Is it all worth it?

[haza1981]

I'm trying to convine myself of the value of all my hard work.. The reason i'm doing this is that I filled 3 carrier bags with fruit and veg last night at my local grocery shop and it cost just £15. I had 2xpunnets of grape 3xpunnets of strawberries a bag of cherry's and loads of other stuff. It kinda got me thinking about what i'm doing. I originally started a plot to save money. I'm not sure wether i'm saving atg all. It;s become a new hobby and I've spent quite a bit of money already. So I guess for me it boils down to the lifestyle value. I'm outdoors and active more and i'm learning new skills. i get a free suntan and I feel the sense of community on the plot is much greater than anywhere else. So .......I think its worth it. How do you justify its worth?

also i'm looking forward to when I have kids and can teach them about growing and the value of fresh food.

[zazen999]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...9-a_34244.html

I find that it's all relative.

If you just want to save money, it's probably not worth it.

If you enjoy it and don't spend too much and get into seed saving/swapping and permaculture - then it probably is.

[Capsid]

The taste difference alone is worth it. But also I grow veg that is quite expensive in the shops such as asparagus and even rhubarb (both easy to grow). Some are not readily available either such as kohlrabi.

That apart, I get a great sense of satisfaction and achievement from growing veg. It must be something to do with the need to provide food. Also it sounds clichéd but you do get a feeling of being closer to nature and the seasons.

Discovering new recipes for seasonal cooking, and for storing and pickling the gluts is very rewarding.

I think that fresh veg on the plant looks marvellous too.

It's educational, as my kids know where fruit and veg come from now and what it takes to grow them.

The hard work I see as a benefit to your overall health and fitness.

[teakdesk]

Yes I can definitely say that it saves me money.

If I didn't invest in seeds and compost and spend time tending them then I would need to buy a new sofa every year as this one would collapse under the great weight of my "couch-potato-ness".

New sofa strong enough to support me for 12 months = £1,000

Cost of seeds and compost for 12 months = £200

'Nuff said!!

[jacob]

My primary motivation is that the stuff I grow is fresher and tastes better than the stuff from the supermarket. So I win there.

Next up (and a close second), I enjoy it. If occasionally extracting compost from the heap is a drag, there a real sense of achievement is getting stuff to grow. There always new challenges to keep you interested (I've been doing this for a decade on a gradually increasing scale starting from a couple of pots of tomatoes up to this year with 4 plots in the garden plus greenhouse, some scattered pots, fruittrees and bits and bobs) -- I was delighted with my first decent aubergine crop last year. And, well, I like just being outside and looking at it.

For money? Well, long term I reckon you're up. Once you've bought your pots, hoe, greenhouse, etc... Some things (rhubarb this year) make a fortune, other (onions) only pence. Once you've got the kit the outlays are modest and you can grow hundreds of pounds worth of fruit and veg without a big plot.

Next up is taking charge though. I haven't tried yet, but I'm steeling myself for keeping seed and breeding new varieties!

[zazen999]

Just the money I save on leeks pays for the lottie rent at least 3 times over.

[Mrs Jackson]

If all goes to plan with the plot this year, then although I won't have saved money on my grocery bill, I will have eaten much better! We're on a very tight budget so tend to eat a lot of potatoes and carrots, but now that we've got the plot we'll be able to eat loads of corn on the cob, french beans, broad beans, cherry tomatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, etc. These are things that would normally be treats in our house and definitely not staples, if we didn't grow them then we just wouldn't eat them. So the value of the produce I'm growing will (hopefully!) far exceed the value of the produce we would other wise buy. Does that make sense? Feel like I'm rambling a bit!
The boys tend to be more adventurous in what they will eat if they can see it growing. Today my eldest (who is ridiculously fussy) has eaten pea shoots, swede thinnings, spinach and rocket straight from the garden, but there's no way he'd touch it if I put it on his plate. He also likes eating PSB and broad beans straight from the plants. Hopefully his younger brother will be the same!
It gets us all out in the fresh air far more than we used to, and the boys enjoy being able to play sword fights with bamboo canes, run through the bamboo A-frames, watch the frogs in the pond, etc as well as watching things that they've grown from seed flourish. At home we have a tiny garden so there's no room for them to run around and definitely not enough from for a giant Halloween pumpkin, it's really nice for them to be able to run around or ride their bikes and they've made friends with the other plot-holders' children.
I think the cost of paying for a plot, buying seeds and tools and all the other costs involved really is miniscule when compared to the amount of enjoyment and improvement in quality of life that we get from it.

