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Last year I spotted the Balance Sheet 2008 thread and thought it would be a fun idea to start my own spreadsheet to find out if I'm making a profit or loss. However since it's a new year, I reckoned a new thread was in order!
Here are my figures - feel free to supply your own for comparison (or to pooh-pooh my OCD approach to gardening!!).
Outgoings
Covers everything I've spent specifically for this year's sowing and planting. This includes allotment rent; permanent or semi-permanent equipment like a heated propagator, a new mini-greenhouse and several trays of root trainers; potting compost, seeds, perennial plants and herbs; postage on seed swaps.
What I'm not including:
1. I'm not factoring in labour costs, but if I wasn't gardening I'd be doing some other, even less profitable leisure activity rather than working, so in a sense there are no labour costs.
2. I'm not counting the cost of opened seed packets that I have left over from previous years, nor am I deducting the cost of excess seed that I will hold over until next year. I reckon these will more-or-less balance one another out, and since one can never count on old seed germinating, the figures would be an unreliable guestimate at best.
Income
For this I'm counting everything profitably produced from sowings made between 01/01/09 and 31/12/09. No crops yet, since I'm not including the kale and leeks I planted last year, but I've sold some spare asparagus crowns, seed garlic, etc.
Figures
Outgoings: £315
Income: £11
Balance so far: -£304
A long way in the red, obviously, but that's most of the year's expenditure over with, and I expect to make some more money even before the first crops are ready, by selling off my spare tomato and courgette plants at work (they go like hot cakes!).
Here are my figures - feel free to supply your own for comparison (or to pooh-pooh my OCD approach to gardening!!).
Outgoings
Covers everything I've spent specifically for this year's sowing and planting. This includes allotment rent; permanent or semi-permanent equipment like a heated propagator, a new mini-greenhouse and several trays of root trainers; potting compost, seeds, perennial plants and herbs; postage on seed swaps.
What I'm not including:
1. I'm not factoring in labour costs, but if I wasn't gardening I'd be doing some other, even less profitable leisure activity rather than working, so in a sense there are no labour costs.
2. I'm not counting the cost of opened seed packets that I have left over from previous years, nor am I deducting the cost of excess seed that I will hold over until next year. I reckon these will more-or-less balance one another out, and since one can never count on old seed germinating, the figures would be an unreliable guestimate at best.
Income
For this I'm counting everything profitably produced from sowings made between 01/01/09 and 31/12/09. No crops yet, since I'm not including the kale and leeks I planted last year, but I've sold some spare asparagus crowns, seed garlic, etc.
Figures
Outgoings: £315
Income: £11
Balance so far: -£304
A long way in the red, obviously, but that's most of the year's expenditure over with, and I expect to make some more money even before the first crops are ready, by selling off my spare tomato and courgette plants at work (they go like hot cakes!).
Still not bad for the enjoyment you get out of it is it?
We've only just run out of our own tomatoes, so I'm pretty sure those alone have covered the cost of the plots.
). My main expenses will be rent (£90), seed spuds (£30) and compost (??)
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