How much of your food is GYO ?

[Bagpuss]

Like many of the others, I haven't costed the spend on seeds, feed etc. I only have a very very small back garden and am limited in the amount that I can grow. That said my OH and I have already enjoyed GYO Gooseberries (which I would never have brought) and rocket. I'm watching my cuc getting larger (by the second !!), and my tommies produce the first exciting signs of buds.
I think it's fair to say that what I grow supplements the veg that I buy (and at some point would reduce my shopping costs), but it tastes sooooo much better, and allows me to try varieties which are not available in the shops, and allows me to pick them when they are ripe. I would love to grow more but the space I have in my urban surrounds doesn't allow.
The stuff that I grow is priceless to me

[HeyWayne]

Sounds too much like work analysing what I spend and what return I get. I never intended to feed my family from the plot - just suppliment what we buy, and if it turns out we don't have to buy certain things for a while I consider it a bonus. I think if I was doing it to feed the family I'd find the stress would tarnish what I consider relaxation.

Each to their own of course - I'm sure some would find my lax, maybe cavalier attitude infuriating.

[Rocketron]

Sounds too much like work analysing what I spend and what return I get. I never intended to feed my family from the plot - just suppliment what we buy, and if it turns out we don't have to buy certain things for a while I consider it a bonus. I think if I was doing it to feed the family I'd find the stress would tarnish what I consider relaxation.

Each to their own of course - I'm sure some would find my lax, maybe cavalier attitude infuriating.

Nail on head Wayne.
My wife decided to grow some courgettes and french beans 4 years ago. I mocked.
As soon as I tasted the produce, I became a convert.
We try growing a huge range of stuff, (so we will never be self-sufficient) but the enjoyment we receive from spending our weekends in the garden rather than sat in front of the Gogglebox, simply can't be reduced to "profit& loss".

[Alison Adams]

Nail on head Wayne.
My wife decided to grow some courgettes and french beans 4 years ago. I mocked.
As soon as I tasted the produce, I became a convert.
We try growing a huge range of stuff, (so we will never be self-sufficient) but the enjoyment we receive from spending our weekends in the garden rather than sat in front of the Gogglebox, simply can't be reduced to "profit& loss".

If we were just or even mostly interested in the cost, we would probably never have got started. We cant have a proper lottie, none anywhere near us, so we bought some land from a farmer to convert to a kitchen garden. It will take a lot of asparagus to pay that back ! GYO isnt about the money for us, but I do still want to use our space effectively and choose good value crops. I like the idea I saw somewhere on this site about using GYO ingredients to make into other things to 'add value' eg onions into onion marmalade, soft fruit into jams and preserves, toms into passata - all of which cost lots in the shops and mean you have a more interesting range of foods fresh from the plot.

[Two_Sheds]

I dont see any downsides - other than the state of my fingernails which will never be clean again

you want some of this:

[zazen999]

Having made a jar of jam last night from my meagre strawb bed and seeing my OH's face light up - yes - there is alot of added value in it.

I don't price up my plot as much as I calculate in my head the likelihood of the savings I will make when the crops come good per packet - ie a packet of leek seeds at £2 for 100 seeds - if half of them come good thats 1p per leek as opposed to say £1 for 3 leeks in the supermarkets. Yes, I'll use more leeks if I grow them rather than buy them; so I am eating more veg without the added costs. If you see what I mean.

Plus the rest of the leeks as they go to seed are put into a bed and the seed will be harvested and will be used to grow the next batch of leeks - so in a way the initial outlay of lottie rent, and leek seeds, will last me for years. And no doubt I'll swap seeds for something else at some point, thus increasing my range.

And just because I'm in the middle of doing them, here's a leek seed head ready to flower any day now - sown last autumn, and moved to the middle bed of my lottie with all the other leeks that are going to flower soon....

[Alison Adams]

Two Sheds - thats very funny ! I admit there was a time many years ago I had some of that exact thing, before gardening and motherhood and when my priorities were rather different to today. I cant imagine now finding the time to sit still long enough for it to dry !
Im sure Chanel will be delighted to have your personal endorsement ;-)

[Florence Fennel]

Hi Alison, what an interesting thread. I consider the garden my hobby, it's an added bonus that I get the pleasure of putting food on the table as well. On Sunday my daughter asked me for a bowl of salad and she was absolutely delighted when we took a pair of scissors and filled the bowl with rocket, caca lettuce, mizuna, lollo and chives (with flowers). She then harvested my first ever home grown onion. I swell with pride when my grandchildren pick their own strawberries, peas and carrots. I admire those of you who are trying to achieve self-sufficiency and congratulate your success, but personally I wouldn't want to add up how much it costs or saves.
Born to garden, forced to work.

[bluemoon]

It isn't that we actually tried for self-sufficiency, it just sort of happened after a few years. I still love my gardening, and it isn't stressful, if a crop fails we certainly won't starve as Mr Sainsbury will fill the gap...I just prefer it if he doesn't have to.

[Florence Fennel]

It isn't that we actually tried for self-sufficiency, it just sort of happened after a few years. I still love my gardening, and it isn't stressful, if a crop fails we certainly won't starve as Mr Sainsbury will fill the gap...I just prefer it if he doesn't have to.

I see what you mean, kind of a natural progression to being able to produce more variety and quantity with experience. I had a refugee lady stop at my fence the other day who suggested I open a shop, as she thought the veg in Tescos was rubbish. I had to explain that I would have to have a much bigger plot to be able to do that - but it does sow a seed in your mind that it could be possible. You've certainly sown a seed with me mentioning wine - costs me a fortune every week, what does carrot wine taste like?

[BrandNewDay]

We've started to eat more healthy .... hubby on a diet... and we're actually trying to get our "five a day." Fresh fruit and veg cost a lot of money when you're preparing brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage and potatoes for a typical supper. I don't know if our garden will ever be able to supply all our veggies, but I figure we ought to break even at some point.

Not this year, though. We keep buying stuff/tools/etc.

[Hazel at the Hill]

How much of your food is GYO?

All the staple veggies, virtually all the salad stuff. I don't cost up the value of what I harvest, although I do know that I no longer have a £7.50 per week veg box delivered.

I've got into the 'seasonal' mindset - it's been a lean couple of months with just fresh kale to go for (and freezer beans), but I think that the imminent peas and broad beans will taste the better for being anticipated.

And I know that I could have bought english strawbs back in Feb, but the ones I picked and ate this evening from the Hill were worth the wait.

I'm not totally with the hemp knickers brigade, but I do hold with each veg to its season.