Eating locally and using British products in my cooking is incredibly important to me.
This weekend, a long-standing dream of mine has come true and I am now the proud owner of chickens! So farm-fresh eggs will be used daily here in my kitchen.
Our homegrown produce is also ready to start harvesting – so apples, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, beetroots and peppers.
We still have lots of home-reared pork in the freezer, along with lots of other British meat from the butchers. I also love the fact that we have milk from our local milkman!
It’s a long process that I keep tweaking but we are slowly, as a family, becoming more sustainable with our meals.
I have got big plans for the garden this year. BIG plans.
As part of my money saving journey I want to efficiently use the outdoor space I have to grow food. Dan and I have planned that our next big purchase will be a chest freezer and then whatever fruit and veg’ I grow this year, I can freeze the surplus or make it into dishes and then freeze. It will also be useful to store larger amounts of meat meaning that I can plan meals without the need to go shopping every week.
This post is me documenting how I am saving money in the garden. Bear in mind I am an amateur so any tips or advice you have then please let me know in the comments below!
Greenhouse – Storm Eunice destroyed my second-hand plastic greenhouse so to start seedlings this year I am using upside down clear plastic storage boxes and also 2 x basic seed propagators I picked up from B & Q. I keep these in our unheated wooden porch overnight but then in the day I put them out on the patio to try and encourage the seedlings to harden up. The temperature can still drop over night to below freezing so I am reluctant to leave them out constantly until I know it will stay warmer. Also, you do not need any fancy pots to start seedlings – I just reuse the plastic trays you buy flowers in and then transplant the seeds into the pot/ground but if you are looking for a compostable option then use toilet roll centres or large egg trays. No need to buy any fancy pots!
Compost – I used to buy bags and bags of compost but this year I will be using my own compost bin and the ever-growing muck heap of horse manure! The previous owners of the house left a compost bin behind so I have placed in on to 4 patio slabs to make an even base and have started using it. I put in grass cuttings, leaves that I’ve swept from the garden or courtyard and paper. I also have a little bin in my kitchen that I put eggshells, vegetable cuttings and fruit peels which I then tip into the compost bin. Every so often you mix it all round to help it break down but other than that, you let the worms do their thing!
Seeds – I have still got lots of seeds that are in date to grow this year so I don’t think I will need to buy any at all. Also, I have potatoes chitting in the pantry so will plant those instead of buying sets. I also always have a plant swap/seed swap with my Grandparents so they will be growing me tomatoes, cucumbers, chilli and pepper seedlings and I usually then grow them some runner beans and then prepare some pickled beetroot for them.
Garden layout – As much I would love to head to my nearest garden centre, purchase multiple raised bed kits and make my garden look tidy and uniformed, my bank account is saying NO! So rather than buy them I am trying to use what I have laying around the farm to make things look tidy. So bricks, odd bits of wood, second hand patio slabs and an edge cutter are helping to make borders and different ‘areas’.
Water collection – the farm harvest rainwater into 1000L IBC water tanks so this year I will be doing the same. Rainwater is so much more natural for young plants as there is a lack of any chemicals so using only this to feed the plants should help keep them strong.
Jars and storage – For the past year I have been saving every plastic takeaway container and every glass jar. My family have been doing the same so I now have an ample collection ready to use when I need to store my food! This year I am going to grow the following:
Strawberries, carrots, onions (red and white), beetroots, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, chillis, peppers, leeks, pickling cucumbers, dwarf French beans, peas and sugar snap peas, raspberries, rhubarb, lettuces, rocket, kale and blackcurrants. With this lot I will hopefully have enough fresh produce to eat through the summer and then whiz up into jams, pickled beetroot and onions, portions of vegetable to freeze, chunky tomato sauces, curry sauces and also puddings!
So with my plans in place and the days getting warmer, I have started garden maintenance to ensure that my harvest is worthwhile. Little and often I will get the garden into shape. Spring is not far away and I cannot wait!
Now that we’ve lost the light in the evenings and the mornings are usually cold and damp, it makes it very hard to find motivation to spend time in the garden.
Just on Friday morning I was out there in my PJs, wellingtons and hair thrown up in a messy bun getting soaked in the rain – all before work. Many of you know that I adore my little garden and I’m so proud to have transformed it from a blank space in to a prosperous little fruit and vegetable patch. This year, as strange as it’s been for everything surrounding Covid-19, I’ve fallen in love with gardening and have developed a passion for growing my own food. Next year will undoubtedly be bigger and better but I’d love to know if you have any tips and if there are any plants that I should be focussing my energy on!
