Your veg plot and an important source of food for reasons of lack of money?

[alldigging]

You shouldn't cost your labour into the equation, because its your free time when you might otherwise be doing something that did cost money - like going out for the evening..

Indeed, or at least mark off the cost of a gym session.

[Bigmallly]

Has anyone considered how much it would cost "not" to GYO.........what would you be doing instead & how much would that cost.........from taking up another hobby to just sitting watching the TV.

[alldigging]

Has anyone considered how much it would cost "not" to GYO.........what would you be doing instead & how much would that cost.........from taking up another hobby to just sitting watching the TV.

I have sisters who think shopping is a hobby. *shudders*
The idea of traipsing round bland shopping centres and trawling through clothes shops makes me feel very urggh.

[Dorothy rouse]

I don't really think I save money on growing some my own fruit and veg, but the quality and flavour of what isproduced is just so superior. But whatever you buy to assist you obviously costs, including membrane netting etc, and I decided to buy a piece of 'equipment' every year, such as a 'strawberry cage', and as a result had superb strawberries, lbs of them.

But I believe the additional 'health benefits', are just as important, being out I the open air, getting exercise, meeting new friends, or being on your own digging, helps stress levels enormously.

All the plot is producing now is kale and potatoes,so sadly I'm having to buy rather tasteless veggies! Roll on next year, when I 'must do better'!

[susieq100]

This is an interesting thread. I grow tomatoes, cucumbers and salad veggies at home in the greenhouse and in the raised beds (just 2 of them) in the back garden. It is convenient and I can tend to them every day. As a result I do have bumper crops and do not have to buy salad stuff for at least 5 months - I harvested the last of my tomatoes at the beginning of November this year! I think you have to work an allotment quite intensively for it to pay you back financially, but there are other benefits. I grow lots of beans - I adore them. For me there are few meals that cannot be improved by the addition of beans But I don't freeze runner beans, just not the same! So I make them into chutney and sell off my surplus to friends and colleagues. This helps to finance the purchase of sugar, vinegar etc so I can preserve stuff for our own consumption 'for free'.

[Bill HH]

With the capital costs, like GHs and tools, you should spread the expenditure over the life of the item. For example, I've had one of my GHs for 30 years - that equates to about £10 a year. I can recoup that in tomatoes alone, each year.
You shouldn't cost your labour into the equation, because its your free time when you might otherwise be doing something that did cost money - like going out for the evening.
This could run and run - it all depends on perceptions and attitude.
I grow stuff in my garden because I enjoy doing it. Knowing that I can go out there and find something to eat is very reassuring. I have to maintain the garden, whether I grow edibles or flowers - so I may as well eat my garden as not.

Yes i understand that VC, you make very valid points, but if you're financialy pressured now then payback in 10 or twenty years is not much help. I still think there are better ways to improve your position than growing veg.

[bario1]

I don't think you can save money growing your own, not unless you have a massive plot and endless free time. Tbh, my plot has been a bit of a money pit so far, but then i've only had it 18 months - next season there will be far fewer outlays - but the benefits far outweigh the costs as everyone has said. I live in the city, i have a very intense full time desk job. To connect with the land is such an important and ancient need, i don't think we truly understand that in this age of convenience - i've noticed a tangible sense of fulfillment since taking on my plot which feeds in to every aspect of my life. I'm happier at work because i'm achieving something different outside of work, i'm happier in my relationship because i have my own space and time (not that my OH is a nightmare or anything, but hey, we all need our own headspace sometimes!), and i get a great sense of satisfaction from problem solving, transforming spaces, nurturing plants, hanging out with the friendly robins and foxes, the fresh air and everything else that comes with working outside... the vegetables i take home are almost irrelevant - it's more like 'look what i managed to grow!' than 'look how much i managed to save'. But then, for me it really is a hobby - my full time job pays more than enough to live on.

Also, when the oil runs out and the zombie apocalypse comes, those that have learned to grow veg will be kings!!

[RedThorn]

For return on investment, I found chickens to be in the lead by a country mile. Especially if you kept dual purpose birds.

