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

DaftyDuck

bugslet wrote: »

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

Yet your username made me think you liked bugs...

Me, I love gardening, and adore cooking nearly as much. I love the smell of cut grass (tempted to just roll around on it), and the smell of a good soil is... well, satisfying. I LOVE insects (bugs are insects too, and I spent 20 years researching them.. so I either love them, or I am utterly crazy).

Slugs, now I could do without them, but my wife does love them... and I suppose, by proxy, I have to love 'em too!

bugslet... please can I have your garden, pleeease?

Welshwoofs

I have the back half of the garden fenced off and in use as a veg patch though this year has been terrible round here for veg crops. My tomatoes never got going, pak choi bolted within a week, carrots never got beyond tiny, stringy things and my mange tout developed some nasty and grew all scaly and curled up. The things that did do well were purple climbing beans, broad beans, chard and raspberries.

bugslet

Dafty, please do have my garden ( though as I have 6 dogs you may want to check before you do any rolling:o). I love looking at all the allotments at the top of the road when all the veg is looking bountiful, just toooo much hard work.

Bugs aka bugslet, aka chilite snug as a bug, is an ex-dog, nothing to do with anything flying, crawling or slithery!:p

DaftyDuck

bugslet wrote: »

Dafty, please do have my garden ( though as I have 6 dogs you may want to check before you do any rolling:o). I love looking at all the allotments at the top of the road when all the veg is looking bountiful, just toooo much hard work.

Bugs aka bugslet, aka chilite snug as a bug, is an ex-dog, nothing to do with anything flying, crawling or slithery!:p

I'll have your garden AND keep your dogs... six sounds great. Walkies would be fun; there's a beach 80 yards away for mayhem and frolics!

mansars

I have ponly really started gardening last year, as my OH and I moved to the North Coast of Ireland and into our first home.

The garden is only 25m x 20m and we have a four legged friend...I would say dog but she doesnt think she is.

From not having a clue and setting myself a budget of £200 for the year to get and grow everything I did ok, although it was very dry when it should have been wet and very wet when it should have been dry I managed to grow about three months worth of potatoes, onions, plenty of soft fruits and bits and bobs of others. I eventually came in at just under £200 for the year all in and have set myself up for a few years ahead, having planted fruit trees and bushes.

When I get my blog from last year up and runnig again Ill post a link for you all to see.

Like many have said I dont do it to be self sufficient, I do it for the pleasure of having grown my own....also the Scots have a reputation of being tight....which I feel I must uphold even though Iam abroad...so I can save a few pence by growing my own..."look after the pennies and the punds look after themselves".:rotfl:

bugslet

DaftyDuck wrote: »

I'll have your garden AND keep your dogs... six sounds great. Walkies would be fun; there's a beach 80 yards away for mayhem and frolics!

Darn it, find my perfect man, likes cooking, grows nice fresh food, doesn't bat an eyelid at 6 dogs and lives 80 yards from a beach and it turns out he's married. Ain't that always the way :rotfl:

S'pose if I squint a lot, I could call the mudflats where the Mersey is tidal, a beach. Mebbe not!

culpepper

We have grown fruit and veg for a few years now.
One thing to remember is to substitute the veg you normally buy with the veg you grow,so if you have some green veg,don't then buy green veg as well,use the veg you have.
We have a lot of soft fruit in the summer so I don't buy dried fruit to add to breakfast at that time . It is very much cheaper if you use this approach.
If instead you continue to keep supplementing the grown veg with bought veg, you will find it expensive.

As has been pointed out above, the less you buy ,the cheaper it is so making your own compost, saving seed, reusing containers are all going to help.

Helen2k8

I wouldn't bother with potatoes.
They're cheap to buy, and easy to kill - blight etc.

Beans and peas normally a good bet, and growing vertically they take up little room, AND add nitrogen to the soil - it's all good!

DaftyDuck

bugslet wrote: »

Darn it, find my perfect man, likes cooking, grows nice fresh food, doesn't bat an eyelid at 6 dogs and lives 80 yards from a beach and it turns out he's married. Ain't that always the way :rotfl:

S'pose if I squint a lot, I could call the mudflats where the Mersey is tidal, a beach. Mebbe not!

Wife? What wife? I haven't go... oh.... um... ah, yes, snail-lover... admitted it above. Dash it all. Harumph.

Maybe I should treat Forum life like those men you see hiding their ring finger as they approach the bar... smoothing their hair to hide the shiny patch..

Actually, I popped back to say I had a good few fresh strawberries for pudding just now, and THAT is why I grow my own veg!

(perfect man... and she's got six dogs.. pah... wish my wife thought I was.. mumble mumble...

DaftyDuck

Helen2k8 wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with potatoes.
They're cheap to buy, and easy to kill - blight etc.

Beans and peas normally a good bet, and growing vertically they take up little room, AND add nitrogen to the soil - it's all good!

Growing vertically is good, and can be fun with all sorts. I grew my butternut squash, some marrows, and pumpkins on a strong wigwam frame this year. They took up far less space, very few went mouldy, and they were untouched by slugs. Worked brilliantly. I'm going to try growing my runner beans on a frame over the path next year, in an attempt to make a bit more use of the space, and help remember to harvest them all.