What more can I do?

survivingtheright

Hey all,

As a family, we are surviving on a very tight budget at the moment due to illness.

But I am fighting back! I've dug in and planed some veg seeds. So far I have sown,

Runner beans,
Courgette,
Cucumber,
Tomato,
Nasturtiums,
Rocket,
Peas,
Chard,
Lettuce,
Salad leaves,
Squashes,
Herbs,
Kale,
And a few other bits and pieces.

I only have limited space, but would love some encouragement on what else I could do. I am currently using growbags and square foot gardening.

I am thinking rhubarb and lettuce grown in gutters?!?

Cheers

Sally_A

A big yes to runner beans, you can freeze them, and collect seed for next year.

Also, non F1 toms such as gardeners delight - if the crop is more than you can eat, slice them in half and pop into an ice cream tub, to use in casseroles, pasta etc.

Squashes need a dry June - Sept, but will store well until following April if need be, leave a long stem when you cut them, and don't use the stem as a "handle", as they rot from stem end.

Peas take up more room than they are worth, and I'd rather do mangetout.

Growbags for toms are cruel in my opinion (insufficient depth), rather than cut the 3 holes in the top as per the diagram, slice the bag in half, and use them as upright pots.

Herbs, basil and sage, I've successfully frozen as whole leaves, and just taken out what I want and when I need it. Pick both before they flower.

forgotmyname

I have noticed decent tasting peas have risen in price. So i am going to do a row this year. Maybe growing my own for the 1st time showed what they really should taste like?

Problem was i ate them directly in the garden. So they never made the kitchen.

D&DD

I have a teeny garden and 4 men to feed plus me so everything has to give me maximum bang for the buck.
I do grow peas but after finding a woeful lack of crop for the time and space discovered tall peas,6 footers which crop really heavily thus making them worthwhile.
I grow bush toms mainly and as well as salad toms I grow Roma/San Merino for pasta sauces and basket toms for drying.

Make sure everything you grow can be either preserved or stored well that way there is absolutely no wastage and maximum food for your outlay.

Staples such as potatoes can be grown for much of the year,earlies,2nd earlies,maincrops,late maincrops and even xmas potatoes.All you need is a sack and a bit of patio if you haven't garden space.

Cucumbers,I grow the mini ones less waste and prolific crops and you can also pickle them if you get gluts.

Grow beetroot,onions etc as a clump,sow about 5 seeds in a cell tray and plant the clump out,they'll push each other apart as they grow.

I sow one bucket a month of carrots to give a constant supply.

And invest in some raspberry canes or look out for free or cheap offers for them/ask friends or neighbours for a clump theres so much you can do with these.

sammyroser

Rhubarb is a great plant to save money long term but you can't cut it the first year (when planted in Dec/Jan) and the next year only take a few stems. But after that it is a free for all for a couple of months. Costs a fortune in supermarkets and a couple of plants will keep you happy in Rhubarb.

Think of anything expensive in the supermarket and look if it's more cost effective to grow at home.

Strawberries take up little room, are a really easy plant to grow and keep and are really expensive, and tasteless in supermarkets. Start with one plant and it creates runners giving you an almost endless supply of new plants (could even grow these on to sell at a car boot). Can grow in pot or in the ground, if grown in a pot remember to keep well watered.

Raspberries too are really expensive in supermarkets and fairly easy to grow. If you do chose to grow these pick an autumn fruiting variety such as autumn bliss, fruits on canes grown the same year, less susceptible to disease and bugs and takes up less room. Just cut to ground level at the end of winter. Look for bargain offers, start with a couple of canes and a few years later you will have 5 times as many. Needs a sunny, wind protected spot. http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/products/1001530#.UYTxD7Xvvnw

Avoid things like onions and potatoes as in my experience it costs more to grow them then to buy value ones in supermarkets/greengrocers and they need a lot of space generally. I do grow expensive salad potato varieties as first earlies in dustbins. Initial cost of the soil is quite high but after the first year you can reuse it either by adding chicken manure pellets or sowing a green manure in the tubs once you've collected your crop. And again I sometimes grow shallots in tubs as one shallot seed will turn into several shallots and you can save and reuse the shallots you've grown for next year.

