help in feeding family of 5

RAS

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Pretty sure there has been, try searching the forum. IIRC for the basics of root veg. your not going to grow the quantities a family needs without an allotment.

For much produce, you have the problem of gluts and having to find ways of preserving and/or freezing, and it costs money in jars and ingredients to make jam and pickle onions etc.

Fancy stuff like pink fir apple potatoes you can grow cheaper in theory, but you may as well just seek out bargains in the shops on Sunday evening.

Given the OPs location, it may be worth while looking out for farms selling sacks of root vegetables or checking agricultural merchants for sacks of "horse carrots"; basically over-sized produce according to supermarket rules.

With respect to jams; I now make very few but the cost of a kilo of sugar is 85p and with free fruit from foraging, offering to harvest out trees in exchange for produce and later growing the family can have really high quality excellent tasting products that cost about the same as supermarket pulp slime. And there is little competition for crops like hawthorn and rowan that can be added to apple etc to make "savoury" jams. Lovely with cold meats and winter salads or to boost a gravy.

If you are prepared to use malt vinegar pickles and chutneys can be made for even less; brambles, sloes, crab apples, bullace, elderberries are all free. Chances are that someone somewhere will want to be rid of some bruised fruit or a glut of marrows. You may need some onions though.

Gluts can be reduced by growing small amounts of lots of things; check out square foot gardening as an idea. Having said that I am dealing with the cuc glut at the moment, from two plants.

I will be planting a late row of mangetout this weekend; they usually last through to Christmas through frost and rain, although they pop their clogs at -19 degrees. They would grow really well in a greenhouse and Jo Maiden grows a few hanging baskets full; out of the reach of mice.

grannyjo

google - or local community centre or library for local gardening club- or even try to start one - to share plants, seeds, cuttings etc.
Also if you have horses nearby, the owners are often very happy to give horse manure for free- but it must be stored for a while if not well rotted down=
I've had a lot of success this year with mange tout ,different lettice leaves and spinich which just keeps going for the last 2 years. I also compost down nearly every bit of green waste. I dig a hole, about 2 feet cubed, cover with carpet and put in peel, leaves,small twigs, some paper, cores of apples etc. Then cover with soil for last 4-5 inches. I plant things and they seem to like it. When I dig it up, Its full of little red compost worms and the soil is beautiful. I have gradually filled a raised bed in this way. My son in law wanted me to buy a ton of top soil but I said it was more fun this way. good luck

Cally_Smart

This is the little area of wasted space that we made into a little raised bed to grow a few vegetables.There's beetroot ,chard,broad beans,mange tout.lettuce.It gets overhead sun at midday but is a little shady at other times. So, I have tried to choose vegetables that dont mind this & put the herbs at the sunnier end! There's a Bramley apple tree in a pot & we have had strawberries already.Just an idea of what you can do in a small space.

Sally_A

Not read the whole thread, but I remember sowing flower buckets with dwarf French beans in the greenhouse a few years ago, that would have been Sept/Oct time. 5 beans to a flower bucket, or you could probably get 7 or 8 to a builders bucket with drainage holes. They were cropping up until early December.

However, please bear in mind the money you spend on buckets, soil and seeds will probably exceed the cost of similar frozen veg, especially in the first year.

ALIBOBSY

We got some compost for free from our local council earlier in the year, and they usually do another giveaway in autumn- watching their site as we speak lol. With that and freebies of pots-got loads off freegle and also saved pots and tubs ourselves you can grow surprisingly cheaply.
But as other posters have said it all depends on what you have tools/compost/space wise.

Good Luck

Ali x

seeking_happines

thankyou for all the great ideas

we have a quite large garden, with a largish green house
i have some pots and trays and most of the spades etc that i shall need, i used to garden about 10 yrs ago but with very young children and ill health have done nothing since, am now getting better and the kids are of an age to do the heavy digging etc,

im going to have to get the compostheap going and have nearly got the green house cleared out and de weeded,

i will try to find the cash for a few fruit bushes and canes as sugested.

also will keep an eye out for reduced seeds and plants.

purpleheather2810

Don't buy fertiliser!! Ever!! It's completely unnecessary to feed most things - but if you really want to feed your plants then make your own fertiliser by putting some nettles in a bucket with some water and let them rot down for a few weeks. It will look and smell pretty fowl but put some in your watering can topped up with water and water your veggies with it. Ditto for male urine!!

Save egg shells, break them up and put around plants to deter slugs. Coffee grounds are good for this if you or someone you know drinks filter coffee (get it from a coffee shop if you have one nearby - I know Starbucks will give you for free).

Don't buy plastic plant pots. Raid your recycling instead. Food tins, punnets from mushrooms, yoghurt pots (especially the big ones), meat trays etc - all of these things, well washed, can be used as seed trays or for bigger plants.

Hope this helps!

danih

Our local homebase reduces plants every week. I have thriving collection of herbs growing outside in pots. Some have been going for years, all bought for 50p or less homebase.

PetuliaGristle

We picked up some growbags from our local Homebargains recently, £1 per bag, it's worth checking if your nearest DIY shop or discount shop are reducing theirs to clear stock. Hope this helps.

I've been lurking and occasionally posting on the Elite thread on the Bargain Buys, Sassy Shopping and Fantastic Freebies board, I definitely recommend a look for tips on making the most of your resources. I'm still learning!

seeking_happines

just a quick update.....

have been busy, we have 29 garlic cloves in post, winter cababage,and globe artichokes sown ...i know the kids wont eat the artichokes but i love them and any surplus can be sold at the gate which is something we will do with any surplus so as to bring in a little more cash, onion seeds to go in this week also a patch of ground in the green house is nearly clear for a few late carrots .
the compost area should also be done by the end of the week. so far apart form a few seed that we have bought at reduced prices the main cost was on a red currant bush which i can take cuttings from to grow more bushes and 8 rasbery canes, i ad 6 strawberry plants given to me by a freind so hopefully they will produce runners to get more from them.:T

oh yes also lettice sown on the window sill. out side in large tubs i have sage, mint, chives ,rosemary and thyme.with parsley on the kitchen window.

so we have made a start and the work is doing me good and helping me get better and loose weight ..:D

question when is it best to plant rhubarbe?