What are the best value crops to grow on the plot?

[Thelma Sanders]

I think tomatoes, aubergines and peppers don't work out particularly cheap when you consider the compost you buy for their large pots and any tom feed you need for them, although they are worth growing for much better taste

Runner beans are always exceptional value for money & effort, as are sweetcorn and salads.

For some reason rhubarb has been very expensive in the shops, this year, so growing that has saved me a fortune!
courgettes and squash of all descriptions pay for their seeds many times over

[eirish]

I think tomatoes, aubergines and peppers don't work out particularly cheap when you consider the compost you buy for their large pots and any tom feed you need for them,

not to mention the greenhouse!

[mrswadders]

Who can't grow radishes? shrugs and looks around baffled lol :O

me,me,me!!!!!!they never seem to grow and I don't do too well with spring onions either, I know,I know but it just seems to be the same everytime I sow them, oh and carrots too.................

[veggiechicken]

Tomatoes without a doubt. Can anything beat the taste of a freshly picked, sun-ripened tomato, plucked straight off the vine? If any shop could replicate that they'd be onto a winner - they can't but I can!!!

If you buy something from a supermarket that has no taste, its not good value. I stick with what I said!!

I just want to add that these polls are very difficult to answer as the choices are not wide enough. I would have chosen soft fruit as I can grow buckets of raspberries and wouldn't dream of buying them in a supermarket. Also, I would never buy salad leaves as they are so overpriced for a few leaves. So growing my own salad leaves isn't a saving on the supermarket because I would go without rather than buy them!

[planetologist]

I agree with zazen999. So far this year, my only expenditure has been �22 on two small blue honeysuckle plants. Yield so far: zero, so the cost per produce is infinite. They are perennials, though, so, as with plants that I've grown from self-saved seed for several years, the reverse, the yield per initial cost, can approach infinity fairly rapidly.

However, the answer also depends very much on what you count as cost:
Do you count your time as how much you could have been earning if you'd worked during that time, or how much you've been saving because you didn't need to go to the gym, or how much you've saved because you didn't need to go to the psychiatrist because gardening is so restful?

Same is true for how you count land: do you maximise yield, do you minimise inputs, do you maximise carbon sequestration,
"Without the environment, we're all dead - so the total value is infinite,� Ian Bateman

Though this wasn't in the list, for a combination of the above reasons, I'd vote for any perennials, and particularly my vigorous apple tree. As far as I can tell it's been there since before 1934. My hope is that if you ask again in 2090 they will find it impossible to choose between the apple tree (still going strong) and the chestnut and walnut trees.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Difficult to choose. New spuds ready when the prices are sky high in the shops are an obvious one to think about. I'm totally with VC and tomatoes. When my own tomatoes are finished and it's back to buying red tasteless water in red skins it's a real downer. I grow everything included in the poll except asparagus. If I thought it worth waiting years for asparagus, I would have grown it because it's probably my favourite vegetable but I honestly don't think any crop is worth tying ground up for that long without producing. I'm going with VC and selecting tomatoes in the poll

[MojoJojo]

I think herbs have to be best value? Almost no effort or space required, yet you get an endless supply of fresh herbs that cost �1 a go from the supermarket.

[Gearoid]

Salad leaves. A thousand or so seeds per packet, no particular requirements for feeding and don't take up a lot of room. In comparing growing costs and shop prices, they give a great return.

[Chef_uk]

Tomatoes hands down. A �1 packet of seeds (sometimes even free with your mag ) contains 20 or so seeds from the cheap deal shops in town. Each seed can lead to around 100 cherry tomatoes. Thats 2000 tomatoes for �1. Go on to Tesco's online and 300g of cherry tomatoes cost �1 which is around 40 tomatoes. Quickly adding up, that would cost you �50 to buy the same amount.

Buying seeds online works out even cheaper. 99p for 100 Moneymaker seeds is 10,000 cherry tomatoes. To buy that many in store would cost �250

[binley100]

me,me,me!!!!!!they never seem to grow and I don't do too well with spring onions either, I know,I know but it just seems to be the same everytime I sow them, oh and carrots too.................

know the feeling ...........

actually tomatoes are quite good value even with compost etc purely because from one plant you can get lots more by growing on the armpits......

[solway cropper]

Not that I'm suggesting anyone should try it but I'd say cannabis would give a pretty good return on your investment

[Jimmy]

Define "value" !

[GardenFaery]

me,me,me!!!!!!they never seem to grow and I don't do too well with spring onions either, I know,I know but it just seems to be the same everytime I sow them, oh and carrots too.................

LOL just shows all gardeners have their preferences... I'm quite rubbish at growing tomatoes! LOL

[Jelliebabe]

For me it's got to be fruit, can't wait to pick the first strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, plum.......need I go on.

something has ate my first strawberry

http://www.victoria-nurseries.co.uk/

PS: click on Plant Centre - is it just me or do those ducks look guilty.......like they've just been caught about to do something......or is it just my mind?!

I think the goats did it!

Seriously the answer really is going to be different for everyone because VALUE is hard to quantify - do you mean cost or meaning? Taste? or just love-ability? easyness or crop per square meter???

PS - I voted for courgettes and squash but beans were my fave last year just popped the seeds in the ground and off they went! Still have some in the freezer!

[Sarico]

for me are courgette e tomatoes... if you think you can buy from supermarket 3 baby courgette for a puond you will save way a lot of money plus you have the flowers and the plant... for the tomatoes instead is a good value for money but aswell for taste...