From a fruit and veg point of view, perpetual spinach or chard, runners beans for veg and raspberries for fruit for ease and continual solid performance. That said courgettes pay well almost all seasons too

[Bill HH]

For return on investment, I found chickens to be in the lead by a country mile. Especially if you kept dual purpose birds.

From a fruit and veg point of view, perpetual spinach or chard, runners beans for veg and raspberries for fruit for ease and continual solid performance. That said courgettes pay well almost all seasons too

Some eggs in our local co-op are knocking on £4 a dozen!!! a far cry from when I was selling them in the 1970's for 20p a dozen. A scrawny little chicken to cook is around £3 and it tastes like spam. So yes I think chickens would be a good earner. However those who knit wooly jackets for their chooks are probably averse to wringing their necks for Sunday dinner.

[RedThorn]

I see it as a welfare thing Bill, I know I took care of the bird, both in life and in how it is dispatched, therefore I treat it right in the oven too.

I think that if people saw how the chickens were prepped for the plate in factories, they'd turn veggie

That said, even if it is only for eggs, the girls pay their own way, not many pets can say the same

[Two_Sheds]

Do you rely on on your veg plot as a source of food because money is short?

Yes, money has always been very tight for me. Even now, with a partner on a healthy income, I can't afford to buy this much organic veg in the shops.

What crops do you think are best for this purpose? Nutrition, variety, storage

I use the oven rarely, preferring the microwave. I make up big pots of soup, curry etc and freeze it into portion sizes. Defrost in the fridge the night before, 2 mins nuke & dinner's done.

As for what to grow:
- beans & pulses are cheap healthy protein. A fact known to vegetarians for decades.
- spuds are easy to grow, but relatively cheap in the shops. If space is tight, grow something more expensive, like fruit

[Snadger]

I've speed read through the posts and appologise if anyone has mentioned my main reason for growing stuff, ............TASTE!
I wouldn't go hungry without my veg plot or chooks but I certainly would miss the taste of allotment grown produce that I had grown purposefully for its taste and freshness.
No one can convince me that shop bought, limp PSB can come anywhere near the taste of freshly picked PSB from the plot. Likewise with sweetcorn freshly picked and eaten raw or cooked within 10 minutes of picking. Carrots lose all there flavour very quickly, even the carrots with there irridecant green tops found in supermarkets are tasteless compared to a freshly pulled allotment carrots.Tatties of tasteful varieties left in the ground until the day they are required far surpass in taste any shop bought tatties.
No appologies for me not being that hard up that I rely on veg from the plot to subsidise my weekly food bill.
Hats off to anyone who has the time or inclination to intensify there allotment production to feed there family. After all, this is what allotments were set up for in the first place.

[Martin H]

My labour has negative cost. Every day spent on the allotment is a day NOT spent on the golf course. It pays for itself in a fortnight!

It saves a little on food bills too, obviously, which is a bonus.

[Two_Sheds]

My labour has negative cost. Every day spent on the allotment is a day NOT spent on the golf course. It pays for itself

Yes, good point well made. I've always said I don't need to use the gym when I've got a lotty (and I don't even dig), esp, when I cycle up there (5 mile round trip, easy on a good bike with panniers)

[Penellype]

I don't grow food to save money, but I do take immense pleasure in checking the prices of what I am growing in the shops. Certainly the courgettes paid for themselves multiple times, and I am still eating the ones I froze. The tomatoes I currently have on the sitting room windowsill are every bit as good as the ones selling for £1 a packet at Tescos, and probably taste vastly better. My blueberry bush cost me £10 2 years ago and has produced plenty of punnets of fruit which sells at upwards of £2 a punnet in the shops. Strawberries are pretty cost effective although the season is short, and if you have room for an apple tree it is certainly worth while.

I agree that if space is limited potatoes are probably not the best crop to grow, but it is worth noting that they are the only vegetable which can single handedly provide all the nutrients you need to live off. Solanaceous plants (potatoes, tomatoes), although related to deadly nightshade, form part of most of the main meals I eat and use about half of my available space.