People with gardens - how expensive would food have to be for you to grow your own?

lostinrates

Going4TheDream wrote: »

I grow my own, and have done so for about 8 years now, seem to be getting better at it each year, except this year when it was a washout and about two years previous to that, by the time I am 80 I might have cracked it!!!!!!

It wasn't about saving money or food being expensive when I started it was about having a hobby outside, rather being sat in doors on my backside! The benefits are that we get fresh veg straight from the garden (we freeze surplus) and it does taste better than most shop bought veg. As for cost I think now we may be breaking even as we produce all our own compost and have all the tools etc, so its seeds and time really.... and there is nothing nicer than seeing it all growing and finally eating it!

Yep, this year was a washout for us too. I was looking at the veg bed this morning in despair. The only thing that thrived was weed!

(although a friends rabbits did well out of some carrots that went from threads to woody and rotting within days).

Soft fruit did great for us this year though. The blueberries and redcurrants in particular. The autumn raspberries were good too and the wild strawberries. Our peaches set fruit but lost them all later. . Apples set a niced sized crop after a heavy pruning but it was so wet it was difficult to get them in.

The other thing is, I was unwell and just could not get out there as much as it needed.

Today we have been in and out most of the day (me more in, him more out). It's time consuming and it can be heavy labour, but it is enjoyable. If we were growing purely for food I don't think it would be. I think most of the real basics I can get very reasonably via my green grocer, where as the things that are more expensive (like soft fruits) and better super fresh it's nicer to have at home. We can choose our varieties.

I find our fruit trees relatively 'easy'. Pruning ones or twice a year is relatively low maintanance if one is brave. I am pleaching some trees this year, the first time I have tried shapes, and it is more daunting and I have made some mistakes...but plants tend to be fairly forgiving and resiliant. The lateral i miscut out will hopefully be replaced by another shoot and of not....I will have a hole, and not worry too much. Other bits will give me fruit and the ornamentals I have in the same garden will fill the gap charmingly.

Rosetta92

Badrick wrote: »

There's a lot of stuff you can grow that doesn't take a lot of looking after.
I tend to go for the stuff that's easy to maintain and are expensive to buy such as raspberries, blackcurrants and rhubarb, or aren't available commercially like pineberries and alpine strawberries.

That's my approach too. I've got James Wong's "Homegrown Revolution" on my Santa list - I love to cook and want to try some new veg. I've got heavy clay soil so some of the allotment favourites are a challenge. I'm hoping to go with nature and find some new crops that like my garden.

Meanwhile any advice from more experienced gardeners on what I could be planting now would be useful.

Going4TheDream

lostinrates wrote: »

Soft fruit did great for us this year though. The blueberries and redcurrants in particular. The autumn raspberries were good too and the wild strawberries. Our peaches set fruit but lost them all later. . Apples set a niced sized crop after a heavy pruning but it was so wet it was difficult to get them in.

Ours too LIR, we have loganberry, blackberry, raspberry and blueberry and strawberry, and all did quite well, it was the first year the blueberry fruited I wish I had planted more three years ago now! I cant remember the last time I bought soft fruit since I have taken up gardening to be honest.

The raspberry's seem to always do exceptionally well yet are the things I look after the least! My two doggies tend to keep an eye on them and are often seen helping themselves!

My dad used to grow peaches, but its not something I have tried, but I do remember it being hit and miss for him with them. Maybe the trees are different now but I remember him having to pollinate the flowers with a tiny paint brush, seemed a lot of hard work for maybe half a dozen peaches - not that I minded eating one when it was successful!

We had a fairly good crop of cookers this year but a lot lost as windfall which ended up being composted as they were too damaged to save for anything by the time we got them in.

I hope next year will be better as it is disappointing to put a lot of effort in for so little reward as it has been this year. It was so bad that I didn't even plant any over winter veg.

I weeded the beds a few weeks ago and covered them for winter, gave the garden a good tidy and clean up so that will be me for a good few months now, until I start the propagators up around March time

ukclare

Each to their own - I suspect most keen gardeners have a few veggies tucked in somewhere however beautiful their flowers.

