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Expenditure

TeTe Posts: 193
in Plants
Over the years gardening has evidently become more and more popular for lots of reasons, lots of us either swap plants; grow plants from seed or cuttings; purchase plants from none official plant stockist - garden centre’s or online stores but what would you say your average gardening expenditure is per annum, not including starting from scratch, do you budget for a maximum cost or is every year different, speaking from our own personal cost I think we spend more on bedding plants and compost as most of our gardens are fully stocked with mature plants and tree’s, although we use a reputable company that supply various bedding plants in small plugs  to grow on which we do to fill numerous hanging baskets and containers for our garden
"There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true"
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Posts

  • Mrs-B3-Southampton,-HantsMrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants Posts: 732
    Never have budgeted.  If I fancy something expensive e.g. tree then I tell the family I want vouchers for birthday/ Xmas/ mothers day.
    On the other hand bedding plants from the supermarkets just seem to fall in my trolley - and I know I'm not the only one that happens to!
    Southampton 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I spend rather a lot on compost for my seeds and containers, easily over £100 per year, I think, but most of my plants come as birthday gifts or similar, as above. We have been discussing garden design that costs the same as a new kitchen but for me, a trip to a garden centre two or three times a year and a spend of around £30 is a treat and an indulgence. I don't budget, I just throw caution to the wind.
  • ERICS MUMERICS MUM Posts: 627
    My family give me tools for birthdays & Christmas (secateurs, pruners etc).  Re the stuff I buy throughout spring & summer - I daren’t add it up !  To be fair to myself, I rarely buy one expensive item, usually a lot of smaller plants, which soon grow large enough for my small garden.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I  suppose I'm a bit mean about spending on individual plants. Apart from a couple of roses , I've never spent more than a tenner on a plant. It's also that I prefer to buy small plants as I prefer to make sure they're up to surviving in my garden and I'm content to wait for them to mature rather than plant a big expensive plant and watch it die.. As I never have a grand plan, there is never a must-have plant.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    edited February 2021
    I just spent £12 on seed (see below). Add to that two 120 litre bags of compost for potting on and tomato and cucumber pots and that's my total spend for the year.

    Tomato Seeds - Crimson Plum F1
    Salvia Seeds - Mojave
    Tomato Seeds - Crimson Crush F1
    Cucumber Seeds - Telegraph Improved
    Cosmos Seeds - White Knight
    Antirrhinum Seeds - Madame Butterfly F1
    Dahlia Earlybird Mix

    I have petunia and tagete seed I collected from last year which will be used as well.

    Oh.. and I also had a 100 pansy plugs from a local seller at £0.10 each

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    My expenditure is very variable. I struck a bargain with myself when I had to downsize my garden after divorcing that I would not count the pennies over gardening, only for other non-essential things like clothes. So if I sometimes want to buy a more expensive plant or a container (which is rare because my garden is so tiny), I will call it a Christmas or birthday present to myself. My sons are happy to go along with the charade... I just bought a Daphne, even though it's definitely not my birthday!

    I find I spend a fair bit on compost and fertiliser, and other things needed for the upkeep of the garden, and that probably comes to more than the plants year on year.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    I've no idea, occasionally I have spent £30+ but typically its around a tenner, and I just justify it in terms of 'well I'd pay about that for a takeaway dinner'.

    The theory falls apart, of course, because I also have the takeaway dinner as well; what can I say, I love plants but I also love a curry.

    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    I seem to be spending a fair bit at the moment as I plan the year ahead.  We got to grips with our sorely neglected garden last year (which was also ruined from the effects of having our kitchen rebuilt and housing skips).  It is so tempting, when researching a plant to find that it is not out of stock and can be bought now for delivery in the spring...  But I am stopping myself from going too mad as I know that come March/April/May I will want to be shopping again. That's not to mention the packets of seeds I'll be starting as soon as I've dug my seed compost out of the snow and got it up to room temperature in the kitchen...
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
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