Are you growing more food at home?
Posted by: s
15th Apr 2026 04:45pm
With the cost of living getting higher are you growing more food now?
You must be a member to reply to this chat topic. Click here to sign in.
Help Caféstudy members by responding to their questions, or ask your own in Café Chat, and you will get the chance of earning extra rewards. Caféstudy will match these and donate equally to our two chosen Australian charities.
Australian Marine Conservation Society are an independent charity, staffed by a committed group of scientists, educators and passionate advocates who have defended Australia’s oceans for over 50 years.
ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia. Their trusted self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well. The information they offer parents makes it easier for them to help their teenagers, too.
Challenge Challenge is a not-for-profit organisation that supports children and families living with cancer, 365 days a year.
Our support is free and immediate, helping to lighten the cancer journey by addressing the practical, social, and emotional needs of all our members.
Our support is free and immediate, helping to lighten the cancer journey by addressing the practical, social, and emotional needs of all our members.
Comments 5
DMcF
It is family tradition to establish at least a veg patch if not a full garden wherever we settle and call home (till the next move). I am fortunate to currently rent a 1/4 acre section. I grow as much fruits & veg as I can, and preserve what surplus there is or give it away, because I enjoy it most of the time. That it contributes to a lower cost compared to 100% green grocer / supermarket is a bonus. I am slowly learning how to improve my gardening (& preserving) skills and getting bigger harvests; however I have to long way to go to where I can supply all our fruit & veg needs without recourse to the green grocer. The benefits of gardening is in the working to grow nutritious and tasty food rather than some (usually unstable) cost savings.
Tazzyd
With the cost of living we have had no choice but to grow some of our own vegetables to cut costs down at the supermarket.
jtmorri
We wouldn’t return to growing our own produce as it never came down to cost or saving money. We did it to continue what we knew, but it was simply too much upkeep and work in our city life. Our soil was never perfect, and the pest control, nematode issue, plant health, thinning, fertilising and harvesting were too time‑consuming. I come from a long line of market gardeners and farmers, so I know what proper growing looks like.
We stopped over 15 years ago now in keeping a vegie patch. With time constraints and a constant weed problem in suburbia due to the neighbouring properties always being rented, we couldn’t keep up with the high‑intensity maintenance it needed. Over the years we had good success with cucumber, zucchini, capsicum, broad bean, peas, tomato, broccoli, beetroot, pumpkin, rock melon, potato, chilli and garlic, but we never managed to grow carrots or lettuce successfully.
Nomewome
I am trying to but it’s really hard as every year the weather changes or I get wallabies eating things that in the past they didn’t touch. This year in Tassie wasn’t great for my apples or tomatoes which is a shame as I love to make enough relish to get our family through the winter. I also have plots at a community garden. I’ve just recently inherited a second fridge freezer so maybe I can store more of what I grow. With so many additives in foods now I feel better about cutting back on mass production foods and adding some quality back into our diet.
abarnes
I have a some rels and friends who do like to grow their own fruit and vegies, but that’s not me. Don’t get me wrong, I am full of admiration for people whole can commit the time and effort, and in my mind, you have to be driven by more than higher cost; some do so for the improved taste, freshness (garden to plate) and self satisfaction of knowing you grew that.
When I consider growing my own, I think of ideal locations, soil quality, fertiliser, irrigation, protection from possums, birds, and insect attack. And the very next thought is, thank God we have professionals (farmers) that know what they’re doing. The only thing that would compel me to grow my own or more likely join a community garden, would be if our entire produce production system collapsed.