Vegetable growing - Does it Save money ?

Talltree_2

Hi,

My Partner and I have just taken over a full sized allotment. It looked like a rather overgrown lawn, it previously belonged to a Serviceman who tended it until about 18 months ago before he got posted and left.

My question is ... does an allotment pay ? ... I realise all the points about healthy veggies etc ... but for me thats not the main game .. it a valid point, but when I look at Tesco,s veggie prices it makes me wonder.

We both work full time and if there is no real saving it makes we wonder wether it is an effective way of spending my off time ..... I am ignoring labour in my calculations.

I have spent £50 on a rotavator ... we managed to dig about 2 thirds of it, £29 in rent, about £15 in seeds .. Potatoes, Onions, Parsnips Beans, Carrots, Swedes etc ... and more on canes, slug pellets, etc and joining the local horticultural society. I am probably £100 or so down at the moment.

We need to buy roundup and black plastic for the remainder and maybe timber for raised beds later on etc etc ...

Of course there is the fun element of watching the plants grow ... along with the weeds I suspect .. however has anyone done anything on the finances of an allotment. Will I recoup my costs.

hex2

You need to look at it over a period of time I think.

Our veg plot returns on investment in potatoes if nothing else. Other things are luxury items that just taste better. It helps if you buy cheap seed to start with - try alanromans.com and see what you can get via freecycle for other items. The toms will pay for our greenhouse (suitably cheap in B nQ clearance mid winter) over the next five years. Would you buy the veg in the first place? I would so for me it is a genuine saving for much nicer veg. I suspect it is like the chickens - I pay out £1 a week for feed but get 25ish eggs per week against £2.50 a dozen in the co-op, it will take them some time to pay off the inital £100 investment.

RAS

Definately sign up for www.freecycle.org and collect the gear over time.

And develop a plot mentality.

Why buy a rotovator? You can borrow or hire one.

Learn to raid skips and other useful bins. The plastic to protect the tomatoes came off a huge screen that was delivered to work. I walked passed a house on Saturday and noticed the windows be replaced. The owner was delighted to let me have them rather than paying for them to go to the tip. Two quids worth of hook and eyes and I had a demountable three foot high cold frame.

Seeds. Learn not to sow the whole packet! How many times a week do you want to eat runner beans? Grow 2 or 3 plants per person, not the whole packet and you will have enough to keep you going for several years. A a few to give away or freeze. Brassicas and peas will keep 5 years easily and upto ten if you are careful with them.

Learn which seeds to save and which need to be purchased. Easy peasy, tomaotoes and french beans plus curcubits if you learn how to hand pollinate (simple). Do not try brassicas, maize or beets.

Look after your kit. make sure you remove and store your canes somewhere dry, dry your tools before you put them away etc.

katskorner

Also think of what you could save in gym membership - a point my dad continually makes to me (although I still do the gym and the lotty)!

Seriously though, think of it in more than financial terms. It is great for your health and wellbeing - both physically and mentally. It is a great way to unwind and see the fruits of your labour develop into real yields. I love growing everything but I have to be careful to stick to what I know we can eat - any left overs end up in the compost but that in turn feeds the soil for another year so it all goes round.

I personally would not be without my allotment. I can have new potatoes on Christmas Day, physalis (my two year old loves them and they cost loads in tesco) through the summer along with toms and courgettes that are far superior to anything I may buy in the supermarket and have far fewer air miles. So you are helping the battle against global warming too - that has to be a bonus

Plus education - how many small people can pop along with you and learn about the circle of life and recycling? I take my two sons, aged 2 and 4 and they both adore it and the 4 year old is learning loads. He even takes plants to nursery that he helped me sow for them to grow on and look after.

Life without and allotment? Never again.

chimp_choker

Talltree wrote: »

Of course there is the fun element of watching the plants grow ... along with the weeds I suspect .. however has anyone done anything on the finances of an allotment. Will I recoup my costs.

