How to spend less money on gardening basics

Liz_M

Hellooo again! I've had a super busy weekend but done some bits of planting etc in between.

I've ordered some of these for the strawberries http://direct.asda.com/ASDA-Strawberry-Grow-Bag-2-pack/001677410,default,pd.html so I'll be planting those up asap - they probably needed planting as soon as I got them but I havn't had a lot of time and couldn't decide what to plant them in!

Now that I've got all my other courgettes an other stuff sorted (I was planting these out a couple at a time whenever I got a spare 20 mins so this took forever!) I'm gonna use 2 of my trough thingies - one for some lettuce and one for carrots. These have both failed me so far so hopefully I will have better luck! The carrots I planted in a round tub weeks ago are showing no signs of movement (possibly overwatered) and the lettuce I planted around the same time and kept indoors has sprouted and is growing but at the moment just looks like huge multicoloured cress! Not sure how they're supposed to look but they look very thin and lanky!

I'm thinking that I should start feeing my courgettes and beans (and possibly the strawberries?) but not sure what to use. I don't want to spend loads but I don't want to just go and get the cheapest I can in case I get something rubbish! Do different plants need different feeds? I've seen tomato feed and I will have tomatoes eventually so will I need to get one feed for them and one for everything else?

My french beans have greenfly! There's not that many and I've picked some off and squished them (by putting them on the floor and using my foot... I can't squish them with my fingers!). The plants still seem to be ok but I know the aphids aren't good for them so I'm trying to decide whether to spray them with a solution of washing up liquid or just leave them for now and hope that ladybirds appear. My yard is a little concrete one and I don't think there's many gardens around so not sure whether good bugs like ladybirds and bees will be around the area. There is a park at the end of the street though!

Thanks again for all your help everyone, I am putting all the tips together and using as many of thm as I can!