[fallen angel]

Firstly what a great thread it is always nice to see a difference in the pocket.

Ok I have had my plot since april but due to other commitments at the time have not done much with it. I bought a load of seeds but ended up not getting to the plot to sort it all out so it has been covered over and I will start again in the spring so I will try and calculate roughly how much I have spent on my plot so far and try and keep a note of what I spend from now on as it would be nice to see if I will end up making a saving.

As for preserving I am going to find this one hard I think as I don't always like chutney or sauces so will be looking at either cooking produce into a meal and freezing it ie sheperds pie ect or just freezing the veg as it comes out of the ground. My question would be is there any veg that doesnt freeze well?

Many thanks Nicky

[Dominic]

Assuming you could get a Saturday Job paying £6.50 is one hell of an assumption right now.
Your never going to compete on price with Tesco with potatos, unless your unemployed and have an option of grow it or go without.

I'm growing soft fruit, herbs and garlic more or less exclusivly next year, anything else I just dont think its worth the effort growing onions.

[Steve.P]

Hi fallen angel,
There is a book you can get hold of called, Will It Freeze. Not sure who the author is but try google.

[Rampant_Weasel]

not allowed to use the word tesco apparently,stand by for a bollocking coming your way  

[loam ranger]

Ive had an allotment for about 30 years and never concidered any savings  until this year, OH said that she has saved approx a fiver per week on vegtables plus I made over £ 20 selling surplus tomatoes. However the main benefits are the social and health side to having an allotment. ( have enough pots ,onions ,cabbage and swede to last till the spring).
Geoff

[gobs]

Clever use of naughty wordS RW.    

[gobs]

Assuming you could get a Saturday Job paying £6.50 is one hell of an assumption right now.
Your never going to compete on price with Tesco with potatos, unless your unemployed and have an option of grow it or go without.

I'm growing soft fruit, herbs and garlic more or less exclusivly next year, anything else I just dont think its worth the effort growing onions.

Well, you try checking at the price of the named organic ones, like for the like.

[meterman]

My lotty costs me on average £3-£4 per week, average time spent 10 hours per week =40p per hour, bargain. 20% set aside + surplus used to reduce my chicken feed costs, no veg/jam etc bought for years and only small amount of fruit ie bananasetc bought. Imo i save hundreds as i know of no other hobby that gives you such a return for so small an outlay.
PS today i have spent 7 hours collecting 6 trailer loads of well rotted horse muck what a work out what a lovely way to spend a day off work.

[min200]

Am I doing something wrong then?  I have had my allotment for 2 months now (slowly getting it under control) and I have spent the grand total of a tenner on seeds for the spring.
(Got to love those half price sales!)

[DD.]

Am I doing something wrong then?  I have had my allotment for 2 months now (slowly getting it under control) and I have spent the grand total of a tenner on seeds for the spring.
(Got to love those half price sales!)

A lot depends on your set-up costs, I assume you haven't had to buy any tools. Many do. I know you can often get some off Freecycle and the like., but they are not always available when you want them. Sometimes you have to put your hand in your pocket. Once you're set up, the annual cost drops.

I've spent about £20 for next year - again half price seeds. I will have to shell out for seed spuds. However this year, as well as the usual bean seeds etc., I've saved all the peas (heritage) that I need. - and that's a lot!

I do have about 800 sq m, so my seed costs may be a bit higher than average.

This topic has been raised before & as others have quite rightly said, costings do not take into account health benefits in the way of exercise, quality, taste etc. & as gobs said, people tend to compare costs with the bog standard produce, not the organic.  

But yes - it's in the area of soft fruits etc where you can make a killing, that well known supermarket are charging £2.99 for 250g of raspberries - nearly £12 a kilo! I'm going to put a security fence around my 32' row, I dread to think how much I've got off them this year!.

That said, even with a smaller plot, I would never turn it over to a narrow range of produce, I'd still go for a lot of variety.

[min200]

Thats our (me and my youngest daughter 8 years old) for the spring...plant some of everything and see what happens!!  Not completely haphazard, we do have a plan of whats going where!

Lots of tyres to make small beds and life easier for Beth and im being dragged off this Sunday to do a car boot to raise the funds for a secound hand greenhouse...shes a determined little *

[meterman]

sorry out of my £3-4 £2.50 ish is rent and fuel as i have to drive 4mile round trip to my lotty my other big expense is seed spuds

[Stoatus]

Thanks for the warning, Rampant_weasil! Perhaps I'll end up spending my "profits" on legal fees to fend off Sir Terry Leahy. I hope the lawyer will accept mooli in leiu of payment!

