End Of Year Report [Part Two]

Continuing thoughts on my new hobby.

What are the lessons learned?

• Constant vigilance is essential - unlike needlework or knitting, which you can leave in a basket for a month and return to later, a garden is an ongoing enterprise. After two weeks away in Manchester, I came back to lots of little jobs
• Water butts are wonderful - I now have two - but even they were not enough in this year's very hot summer. 
• Use nylon string, not jute, to delineate the sections in the bed- the latter rotted away too quickly.
• Label everything carefully [sadly my "cut up yogurt pots plus Sharpie" failed, as they were not waterproof]
• Is kale worth the bother?The crop failed, and Bob wasn't sure he wanted to eat it anyway.
• Ditto peas - Cap'n Birdseye's and Lidl's own are both sweet and tasty. But the mice ate all mine before I had podded any. Pea shoots grown on the windowsill, however, make a good garnish for salads and soups.
• I can now take cuttings from basil and grow my own [thank you Sue for that tip]
• Lots of home grown veg have leaves which make great pesto
• Relax, it was so much easier when I learned to treat gardening as a fun work-out, not as 'housekeeping in the open air'
• It is all a learning curve - do not beat yourself up if something doesn't grow/gets eaten by wildlife/if your crop is less abundant than someone else's.

Best tip - do not be shy about asking established gardeners for advice. Most seem to love to share their wisdom, and are very encouraging. My two Almond SILs are top of the list for my thanks in this respect - but also the random woman in Hatfield who gave me an unexpected lesson in tomato blossom-end rot, my neighbour's daughter who pointed me towards good local plant suppliers and warned me off others, and the lovely lady on the help-desk at RHS Bridgwater last week who patiently answered many of my questions. 

Thank you to all of you!

Have I saved money through 'growing my own'?
That was the big question. I was quite surprised by the end of year accounts. I had a few 'ground rules'

1. Money spent setting up the raised bed is "Hobby money" - one-off items of expenditure.
2. Produce to be priced as the average organic equivalent.

Building the raised bed, and filling it with compost etc cost £140 [including metal labels for each row]

Other equipment - pots, small propagator, watering can, water butt, bean pyramid support, etc £75

Capital expenditure £215

Consumables - Seeds, plants and cuttings - £75

Value of veg grown to 20/9/22 £200+ [I have leeks, carrots, and still more salad to harvest from this year's sowings] 

£200 - 75 = £125

So it does look like I am saving around 60% of the cost if I grow veg from seed. £2.40 a week. Or to put it another way, the raised bed will pay for itself within a couple of years - especially as some seeds are saved each year so fewer packets to buy next time round.

Challenges for my second year include

• mastering the art of good compost
• growing some flowers as well as edible stuff
• look again at the choice of veg for the raised bed
• managing the windowsills better [Bob says they have all been over-run by plants!]
• sowing seeds and thinning seedlings with less waste, more efficiency
• improving my labelling