I think the thing to do is pick the veg you want, either those you use a lot, those which are expensive or those which taste better totally fresh.

We always grow leeks - they are left to their own devices once planted, and have a long season. Generally it is about £1 for 3 leeks in the supermarket (I know you can get reductions but not always) I buy a packet of 200 seeds for less than £1. (90% or more come up). Easy and cheap to grow, take up little space, even in a boarder - and make a fabulous leek and potato soup!

Patchwork_Quilt

We have a large garden that came with the house, reclaimed the back 15-20 feet (which had been used as a dumping ground) and put a fence across so that no-one can see the veg plot and compost heaps. In addition, I've put in lots of fruit trees around the edge. Growing my own veg in the garden is a dream come true for me. It's not necessarily about cost. It gets me outside and gives some exercise, which is good for the body and the soul. The food we do harvest tastes amazing, even if it looks rather misshapen. However, DH would rather see a bunch of flowers (from the inside, looking out of the window, you understand) so I respect this and am slowly putting in old-fashioned roses, lavendar and daises when I can afford it.

esmf73

I grew a lot this year, with zero results!!! But I have two apple trees, gooseberry bush, blueberries x3, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries and rhubarb. Have planted winter onions to harvest early next summer and will try again with tomatoes, courgettes, spuds, cabbage and various other stuff. Have already got seeds ready!

Cost has always been an issue, but is also about making the children aware where their food comes from. If I had a bigger garden........ I'd have a little orchard with plums, apples, damsons etc and then more space for a proper veg patch. I want my garden that I have to work for me!!

valk_scot

simmed wrote: »

I'm always slightly amazed by the lack of edible and practical plants in British gardens. Some people do plant them, but the vast majority* seem to use their gardens purely as something they need to sculpt to look good (and the vast majority fail in this task too, but I digress).

*I've seen a lot of ethnically non-British families grow edible plants, which is very respectable.

Personally I don't even have a garden, but I have a large tray of chives and salad leaves on my windowsill.

How expensive would food have to be for you to plant and grow your own? Or would you rather starve than cut down your petunias?

I've had an allotment for sixteen years now. Also now the kids are growing up I'm reclaiming the back garden and putting in veg beds, with a view to giving up the lottie and just using the more convenient garden for growing in the long term. For me it's nothing to do with cost anmd more about it being an enjoyable hobby that results in far tastier produce than the average supermarket offerings.

And while it does save money on some crops, overall it's not as cheap to GYO as you might think once you factor in set up costs of tools, building materials, seeds, fertilizer etc. Plus while it's a hobby for me, others might think it a better use of their time to work an extra shift somewhere and buy their veg instead.

Going4TheDream

ukclare wrote: »

I think the thing to do is pick the veg you want, either those you use a lot, those which are expensive or those which taste better totally fresh.

Great advice and one that I wished I had heeded or thought about when I first started growing. I don't mind a courgette now and then but it was only after growing rather a lot of them that I realised that I wasn't over keen! I maybe try one new thing now each year and stick to the staples that we do like. For me there is nothing like freshly grown and picked sweetcorn

Mrs_Veg_Plot

I have had mixed success in the garden and allotment this year but more good than bad. Still eating salad crops straight from the garden and the spuds we grew are stored in bags in the garage, there are pumpkins in there as well. There is also lots of cabbage, kale, leeks, red cabbage and sprouts in the ground not to mention all of the herbs. Growing your own is hard work but it is worth it for the taste and the exercise.

chanie

I got an allotment last year and then found out I was pregnant a few weeks after so it was difficult for me to do anything. Even though the allotments are at the end of my road, I just don't have the time to commit (as I work full time and have two pre-schoolers) and I just couldn't keep on top of the weeding.

I think I will go back to growing veg in pots in the back of my garden next year. I have grown (in the past) potatoes, salad leaves, tomatoes.

I found having the allotment too much work, but even though growing in my garden doesn't give me much produce, I do enjoy it more.