I also grow for the enjoyment of the labour. The exercise is good and my kids get to live outside in the freshair while learning the basics of where their food comes from.
It also tastes so much better straight from the garden.
The veg we use regularly are the ones I try to grow in big patches, there are still spaces to experiment with the less known products.
Excess crops get swapped in the street for other crops from gardeners ( or our hen eggs) and there is the social chat. It has enabled us to get to know newcomers to the street and watch out for each others kids and property ( scrappy Stealers dealers are rife around here ).
I do like taking ideas from gardening presenters and sometimes adapting them to suit myself. It is also a way of discovering new products I would not know what to do with, unless i had seen it on tv.