My 6 MOST cost-effective vegetables you can grow yourself

Here are my top vegetables to grow at home if you're looking to save some cash:

Taking the top spot is the versatile curly kale. It is healthy, low in calories and a great cooking ingredient. A packet of seeds only costs around a £1, and it only takes around six weeks to be ready to harvest. Comparing this to supermarket costs, it's clear to see how growing your own is a bargain. With an endless supply of the stuff all summer, you'll be adding it to stir-fry, mixing it through pasta or even making taste kale crisps.

Not requiring much space to grow, tomatoes are ideal for smaller gardens or even balconies. Tomato plants take around 12 weeks until they are ready for harvest. On top of this relatively quick growing period, the plant can produce fresh tomatoes every day for up to six years. This means that you can have a potential saving of £52 a year, based on buying one box of tomatoes each week. With several varieties available to grow from seed, you can have small salad varieties, great for tossing through whole, or giant Plum tomatoes that can actually be used as the main part of a meal.

In third place, but actually my favourite plant to grow, is the ever-popular lettuce. Grow your own and save money! One seed packet will provide well over five months worth of the vegetable, and by staggering your planting you can have fresh salad leaf 12 months of the year. Comparing this to supermarket costs, you could generate a saving on average of around £40 annually. The very versatile mixed leaf salad, can be grown in almost every climate, and any condition. Great in vast swathes in raised beds, but also compact enough to be grown on windowsills in small trays.

Broccoli takes a little bit more care and attention than the previously mentioned vegetables, but given the riggt conditions will only take between 8 and 12 weeks to grow. Each plant will offer two pounds of broccoli and will save you plenty of cash, plus it knocks the spots off of any frozen comparison.

In Britain we eat A LOT of spuds, approximately 429g of potatoes per person, every week. So it's clear to see how popular they are. Growing your own potato plant will produce around 9 potatoes per plant. If the average four-packet of potatoes in a supermarket is priced at £1, whereas an average seed pack with five seed potatoes grows 45 potatoes for as little as £1.50, you can start to see how cost effective growing them can be.

You'll need a little patience when it comes to growing asparagus as it can take up to two years for the plant to be ready for harvest. But it's sure to be kind to your bank balance as the asparagus plant will continue to produce the vegetable for up to 20 years. It does require some care and attention, but early harvested asparagus shoots grilled on the bbq and drowned in butter, is one of the nicest tastes you can grow. I don't grow any personally as I don't have the space, or specific soil type(sandy and free draining) to grow great shoots. If your garden allows the space for a raised bed dedicated to these garden gems, then you will definitely be rewarded.

Thinking about it now, I could have extended this list 10 fold... Not only does the benefit of growing your own vegetables reach your bank balance, but health benefits and spending time with the family have no price attached to them.