Do you think growing your own or forraging will become more popular now energy prices have risen so much?

[kirstyalslap]

It seems like the natural next step to me but want others thoughts on it? Forraging is completely free and things like nettles, dandelions, cleavers (sticky weed) and obviously blackberries, apples, plums, damsons, elderflower, elder Berry are all edible and easily identifiable.
Not to mention salad leaves can be grown all year round on a windowsill or kitchen side.
What does everyone think?

Only posting as several people (not connected) have spoken about being interested in it.

yabu - you personally are not interested in either
Yanbu - you personally are interested

I could never feed us (3 adults) from the garden, even though we've got a large one. Instead, I supplement our diet with homegrown stuff - currently growing cress on the windowsill to go into egg mayo sandwiches - I try to keep some on the go all the time, which saves me about 50c a week (which is what it would cost to buy from Tesco, if Tesco actually had it in stock). Similarly, I grow chillies on the windowsill - usually end up with enough for a few months, saving approximately 99p a week on the Tesco version.

Right now I'm growing Little Gem lettuce - again, a saving - but not a hugely significant one. I'm looking forward to foraging for wild garlic, but it's not going to fill us up.

I spent €22 on a pack of 22 thousand seeds - various vegetables, herbs and a few flowers - it might end up saving us about €50 over the season, so it's not much, really - and if my courgettes are as successful as they have been before, my DH may threaten to leave home before he eats another one - you can have too much of a good thing.

One activity that's actually worth the bother is making wine from growing things - parsnip, rosehip, elderflower, gorse, blackcurrant, blackberry, elderberry - even a version of sherry from a parsnip and sultana mixture - all good fun and definitely a saving on shop-bought booze. All you need to buy is yeast and some sugar (or honey for mead, which is also worth making) - most of the rest can be grown or foraged. The results can be...erm...varied - but I don't often make something that's completely unpalatable.

Living on the coast, we could forage for mussels, winkles, sea urchins and razor clams - but we rarely do because they're labour-intensive and DH isn't a fan of seafood. His attempts at fishing got us one nice seabass, once, about 10 years ago - the rest was dogfish, coalfish and - if we were lucky - mackerel. You could never rely on it though, the weather and the vagaries of fishing being what they are.

I would never forage for fungi without a fungi expert, but they do grow round here, though not in 'let's have mushrooms for dinner' quantities.

So yeah, growing food and foraging are all great as hobbies, but not something you could replace your weekly grocery shop with, in my experience!

I wonder if all of the people saying it costs money have even tried it or just heard that it does?

I assume that if you approach it in a "proper" textbook way - i.e. buy expensive seedlings, new compost, new pots or raised beds, netting / mulch, tomorite at £10/bottle, all the pest and weed control chemicals it probably will result in ridiculously expensive produce (even more so, once you factor in your own labour too).

But, none of that is really essential.

I am fully embracing growing my own this year. 2 fruit
Loving kids, sick of buying sub standard forced fruit that is costly, even out Aldi Lidl etc.
I have bought a greenhouse, I'm having relatives help me, prepared for this year to just be a tester to learn but I think this is the way for
Me to go for the future. I've planted plum trees pear trees and raspberries. Will do strawberries also. I have a chilli plant and will start to think about veg shortly.
I'm in east Scotland, south facing garden. What can go wrong hahahaha

I do agree we with the whole getting back to nature argument.

But not many folks have the space or energy.

I try every year with the kids, we buy a few packs of seeds and see how things turn out. Last year our squashes were fabulous.

I've got spinach, squash, leeks and carrots for this year. I try and grow stuff that's not too cheap in the supermarket.

@crazeekat

I am fully embracing growing my own this year. 2 fruit Loving kids, sick of buying sub standard forced fruit that is costly, even out Aldi Lidl etc. I have bought a greenhouse, I'm having relatives help me, prepared for this year to just be a tester to learn but I think this is the way for Me to go for the future. I've planted plum trees pear trees and raspberries. Will do strawberries also. I have a chilli plant and will start to think about veg shortly. I'm in east Scotland, south facing garden. What can go wrong hahahaha

Scotland is ideal for tayberries (they are even named after river Tay I think). Indestructible, much less fussy than raspberries (very bramble-like in habit), ridiculously heavy croppers (again, similar to wild brambles), and taste better to me, without that mustiness of raspberries.

Depends. Some things, like you pointed out salad leaves in particular, yes - costs pennies, easy to grow, minimum space. If you buy a bag or two a week that's a fair saving. Same if you're collecting fruit from hedgerows to chuck in your morning porridge rather than buying a frozen bag from the supermarket. If you can do a few of those very easy things and save a fiver a week it's worth it. But other things - Jam, you collect the berries, have to boil them (not easy if you don't have a hob), strain them, buy the sugar, clean and store glass jars and strainers and saucepan...or you can just buy a jar for 28p.

