Is All The Hard Work Really Worth It?

[Bigmallly]

I'm really grateful for all of your input................thanks.

[mothhawk]

It's always been more of a hobby than owt else but I'm sure I am not the only one to think this after the disastrous year it's been (well for me anyway). I've lost all my Toms to blight, the Sweetcorn have had all their silks eaten, the Courgettes were none existent. The spuds were a dead loss. When I think how much this stuff costs in the shops, I seriously wonder if it's worth all the hard work. I'm gonna sit down with pen & paper & work out if it is actually worth it. A lot of folk go on about taste but personally I don't get it, a carrot tastes like a carrot whether it is GYO or bought, likewise with a lot of other veggies. I hope I am not on my own in thinking this way. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Right, well here's my three penn'orth of thoughts for you, BM

1) If you consider what you're doing is hard work now, then it's a job you're not being paid for. Give it up and get back out in the employment stakes.

2) If you're doing it for profit, it's a job. (See point 1 above)

3) a home grown RAW carrot tastes nothing like a shop bought one, it's crisper, crunchier, sweeter. If you don't eat them raw and you think they taste the same cooked, don't grow them.

4) maincrop spuds are heavy work and cheap as, well, chips, in the shops, plus quite a lot of variety nowadays. Grow a few earlies for the glorious flavour and first taste of spring.

5) grow stuff that will grow well for you, that you use a lot, and is suited to UK conditions - dump the sweetcorn, (another that's cheap as chips, and can also occasionally be scrumped from a field-full).

6) rent a mini digger for a day and put in another pond, where you'd be growing your spuds next year.

[Lumpy]

I bow to the wisdom of Mothhawk and add that why not try and treat yourself tattie wise and just shove a few in pots or bags. Then 16 isn weeks later you can sit outside with a huge plate full of home grown Charlies smothered in butter and black pepper while you realise that it is one of the wonders of life to experience such a thing!

[Bigmallly]

Yes, am considering growing a few 1st earlies but just a consideration at the mo as when the time comes I will most likely want to put another 100 spuds in the ground. I want to be really disciplined next year.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I will lend you my trowel and small fork BM

[lottie dolly]

Right,my thoughts,
Carrots can be a pain to grow,but well worth it,i have mine at home this year and well suprised at how they have suddenly come on,and as for age,that is no excuse,as some of you know,i am no spring chicken,and have to be carefull with a shoulder,i was going to give up 1 full plot because of this,but,we had second thoughts,since MR LD has made some alterations to our sheds ext,we are keeping on the 2 with a plan off cutting back on what will be grown,as others have said,nothing like seeds,and watching them grow,even if a lot of them do bite the dust,i have not grown much this year,due to ongoing alterations of our plots,plus some raised beds at home,there is nothing more enjoyable than walking around and admiring your stuff,the changes next year will be as follows,
All growing space is raised beds,with wider paths between,
Just a few first early spuds,dig a hole with a lady spade,chuck in a spud,with just a little ridge,
Grow less of off stuff,and varieties of each,ask myself,do i really need to grow that,some will be grassed and hope to get a few fruit trees within,the main thing is to enjoy what you do,we have enjoyed the time at our plots since the shed revamp,it now feels welcoming,we have had many a lunch there,and 40 winks when it was to hot,i also have to see if things can be grown in an easier way,i have some ideas,yes,some times i have asked myself if i am MAD,but then the marbles settle down and fall into place,there does come a time when we all have to make some ajustments to things within life,and weather to grow or not is just one of them,we could have a new thread on,how to make it easier to grow,hints and tips,am sure one off you on here will think of some better words,happy growing peeps,all is not lost

[KirstieSparkle]

for me as a newb and a pretty rubbish one no its def not worth it in terms of money, building beds buying soil etc etc.....

But in terms of being out in the garden, the joy of each tiny success, the pride in eating stuff i grew, escaping from all the work stuff, and just the joy of doing it, of learning.
I love it, but i hate slugs and butterflies lol

[Knight of Albion]

Nothing worth doing is ever easy ...

The wind in your hair, the sun on your face, the soil beneath your feet, new life in your hands, participating in the miracle of Nature ... A blessing in itself. The fruits of your labours are an additional bonus.

