Cost of living rise - help on growing my own veg

[PlntLady]

We have a fairly large garden at home with a small ish veg plot so I have been growing veggies for a few years now. This garden is mixed use - family garden, lots of flowering plants and a small lawn, etc.
I've always been keen to grow what veggies I can but yesterday after a trip to Aldi for dinners for a couple of days I am seriously rethinking the use of space in the garden. To say I was shocked at the cost of the shopping is an understatement! No luxuries in there or cleaning products, etc... just a bit of meat and fresh fruit and veg. We are not well off but I'd say lucky enough to currently not be struggling financially. It makes me wonder how ppl are coping - which many arnt, but that's another thread.

Anyway, I guess I am after some tips for switching out space in the flower beds for veg space. Pulling the lawn up isnt an option as it is heavily used by the family.
We currently have a lot of peonies - does anyone know if these are safe to grow fruit and veg with? Google is no help on this one. We also have a lot of bulbs such as irises, etc. Do I need to remove all of these bulbs and will the soil be ok to grow veg on if I do?

Yes, and things like spinach and chard are great and you imagine you will be able to pick leaves all summer only for them to bolt at the first sign of hot weather!

The other wise ladies on this thread know more than me, as I’m just a beginner but I v much agree that fruit (esp berries) is way to go, also some greens/lettuce are v v easy to grow and fast crops, plus courgettes

I read this sample on kindle - he says herbs give best return!

I try to grow things that I like & are expensive,.. plus it’s organic which I might balk at the price off!

My tip is to see if you can get starter plants for cheap/free: strawberry runners & raspberry/blackberry canes - I have given lots of berry runners to friends. Seeds for greens are super cheap (lettuce especially) and a good money saver

its my first year with tomatoes but I think a few plants will give me a good return: I’m growing a few ‘open pollinated’ ones so I will be able to save the seeds

you might get more crop for your space in containers & raised beds (& they don’t have to be anything fancy)… I’d suggest googling square foot gardening & also checking out a site called urban turnip

if you are patient, fruit trees can be quite cheap (I got an opal plum for £10 in Morrisons) but I think I will be waiting 2-3 years for fruit …

do you know anyone who has a veg garden who might help you get started?

Also, I have been fortunate that the house has a v mature grape vine (red grapes) - got more grapes than I can possibly eat, giving them away AND made wine.

The vine is obviously 15-20 years old, not sure how long they take to produce but I probably got £50 worth of grapes off 1 vine (covering a pergola but a car port would do). If you know anyone who has a vine see if they’ll start you a cutting- I’m in outer London so it’s pretty mild

The saving from fruit isn’t what you’d pay to buy the fruit, but what you don’t buy as a result. So if I pick 2kg of raspberries, my saving isn’t what it would cost me to buy 2kg of raspberries in punnets, but the cost of the peaches and nectarines that I didn’t buy. My fig gives 200 figs a year, in theory worth £120 at 60p a fig - but there’s no way I’d be buying 200 figs!