My allotment saves me money - it's official!

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Stoatus

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« on: October 28, 2008, 22:48 »
There has been a lot of talk of people buying veg seeds to beat the crunch, but little evidence that it actually saves money. Here is my attempt.

I started my allotment in Jan 2007 as a gardening virgin and spent £176 during the year on seeds, netting, greenhouse (ebay bargain), manure, allotment rent, etc.  

Based where possible on the prices of seasonal organic veg on Tesco online I grew £355-worth of veg. Subtracting £176 costs this gives a "profit" of £179.

This year my crops should be worth more as brocolli and other spring crops planted in 2007 will be counted - and even one year's experience counts for a lot. I reckon it will be closer to £250 if I'm lucky.

Of course, these numbers are not true "in the pocket" savings: we gave a fair bit of this produce away, especially the stuff that all comes at once (planted fewer beans and courgettes this year!) and Tesco online prices are not the cheapest, so absolute savings are hard to estimate - and if you factor in labour you are defintely out of pocket! On the other hand, I have not included all the herbs I grew, gifts from generous fellow allotmenteers or petrol and parking for extra shopping trips  in these calculations.

Anyway, before you all think I am some sort of obsessive accountant type, the enjoyment of the learning process, the experimentation and the superior is definitely the best reason for growing your own. A saving of £179 over a year is not going to make a lot of difference to most people, but it's definitely better than the other way round!

Has anyone else attempted to calculate money saved by their allotment?

Vegetable,   Variety,   Price / kg,   Yield (kg),   Value
--------------------------------------------------------------
Beetroot,   Boro F1 Hybrid,   £2,    2.05,   £4.10
Beetroot,   Boltardy,   £2,    3.15,   £6.30
Broad Beans,   Aguadulce Supersimonia,   £3.98,    2.2,   £8.76
Brocolli,   Romanescu,   £3.04,    0.65,   £1.98
Carrott,   Gigante Flakkee,   £1.18,    10.5,   £12.39
Courgette,   Courgette,   £1.98,    21.15,   £41.88
French Bean,   Trionfo V,   £4.88,    8.24,   £40.21
Kale,   Borecole,   £3.40,    6.45,   £21.93
Lettuce,   Little Gem,   £3,    1.13,   £3.39
Pea,   Oregon Sugar Pod Mangetout,   £5.97,    1.8,   £10.75
Potato,   Charlotte,   £1.49,    32.8,   £48.87
Rhubarb,   Rhubarb,   £5,    3.8,   £19
Ruby Chard,   Rhubarb Chard,   £7,    1.4,   £9.80
Runner Bean,   White Lady,   £3.50,    14.09,   £49.32
Shallotts,   Shallotts,   £3.49,    1.2,   £4.19
Tomato,   Harbinger,   £4.92,    14.6,   £71.83
Organic

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peapod

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2008, 22:53 »
Brilliant Post, thanks
I know that my lotty will pay out eventually, but Ive had to lay out on seeds, a shed, an incinerator, tools, hanging baskets (for my son) etc etc

Its cost me a small fortune this year, but it will pay dividends Im sure

Paula
"I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees. There is, you'll agree, a certain je ne sais quoi oh so very special about a firm young carrot" Withnail and I

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Elaine G

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2008, 23:40 »
I have never dared work out how much my plot has cost me - shed etc.
But at the moment I can afford it. I consider my plot a hobby.
However, come retirement day - looming scarily close - I hope that seeds will be my only expense and that I can supply enough veg for the two of us and some left over for the grandchildren I am hoping for!!

Elaine
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet - James Oppenheim

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Gwiz

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2008, 05:07 »
I've never attempte to work out how much it saves in money.
I do know that before I had an allotment, I always seemed to be buying veg from the supermarket.
These days, my super market trips are down to fortnightly, and we hardly ever have to buy any veg at all.

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DD.

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2008, 05:59 »
I also have never costed it. As mentioned it can be lot it's the initial set up costs, but having had allotments before, over the previous 30 odd years, I had all the tools & one of the plots came with a shed.

(I had to give up previous plots as the council kept selling them for building, and as in those days a lot were uncultivated, there weren't gounds for kicking up a stink!).

I find it's fruit that's the killer. I'm not sure of prices this year, but when I last priced raspberries at that certain supermarket, they were nearly £10 a kilo. So when you're picking over 3 kilos at a session, it soon adds up.

Not to mention the tonnes of black currants!

Also in just 2 days of picking this year I harvested 40 lb of peas in their pods. That would have cost £60. I shudder to think what the cost of the whole harvest would have been!
Did it really tell you to do THAT on the packet?