For me I will recoup several thousand times what I put into my allotment but not all of it is money. My rent is £45 ish and it's 404 sq ft in size. Where I recoup substancially is that I am growing organically so for instance to buy ripe on the vine tomatoes at a local shop I will pay £3.50 a kg I will probably get 50 kg of toms of my plants this year for seeds that cost £2.99.
It is the same for many other organic crops. I benefit from the fresh air and moderate exercise which is keeping me out of a wheelchair so my specialist says. Also my neighbours benefit from local veg box type schemes.
My mental health is by far the best it has been for 20 years and to be able to sit in the sun and watch the world go by is the best way to relax and downsize for me. I can get free range organic eggs from my girls each morning and night and these sell to make money for their feed [ and a bit more;-) ] A real egg picked and eaten within minutes rather than weeks is truly a joy to behold.

The cameradre of plot holders can be cool and I've had a wildlife pond put in my allotment so I can sit and watch the toads and frogs eat the slugs and snails each night. Hedgehogs come into the plot to swim and eat the frogs and the birds and butterflys dip and dart all over the place.

Financially it may take a bit of time, say 2 years to recoup you £100 but there are so many other benefits to be had.

HTH

Chimp

Poosmate

I'd love an allotment but I don't know of any where I live and there is no mention on my local council's website either.

I think you should look upon your allotment, in financial terms, as a long term investment and enjoy it as a place where you can while away many hours meeting new people, get plenty of fresh air and exercise and benefit from the fresh fruit and veg it will produce year on year.

Regarding the timber you need for your raised beds - you could always go to any local industrial/trading estates and look out for pallets, most companies will let your just have them for free to save them having to dispose of them.

Hope that helps

Poo

irishwexford

We took on an allotment in April this year. Rent is just £7.50 per year. We have spent money to start with, OH fenced it in with chicken wire to deter rabbits and we purchased fleece, canes etc but we should only have to buy these once. We bought lots of plants then found other allotment holders started to give us some so ended up with too much. We will save money in the long run as I like organic veggies but the biggest thing is the pleasure we get. OH works full time and he gets so much enjoyment getting out in the fresh air and having a good chat. We both found we are sleeping better with all the excerise and after all the hard work we now see a well tended plot with lots of plants growing. Home grown veggies taste so much better than supermarket ones and the caulies and leeks will save us cash as they are so expensive. Try it for a year and see how you feel then, some people do give up as it does need time as well as cash. Best of luck;)

A_Clock

You would have saved more by digging it yourself, the best weed defence is to dig out as much as you can, then as soon as stuff comes up pull it up! Dont leave them laying on the ground if its wet they will just re root. Its hard going but makes it easier in the end :j I used roundup and killed some of my weeds but they are starting to come back up so ive wasted a week waiting for it to die off, when i could have dug it out by then :rolleyes:

mjr600

If you only choose to grow a few rows of mixed salads, lettuce, spinach, rocket and onions you will recoup your outlay for the year.

Price up a bag of mixed leaf salad or two a week, it soons adds up.

GraciesGran

We took our alltoment on last autumn and GraciesGrandad and I took winter to dig it over. We've been given loads of things to get us started - raspberry and strawberry plants, some old wooden pallets to make compsot bins,the loan of equipment - we only had fork and spades. One piece of advice we have been given is - for every 1lb of produce you take from the plot put 30p in a jar to cover the cost of next years rent - total in the jar so far £1.50 from the rhubarb.

misspenny

we have quite a few raspberry bushes which my son scoffed last year, when i saw how much tiny punnets of raspberries where in the supermaket nearly £2 and that was in season as well and he was eating about the size of one of those punnets everyday for about 6 weeks thats £84, we have found that the more experanced allotment holders are always given us spare plants old equipment and pots they've got going spare as long as your wiling to listen to them wax lyrical about cabbages sprouts stray rabbits etc