To continue the theme, here are the shop prices I used for my calculations. It's amazing that some things that are really easy to grow, l ike chard and rhubarb, are so expensive to buy. I will definitely be buying in some raspberry canes when they come into the shops. Soft fruit is the way forwards!

Anyone know what to do with mooli?

Vegetable,  Price/kg,  Shop,  Notes
------------------------------------
Bean, climbing,  £4.88,  Te$co online,  French beans, organic, 4.88/kg 06 aug
Beetroot,  £2.00,  Market,  Estimated beetroot cost £2 / kg
Broad Bean,  £3.98,  Te$co online,  Broad beans (non org - £3.98/kg)
Brocolli, Romanesc,  £3.04,  Te$co online,  Organic broccoli (not Romanesc) £3.04/kg Te$co online march 08
Brocolli, calabrese,  £2.79,  Te$co online,  Organic calabrese (brocolli) £2.79/kg 06 Aug
Brocolli purple sprouting,  £7.95,  Te$co online,  Purple sprouting brocolli £795/kg (not organic) Te$co online
Potato,  £1.49,  Te$co online,  Charlotte potatoes 1.49 / kg not organic
Cabbage,  £2.5,  Te$co online,  Organic savoy £1.28 each (approx 500g) Te$co Online)
Carrot,  £1.18,  Te$co online,  Organic carrots £1.18/kg
Courgette,  £1.98,  Te$co online,  Non organic courgettes £1.98 / kg
Fennel,  £3.49,  Te$co online,  Fennel £3.49 kg (non organic) 06 Aug
French Bean,  £4.88,  Te$co online,  French beans, organic, £4.88/kg 06 aug
Garlic,  £4.71,  Te$co online,  Te$co organic garlic 33p per head. Each head approx 70g.
Kale,  £3.40,  Te$co online,  Kale 200g 0.68 (not organic) Te$co online
Kohl Rabi,  £3.00,  Local shop,  Kohlrabi, estimated price £3/kg
Lettuce,  £3.00,  Te$co online,  Organic little gem £1.20 for 2 - estimate 400g
Onion - red,  £0.98,  Te$co Online,  Non organic class 2 red onions 98p per Kilo 11 July
Onion - Japanese,  £0.88,  Te$co Online,  Non organic class 2 onions 88p per Kilo 11 July
Parsnip,  £2.98,  Te$co,  Organic Parsnips £2.98 / kg Te$co online
Pea,  £5.97,  Te$co online,  Mangetout, non organic £1.79 / 300g.
Radish - Mooli,  £1.00,  Howbarrow,  Mooli approx £1.00 per kg
Rhubarb,  £5.00,  Te$co,  Te$co rhubarb on sale at 100g for 50p
Ruby Chard,  £7.00,  uberorganics,  chard £7 / kg
Runner Bean,  £3.50,  Te$co,  Loose runner beans 3.50/kg
Shallot,  £3.49,  Te$co online,  Shalotts (non-organic) £3.49/kg
Sweetcorn,  £1.50,  Te$co online,  Sweetcorn approx 1.50/kg
Swiss Chard,  £7.00,  www.uberorganic.co.uk,  Organic Chard, UK, 250g, £1.66
Tomato,  £4.92,  Te$co,  Organic tomatoes 4.92

[woodburner]

For me, and many others, using organic prices to calculate savings is not realistic as I rarely buy organic, and then only if it's the asme price or lower than ordinary.
I'm growing my own for therapy and exercise more than anything, so I'm not keeping count of £ and p, but I am definitely saving petrol as I don't have to keep going to the supermarket just to get edible carrots (can't stand tinned or frozen ) that don't even stay edible for more than a few days.
The nearest shop is 2 miles away, the nearest co-op is 3 miles, and the big supermarkets are 5 miles away. Unfortunately the price differences mean that even for a few items it still works out cheaper to go to a big supermarket (A$da), but having carrots fresh whenever I need them, 30 yards away really saves me a lot of trips, (and wasted carrots)!

[Christine]

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.

I'll just add to that remark from way back when that I have made a lot of friends as well as filling in a lot of time and taken a lot of good photos over the years. My I've been coming here a long time (locked myself out early on if I remember rightly from changing an email address).