I Have a Confession to Make. It Was ALL About the MONEY

[Mandy Onderwater]

Why did Mark start to be more self sufficient?
Here's some insights to Mark's experiences, life choices and family. Lets.... get into it!

 

[DThille]

Watched this on the weekend. It's always nice to be reminded of the back-story and see how things developed.

The challenge is in the accounting...if all you do is buy seed and get a few basic tools, it's definitely money ahead. When you get out of control like me, if one starts buying beds and materials and new equipment and potentially purchasing starter plants, then it's less cost-effective. However, there are things that are harder to quantify like family time, outdoor time, food quality and health come to mind. Being able to grow food or varieties that you can't easily obtain is another positive that is tough to put a dollar figure on. Peace of mind knowing how the food was grown, especially if one is concerned about chemical use.

I remember my father calling wild game the most expensive meat - he regularly hunted whitetail deer. If all one needed to do is step out the door and use one shell and butcher yourself, it would be inexpensive, but adding in a license purchase, fuel to get to hunting grounds, potentially paying someone for butcher / cut / wrap to say nothing of lost time if one has to take time away from job / career, it's less lucrative.

As usual, your mileage may vary.

 

[t4ms]

Definitely.

If you're dirt-poor and thinking that a veggie patch will be cost effective then the answer may well be 'no'. You're probably better off buying seasonal and re-thinking your diet/choices.

For years I had a few pots and grew high value items like fresh herbs and lower value but easy to grow perennials such as silverbeet. I couldn't justify the expense of scaling up (especially when you factor in failures).

I have now expanded my garden significantly and I haven't bothered keeping track of the cost. It's great therapy and I love being able to step outside and pick fresh ingredients.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

The only way that I found I could be cost-effective early on is to regrow what I bought from the supermarket. In saying that I have had great success with spring onions, tomatoes and capsicum/bell pepper.

 

[t4ms]

Strawberries are always good value.

One of the first videos I watched of Mark's was his one on lettuce (shoving a whole pile of seeds in a pot). Brilliant. It made growing lettuce affordable (from seed). I've only recently started having success raising lettuce seeds in punnets. In the past I could never seem to get them to germinate.

The ABC did a great article about this in late 2019 (just before Covid hit):
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12...vegetables-backyard-personal-finance/11811980

I think the pandemic made growing veggies more reasonable given supply issues. I detest buying online fruit and veg from our supermarket chains. I often got past its prime food.

 

[ToeNailz]

Rule #1 .... Dont over plant ......
eg, my old neighbour had 8 lemon trees and 4 grapefruit tree's in their backyard ... and there was only 2 of them .. sooo much went to waste and was always trying to give away .... (its a HUGE amount of lemons from 8 tree's )

Rule #2 ... Dont plant because it sounds / looks good ... if you cant use it or dont like it ... plant something that is useful to you and ya family !!

Rule #3 ... If you have plants that can go to seed .. let some .. free seeds = Family Budget Friendly !!

by the way .. has anyone got any spare "Bacon Seeds" ??? willing to pay for postage

 

[Grandmother Goose]

Rule #1 .... Dont over plant ......
eg, my old neighbour had 8 lemon trees and 4 grapefruit tree's in their backyard ... and there was only 2 of them .. sooo much went to waste and was always trying to give away .... (its a HUGE amount of lemons from 8 tree's )

Rule #2 ... Dont plant because it sounds / looks good ... if you cant use it or dont like it ... plant something that is useful to you and ya family !!

Rule #3 ... If you have plants that can go to seed .. let some .. free seeds = Family Budget Friendly !!

by the way .. has anyone got any spare "Bacon Seeds" ??? willing to pay for postage

I'm not sure if bacon seeds would appreciate being posted.

 

[Grandmother Goose]

I suspect one of the biggest things that deter a lot of people from starting gardening is the perceived cost. They read the gardening magazines and watch the shows, and some YT channels, and think they need to spend a fortune on fancy garden beds, soil, soil additives and conditioners, plants, fertiliser, water, gardening tools, etc; when in reality it can be started for the cost of a patch of dirt in the yard, a cheap shovel, and a $2 packet of seeds. Or if it needs to be in pots, a $3 bag of potting mix and some empty margarine containers or milk cartons with holes in the bottom. Plant a little bit more than is needed, sell the excess cheap to locals, friends, family, etc; put the money from that into buying something else for the garden to expand it. Start small, build up. I think the cost of getting it started is way overstated by a lot of people that have a vested interest in selling gardening products, which may be great for selling to those that can afford it, but it stops a lot of people from getting started and thus blocks a lot of potential longer term future business. That's one of the things I love about Mark's videos, he doesn't push the need for products on people, he's always got a cheaper or no-cost alternative mentioned among his videos somewhere to be seen. Maybe that's another video idea for him... 5 ways to get started with growing your own food for free...? I'm sure he's got enough experience to figure out 5 different tips on how to do that in the most common conditions for most people.

 

[Jason890]

For me it’s never really been about the money
Although my son jokes every time I get a load of potting mix from the local shop about spending $100 to grow $5 worth of veges
I’ve always had a interest in growing things
I’ve been lucky to get a lot of materials as in roofing iron timber and building materials screws to make raised beds as I’m in the building trades and have builder mates so always getting there leftover materials,also I live on a few acres and sourced all the timber to put in the bottom for free get free mulch from the dump
I have chickens so I throw mulch around there pens and utilise that
Probably the main cost was soil
I’m always watching marks tips and other YouTube channels to gain knowledge
For me it’s about trying to grow them big luscious veges I see on these channels
And tomatoes I love home grown tomatoes there is absolutely no comparison to shop bought ones
So seeing the prices of veges in the shops now a days I think it’s worth every penny