[Noah'strolly]

I started this time last year but already had tools, the site gets free manure and the rent is £6.50! Still, I managed to chalk up about £150 on little bits here and there in the first six months: seeds, a goosberry bush, netting (tonnes of netting), frost blankets, onion sets, seed spuds, compost, seed trays for seedlings, growmore etc. It's amazing how the little bits add up so I thought it best to stop counting!
 I haven't bought so much since then and a lot of it will last a few years. I'm also trying to collect my own seed and save some shallots for next year. So the cost should go down.
 I agree with the rest of you I find it a great stress buster, it keeps me fit, the kids are learning a lot of science and I have had hundreds of pounds worth of fruit and veg. I've even been able to trade surpluss with neighbours and family. My Indian friend swaps her home cooking for things I've got a glut of.

[mushroom]

Income and expenditure please!

Well, I started in June and put aside £1000 for the allotment, and have just about gone through that. Had to start from scratch, so, that's shed, tools, rotovators, water butts, guttering and transportation to get it all there. Then there's little things like shelving and lights and netting and netting and netting and it all adds up.

[Celtic Eagle]

I'm going to discount the first year set up costs so I reckon o about £70 for seeds and 80 quid for rent suppose overall with all the other bits and pieces 200 quid a year .  Save that in veg easy and I know what's bveen on my crops Not a bad deal IMHO

[DD.]

Income and expenditure please!

How about telling us yours?!

[brucesgirl]

Well I reckon I had more than my rent in runner beans alone, so apart from set up costs I reckon I am well in profit!!
But then I am an accountant and can massage figures with the best of them!

[DD.]

Well I reckon I had more than my rent in runner beans alone, so apart from set up costs I reckon I am well in profit!!
But then I am an accountant and can massage figures with the best of them!

If you go on T*sco's prices, you are usually in profit. I don't know what price they are asking this year, but last year they were nearly £10 a kilo. When you're picking over 3 kilos a time, those 30 quids soon rack up.

[GrannieAnnie]

Mine is as near zero as possible!

2 years ago I sent £70 on seeds, onion sets and seed potatoes, last year, on my onion sets and seed potatoes, and this year a few new packets of seeds, cheapo ones, Netto, Lidl, Wilko etc and my seed pots and onins sets.  Had a lot of tools anyway, and my greenhouses and polytunnel were either free or second hand.

Last year alone, I froze over 80lbs of tomatoes for soups and sauces, also courgettes and runner beans, so even in the winter I don't have to buy loads of veg, but satisfaction and taste are what its all about!!!!

Oh and don't forget, even the ex battery chooks are second hand!!!!!    

[cuff]

this year spent £300 on 25 x15 greenhouse good grape vine in it so free wine sold a few hanging baskets to cover cost so free. rent £60, £20 or £30 on blueberrie bushes save own seed so not a lot really ,

[flatcap]

prob spent a grand

                                            but weve just started bought greenhouses ,

cultivator ,caravan ,chickens ,fruit trees seeds tools etc on the bright side hens and ducks are paying for themselves now through eggs

[DD.]

It gets less as you go on. Set up costs when you first come into it can be considerable.

You learn to be economic. One packet of seed can last 2 or 3 years, depending on the type. I sow one seed per plant plug with my brassicas, rather than a whole packet in a row. That's 3 years out of one packet then.

Beans - save own seed.

Look for local nurseries, rather than going to seed merchants, for example T & M are selling winter onions for £5.99 + £4.99 post for 500g = £10.98.

Cost at our nursery - £2.49 a kilo - T & M price £21.96!!!

Plus they are loose & you can pick the best out.

[richyrich7]

Cost at our nursery - £2.49 a kilo - T & M price £21.96!!!

 :shock:  £1.60 a kilo at our lottie shop  :shock:

[sweet nasturtium]

Gaffergamjee, my budget is probably around the same as yours - £250.

When I started I was determined to make my plot pay for itself.  I am naturally stingy, indeed miserly and always refused to spend more than £10 on vegetables.  I spent half my shopping hours calculating the cunningly disguised prices of vegetables in the supermarkets and am frequently found in Lid* on their "veg reduced by 70%" days.

So I started the allotment with a friend who was similarly strapped for cash (but not so strapped she couldn't afford an overpriced organic veg box - say no more).  Together we must have spent

Capital Investments: around £100 including
(worse than useless) Strimmer,climbing supports, bamboo, string, netting, polythene, fleece, tying wire, pegs, hammer & nails set, secateurs
hand tools buckets & bags, fork

Revenue Investments: around £100
Slug pellets
Fertilizers
Nasty chemicals
Manure
Straw
Seeds
Plants

Rent £60

Given that the average veg box costs £10 I have allowed myself a budget of £300 for the year (not expecting to be entirely self-sufficient in veg til next year).

If I make my own pasta sauces next year (and I'm going to beat the blight whatever it takes), we'll be very positively in the black.  
I just bought a jar from M&S for £1.65.  That's £165 over one year  :o and will easily cover the cost of the petrol strimmer that I yearn for.  Or on the other hand that rather nice jacket and silver ring I saw today at the craft fair.

[DD.]

Cost at our nursery - £2.49 a kilo - T & M price £21.96!!!

 :shock:  £1.60 a kilo at our lottie shop  :shock:

Ah well, I'd spend the extra 89p in petrol getting there, assuming you'd let an outsider buy when they got there!

I suppose I could get you to drop some off on my park bench.

[richyrich7]

Cost at our nursery - £2.49 a kilo - T & M price £21.96!!!

 :shock:  £1.60 a kilo at our lottie shop  :shock:

Ah well, I'd spend the extra 89p in petrol getting there, assuming you'd let an outsider buy when they got there!

I suppose I could get you to drop some off on my park bench.

Yeah I could have dropped you some off, but unusually our lottie shop is open to the public, we don't care we just want your money  

Big Library in L'boro init, got a few books on backyard hens and one on keeping pigs small scale was told to put that one back !  

[DD.]

Big Library in L'boro init, got a few books on backyard hens and one on keeping pigs small scale was told to put that one back !  

You'd be just over the road from the park & my bench!