Adding up the cost??

[Shortie]

Wish I'd started a spread sheet of costs too. Would have ben really interesting as I've pretty much startd this garden from scratch this year (literally.... The graden was two lengths of weed covered soil with a concrete path up the middle and concrete the the house and more by the back gate )

[pigletwillie]

Lesley, I use a recipe given by a friend and it uses 1/2 to 1 inch of fresh grated ginger to every lb of rhubarb.

[Lesley Jay]

Thanks Pigletwillie. I will try that next year. The recipe I have uses stem ginger but I wasn't sure about what the jam would taste like so I never made it. Next year though I will make Pigletwillie's Rhubarb And Ginger Jam!

[Silverfox]

I started a tally of all the costs when I started. At the moment I am not close to even after adding up all the cost in comparison to what I have in my very small back garden.

But I have made a little extra by selling a few bits to people at work i.e. all my tomato plants developed so I took what I needed and sold the rest for 10p. My thoughts were "its better than throwing them away".

Also as it is my first year I really wasn't sure what to grow, and I got a good variety of my plants at a local car boot sale. I thought this was great because I only needed 1 or 2 of each type. My Courgette plant cost me 20p and I have had 6 baby courgette's off of it already (great value for money)

[Lozzie]

I've found that growing my own fruit really does save money in the long run. So far, I've harvested about 3 kilos (about 6.6 lb) of strawberries from my plants. Not bad considering I only paid about £1 for my plants while punnets of strawberries in our local supermarket are sold for about £2 each! The raspberries I used to grow were also worth their weight in gold... I'm thinking about growing blueberries soon, since they are so expensive in supermarkets.

[mazel-bee]

Hello everyone.
this is my first message.
I have been reading about all of the costs everyone has been adding up. I am very pleased with myself as I have a tiny garden and a tiny budget. I planted double the amount of seeds I needed for my garden and nurtured them all. I then took about 70 vegetable and herb plants to a bootfair, making £60 and covering all of my gardening costs.

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Mazel-Bee! Welcome to the grapevine. That is absolutely amazing making so much money selling plants at a car boot sale. I think I will try this myself next year. Thanks for the tip!!

[Squirrel]

Hullo Mazel-bee! Do hope you stick around and enjoy the vine. Lots of good folk on here to help you should you need any! That was a very good business idea of yours - well done! And to boot you have lots of lovely veg to eat which saves you even more money!

[Lozzie]

Hi Mazel-Bee! I'm new to this forum too and I am very impressed with it so far. So much info...
That was a good idea selling off all your excess plants. The prices in the supermarkets and the quality of fruit and veg do make you wonder what exactly we're paying for... Probably for pesticides, transport, packaging and all that stuff that we don't need.

[Silverfox]

Mazel bee it could have been you I got my courgette plant from.

Like you I am also new to growing my own this year. I really was a bit stupid when I first started sowing because I thought that the majority wouldn't grow instead of the other way around. I ended up with billions of veggies all over my garden and really didn't want to put my hard efforts in the bin.

So last week and took all my extra bits and bobs to the car boot, and made a packet. I found most of the people who were buying were either looking for a change for their garden, and I even got talking to one guy who had a lotty and just wanted a few extra bits to fill up space. I ended up having a great day out, clearing my garden for my own bits to grow and making money all at the same time.

[JennieAtkinson]

Well done Mazel Bee - makes my 10p for a tomato plant at work seem rather pathetic!

Car boot sales are not really the thing up here. Perhaps I ought to start one myself ............

[Kimbo]

ps, I have spent LOADS on compost etc so I'm sure it won't end up any different.

I have spent loads on compost too as I am growing in pots but my used compost is going to fill in a herb bed I am digging out (really bad clay soil where I live) so it will be worth it this year.

Also you cant beat going into the garden whilst the sunday roast is cooking and picking your tatties and veg to go with it. After a long week working full time then coming home to water and tend to the veggies it really makes my week.

ps - also doing wonders for lowering my blood pressure too

[blackkitty]

I was spending at least £3 a week on organic lettuce alone, I haven't had to buy any for nearly six weeks. That's more than covered all the seeds I bought plus some manure. and that's before I add in broad beans, carrots, radishes and some potatoes. I've still got loads of beans, beetroot, tomatoes, peppers etc to come. so for me its definitely worth it.

[lyndap]

My better half always moans about the cost of things for the allotment,but he admits you can't beat the taste of home grown, and as far as I am concerned thats what I grow my own for anyway. I also know no nasty chemicals are on my food!,so for me this far outways financial cost.Shouldn't be to bad after this year as our composter is full,and now have all the pots I need(said with tongue in cheek!)

[Alice]

I didn't set out to grow anything for financial reasons, but for the pleasure of GYO , BUT for the past few weeks I haven't had to buy lettuce, salad leaves, radish, spring onions, courgettes, and plenty more still to come along with my carrots and peppers (ate the first tonight) beautiful potatoes been eating for 2 weeks with more to come, Milan turnips just about ready, and enough herbs to keep me going for the year. AND all this out of containers. I reckon I have definately saved money and planning to make a kitchen garden so that I can grow more. I have bought compost for the containers but as I am gardening on clay I get the benefit of the spent compost as soil improver. I reckon I'm winning all the way. Oh, and I've still got my tomatoes, aubergines and squash to come.