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

Rummer

I have a variety of reasons for trying to grow my own fruit and veg. Initially it was to reduce the cost of our food shopping but setting up a garden with fruit and veg has been expensive for us and continues to be so as we build it up the way we want it to be. However it will be more cost effective when it is fully organised.

We also wanted to grow delicious tasting produce that we knew was organic. Being able to step out of our home and be within feet of fresh produce is a real motivator.

What also came out of the whole process was a huge beneficial effect on my physical and mental health. It feels good to be outdoors working together with family to make our environment better and grow and enjoy our own food.

Results have been mixed though. Some years we have dined off the garden for weeks and in others we have had only a few raspberries to enjoy. We are now focusing on building up our self sufficient crops such as soft fruit and rhubarb. As well as that we are looking at ways to reduce the harmful effects of nature on our crops with a view to making the best of what we have.

I am also putting my name down for an allotment as there is a 5 year waiting list and by then my garden should be running the way I hope it will.

THIRZAH

We've had a bad year for both fruit and veg. Our garden is on a north facing slope on the edge of the Pennines.We have an apple tree, blackberries growing up the fence, a couple of raspberry canes in one border, two troughs on the patio for salads, herbs in pots and a blueberry in a pot. We do have a small vegetable patch on the only flat bit of the garden. The rest of the garden slopes so steeply that I wear my old walking boots to mow the lawn.

To extent the vegetable patch we'd have to terrace the garden which would be expensive.

zippychick

as this has dropped down the OS board, and is more greenfingered related, i've moved this to the greenfingered board for you

Zip

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Kirri

I save huge amounts compared to what I would spend in a supermarket. But just as important that I can grow my own organic veg, I don't want to eat sprayed supermarket rubbish. Also, after eating fresh home grown and fresh picked veg, it makes most stuff in supermarkets tasteless.

It is time consuming but that's because I have to use an allotment that isn't that close to where I live - what I would give to grow it in a garden and just pop outside to get what I want or do a bit fitting it in around the rest of life.

It's easy to have a garden where veg and flowers etc are mixed in - rather have some veg growing than the standard decking etc that seems to be springing up in most gardens these days...

suki1964

Think we live in one of the wettest coldest areas of the uk but we do still manage to grow some things

Carrots, parsnips, beets and broad beans we tend to do well with - even this year

Leeks are still in the ground and Im hoping the snow wont come yet as they still too small really

We dont have much luck with salads

We grow our own as a hobby rather then for economic reasons and we only have a tiny veg patch.

If we did get more sun here we would no doubt extend our planting but I cant see that happening

Ectophile

I started growing veg in the back garden when I bought my house a couple of years ago. I only do the basic stuff that's easy to grow. Despite the weather, this year I didn't need to buy any vegetables for the whole summer - apart from the odd garlic bulb.

I'm not sure if I've saved any money yet, because I've bought so many sacks of compost. But over time, I should be able to reduce that and use the results of my compost bin more.

DaveTheGeordie

Okay. Here is what you do to make it worth while:


Start with potatoes. I'm assuming you like potatoes or chips of some sort. They are a staple of most peoples diets, they grow easily. You can pretty much put them in the ground and leave them alone other then a bit of watering when it's hot or dry. They wield well and you can grow them ¾ of the seasons (i.e. not winter).


Don't buy compost. Make your own. You will need a bin with a lid of some sort, or then, you can actually do without, in a pile outside but it's slower and less effective in the winter. You want the bin to have a mini-door/panel at the bottom that you can open in order to get at the formed compost (older waste is turned to compost on the bottom layer mostly). Use all your organic vegetable waste, teabags, eggshells, garden leaves, dead plants, grass cuttings, paper waste (but shred/rip it well into small bits). You can buy a composter or you can literally use a decent sized bin or old trunk etc. You could try asking around, or freecycle, or requesting one on local boards etc. It shouldn't be that hard to get. You use garden worms. Dig them up and put them in the composter. Even if you don't use worms you will get some compost due to decay but worms are much faster. Start now then come spring you'll have compost. Saves you having to buy bags. I really recommend it. I spent a small fortune on compost when I first got into vegetable growing. It's not that much of a hassle setting up and once you've done it, it's done. You're just topping up with organic waste: easy, free.


As for the potatoes, there are several different varieties. We are just used to seeing general store bought potatoes. Personally I would say okay I'll invest up to £5, buy 3 different varieties from Wilkinsons for £1.60 each. Some are better for chips, some are better for potato meals, some are all rounders etc. You are buying from the gardening section btw (they generally come in Wilkinsons around February). Not actual potatoes like you generally would to cook. Although you can actually stick a store bought potato in the ground when it's gone to spud and grow them. You could do this if you want. The 3 different types recommendation is because they aren't GM modified, they give you different genetics incase of diseases, fungus etc (it's believed the Irish potato famines crops were largely from the original same few lineages so there was little defence against it). So if your garden gets potato blight one year you have better chance of still getting some yields. That's all you need to spend ever. You keep some of your own grown lineages and replant them. Why buy from a store each year when you are growing them yourself? We started late this year and unintentionally left a few in the dirt when we did harvest them, second generations started growing. They've just died now. Now we have bonus fresh home grown potatoes for Christmas dinner.


