buy vegs or grow them?

Thats a triffid, right ? just remember to keep your eyes covered..

I spend far too much time working & travelling to work - so I have to grow things which will put up with me not feeling like doing much in the week & that I cant pick up in the supermarkets I walk past on the way home. Oh, and I have a water meter too so rarely get the hosepipe out..

This year the winners have been the beans - early Broad beans, French Beans & the Runners have all done well & been better than anything I could buy. Tried sweetcorn for the first time this year which has really suffered with the strange weather we have had here - will try again next year 'cos Im not planning on being away for most of May, & the two decent cobs I got this year were really good.

Tomatoes grow well but I dont eat that many - so next year Im trying various cooking types to see which works well for me - we will see.

Have to say it rarely saves me money though.

 

Hmmm ... would look good in an exotic/tropical garden planted with some giant rhubarb, T-rex, a fatsia, a few palms and some evergreen ferns with a few hostas?

 

This is an excellent thread. As my veg provision has been - get in car - drive to Tesco/Asda et al , pay not a lot and drive home.
But this year GC has got me preparing a space behind my shed , and growing spring onions , shallotts , cherry toms . next year runner beans thanks to Alek- Adam. But what veg actually gives you most bang for your buck ? i.e which is the most profitable one to grow........ Tesco cost divided by home veggie cost

 

Strawberries, sweetcorn and lettuce is a MUST when growing veg in the garden. Nothing tastes better than a freshly cooked sweetcorn cob straight from the plant dabbed with butter :D...

Now I made myself hungry for sweetcorn again :(

 

Don't forget the fuel costs in your equasion.

 

And the hassle, stress costs.

I don't need to buy anything from the supermarkets apart from bread, milk & veggie sausages. And when i've got time I will make my own bread too.

The Triffid keeps coming up to the electric fence and makes a worrying throaty noise.

 

I'm not really a veg grower, but I'd miss my home grown cherry tomatoes, which sadly have now come to an end for this year. :(

 

Until retiring late last year i have never had any interest in Veg growing . But I got an allotment filled it with veg ,at a reasonable cost ,and had a fairly good return.
But the best benifit was the allotment banter and being out and about all day ..and as John says no stress...
Must admit not goig to do many potatoes next year..

Dave

 

Here is my little veg plot,

I grow the tomatoes, salad leaves and potatoes in large pots against the wall out of the picture to the left.

 

Very nice, well looked after.

 

How about, sprouts, fresh cut white sprouting, tender immature lettuce, raddish. Luvly jubbly me thinks

 

Sorry Blacksmith, the Triffid bit turned be to the Silly side of the Force.

Its a Cardoon, its been lost in the sweetcorn all summer. Fitrst time i've grown them, not tried it yet, but since I took the pic i've tied the leave up to blanch the inner shoots.

 

Now that is a well organised veg plot , looks good - nice one Adam

 

Thanks Ziggy, I must say since restarting my gardening again, it is surprizing how many veg there are now that relate to cellery.