Tomatoes: these are the gift that keeps on giving! My favourite fruit to grow as their yield is so fantastic. I’ve still got twelve out of thirteen of my original tomato plants, a mixture of Red Alert, Red Cherry and Gardener’s Delight, still growing fruits and I must have had over 300 tomatoes from my garden. I use a lot of tomatoes in my cooking and will also pop them like sweets now I know how good a homegrown tomato actually tastes. Next year I would like to try and grow some bigger tomato varieties – any suggestions would be welcome!
Cucumbers: for anyone following my Instagram stories you’ll know that I’ve had a LOT of cucumber plants this year. For some reason I just can’t keep them alive and I do everything I can! Is there some magic trick?! Can any seasoned gardener help me?! I’ve had about 11 plants in total and I’ve managed to grow 2 cucumbers. My Grandparents have harvested up to 20 cucumbers from that number of plants so I know my yield isn’t normal.
Runner beans: Another disaster. I had 3 plants that produced a total of 2 runner beans. They were watered and cared for but produced a lot of flowers and nothing else. Obviously I need to work on getting natural pollinators to my garden (which means flower shopping!!!) but has anybody else had an AWFUL year with their beans?!
Melons: I’ve had 6 melon plants, 2 of which actually produced a form of melon which quickly went rotten. A heartbreaking find as I was so excited to taste it but I have harvested the seeds ready to try again next year. I still have 1 melon growing that is currently slightly bigger than a golf ball so stay tuned…
Chillies: these hot little rockets are great to grow and will be returning in 2021. I had 4 plants and I’m still harvesting! I did have to google why my chillies were turning black but, do not panic, that is normal. I’ve got a mixture of red and green chillies, all super-hot, that I throw in my pasta and curry dishes – I just love spice!
Strawberries: a very short-lived crop but I will definitely be creating a strawberry patch in 2021. The 3 little plants I had produced a few strawberries which I quickly ate – I think I need to invest in about 20 more plants!
Potatoes: I harvested quite a few small potatoes this year from a barrel planter and I’m definitely going to be planting these again. I’ve really enjoyed roasting these in a little oil with some salt and the skin left on. They’re dead easy to grow – you literally just leave them and drizzle some water every so often.
Carrots: I’ve still got these to dig up – fingers crossed that they’re delicious!
Salad planter: earlier this year I created a planter out of an old palette – an idea I saw on Pinterest. I must admit, the salad I did harvest from this was lovely but I didn’t plant anywhere near enough seeds! A lesson learnt for next year.
Pumpkin plant: I’ve had 0 pumpkins. I’m not sure why but I don’t think I will try again next year. I did buy the plant on a whim and I’ve had loads of flowers but nothing has materialised.
That’s my roundup done. I’ve had a mixed bag of luck this year but, for my first every try at gardening, I’m pretty proud of what I achieved. I’ve got lots of ideas for next year and the moment I get a bigger garden I am creating a huge allotment space. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.
At the beginning of the year I wanted to start growing my own fruit and vegetables. I’ve grown up with grandparents who always used their garden space to help stock the kitchen. I remember going to their house where she’d let us eat the juicy red tomatoes she had just picked from her greenhouse. I didn’t like tomatoes then; now, 20 years later, I use them in every dish.
My mum also made an allotment space at the bottom of the garden. This would be full of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot and runner beans. There were also apple trees, plum trees and cherry trees, as well as potatoes, chilli’s and peppers growing in pots. We’d make apple crumble, potato salad, plum jam and then use the rest to bulk out meal ideas. I loved digging through the potato trough to find the tatties for tea and finding extra apples to feed my horse – usually when we had too many and they were starting to go over.
Since moving out last year with my partner Dan, our small patch of lawn (fenced in by rotting panels with weeds taking over the patio) just didn’t quite fill me with the same excitement. Our rental contract said we weren’t allowed to change the layout of the garden which meant growing things in pots. I’m not a seasoned gardener so wasn’t sure where to start. I remember walking round our local garden centre in early March with the intention of stocking up on pots, compost and seeds but left empty-handed.
I wasn’t put off though. I follow lots of gardening blogs so after consulting my Grandparents about what was best to grow, I purchased some deep troughs and a half-barrel trough ready to plant some potatoes, strawberries and leeks. This was a good start and I felt so accomplished. This led me to spiralling and buying more seeds…
Since then I have spoken to our landlord and they’ve agreed to let me change the use of an old sandpit that was built into the side of the garden into a raised bed. I want to use this for salad plants and carrots, both from seeds donated by my Mum. I also get to paint the fence and tidy up the plant beds in which I have planted some sunflower seedlings. I may also plant some lavender as I love the smell and colour.
I planted potatoes, runner beans, strawberries, leeks, onions and beetroot in various pots. I have also purchased grow-bags ready for tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies and melons – all plants donated by my Grandparents. I am excited to see how everything turns out and can’t wait to eat some of the produce I’ve grown for myself.
Habits of a Homebird 