It's not very cheap to start growing your own. Soil is not always suitable, people might not have the space. I just bought two veg beds costing over £250, and a few fruit trees for another £50. I don't expect anything from the trees this year at least, I had to buy seeds and I doubt I'll be harvesting massive amounts.
It really is just a hobby on a small scale.

@forinborin

I think growing your own can be as expensive or as cheap as you want to make it. But a lot of what you listed are one off costs - I don't buy new pots or raised beds every year.
I've had an allotment for about 5 years now. I've invested a lot in it - I'm not far off retirement age and its where I plan to spend a lot of time in the future - so I don't mind and I can afford it - particularly over lockdowns when I wasn't spending on other things. But a lot of what you listed are one off costs - I don't buy new pots or raised beds every year.
I agree some to what you listed isn't necessary. But to give you some examples. I have 6 blueberry bushes. Until this year I had very little fruit off them - because the birds got there first. So I spent £40 on a cheap fruit cage, saved all my fruit, we are still eating the frozen ones. I have probably broken even on the blueberries this year. Next year they will be 'free'.
My strawberries were exhausted last year - we got very little off them, so I invested in new plants this year - had a great crop and they will be good for another 3 or 4 years.
This year I will probably buy another fruit cage to get my carrots and some other stuff under cover - I've lost all my carrots and sweetcorn the last two years because the badgers got there before me.
I've also bought a very simple drip irrigation system, saved all my salad crops this year

I have invested in raised beds and compost because my soil is a really heavy clay and difficult to work with. My own compost should be ready this year.
I don't use weedkillers or chemical fertilizers. I skip surf and recycle a lot of stuff. Wilkos is great for cheap equipment. I am building fences from bits of old trellis and wood.

I do spend on things I know will last and protect and improve my crops

Gardening / grow your own is more about interest than food to live.
It costs a bit for seeds etc starting up, seed potatoes etc and one season of blight and its no chips for tea.

@Ted27
I agree with you. Only this thread has been started with a specific setting in mind, i.e. people who would struggle to feed their family or heat their property in the light of current inflation pressures. They are unlikely to have £40 free to spend on the fruit cage, even if it indeed will pay back in a season or two. And all other upfront investments you mentioned also may seem to be quite risky (even though, I agree with you, they will pay back over one or two seasons).

I am from quite a poor country originally, and yields from subsistence farming on a plot of land quite similar to a British ten-pole allotment have been a very significant part of my childhood diet. Without compost being bought in, raised beds, chemicals etc. It obviously requires some additional time and knowledge investment then, but it is entirely possible.

@forinborin

Exactly, and it just illustrates why for many growing your own isnt really possible on a scale where you could feed a family.
Even basic equipment costs.
I'm intrigued by the magic park with all those fruit laden trees, nothing like my local park, or the common, or the woodland.
Do foragers cost in the car trips? I assume they go by car to ferry back all that handy firewood.

I know its possible to grow without spending a lot of money, but generally people in this country lack the skills and knowledge to grow food in the way subsistence farmers grow, and don't have the access to the land.
I've been growing for 5 years, I 've had no one to teach me, I'm learning by trial and error and I was very lucky to even get an allotment

I know its possible to grow without spending a lot of money, but generally people in this country lack the skills and knowledge to grow food in the way subsistence farmers grow, and don't have the access to the land.
It would be quite cool if people did though. Not so much from the money-saving perspective, but from better nutrition, better food security, less plastic, less air miles perspective.

Not to the extent of growing all your potatoes, carrots and onions in your backyard, that's completely irrational. But two or three tomato vines, a trough with herbs, a couple of strawberry plants and some cut and come again greens are super easy to grow, don't need much space, are next to nothing investment wise and provide quite a cool addition to the diet.

It really pisses me off when the local hipsters "forage" our elderflowers and blackberries which we grow especially for the birds. Leaving them nothing for winter.
Same with the apples that I leave to drop for the thrushes. Hit a new low recently, a man with a chainsaw in our actual garden, chopping up a fallen oak tree which we were leaving to rot (the benefits of leaving wood to rot are important for fungi and wildlife). It's difficult to argue with a man with a chainsaw though.

@StScholastica ah thanks for trying though, and thank you for thinking of those animals! We did the same with our hazelnuts, the neighbours were hanging over the fence saying we were selfish not to share 😆

Blackcurrants are an easy and excellent starter crop. Expensive and difficult to find in the shops but super easy to grow. We get a bucketful from 3 bushes and that makes enough jam and blackcurrant cheesecake topping to last a year.
Rhubarb, runner beans and spinach are also dead simple to grow.
I find potatoes and tomatoes a lot of effort for a crop that's so cheap to buy in the shops.

