With food price inflation spiralling upwards, growing your own produce may seem a good way to save some money. However, should you be looking to economise by cultivating some fruit and veg it’s easy to overlook that lots of what you’ll need, compost, seeds, plants and so on, come at a price.
If a quick financial return is your priority, the focus should be on veg rather than fruit. Fruit growing is a long-term proposition. Fruit trees can take years before bearing a worthwhile crop while even berries, such as raspberries or blueberries, need a few seasons to get into their cropping stride.
Although veg will give a return sooner, you’ll save little if it struggles in an unsuitable growing site. It’s not just good soil that’s required, reasonable sunlight is also essential. Soil and sunlight are free so make good use of both. Few soils are uncultivable so think twice before constructing fancy and expensive raised beds filled with brought-in compost or topsoil. If there’s no suitable site for a veg patch, growing in pots or containers may be an option but these come at a price, as does the compost you’ll need to fill them. Then there’s the regular watering. While some crops can be successfully grown in pots, in reality, many types of veg resent root confinement. Generally, it’ll not only be easier to grow in the soil but more profitable too. Where home growing space is short, getting an allotment can be a relatively cheap option. Rents for a half plot (150 square yards), the size now generally let, are £48 on many York sites.
It’s also important to consider how and what to grow. Focus on growing a few crops well rather than dabbling in lots of different ones. With seeds often costing several pounds a packet cultivating small quantities of many types of veg is likely to rack up costs. There’s also the overhead of raising seedlings. Those best sown indoors will have to be started in pots or trays. These have a cost, as does the compost that’ll be needed. Even more expensive, especially if you nurture tender seedlings like tomatoes in a heated undercover space, will be the cost of keeping them warm. Where only a few plants of a particular type of veg are required, especially tender ones that have to be protected from cold in spring, it’ll usually be cheaper to buy from a garden centre than raise your own.
As for what to grow, some veg is likely to be a better investment than others. Generally, crops cultivated on a field scale, for example, potatoes and peas, are relatively inexpensive to buy but comparatively expensive to produce on a pocket-sized plot. If I had to select a few crops that are relatively dear to buy but fairly easy to grow, I’d choose lettuce and leafy salads, French and runner beans, sweetcorn, courgettes, and, perhaps more surprisingly, beetroot and kale.
So, can growing your own really save you money? Possibly, but don’t expect to make a big dent in the food budget.
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