How to spend less money on gardening basics

Liz_M

Hi everyone,

I'm new to gardening and trying to grow veg in a small paved yard. I just wrote a really long post describing my efforts so far and the problems I've encountered but then decided it was too long so I'll try to summarise! (I can explain all my efforts so far if anyone is interested though)

I've spent too much so far. I think my main mistake was thinking that B&M containers were a good bargain at a couple of quid here and there. Now that I have lots of plants needing to go outside, these quids are all adding up!

We're trying to save for other things so I need to really cut down how much I'm spending and there's a few mre things I need. Any ideas on cheap ways of doing these would be much appreciated!

1. I bought some long narrow trough type containers thinking I could fit 2 or 3 courgette/bean plants in each. I since read that courgettes need more room so bought some builders buckets (starting to learn that something marked as a planter isn't always cheapest!). I don't want to waste the long tubs so I'm hoping to plant my beans (french beans) in them. They're not very tall or wide but they're 80cm long - can I fit 2 or 3 plants in these? I'm thinking I should stick to 2 to be safe...

2. I bought some bamboo canes from B&Q (again not the cheapest but I didn't know where else to go!) and can't work out how to build a support in this narrow trough thing. I was thinking of just doing2 canes in a A or X shape and leaning against the wall, but I'm worried that this will be a way of slugs getting to them.

3. I need some more copper tape! B&M's 97p a roll sounds cheap but when you have lots of tubs to put it around, 2 metres doesn't go very far! Is there somewhere I can buy cheaper copper tape? (I'm using egg shells and coffee grounds too but trying a bit of everything as there were loads of slugs around last summer)

4. I bought 6 strawberry plants on offer and don't have a way of hanging a basket (rented house so don't want to start drilling holes). The strawberry planters I've seen so far are all £10 - £15 so could do with an alternative that won't take up loads of room and will also protect against slugs preferably!

5. Compost - I've just bought some more today from B&Q - it was just under £6 for 125l so this is cheaper than what I bought from B&M although I havn't opened it yet so not sure if it's rubbish. Hoping I won't need a lot more but if I do then is this the best deal or should I be looking elsewhere?

6. Will chantenay carrots grow ok in an empty compost bag half ful and stood on it's end with the sides rolled down a bit? I read this tip on here somewhere but not sure if it works for everything! I bought 2 round pots for them but if I decide to sow more, I don't want to buy more pots if I can use something else!

That's all I can think of for now - there are probaby other things but I'll wait and see if anyone can help me with these first before I start piling on more questions!

Thanksin advance for any help you can offer!

Zazen999

Go to morrisons and get the flower pots which are 8 for 99p. Spend your money on good compost. You don't need copper tape, just a pack of organic slug pellets will sort the slugs out. You can put carrots, strawbs, beans, toms, peppers...pretty much anything in those morrisons pots.

Bunnygirl

Poundland sell these and people use them for strawberry
http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/trio-planter/

If you dont want to use slug pellet i am trying copper scouring pads again from poundland pull them apart and threaded them onto wire then wrap around pots

Myself I would put more french bean plants 4 per trough

Fay

Hi, welcome to growing your own. I'm in a rush but a couple of points:
-if the troughs aren't very deep you could risk tall plants, like beans, getting blown over. Unless you have bought the dwarf French beans? I've done French beans in the flower buckets mentioned above, 3 canes made into a wigwam with three plants and they grew great.
-are the chantany carrots you have the small variety? If so I would be tempted to do those in a trough?
-I use troughs like yours for salad leaves, particularly cut and come again varieties as you can sow half the trough and wait 10 days or so and then sow the other half then start your next trough and on and on
-copper tape is expensive but works-although mine has all peeled off now after about 2 years-from terracotta pots though
-head over to the help mr bad example grow his dinner thread and look up the older threads from it too-some excellent advice and the first year he grew veg was particularly helpful

sussexbaker

RHS Wisley has a couple of big bins in their carpark which they dump used pots into so that people can take them away to resuse. Since discovering that I'd not consider buying a plastic pot. I'm sure if Wisley do it then other nurseries must as well.

dinosaver

Homebase often have spare pots left by the cash tills for you to take away and a second vote here for poundland for strawberry/veg bags and various other bits. If you have clubcard points then you could double them up and get planters etc from tescos but that means more compost of course! Oh, poundstretcher generally have loads of stuff including the canes. A good idea is to stock up at the end of the season for bits. One year I got loads of packets of seeds for just pence at pounstretcher and I'm still using them now.

morg_monster

Maybe use the long troughs for the strawberries? I have a couple of "proper" strawberry pots, but most of mine are just in normal (big) plant pots, and also the morrison's flower pots mentioned in an above post (with holes drilled in the bottom). The only reason for the strawberry pots in particular is that you can get a few more plants in around the sides, and they have space to hang down, but really it doesn't matter at all. They can hang down around the edge of a normal pot or trough. Also strawberries are ace because after fruiting, they put out loads of "runners" and each of those is a new plant!! I bought 6 plants in yr one, had about 25 in year two, and now I have so many that after replacing any 3rd year plants, potting up new ones, and giving them away to anyone who comes to our house between April and May, I still end up chucking some because I just have no more room.

