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Save Money By Growing Your Own Fruit and Veg

16th July 2010

After the recent budget it was claimed that the average family will be £300 worse off, Garden Organic is urging people to reap back the loss by growing their own food.

In research conducted by Garden Organic, the charity found that the average organic gardener consumed 52% of their annual fruit and veg intake from what was grown in the garden. This equated to an average saving of £336.89 per year - providing over £36 more in savings than families are set to lose.

According to Garden Organic, the advantages of growing our own fruit and vegetables have never been clearer and with an era of austerity predicted growing vegetables good enough for the table should be seen as a positive way to beat the budget blues.

Keen to inspire people to grow their own produce, the charity’s Director of horticulture, Bob Sherman says, “People new to food growing shouldn’t be afraid, it’s actually really straight forward, massively satisfying and, more to the point, cheap. To get started all that is needed are a few tools, new or borrowed, some good soil fed by the compost heap, some seeds and a little bit of commitment.”

Garden Organic advises that making the VAT saving all depends on how ‘time rich’ you are as opposed to how ‘cash rich’, as the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. Sherman adds that by growing our own organic food it won’t just be our pockets that benefit. “By growing and eating organic fruit and vegetables you’ll benefit from higher levels of vitamin C, essential minerals and cancer fighting anti-oxidants. With home grown food you can also guarantee it will be fresher and won’t contain harmful pesticides.”

Garden Organic maintains that the benefits of an organic vegetable plot, whether it’s in a garden, allotment or window box, far outweigh the initial costs of setting one up. As part of this focus the charity delivers a range of exciting projects that involve engaging communities in gardening and food growing. These include Master Gardener and Master Composter projects, the food growing tranche of the Food for Life Partnership - transforming school food culture, as well as high profile campaigns such as the One Pot Pledge to engage new growers. Throughout all of its activities the charity’s main message is to beat the budget and have a go.

Garden Organic’s top tips to ‘Save the VAT with veg’:

Back garden or allotment

Garden Organic suggests that a plot as small as 4 x 4 feet could help supplement the weekly grocery shop with vegetables for the pot all year round and all for as little as £50 if you’re starting from scratch, even cheaper if you are really good at scrimping and saving!

All that’s needed are some tools: a spade, fork and rake are the three essentials. The cheapest way to get hold of these is to borrow or alternatively see what can be picked up from house clearances listed in the local paper.

Next you will want to mark out your chosen plot and if it isn’t already cleared, get rid of weeds by using a light excluding mulch - the save option would be newspaper or cardboard, the spend option, straw or black plastic sheeting.

Once your plot is clear you will want to work some good compost into the soil to help your vegetables grow. Start composting your green waste and vegetable peelings by throwing them in a compost bin not the kitchen bin and you can save pounds on expensive bags of compost. By home composting your reward will be a rich compost, full of organic matter, great for growing, see www.homecomposting.org.uk for tips on how to get started.

Once the soil is ready, the planting can begin. To save money on seeds keep an eye out for seed swapping events near you. These events have really taken off in the last few years, and even if you don’t have seeds to swap, you can still pick some up for as little as a few pence. If this isn’t an option buy seeds through a seed supplier - prices range from £1.20 - £3. If you are being really frugal - don’t buy F1 seeds as you won’t be able to save seed from these varieties. Remember if you are starting from scratch you may have to spend a little to save in the long run.

Growing vegetables on a patio or balcony:

For those with very limited space there are still options, window boxes and planters could provide a solution, although not necessarily for all year round produce. If you are limited on space try growing high cost supermarket items like salads, which are very easy to grow in limited spaces. The budget option for growing food in on a patio or balcony is to re-use old buckets, bins or plant pots to grow in. But if you have a little cash to spare then planters, compost and seeds, can cost as little as £30. Top tips for crops in pots can be found over at www.onepotpledge.org