2024 - the Garden Balance Sheet

First purchase of the year has been added to my spreadsheet.

Dare we ask what it was?

Beaver dam chilli seeds   . 
 Got a couple of other garden related products in my amazon basket. Not actually ordered yet. ( rodent mesh & spade handle)

I am watching this with interest and still glad I am not partaking. I have a question though? I have quite a bit of stuff still growing in the allotment and was their today and noticed my broad beans under glass have germinated well and my elephant garlicis well on the way. The strawberry plannts I plantwd earlier in the year (some under glass,some not) are struggling. Japanese onions sre growing well etc etc. Because all of these were planted last year but will be harvested this year, and if I was partaking,would these be counted for 2024?

If you read the previous posts you'll find that we're all treating them in different ways. Its really up to you which way you want to treat them
I'll be counting anything that I harvest this year, whether sown last year or from a perennial, towards this year's harvest. Otherwise overwintering plants would never count in any year.

I am watching this with interest and still glad I am not partaking. I have a question though? I have quite a bit of stuff still growing in the allotment and was their today and noticed my broad beans under glass have germinated well and my elephant garlicis well on the way. The strawberry plannts I plantwd earlier in the year (some under glass,some not) are struggling. Japanese onions sre growing well etc etc. Because all of these were planted last year but will be harvested this year, and if I was partaking,would these be counted for 2024?

Who knows?! I'm making it up as I go along and will probably change systems many times before giving up entirely.  If harvested this year it goes into this year. I'm thinking anything that's eaten this year counts in this years finances, whereever  it comes from. Whether I count stuff that goes into the freezer too, is another matter. I think that might be cooking the books if I do that, but it might make me feel better about the expenses. 

I've started making a spreadsheet, just need to print something out to stick on the notice board otherwise I'll forget to track stuff.

I track potatoes and tomatoes most years. Blueberries and basil last year out of interest.

Off on a bit of a tangent here but I've just read https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1350...eed-supper. He's a new allotment owner and is convinced that it will pay for itself over a year. His son challenges him to prove this so the man "Martin" keeps a record of how much he has spent and the value of his crops. He values the crops at the price they would be in the local supermarket. His son agrees that he can write off the cost of tools and equipment over 10 years so if, for example he bought a GH costing £100, it would only cost £10 each year. They also agree that gifts don't count as expenditure - so he has gardening presents for his birthday.
At the end of the year he is £20 in profit but, most of that is made up by 3 things - redcurrants and raspberries, which were already on the plot when he took it over and lots of rhubarb which his plot neighbour gives him!
He concludes that if you want to make a profit, soft fruit is the way to do it.

That’s very interesting. I’d be interested how much he spent over a year and what the highest expenses were.
It’s get close to our first months tally. It quite exciting.

Not sure this will make sense but from his Half Year Accounts:-
Running costs = £124.43 - almost all spent on seeds, plants, compost
Capital costs = £178.83 - spades, forks, a £20 cloche that fell apart, a magazine subscription with free loppers and seeds! (An electric strimmer to cut the grass around the plot £60 and a picnic table weren't included as they weren't strictly ON the plot!) So he only counted 10% of the Capital costs!

At Year end - Total expenditure = £150.71 including expensive asparagus crowns, the bulk of the rest was on seeds and organic soil improvers.
The total value of what he grew (or was given) was £171.29.

A lot of his costs sound like startup costs, one offs. Making his own compost and saving seeds could cut his future years outlay.

I agree about the soft fruit which I regularly add to porridge. Last year I harvested 22.7kg of raspberries/red/black currants/gooseberries. Looking at the retail price for frozen fruit at Iceland they would have cost me about £130. For this I have 12' row raspberries (5.2kg. but could have picked lots more), 2 redcurrant bushes (7.7kg), 3 black currant (3.3kg) and 4 gooseberries (6.6kg). The currant bushes I bought just after getting married so about 45 years. The current plants are probably from cuttings taken about 10 years ago.

But even things like potatoes can make money - if you have saved your own seed. Last year I got 90kg total and at 80p a kilo that is  £72.

Also tomatoes are relatively easy to grow. Last year's total was 94kg @ say £2 a kilo(and any shop tomatoes costing that would likely not be particularly tasty) is £188. Again seed saved from previous years.

So just those 3 would be £390 or £7.50 a week.

Then there is beetroots, parsnips, onions, garlic. leek, peppers... even onions are £1 a kg. now at Tescos.