You don't need to make flatbeds. We use medium-large containers. This also reduces disease chance I would imagine, them being more spread out and less incontact with each other. Personally I stick six potatoes in per tub of cubed boxes about 20 by 15 inch. Don't buy these either or you may be spending another small fortune starting off. Ask Fruitiers, florists if they have any spare empty delivery containers. The ones around my area are generally happy to get rid of them and save waste.


So you could literally do this without spending a penny but even if you buy starting equipment I say it's still well worth it and low maintenance. Think how many bags of chips or potatoes people buy. You probably won't get enough to do that straight off but you could realistically do so with enough containers on the go after a few generations. Or over time with only a few potatoes replanted from your own crop it works out. I use a shared garden. When I eventually get my own place that's what I'll be doing.

dogstarheaven

for the first-timer, you need to start with what you already have rather than buying a load of equipment that you may not utilise in the future in case you're put off by the hard work that is involved. if you have a garden, dig up a square metre of it, or a reasonable sized border. i'm advising to start small and then after a season, you may get to enjoy it and then you can dig more ground for it.

to see instant results, the best and easiest vegetables are the ones that are lettuces, courgettes and beans (runner, french, broad). sow them in march/april. you can start these off in modular trays that you can buy cheaply off Wilko's or any s/m in the gardening section (these would normally be super-reduced at end of gardening season, sept time.) ask on here when they have come up and we'll advise you on what to do next.

if you know any gardeners, ask to see if they have spare strawberry runners/plantlets. plant up in big pots.
rhubarb that need dividing. plant now in corner of garden. will take 2 years to crop properly, but will be there permanently.
wait till spring, aldi/lidl will be selling fruit trees/soft fruit bushes for £6/4.

go on freecycle, and ask for gardening equipment, manure or plants that are going spare. usually, when i've sown too much, i always give them away and the response is quite immense.

if you were to grow any of the above, then it would require upto 2 hrs of your time in the growing period for watering and weeding per week, which really isn't that much, compared to what i have to do at a w/end at the allotment (10hrs).

grow only those that are expensive to buy (fruit esp. and they're the easiest but you need patience with these) and things you enjoy eating. no point wasting your resources on potatoes, onions etc., on everyday mainstay veg when they're cheaply bought at the grocers. these take up a lot of space and a fair bit of time to grow.

hope this helps, OP. feel free to ask any questions.

ps. if you do want to grow potatoes as sugg. by above, then buy from a Potato Day Fair (in most cities and big towns, google your nearest one. the tubers are about 12p each compared to about £3/4 per kg (you wouldn't need that many!) at the garden centre/Wilco's etc)

DaftyDuck

I take the opposite view to Dave, in some ways, in that the crops that I grow tend to be the more expensive, the exotic, or the veg that is simply so much better really fresh. I grow a few 'taytoes, mainly for the freshness of a baby spud. Oh, and they are good soil conditioners.

Obviously, there are tomatoes. I go rather over the top with these, and grew over thirty large plants, eight or nine varieties. The taste difference between shop-bought (even "on the vine") and fresh is amazing. Then, of course, you can chose the type of tomato; plum, cherry, beefsteak, salad,yellow.. and I grew dozens of mini tomatoes in addition to the big plants... little plants of "hundreds and tousands" in window boxes, alongside trees in pots, even in an old wheelbarrow (great to park beside the barbie). You could just pick them like sweeties!

I do grow carrots, peas, beans and the like, and the freshness of a raw mange toute or pea pod is just a different story when you grow your own. Much of the rest of the stuff I grow is slightly more unusual or stuff I wouldn't splash out on so much - asparagus, artichokes, okra, chards, that kind of stuff.

A fair part of the veg patch is given over to soft fruit, so I have fresh raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, black and red currants much of the year, but also the more difficult-to-get loganberries, Tayberries and a few others. I have strawberries in the greenhouse at this time of year, and I even have some now! There is a very small one (poor lonely soul) by the kettle right now, ready for a cuppa break later.

Now, I know I can buy a punnett of strawbs from M&S at the moment, and I know they will look divine compared with my scraggy strawb, but mine will knock the socks of the import for flavour. ... and there will be a small handful for tomorrow, and a couple of days later, and...

Cost effective? Not on your nellie. If I worked the hours I garden, I would be able to buy M&S or *Finest produce all the time (well, more often). However, I wouldn't, and it wouldn't taste half as good.

I grow things because I love growing things. I was in the garden putting in 20 minutes before I started work this morning (mainly harvesting for lunch and supper) . Cold? Yes, but beautiful, fresh air, and excersise.

bugslet

In answer to the original question, very expensive.

i hate gardening nearly as much as I hate cooking. i don't like the smell of soil and grass, I don't like all the insects and bugs and slugs.

I have grown things before and got no pleasure from it at all.

Well you did ask!:p