Save Money By Growing Your Own Fruits And Vegetables

Posted in Front Page ESTAS BLOGS

Friday August 13, 2010

Growing your own fruits and vegetables is one of the most beneficial things you can do not only for your wallet, but for your health and the environment.

Gardening does require a bit of time and practice, but once you taste and smell the freshly picked fruit and vegetables from your garden - you will be hooked!

As a beginner gardener myself, I have had my fair share of plants not sprouting, birds and insects eating my vegetables before I do, and some plants just not doing very well at all. But I have also had great successes with other vegetables that have completely thrived, and given us vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, and capsicums for months.

After a few failed attempts, I finally successfully grew carrots this year -  and they are the crunchiest and sweetest carrots I have ever eaten. Plus they smell AMAZING! I didn’t even realise a carrot could smell like that! That alone has been enough inspiration to do more gardening, and the failed attempts are all but forgotten.

And if you don’t think you are much of a green thumb, don’t worry I used to struggle to keep my pot plants alive – so there is hope for everyone!

If you are inspired to start a garden of your own, here are a few quick tips -

• Start off small with just one or two plants to begin with while you are learning to build up your skills and confidence.
• Choose plants that are relatively easy to grow and maintain when starting out, like herbs and tomatoes.
• Make sure to read and follow the planting guide to give the best chance of your fruit and vegetables growing successfully. It will tell you when to plant, how much sun (so you can select the best spot to plant them) and water they require, how much spacing they need between each plant, and how long they take to grow.
• Prepare your soil well by breaking up and turning the soil. Also add compost, and regularly weed so your plant isn’t competing for water and nutrients with the weeds.
• If you don’t have much room, look into what you can grow in the space you have. Lettuce can be grown in boxes, and tomatoes and herbs can be grown in pots and even hanging baskets. Other vegetables like cucumbers and squash can be trained upwards on a trellis to take up less room.
• Planting seeds will be cheaper than buying established plants, so use your empty yoghurt and cottage cheese containers as little greenhouses to raise your seeds. Then just transplant them into your garden or pot.
• Invest 10 or 15 minutes to research the fruit or vegetable you are planting to find out any tips and tricks for that plant, what insects or bugs to look out for, and anything else that will help you. It will be time well spent as you will have fewer chances of things going wrong, and becoming an expert one plant at a time will turn you into an expert gardener in no time.
• If you are really busy and tend to forget things, make notes in your dairy to water and check your plants; delegate jobs out to other people in your household so that everyone is involved and participates; and incorporate it into your routine i.e. water garden when you get home from work etc.
• Just make a start, and have fun!

To celebrate all things gardening, we currently have a fantastic new competition to win a Vegetable Growing Pack, kindly sponsored by Yates.

To find out more and enter the competition click here.

---

Previous Article: FREEBIE: Design Your Own Free KLM Luggage Tags
Next Article: New Competition Posted - Brisbane Budget Bites

---

Name	Remember (Required)
E-mail	(Required, will not be published)
Website
	First you must click PREVIEW, then click SUBMIT