How Gardening Can Save You Money
Friday, December 4, 2020, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
If you’re ready to eat a healthier diet and want a better grasp on your food supply, consider starting a small garden.
No matter where you live if you have a spot where you can provide plants with nutrients, light, and a manageable temperature for at least part of the year, you can save money and improve your own health.
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Know What You’re Eating
For those who want to eat organic but really don’t have space in their budget, a small garden can make a big difference. To start, consider buying some of your favorite veggies as small plants from a nursery. If you have a space for a grow light, get seed trays and some good potting soil to start your plants from seeds.
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Turn Food Waste Into Soil
Start a compost pile. Make sure that you study what will compost and what won’t; for example, vegetable matter and some paper can be composted, but meat products and anything with a lot of greases, won’t. Rotting is a method of composting, but if your compost smells like rot, the wrong bacteria have joined your team.
Instead, you want to break up things that smell bad and introduce air so the compost actually breaks down effectively. You can turn ordinary kitchen scraps into the soil with a bit of ground space, four pallets to make up the sides of your compost pile, and a tool to keep your compost turned. Depending on where you live, you can add straw and grass clippings to your compost to lighten up the product.
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Dig a Great Hole
A new plant, whether you’ve grown it in your seedling trays or bought it from the garden center, will need loose soil and probably a little fertilizer to get going. Even if the plant was free, dig a million-dollar hole to give it a good start.
If your soil is heavy and sticky, add compost or wood chips as you turn it over to boost the organic content. If your soil is sandy and quickly loses moisture, add compost around the plants once they’re settled in, keep things watered, and consider adding a cover crop at the end of the gardening season to promote moisture retention and soil health.
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Don’t Fight the Seasons
Pay attention to how much daylight your plants will need. One of the big challenges, even for experienced gardeners, is how to extend the season. For example, in the midwestern United States, many people want to plant tomatoes in March or April. However, the volunteers generally come up in May. By planting too early, you actually put stress on the plant and limit the growing season.
You may be able to raise the temperature with a greenhouse or plastic sheeting, but you can’t change the hours of daylight. If you want to plant early, look for cold-tolerant greens. If you love fresh spinach, be aware that you’re probably going to struggle to grow it in the Southern United States in July and August; it’s just too hot.
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When You’re Inundated
A good year for zucchini, cucumbers, or tomatoes can lead to a planting pledge of “never again!” However, with a few simple tools, you can turn an overrun of veggies into bounty all winter long. Use a food processor and shred zucchini. Freeze it in two cup freezer bags for breads and cakes.
Consider getting a dehydrator for tomatoes, or freeze them in vacuum bags until you’re ready to make a sauce. Then thaw the tomatoes, slip off the skins, and run them through the food processor.
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When You Have No Dirt
For those who dwell in cities and have no space for a garden, consider building a window farm. These hydroponic growing tools cycle enriched water, also called liquid soil, from plant to plant to support growing food. It’s functionally similar to what the astronauts use to grow food in space.
A pump at the bottom sends water to the plants that hang in bottles from the top of the window. Plants are suspended in clay pebbles for those who simply don’t have the space for soil. These farms are customizable and fun.
Growing your own food is fun, interesting, and endlessly interesting. You don’t have to grow much to enjoy a remarkable sense of accomplishment as you toss a salad or slice up an eggplant to grill. Enjoy!
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