I find potatoes and tomatoes a lot of effort for a crop that's so cheap to buy in the shops.
Potatoes yes, fully agree (as well as carrots, onions and other root vegetables). All brassicas also are not worth the effort, in my opinion (apart from kale but even that is mainly for decorative reasons, and Brussels sprouts because they are quite funky, and, well, the Christmas halo effect).
But homegrown tomatoes, allowed to ripen fully on the vine under the sun, are way, way superior to the shop bought ones.

The idea that growing your own is cost effective is just twaddle. It’s a nice hobby, if you can afford raised beds (forget it if you’re growing at ground level, most of your crop will be eaten unless you can afford/don’t mind using pesticides), compost and soil mix, feeder, netting, daily watering and lots of time.

If you actually need to budget for vegetables, “wonky” (perfectly good) veg at Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons are far cheaper.

I think if you have the space and you have the time and money to grow your own. But have enough money that you can still afford to eat in the event that you get a poor harvest. Then by all means grow your own.

But if you are already have little money to live on. You have limits on your time. You don't know how to grow veg. You want to learn but the cost of seeds, compost, pots ect is a lot of money for an initial out lay. You rent and your land lord does not want you digging up his lawn. Then don't bother. Buy a pack of carrots for 19p in lidl.

If you have little money to live on. But are passionate about plants and growing your own. You have a garden or space for veg planters. You already know about growing vegetables, you can take cuttings from fruit shrubs. You have the tools and seeds. You can obtain manure for free from a bloke in the pub, you are handy and can make your own greenhouse out of old windows you found in a skip. You have the time and energy to dedicate to growing your own. Then grow your own.

the nice thing about growing home is that you can have (tastier) varieties than you can buy in shops.
I usually grow 3 or so varieties of tomato - all very different in appearance and taste.

When you are poor, it’s jam today you’re worried about - not jam in eighteen months’ time (and I mean that phrase in both its literal and metaphorical senses.) If a single mum of 3 is currently worrying how she’s going to split the £40 a week she has for both gas and food, her priority isn’t going to be thinking about spending any of it on compost and seeds, or baby blueberry bushes which when fully grown might - all going well - give her enough blueberries to make her own jam in 2024.

Similarly, people with £40 a week to spend on gas and food aren’t generally buying bagged salad, cherry tomatoes and soft fruits in the first place, because these things don’t make filling meals. They’re buying filling foods which make entire meals to feed the family as cheaply as possible: pasta, sauce, bread, baked beans, lentils, potatoes, carrots, onions, bananas, eggs, tinned tomatoes, sausages, frozen peas and sweetcorn. These things can’t be grown on balconies and windowsills, or even in many gardens if e.g. your garden is all paved, or your landlord won’t allow you to dig up the lawn. And a handy crop of windowsill rocket or cherry tomatoes isn’t going to be any compensation whatever for the fact that you are finding yourself unable to afford enough from that list of basic staple foodstuffs to feed your family.

“We have an orchard nearby and it’s the kids who need the free fruit the most from the nearby council estate who are the ones kicking the trees down. Foraging / picking etc is more of a middle class thing“

Sadly true here too. There’s a local initiative that helps to plant and help schools and community groups maintain orchards.

There’s one at our local primary, the whole school helped to set up this orchard full of apple trees and later that summer half the trees were kicked down and destroyed by some of those children who helped plant the trees. We all knew who they were, and the parents didn’t give a shit.

I live on a council estate myself ina council house, i grow veg in the summer, not much is true but I’m interested in that because I was brought up with middle class parents who did grow thier own veg and had an interest in cooking, allotmenteering and foraging.

So many people aren’t, don’t care, don’t have the money or the time and loads of other reasons. It’s not cheap either.

The only thing I can say to its advantage is that you won’t save money by foraging or growing your own but it could supplement a diet that’s poor in nutrients if you can’t afford to buy fresh all the time.

@ComtesseDeSpair I agree with you, but wanted to say you can grow potatoes in containers. Our strawberry plants (from Lidl) are currently in stacking containers (also from Lidl) that were sold as potato pots. Not enormously cost effective but if you’re growing them from sprout bits of supermarket potatoes that would otherwise just go in the bin it could be worth a try.

I'm looking at www.mpsexpenses.info and wondering why we should feel that would be necessary.

I can’t imagine anyone could be self sufficient but there is no reason most people couldn’t plant a fruit tree in their garden. I know people who keep chickens and enjoy lots of eggs too. Otherwise perpetual spinach, chard and herbs are easy to grow. I haven’t bought a bay leaf in decades.

''I haven’t bought a bay leaf in decades''

I don't think people facing real issues with increases in taxes, fuel costs, food prices etc are worrying about how they can afford bay leaves

Fruit trees can take several years to fruit.

Keeping chickens really isn't practical for most people and to protect them from foxes there will be costs of setting up a run/hen house

@ComtesseDeSpair sums it up really well.