[Starling]

Well, for me, I'm not sure that the term 'gardening' really covers it. That term conjures up images of some nice old lady gracefully and gently watering bed of leeks or petunias...it doesn't really begin to describe the backbreaking shenanigans I seem to rope myself in to every week!

Is it worth it? Well, I really enjoy the exercise--and unlike going to the gym, it's productive exercise. It's building towards something productive--something that will produce a primary commodity that I can share with people.

But it's more than that. There is something Indescribably fulfilling in the sheer act of cultivating life. This is a hard experience for me to describe. But sometimes when I'm watering a rollina tree which I planted over the body my deceased dog, and it is thriving, I get the urge to say to nobody, or nothing in particular 'Ha! Are you seeing this, death?

[Mark Lottie]

Definitely worth it for me both in terms of benefit of produce and benefit of being outside and doing physical work.

I think pretty much everything tastes better than shop bought, with maybe the exception of boring green lettuce which tastes the same. Even carrots taste miles better. The broccolli i grew this year tasted amazing.

In terms of economics, I just try to save as much money as I can buying sensibly from online and shop sales. Our garden centre sells all its seeds at 50p a packet at this time of the year so I bought 40 packs for £20. I buy onions at 100/200 sets a bag. I buy the potato bags that weigh 2kg and you get 3 for £12, giving me enough potatoes for 6 months of the year. I save non-F1 seeds that havent cross bred. I keep cloves so hopefully I dont need to buy garlic again. I clone plants by taking cuttings. I'm trying to grow more and more perennial plants.

edit: plenty of bad stuff happens but it makes less of a difference when im growing 50 types of crop.

Im giving up on outdoor tomatoes as they just split and get blight too soon. My new cherry tree died within two months. Celery just got overwhelmed by weeds. I accidentally planted 5 plants that I hate and take up a lot of space (patty pan squash). Parsnips were a failure. Most of my swedes were full of black tunnels.

[Bigmallly]

Well you'll be pleased to know I got a bit of my Mojo back.............it was such a downer having to empty the nettytunnel of all the blighted Toms. Anyway I decided not to dwell on it too long & transplanted some Sprouts into their place, feeling fairly good again. Still sick about the Toms though.

[1Bee]

(Big M your later comments kind of made what I've said below obsolete, but I wanted to post anyway, I hope that's okay?)

Oh yes, it's worth it. I think I'd be saying that even if we'd got nothing off the new plot.

Two big things happened in our lives at the end of Feb - my Mum died, sparking a long period of grieving, and we were approved to adopt again, kick starting a very long period of nail biting, interminable waits and rejection while we try and find the right match of a child who really needs us.

The chance of an allotment came up a few weeks later, and although technically I really don't have time, we went for it. Working the plot has given me a focus, a distraction, a connection with my Mum, who was a keen gardener, something to get me out of the house and away from clicking refresh on the e-mail a hundred times a minute. It's got me focussed on growing and new life, on the complexity of ecosystems, on the richness and simplicity of earth-plus-sunshine-plus-water giving us sustenance, flavour and sheer gleeful fun.

It's been healing and supportive and it's got me through.

I'm sorry it's been a downer year for you - here's hoping for a better season next year. Glad to hear you've got some mojo back - I'm very jealous of the sprouts!

Totally understand the choosing carefully thing. Personally, though, I love the thrill of the potato growing - seeing the leaves pop up, and then pop up again and again after earthing up! Such a visible show of progress... Also, last night we had enough mashed potato for three people from one spud...

[veggiechicken]

I've been thinking about the "Is all the hard work worth it Financially" aspect and realised that, in the last 2 years, the only veggies I've bought have been yellow stickered ones - and not many of those. Very little fruit either
That makes all the hard work very worth it!!

However, I am going to simplify what I grow and try to make it easier and more reliably productive. For example, I'm still waiting for any beef tomatoes to ripen but have been eating cherry and medium sized ones for months. No more bigguns for me next year
Small is beautiful!

[WendyC]

Yes- when the few onion seeds I sowed in January gave produced a trug so full of onions that I can only just lift it!

[Bigmallly]

Yes- when the few onion seeds I sowed in January gave produced a thug so full of onions that I can only just lift it!

Yes - when the few onion seeds I sowed in January have produced a trug so full of onions that I can only just lift it................Sorry Wendy, thought I'd have a bash at translating while you put your teeth back in................