I would hold off on the copper tape. I know the last two years were bad for slugs but we had SO MUCH rain. This year has been miles better so far and shows no sign of starting the prolonged wet weather that the slugs really love. I don't use slug pellets (we have cats) and usually rely on late night slug-hunting trips with either a wooden kebab stick or a pair of scissors. This time last year I was counting 50-60 slugs just around my patio pots EVERY night even after a week of doing these hunts every night. This year I find two or three a night and most are very small. Having said that I have bought nematodes which are supposed to work really well - they did cost £10 but did the whole garden and should last for the season, could be more cost effective. (as someone else says pellets are cheap too)

If it's any consolation, I spent so much ££ the first year of our garden, buying pots, bamboo canes, netting, fleece, tools, more tools, little greenhouses and cold frames from wilkos etc. Spent much less the next year, and now all I buy is compost to fill the pots, seeds and sometimes plants; and occasionally a new tool (this year, a lawn edger). So much of the stuff you are buying now is reusable or lasts a long long time.

Liz_M

Thank you all so much! I was starting to feel a bit rubbish about it all, thinking that I'd spent too much and wishing I'd not started. Which was bad because the day before I was really excited about it! I think it was partly because I couldn't work out how to make supports for the beans in any of the tubs I'd bought so I thought I'd have to buy something else and REALLY didn't want to go spending loads more. I read these replies while I was on my lunch break at work, and started feeling loads better about it all. Then on the way home went and got the morrisons buckets - they said 8 for 99p on the label but there were actually 13 in the bundle! (Also happened to be the time they were reducing lots of food so that worked out well too). I hadn't read this properly so I was thinking that I should put 1 bean plant in each pot with a wigwam... so I've put all 3 into separate pots and put wigwams of canes on 2 so far. Debating whether to go and get the 3rd one out of it's pot and stick it in with one of the others now!

I had a look in poundland (or poundworld... not sure which, I always get them mixed up) and spotted those trio planters - they're 3 for 2 at the moment too but left them for now until I decide whether to use them or whether to just give the troughs or morrisons buckets a go for the strawberries.

I have got some lettuce growing in a slightly shorter trough - more like a window box really and I'm keeping them inside because of my fear or slugs... but after being reassured that slugs might not munch everything I put outside within 24hours, I might stick one of these long ones outside with some more lettuce in - can never have too much lettuce. Don't think I'll be saying the same about courgettes though if all of my plants survive - I've got 7 of them!

Also seem to have about 14 tomato plants sprouting so those will be the next challenge to plant out - think that's a few weeks away yet though.

This is a bit of a noobie question but do things like courgettes and french beans die off once they're done making fruit or do they last for years?

With the strawberries and their runners... does that mean that the runners become small plants and the big (parent I guess?) plant dies off... or does the parent produce again next year too?

Thanks again everyone for making me feel better with all your help!

Leif

I've used troughs that size for round carrots, chillis (2 plants) and herbs and I have some Chinese Cabbage in one now. Bush tomatoes might do okay, maybe two plants, no more. They do need watering often when growing chillis and tomatoes. My late mother had a tomato plant in one, it did okay, not great, but she liked picking a couple and eating them every now and then.

Sources of cheap containers include Freecycle and your council tip. They often have a room with rescued stuff in, and people throw out planters.

morg_monster

Courgettes and french beans last one season, so they will produce for a while and then die off. If you look after them well and the weather cooperates they could keep producing til september or even longer depending on variety. But you don't need to worry about where you're going to put them over the winter.

With strawberries, the parent plant puts out runners each year, and it doesn't die - but after three years it stops producing such good fruit, so most things I've read say to chuck plants after their third summer. The runners are little plants (have you ever had spider plants, they're similar to how they push out little baby plants on long stems), what I do is put them on the surface of little pots of compost/soil once they've got to a reasonable size and are hanging down as far as the ground, and pin them down with a hair grip. They root into the soil and you can then snip them off the mother plant. Over the winter they can all be left outside in their little pots - they will look a bit sorry for themselves and some leaves will go brown and die off, but don't worry, they will be fine. Then in April once it starts warming up again, they will start to show signs of life again and you can plant the babies in their own big pots ready for the next season.

morg_monster

It does seem overwhelming when you start out, you have such big ideas about what you're going to do, and sometimes you can just do too much! I know I did during our first summer in our house. I went crazy with seeds and there were pots of soil all over the windowsills, then pots and bags all over the garden and patio, it was really hard to keep up with watering, feeding, deadheading, tying stems in, harvesting, checking for pests, etc. So the next year I did less and now I've got it down to a fine art and know what's worth it for us; eg I just plant one type of potato and don't do too many bags, a few tomato plants (first year i planted about 8 and lots of it just rotted, there's a limit to how much you can eat raw and working full time I just didn't have enough hours in the day to cook them), lettuce, courgette, climbing french beans (after 2 years I admitted to myself I didn't actually like runner beans). We have a pick your own place nearby so when I'm tempted by things like sweetcorn or soft fruit other than strawberries, I just tell myself I can go buy it there and it'll taste just as good.

This year I even decided to forgo the seed stage for tomatoes and courgettes and bought plants from a garden centre instead which was SO liberating!!! Although I do feel a bit of a cheat...