Kitchen Garden Forum

I was thumbing back through an old diary recently and noticed that until a couple of years ago I'd been keeping records of the amount of home grown vegetables I grew, i.e. x lbs of runner beans or tomatoes harvested every year, etc.

I no longer do this but wonder if anybody else does? It's sometimes a good reflection of the weather conditions we've experienced in particular years. This year my yields have been well down on most crops.

I have for the last few years but not this year. I also used to record how much the same produce would have cost had I bought it from a Supermarket because it used to give me a buzz to think of how much I was saving the family budget

VPM
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Yes I also used to do that occasionally, but stopped when I kept going over to my local fruit & veg market stall and found that I could buy a whole bowlful of red peppers for £1, and I'd spent all year growing and nurturing my pepper plants and had probably spent more than that amount just buying the bag of compost to fill the pots in which they were grown !! Sometimes growing your own isn't cheaper, although invariable your own will undoubtedly be fresher.

Lol. Yes, my OH happily used to point out that by the time I'd factored in my time, compost etc, there really wasn't any saving !

So I banished him to his workshop but not before pointing out that unlike his Series II Land Rover project, at least we could eat the produce from my hobby

VPM
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vegpatchmum. Bit below the belt ?

I keep an allotment record each year. Not of the quantity I grow but the seeds I buy, when I plant and how they faired if a new variety. Together with a brief diary of weather conditions and notes of interest throughout the year.
This is all done on a Word doc. so no trouble to update.
And of course there is my website diary.

Beryl.

I do the same, Beryl, and I also have an exact plan of the allotment and where everything has been grown for the last 10 years or so, but I have never kept a record of any yields, Primrose.

I fear, as has already been suggested, that overall there are probably no financial savings, taking into account the cost of the rent, seeds, manure (we pay £50 for a large load delivered by the farmer next door), fleece, netting and the occasional chemical. And, quite frankly, I don't think there is that much difference in the taste of many vegetables between home grown and shop/market bought. But what I do like (and that to me is the biggest plus) is that all the vegetables are completely fresh and I now where it's come from.

I've never really kept a tally of the amount I spend but I do feel I live very well from the allotment. I'm sure if I had to buy everything I grow then I would find it very expensive. The fruit and the asparagus alone have more than paid for themselves time and time again. I look upon those as an investment. But my biggest reason for the allotment is that it is a hobby and a very good way of socialising and helping the community. I couldn't do the amount of jam and chutney for charity if I didn't have the produce. The shows etc. all couldn't be put on if it wasn't for the allotment. The benefits are endless.

Beryl.

Beryl. I think if we all kept a true record of the cost including labour. We would be ordering our produce from Harrods.

Ah but it is a labour of love Shallot Man. We wouldn't do it if we didn't enjoy it would we.
Even those with just a kitchen garden I am sure will admit they get a real thrill out of picking somthing they have grown themselves irrespective of the cost.

Beryl.

I'm am keeping a record of the school veg though but that's purely for use in the classroom by the staff. All recorded onto a spreadsheet showing:

weight for each picking/digging of a crop;
the number of items in a picking/digging of certain crops are also counted (cucumbers, carrots, courgettes, tomatoes, mini corns for example) so that an average weight per item per picking can be calculated;
lengths of certain individual specimens have also been recorded (runner beans, cucumbers, courgettes etc); and
circumferences of the cabbages as well.

All carefully recorded and, hopefully, making maths a little more interesting as the children will be using the data from the crops they all helped plant and grow .

VPM
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We have kept records our sowing and harvesting for a few years now the last couple of years we have recorded them on our website here
http://ossettweather.com/gardeningv2/page41.html

We also in the past kept a record of the value in comparison to supermarket prices. We concluded that fruit was the best value for money thinking in terms of the cost of things like small punnets of raspberries

Like others I just keep a record of what and when I plant and what successes or failures there are. I do an end of year summary of the year overall and the weather etc. I also find it useful to make a note of the taste and productivity of anything new I try and whether it is worth growing again.

It's also useful to keep a record of varieties of fruit trees, currants, strawberries etc. when you buy them and where you've planted them as labels wear off or get lost.

I am so remiss about recording - start off enthusiastic then get distracted! Am thinking another year like this I must apply myself and keep better records, (and more of my own seed) - just in case at this point mind! Anyone got a good system / spreadsheet they wouldn't mind sharing??

Westi
(It is probably getting too many garden diaries as presents)