Now is the perfect time of year for gardeners to prepare for the coming year – and if you are smart you could save a small fortune on your grocery bill.

Recent research has shown that people who grow their own vegetables spend on average £202 a year. This sounds like a lot, but when you weigh that against the fact that to buy that food in shops it would have cost £1,564! That is an incredible saving!

With food prices seemingly on the rise every week, growing as much of your own food as you can is fast becoming a viable option for many people and interest in ‘growing your own’ is expected to soar.

While there is a steep learning curve that comes with growing your own vegetables, there is plenty of information available online and you can even make use of sites like netvouchercodes.co.uk to buy a book about growing some veg at a discount or the relevant tools from a DIY store.

Many parents who grow their own vegetables have said that their children enjoy it and love to be involved in producing the food they eat. As a result, kids are more likely to eat the greens they have grown which is always a good thing.

It is not all easy going and big savings, though, the obvious requirement of a vegetable plot is that it requires time and effort.

If you have the time to give it a go, it can save you an awful lot of money even if you feel like you spend much of your free time keeping your vegetable patch weed free.

An alternative to doing all the work yourself or keeping it in the family is to find like-minded people and enter into a larger venture.

Maybe an allotment that you can share and that can easily provide everyone involved with enough fruit and vegetables for a year. This kind of set up can be very rewarding as it can lead to new friendships and also sharing your knowledge to make your harvests more successful.

Do you have an allotment? Are you into growing your own?

If you could grow your own, what would you grow?

*This post was written in partnership with Laura Louise*