Vegetable growing - Does it Save money ?

Rummer

I have found that the soft fruit bushes I have planted have more than paid for themselves as did the courgettes, peas, beans and shallots however some others like the corn and tomatoes did not work out at a saving although they were delicious!

nodwah

Our blueberry plants cost approx £7.99 each, I think 10 years ago (6 of them ) so that's 79p per bush per year. Each year we get pounds and pounds weight of fruit off them apart from the first year and the year we transplanted them when we moved house and didn't get that much fruit. I haven't weighed the fruit but last year we made about a dozen jars of jam and still have 3 big freezer bags of berries still in the freezer.
We mulch them each year with tea leaves and home compost so effectively free.

So If you see wee wee tiny punnets of blueberries in the shops, air freighted here from Chile for £2.99 I think blue berries are poss the best thing you can grow!

leiela

nodwah wrote: »

Our blueberry plants cost approx £7.99 each, I think 10 years ago (6 of them ) so that's 79p per bush per year. Each year we get pounds and pounds weight of fruit off them apart from the first year and the year we transplanted them when we moved house and didn't get that much fruit. I haven't weighed the fruit but last year we made about a dozen jars of jam and still have 3 big freezer bags of berries still in the freezer.
We mulch them each year with tea leaves and home compost so effectively free.

So If you see wee wee tiny punnets of blueberries in the shops, air freighted here from Chile for £2.99 I think blue berries are poss the best thing you can grow!

I love blueberry's and other soft fruit, how much ground do you need for these? could they be done in tubs or raised beds on the patio?

tomsolomon

Oh yea its worth it all right......
My modest veg plot and grow bags have cost me a paltry £25 this year. For that I'm getting garlic, loads of onions for eating and pickling, spring onions, toms, cukes, gems and iceburgs, carrots, sprouts, parsnips, cabbage, peas, beans, chilli's, and a few other thing I can't remember without looking through my planting plans.
Much, much more than I would get for the same amount of money at the super market. Not to mention the fruit trees and bushes I have planted over the last few years.
So yes it is most definately worth it......:D

RAS

Soft fruit is definitely worth it, particularly if you buy bare root plants from a reputable nursaery (just enough time still for that if you are up north).

One bush of goosegogs or currants will provide all you want.

Salads are extortionate in the shops, so make a lot of sense.

angelavdavis

Absolutely!

I barely buy any veg all summer long as I use my own.

I have rules when it comes to growing my own:

1) Grow unusual varieties that you don't see/rarely see in the supermarkets.
2) Grow anything that tastes better home grown - this includes potatoes, tomatoes and carrots (for me personally.)
3) As I am limited with space, grow stuff that doesn't take up too much space.
4) Grow anything that is pricey in the supermarkets, this includes (as mentioned) blueberries, cress, spinach, purple sprouting broccoli, radishes, spring onions, garlic, fancy salad leaves, mange tout, sugar snap peas, strawberries (if you grow under cloches you get them earlier when they are more expensive).

and finally:

5) Grow stuff that isn't too challenging to grow. I don't have a greenhouse, I have a conservatory and coldframes, so I don't bother growing melons as they take up too much space and really need to be grown under glass. I have considered planting one on top of a compost heap under a cloche as an experiment though .

Also, I sell off my excess plants at the boot sale and recoup the cost of seed compost, the odd new plants and seeds, so growing in my garden is £ neutral (unlike keeping my chickens!)

leiela wrote: »

I love blueberry's and other soft fruit, how much ground do you need for these? could they be done in tubs or raised beds on the patio?

It is actually recommended to grow blueberries in pots as they prefer acid soil. The plants can be a bit pricey but they do produce really well after a couple of years. Keep them moist as they dry out quickly.

Strawberries can be grown in hanging baskets or pots - Nodwah has done a fabulous pyramid of three pots (large > small stacked one on the other) and planted up with strawberries - really effective!

Other fruits vary. I haven't experience of growing other fruits in pots, but there are those that do on here and no doubt they will offer their advice.

leiela

My dad also sugested green beans (in the actual soil up my fences) and courgettes/onions because we eat alot of these.

My main concern is Slugs (i live in slug central) what is the best way of controling this and getting rid of them so they don't ruin any plants??

Also i have a cat, i don't think she'd be interested in plants tbh but could she cause them any real harm?

newlywed

Is purple sprouting broccoli difficult to grow?
The kids will eat that more than normal broccoli.
We only have a little garden though?

angelavdavis

newlywed wrote: »

Is purple sprouting broccoli difficult to grow?
The kids will eat that more than normal broccoli.
We only have a little garden though?

Not difficult at all. You probably only need a maximum of four plants (not sure how many you are feeding though but that does 4 adults).

It is slow to grow and grows surprisingly big (like a minature tree - about four foot high!) You could grow it in a decent sized pot - probably one per pot. I grow in raised beds. But the nice thing is that once it sprouts, it keeps going for ages. It is the only thing ready to eat at the moment in my garden and will probably keep going to mid-May if I keep harvesting it.

leiela wrote: »

My dad also sugested green beans (in the actual soil up my fences) and courgettes/onions because we eat alot of these.

My main concern is Slugs (i live in slug central) what is the best way of controling this and getting rid of them so they don't ruin any plants??

Also i have a cat, i don't think she'd be interested in plants tbh but could she cause them any real harm?

Beans, courgettes and onions are very easy to grow. They are all practically plant and forget plants (only watering with the beans when they are flowering is critical).

Slugs - there are reams of suggstions on them, they are unavoidable. Go out at nightfall with a torch and old plastic milk container and collect them up. Seal the milk container and throw in the bin to get rid.

Save your plastic drink bottles, cut off the bottom, take off the lid and put the cylinder over small plants to keep the worst away from young plants, then sprinkle porridge oats around the plants as the slugs get full up on them and don't make it to the plants (apparently). I have chickens - they are constantly foraging for slugs, so am hoping they will keep them down. However, they also dig everything else up too!!!

Cats - she probably won't damage them, although some cats have a habit of sitting on nice cool plants in the height of the summer and of course, you might want to keep her off in case she poops in the border.

I used canes placed in four corners over my plants, then draped with pea netting to prevent my cats doing on the beds, not pretty but effective.

RAS

Several things here.

Does your fence get the sun? Even the top of the fence. You can grow climbing french beans (try LIDL or Wilkos, you may only get Blue Lake), runner beans, the smaller winter squashes. or tall peas or mangetout, or all of them. You need two runners per person, for example, about 6 inches apart.

Slugs and snails are a nightmare. Steal yourself to pick them off in the evening and after rain, grow you plants well before you put them out and harden them off well, as the less sappy they are the less slugs like them. grow some spares as well. They also dislike sharp things and copper. So a small bit of old copper pipe round the bottom of a cane will deter them.

Cats dig up seeds. make sure you firm down the ground after planting, as she will use it as a loo if it is loose. Consider putting netting over newly planted soil. Using plants rather than seeds may help.


PS has a LONG growth period, but it is autumn and winter, so if you raise a few plants in the summer, why not. One plant produces a lot of PS. Likely to be about three foot high and a foot in diameter.