of the Money Saving Oldstlye forum, you might want to pop in?

They know which is the best cheap loo-roll and all else plus what to do with stardrops, vinegar and washing soda etc.

Yes, I discovered that board a few weeks ago - what a wealth of information! Thanks for the signpost, though!

RAS wrote: »

One MSOS style comment I would make is that if you can put small amounts away toards a rainy day it is worht it. For when the cooker claps out etc as well as for annual expenses.

Thanks, I'm trying to do that! I've got 6 saving 'pots' that I put money into each week:
1) Car related (car tax, insurance, MOT etc)
2) Christmas and birthdays
3) Holiday
4) Professional fees
5) Home insurance, TV licence etc
6) Rainy day fund.
All together I set aside £60 a week, of which £30 is for the rainy day fund.

RAS wrote: »

And are you acquainted with www.freegle.org.uk? Can be a good source of all things gardeny including soil.

No, I hadn't come across this site. Is it like Freecycle? I'll definitely check it out!!! Thank you so much!!!

JayneC

Parsimonia pleased to have inspired you Freegle is the same as freecycle. I think there were some issues with the founders of freecycle and freegle is kind of a breakaway from them - our local freecycle group became freegle. There's also streetbank
http://www.streetbank.com/splash
Where you can borrow, lend, giveaway or skillshare with neighbours, might be worth seeing of people are signed up in your area?

I would definitely echo visiting the OS board and I've found the grocery challenge useful in the past but not joined in much lately. I know there were people growing their own on there.

Please let us know how you get on. Good luck

Edit - If you are on facebook it might be worth checking out if there is a local selling page, ours often has stuff for free on it!

cyclonebri1

lostinrates wrote: »

For me its health. Seems to get me just at the wrong time every year and other things take priority .


Weather doesn't help. Last year the last frosts got the plum and gauge blossom. The apples were ok though.


I think knowing what type of gardener you are realistically helps. I enjoy things like big pruning. Even when I get it wrong I feel I get something out of it beyond food. I don't think my fruits will pay me back because of the choices I've made, but would if I'd gone for sheer economy and budget trees. My fruit trees suit my type of ' feeling well can do a lot to day ' gardening.

We inherited a small orchard at the top of the garden when we moved home 17 years ago. By reading the rings in trees I've chainsawed down, I thing it about 30 years old then.

Don't get me wrong but every couple of years I've had to remove a very very mature fruit tree, and deal with the residue.

From memory:

We had 3 pear trees, all full standard
2 apple trees both 1/2 standard
1 greengage, again 1/2 standard
1 victoria plum, a massive 15ft high specimen plus many black and red currant rows etc

They have all gone now with the exception of 2 pear trees, they remain primarily for privacy.
Replacement plum and greengage have also passed over.


2 pear trees remain. 1 is a conference the other I'm unsure of. I have "Pollarded" these twice now, the last time about 10 years back, but get this;
They are a similar size, but the bigger 1 is fully 25 ft high, it equals the height of the semis that it "shades" us from.

So yes, exercise certainly comes into it, but so does ensuring it doesn't get to much.
Right now much more of my garden is being turned over the lawn, heather and conifer beds etc, low maintenance stuff, but I still keep 2 good sized raised beds for favourite veg, and am about to plant another plum tree.

This has been a friendly of subject rant by an old git who gardens to his best ability.:D:D:D

There is a famous quote, maybe someone can tell me who by?
It goes pretty much like this;

"He who plants trees thinks of others than himself"

Maybe why I replaced the apples and pears with Silver Birch???

Fruball

I think that the OP could certainly make some savings by growing certain crops. Taking each thing on an individual basis, growing cut and come again salad doesn't take much compost and the seeds can be very cheap. At a saving of £1 per supermarket bag, this saves me a lot in the summer.

Runner/french/dwarf beans are expensive from supermarket. A pack of seeds would cost the equivalent of less than 1 supermarket pack of the grown beans. All you would need is support canes which could be foraged, and some compost/good soil. You would be saving money after you harvest your first pack. Even if you only got 3 packs worth, unlikely!, then you have saved money.

I don't bother with carrots or maincrop spuds but I do sometimes do new potatoes as they are so much better than shop bought esp with a blob of lurpak

1 or 2 courgette plants would supplement your veg and can be grown if you have a space in flower beds. Again, after picking first/second harvest, you are saving on each one you pick after that.

Purple sprouting broccoli is easy to grow (as long as you keep the caterpillas off! and is a great crop to harvest through the winter. I love how it keeps on producing more and more each time you cut some. 2 plants would supplement what you buy in shops.

When you are on such a low budget, a saving of a few quid each week on just the above is a bonus.

You don't need an all or nothing approach and if you choose a few easy to grow crops then you can definitely save money. Avoid garden centres at all costs though - money starts to leach from your purse as soon as you walk through the doors

sniffles

For me it is a no. I live alone and have tried growing my own, but financially it is not worth it.

I limit myself to pot grown herbs like parsley and basil, with strawberries in baskets.

Working out the cost of it all and what gets eaten, it is not economical to savour a peppery radish or a fresh egg. I think it is only a lifestyle to be afforded by those who are not financially stretched.

trollopscarletwoman

In general I would argue that veg growing is not cost effective.

However, I haven't just repaired the greenhouse after storm damage for nothing. Its about quality time and relaxation.

Some crops are cost effective-chillies, peppers, garlic and has been written, herbs.

Its just another skill.

cyclonebri1

I think a lesson is learnt very early on for most gardeners, or at least it should be when applied to crops;

Grow a bit of everything, see what grows the best or the most reliably, then concentrate on that.
Try the difficult stuff as an aside, but have the regular stuff in the bag so to speak.;);)

DigForVictory

Bear in mind that growing your own fruit & veg (or even some of them) gets you fresh air, exercise, (likely extra laundry) & is said to be good for the mental health 'green gym'.

In particular I observe boys thrive with gardening as there no 'be quiet & sit still' challenge, but plenty to do & fresh food as (an eventual) reward.

That said, if you really need to save money, babysitting someone's allotment for a fortnight can be an eyeopener.

Parsimonia

All your replies have provided great food for thought.

Despite your warnings about this not being necessarily good economic sense, I think I'll have another go this year at growing a few simple staples, namely salad leaves, tomatoes and beetroot, as well as a few strawberry plants.

We already have lots of well established herbs, which tend to pretty much look after themselves; I'll supplement those with others throughout the year.

If I can manage to get the lettuces and toms reasonably cheaply, this should lead to a genuine cost saving. We still have lots of salad leaf and spinach seeds left over from last year - would they still be usable this year???

We also have 2 unopened large bags of John Innes organic vegetable growing compost. We have a SMALL amount of home-grown compost. We have our 1.5m square trug and an abundance of sturdy pots and bags, ranging in size from 6" to about 2' in diameter.

Mulch isn't an issue - I have access to as much bark and leaf mould as I need, as I live really close to a wood.

If I need manure, I live close by a riding centre.

We have a full water barrel....

Presupposing I can get some tomato and strawberry plants cheaply I'm good to go; then I'll have to shop around for cheap tomato food...

Is there anything I've overlooked (that's going to cost me money that I haven't thought about???)

I really appreciate your insights and advice, everyone!