Growing tomatoes-Financially worthwhile?

BOXtheFOX

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So I bought the tomato plants. About a foot tall at the moment. I bought the growbags. I bought the tomato feed. So far I have spent about €20. I have also put in a fair amount of work getting this organised.
I notice I can purchase a kilo bag of Irish grown tomatoes in my local greengrocer for €2. There is about 20 medium sized tomatoes in each bag and quite tasty.

So by my reckoning I could have purchased about 200 tomatoes for the money spent so far.

Why would I want to grow my own?
 
The taste far, far exceeds anything you can buy, even the most expensive vine tomatoes. Also, you have no air miles if that kind of thing bothers you (even Irish grown commercial tomatoes will have some carbon footprint as they're grown in heated, irrigated greenhouses to get a headstart). In addition, you know that they haven't been doused in every chemical under the sun.

I take it you've never eaten a tomato straight off the plant - once you taste one the first time, I guarantee you'll grow them every year. It's the one vegetable I would never not grow myself. They're easy, pretty much labour free, and highly productive.
 
Yes,
I agree. Any person who grows their own produce will rarely do so far commercial reasons. The taste is everything. You can eat them like apples.
 
I agree with everybody who said the taste is spectacular, but also the freshness - it's obviously impossible to buy something that was picked 5 seconds ago.

And remember, you never have to run out to the shops to buy tomatoes for a salad or a pasta, you only have to run out to the garden. So in that sense they're pretty much a convenience food ;)
 
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