Leif

forgotmyname wrote: »

Problem was i ate them directly in the garden. So they never made the kitchen.

Isn't that just an effective reduction in food miles?

Leif

You could try making your own compost. Bins do cost money but keep your eyes open and you might find a bargain. I got a wooden 1000L bin for £25 delivered, they have since doubled the price. (Perhaps price varies with season.) And you do not need a bin, compost piles do work, albeit they are messier, and need turning regularly. You might be able to get free stuff to put in the bin. Stables are said to give away poo, and people with horses might. Breweries sometimes give away spent hops, although ours sell the spent malt. Hedge cuttings can be shredded and composted though woody bits take a year to break down. Human urine is a good compost accelerator. Food waste (not meat, fish or fats) can be composted too.

Regarding eating on the cheap, you probably know dried beans are a good source of protein and fibre. Black beans, or turtle beans, are lovely. Lentils are nice in Indian dahls and soups.

You local council tip might have planters for peanuts i.e. cheap. Ours sell large ones for ~20p, but they need cleaning or left out in the weather for a few months.

Pixiechic

In my last house I could only container garden and I successfully grew loads of tomatoes in grow bags, three plants in each. My Dad got me these and they were great

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-Growpot-Growbag-Watering-Pot/dp/B0054Z26US/ref=pd_cp_lp_0

They gave the tomatoes more room to root and watering on the outside bit meant that they didnt dampen off.

Of course, a cheaper alternative is to cut the bottom out a plant pot and use that instead. It will give the plants more room.

(I hope that's not cruel to the plant? )

A._Badger

If saving money is your object, work from a list compiled in your local supermarket. See what you spend most money on (and what is possible to grow here) and that will be your answer.

It will almost certainly be fruit. If you have a freezer, fruit (which is surprisingly easy to grow) usually offers the best savings.

summertime_2

l have to live on a very tight budget too as l cant work due to having ME, but me and hubby manage to grow all our own fruit and salads and quite a lot of veg in our very small garden, and l dont spend a penny on seeds.First we got a hm compost bin going.Then we looked out for all the free seeds that are offered on the internet,usually in the spring to get our veg plots going.l used a few tesco rewards to get fruit trees from thompson 7 morgan,We plant red potatoes l normally buy for meals from the supermarket,using the small ones and chit them on before l plant the in old plastic supermarket shopper bags.Again l got these a few yrs ago from tesco, they are blue with lovely red ladybirds on.Punch a few holes in the bottom, roll them down, plant a few in each and unroll and fill with hm compost as they grow. l make nettle tea fertiizer.l plant the cut off bottoms of shop bought spring onions to regrow.l made friends with other gardeners who were happy to give me rhubarb plants and strawberry runners and raspberry canes.l keep a look out for poundland coupon deals to get fruit bushes, just got a free tayberry from newspaper poundland offer.l never by any pots or containers, l save and recyle everything that may have a use for the garden ie,loo rolls, tins, well washed plastic meat containers,l make all my own lables form marg tubs, paper pots from newspaper, drip trays for pots again plastic trays from supermarketwwe made our own little greenhouse from large plastic sheeting from furniture packaging.We made our own arches for my runner beans to grow up. pea stakes l save all the prunings from my mock orange flower shrub. Look out for websites that give veg seeds aways each yr.Its possible to grow loads and not spend any money so getting yr food for free. Its so rewarding working in the garden in the fresh air.l may not have as much money as others but l think my life is 'richer' than many others.:)

Rummer

I agree with rhubarb suggestion as we have been eating it for weeks now and it is delicious and one of your 5 a day. We cook ours with a splash of orange/apple juice and some ginger and eat it on our porridge. As well as in puddings.

A courgette plant is worth having as they usually produce loads of fruit and can be added to loads of different things.

Herbs help enliven plainer dishes so we have an area of our garden devoted to our favourite herbs. For the same reasons we grow shallots and garlic.

Remember as well if you are short of space to try vertical gardening, there are some great examples of people packing loads of food growing space into a very small area, in fact there is a great thread on here somewhere about it.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2510707

We always have rocket and other cut and come salad leaves as they save us a fortune over the summer.

Remember as well that many veg plants are pretty and can be grown in amongst flowers in the front garden too.