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p00rstudent

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2008, 08:52 »
I am planning on keeping an allotment account starting next year, but as i am also planning on keeping chickens i would imagine i would soon make a saving in the eggs alone. still it will be intresting to see what the actually numbers will be.

though it will be 2-3yrs before the fruits bushs, grape vines and apple trees are up and running thats when the real savings will come in,

i think the biggest outlay will be on sugar to process alot of the soft fruit like the blackcurrants into things i like (cordial), that said i am looking into the possiblity of growing sugar beet to provide sugar just not entirely sure where to put it or get seeds from.

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Christine

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2008, 09:24 »
I'm not sure that the allotment makes a profit through the produce. I do know that it makes a profit in time spent and having something to do. It has to be the best time filler ever. Can't imagine how I'd fill up so much time without cost other than through the allotment. On that alone it's worth a tenner a week all year round.

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p00rstudent

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2008, 09:27 »
fair point, working on the lpot is a lot cheaper than drinking in the pub lol.

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compostqueen

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2008, 10:05 »
Your seeds will keep so you don't need to keep buying fresh.  

I think the important thing to bear in mind though is if you grow it you should eat it. Sounds a daft thing to say but lots gets wasted by growing far too much and then not bothering to either freeze it or turn it into a chutney or sauce etc.  

I know some of the guys near me grow stuff for the sake of it. They don't even like it  :roll:  All that growing stuff to chuck away takes seed, fertiliser, water, labour, compost etc

I make the veg the star feature of the meal rather than just the supporting role.

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Spon

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2008, 10:06 »
Don't forget that an allotment saves the cost of a gym membership!

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Oscar Too

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2008, 10:58 »
An accountant would say "Cost of material: £x.  Cost of veg saved: £y.  Overall result= y-x.  Result: profit (or loss)"

However an economist would also factor in opportunity cost, typically what you might have been doing with your time elsewhere.  You could for instance get a Saturday job at £6.50 per hour, so you are losing those potential earnings.

This is where the unpriceable benefits of the allotment come in: meeting new people and forming new friendships, learning new things, having a hobby, a place for the little fella to run around, being outdoors and closer to nature, and so on.  Which is why economics only ever tells half the story of human behaviour.

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The Thin Blue Line

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2008, 11:21 »
"you could for instance get a Saturday job at £6.50 per hour"

a second job ... into the next tax bracket and be less off, these types of assesments have to be personal and not simple math. ( not a digg oscar :) )

This year in a three week window i gave away 35 bags of mixed lettuce, nearest commercial match to varity and size was £1.99 from tescos...

cost to me .. £2.99 for the seeds and an hour planting and an hour harvesting.

Allotments are fantastic as a result everybody at work had a little bit more to the 5 a day and better than the canteen swill we are subjected to.

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crowndale

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2008, 11:24 »
Quote from: "compostqueen"

I think the important thing to bear in mind though is if you grow it you should eat it. Sounds a daft thing to say but lots gets wasted by growing far too much and then not bothering to either freeze it or turn it into a chutney or sauce etc.  

I know some of the guys near me grow stuff for the sake of it. They don't even like it  :roll:  All that growing stuff to chuck away takes seed, fertiliser, water, labour, compost etc

I make the veg the star feature of the meal rather than just the supporting role.


I have made this mistake, growing something coz its easy to grow then finding that actually I don't really eat it that much!  So I don't grow salad crops anymore, except spinach becoz I do eat that and freeze the excess and radishes coz I love them.  but forget lettuce and spring onions.  I still grow courgettes though I give most away becoz they are good to eat I just don't eat that many of them really so next year butternut squash coz I love that.  And I am lazy, I don't preserve enough of the surplus, give it away generally but next eyar I shall make a bigger effort to freeze stuff and/or make some jams and sauces, don't like chutneys and pickles.

I mostly use the allotment as a hobby, i love the digging and planting and harvesting etc much more than the actual eating, but do enjoy the eating too, just that most of the pleasure is in the rearing of the food.  I am certain I haven't saved any money yet, but one day I shall hopefully!
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Bombers

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Re: My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2008, 12:47 »
Quote from: "Stoatus"


Has anyone else attempted to calculate money saved by their allotment?

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No, but I did raise a similar question a while back HERE
I totally agree that you can save substantial amounts of money.
I've just spent £2.49 on the equivalent of 36 garlic cloves. That bed alone willl save an estimated £15ish?
Great thread by the way. I'd love to know exactly how much i'm saving.
Life begins... On the kitchen windowsill.

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Bombers

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My allotment saves me money - it's official!
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2008, 12:50 »
Oh, i almost forgot. I recon i had about 50 + Courgettes from 2 plants this year! :shock: What would they cost???? :lol:  :lol:



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