Mrs J

[Kittypickle]

I've got my first allotment this year, a half plot and also a 7x5m plot somewhere else.

The half plot has cost a lot as have rabbit fenced and bought a shed plus I needed some new tools. The other one though has cost peanuts. So far it has been the rent and about £3 on bean poles plus a pound on some fleece. Seeds have been hardly anything as I got them last autumn when they were 50p a packet at Wyevale. I have bought 3 bags of compost for a tenner and the rest has come from our compost heap.

Our local garden centre has a pot recycling place so this combined with making paper pots has sorted us put. We are lucky to have a free source of manure, have a supply of comfrey and can get seaweed from the beach. There's still a fair amount of seeds left for next year so next years costs should be fairly small.

If I work out how much it would be to buy things like tomatoes, sweetcorn, strawberries, raspberries and aubergines, we'll be quids in if we write off the costs of fencing etc as start up costs.

[Snadger]

The stuff you bought won't taste the same as the stuff you grow! Eaten soon after picking, fruit and veg have a completely different taste. The air miles the stuff you bought have accumulated would be frighteneing if you added it up!

[Nik]

Unless you have all the kit and you are ruthlessly efficient, growing your own doesn't save you money. That's not why I do it, but I've lost count of the number of articles in the papers I've read recently about how more people are turning to GYO in the recession - it's rubbish.

[zazen999]

Unless you have all the kit and you are ruthlessly efficient, growing your own doesn't save you money. That's not why I do it, but I've lost count of the number of articles in the papers I've read recently about how more people are turning to GYO in the recession - it's rubbish.

I don't understand this!

Buy 1 pack of leek seeds; and you only have to have 6 that grow to full maturity to get your money back

Buy one tomato plant [I bought one for £1.20 3 weeks ago] and you only have to have a harvest of 10 to pay for the outlay.

[Flobalob]

I think if money is an issue when GYO then your heart cannot be in it.

[gojiberry]

My allotment is my hobby and as such I expect to spend money on it but I don't begrudge doing that. So far this year the cost has been over £2000 which would buy me an awful lot of veg, but what would I do with my time if I wasn't out in the garden or lottie. And I don't buy in plants, all the veg is grown from seed. The expense does include a new greenhouse and a new fruit cage.

Ian

[Alison]

It depends on what you want, if you want a designer style plot with expensive and beautiful raised beds etc then it can cost a lot. Also some people spend a fortune on tools etc when they first start up and in reality you need very few. Our shed was a freebie from freecycle and all it cost was some new felt for the roof. On pure financial outlay I save a fortune but if I factored in the time I spend working then the cost would be prohibative. As already said, the taste of fresh veg that you've grown yourself from a little tiny seed is incredible and as you gain experience you get to know what varieties do well in your conditions and suit your taste. Added to this the benefits of achieving so much in the open air is sooooooo good for my mental health and according to OH, I'm a much happier person to live with since getting my plot

[iggyboy]

try telling me the strawberries you bought had any taste. infact,I would defy anyone to tell me any veg or fruit bought at shops tastes anything like the home grown produce we strive toward. DO NOT GIVE UP,haza. The community spirit you talk of on your plot is also as unique as the taste of fresh veg,what would you do without it? We all know its hard work,but I walked home through my village today with a bag full of strawberries from my polytunnel and the reaction I got from my wife and kids (because of the sweet taste), was more than enough to have made the back breaking digging and the labourious weeding all worthwhile.