Our Garden Failure Became A Blessing

 Around Spring last year I was running low on potatoes in our pantry.  I didn't think we had any more of our homegrown ones left in storage under the house.  Darren didn't think so either but thought he'd check to be sure before I went out to buy some. 

Guess what he found ?  A tray of our potatoes,  sprouting wildly as they searched for some sun and warmth to grow.

I could have kicked myself for forgetting our much loved homegrown potatoes.  It seemed like such a waste.  We try our very best to make the most of what we have but last year was a difficult year.  With my Dad passing away at the end of April,  my life was turned upside down.  Getting through each day,  and helping my Mum and family became the main focus.  Potatoes was the last thing on my mind.

So I did what any frugal person would do.  After pulling off the long sprouts,  I left them regrow just a little before planting in our veg garden

Approximately 3 - 3 1/2 months later I dug up 13.2 kilos of potatoes.

Our failure became a blessing 

How Much Food Did We Grow In 2021 ?

 Over the years we've relied more and more on what our veggie garden can produce to keep food on the table.  Now with rising grocery prices,  it has never been more important to grow as much as we can.

Our veggie garden consists of  2 main beds that measure  1.5m  x  3.0m.  We also have a raised garden bed that a family member no longer wanted.  It measures  0.9m x 2.7m.  Our backyard is not huge by any stretch of the imagination but we do have a small home on a 617m2  block.

We have fruit trees dotted around our backyard that we planted in 2014.  Our raspberry patch grows up the side of a garden shed and our grape vine grows along our fence. 

The costs for maintaining the garden are very minimal.  Most of the seeds bought cost about $2 - $3  each a packet and some will last us more than two years ( or two growing seasons ).  Some packets of seeds are given to us as presents.  My Dad usually gives us tomato plants each Spring and we give him spinach and zucchini seedlings.

We don't buy compost but make our own with all our kitchen and garden scraps.  The compost bins did cost money but they have lasted us many years.  

Garden stakes are bought every 5 years or so and garden ties are made from old cut up socks.  Occasionally we water the plants with Seasol and sprinkle pet friendly snail bait.  Other than that we don't use any pesticide sprays or powders.

Below is a listing or what we grew last year and the yields.  Some items were hard to keep a track of so estimates were used.

Sweet corn - 10 kg

Raspberries - 5.10 kg

Zucchinis - 3 kg ( we planted too late )

Tomatoes - 5.0 kg

Potatoes - 40.80 kg

Bush Beans - 4.7 kg

Lemons - 9.0 kg

Strawberries - 2.50 kg

Grapes - zero.  Too much rain and the birds had a feed while we were away.

Feijoas - 0.50 kg.  We'd pruned the tree the year before so it's still recovering

Pears - 8.0 kg

Mandarins - zero but the trees are young

Plums - 4.70 kg

Apricots 3.0 kg

Cherries - zero.  Too much rain that the fruit split and tiny insects are a problem

Broccoli - 2.50 kg

Lettuce - zero.  I think the seeds are a little old

Silverbeet - 3.50 kg probably more as we picked it all year

Cauliflower - 1.50 kg.  Will not be growing again

Sugar snap peas - 0.90 kg

The total amount of food we grew in 2021 is  104.5 kg.  Putting a monetary value on the food depends on how much it costs in the supermarket.  Prices generally vary from $3 to $9 a kilo with feijoas topping at $30kg and raspberries topping at about $40 a kilo.  So here are a few costings to give you an idea of how much we saved -

$3 per kg  x  104.5kg  =  $313.50 saved

$4 per kg  x  104.5kg  = $418.00  saved

$5 per kg  x  104.5kg  =  $522.50  saved

$6 per kg  x  104.5kg  =  $627.00 saved

$7 per kg  x  104.5kg  =  $731.50  saved

$8 per kg  x  104.5kg  =  $836.00  saved

$9 per kg  x  104.5kg  =  $940.50  saved

Was it worth growing our own ?  You'd better believe it.  Yes we saved money but most importantly we ate fruit and veggies fresher than any supermarket or green grocer can offer us.  They are also chemical free.

Do you keep track of how much you grow ?

Are you inspired to start growing your own ?

                                                         From Our garden

Our 2 veggie garden beds.

Growing Potatoes For Free

 Over the last 12 months Darren and I have had great success growing potatoes in our veggie garden.  As we find potatoes sprouting in our pantry we plant them straight into our garden.

For successful crops this is what we've done -

*  If the sprouting potatoes are large and have many sprouts,  cut them in half ensuring you have at least a couple of sprouts on each half.  Let the potatoes sit for a couple of days so the cut dries up and heals

*  Plant your potatoes wrist deep into a reasonably loose soil / compost combination with the sprouts facing upwards.

*  Plant potatoes about 30 cm apart in rows 45 cm apart.

*  Cover with soil and water in.

*  As the greenery pokes through the soil and grows up,  hill the soil around it to encourage more potatoes to grow.  You might need to do this a few times. Hilling the soil up also protects any potatoes growing near the surface from turning green.

*  Water the plants regularly but only if you think they need it.  Over watering can increase the likelihood of rot.

*  When the plant produces flowers,  pick them off so the plant concentrates all it's energy on growing potatoes.

*  Dig up the potatoes when the plants have fallen over and died off.  Use a spade or garden fork to dig up the soil starting about 30 cm away from the plant to avoid hitting a potato.

*  Spread the potatoes on hardboard or in a shallow container for a few days outside away from direct sunlight.  This lets the skins dry out on the potatoes.  Once dry,  store in a cool dark place.  Under the house or in the garden is an ideal location.  

*  Only brush off excess soil before storing.  Do not wash the potatoes if storing for long periods of time.

Trenches to plant the potatoes

Covering them up in colder weather.

Small plants

Larger plants

Digging up the potatoes

The harvest

Drying them out.

   Have you tried growing potatoes ?

  Do you grow them in the ground or growing bags ?

Free Alternatives In The Garden

 Reusing,  recycling and upcycling is a wonderful way to save money and help reduce waste.  With more than half of Australians in lockdown right now and many more people around the world,  now is the time to use what you already have on hand at home.

Here are some great ideas for growing a garden without going out to buy things.

*  Dig up the ground you have to make a garden bed.  Raised garden beds are wonderful but not necessary for growing flowers and veggies.

*  Save your own seeds.  Have a look at the veggies you have in your fridge crisper.  Seeds can easily be saved from tomatoes,  cucumbers,  pumpkins and  zucchinis ( if large enough to have seeds ).  Even the wrinkly potatoes in the pantry can be planted if they have sprouted.  If you have flowers in the garden,  wait for them to form seed pods then save the seeds for next season.

*  Take cuttings from your plants,  shrubs and trees in the garden.

*  Cut up  icecream or yoghurt containers to make garden markers for your newly planted seeds and seedlings.

*  Use cut up  old socks to tie up wayward plants.

*  Use pruned,  straight branches as garden stakes for your plants.

*  Use your kitchen scraps to start a compost heap.  If you don't have room for a compost heap then dig the kitchen scraps straight into the garden.

*  Old buckets,  icecream containers, foam boxes,  heavy duty plastic bags / enviro shopping bags ,  milk crates ( lined ) and old plant pots make excellent little gardens.

*  Use toilet rolls to plant your seeds in.  When the seeds have grown tall enough,  plant the toilet roll with the plant to reduce transplant shock.

*  Grass clippings and weeds can be turned into fertiliser.  Place then in a bucket and cover with water.  Let it stand for a week or two and drain the liquid into another container.  Dilute it right down with water before using ( do a Google search for correct ratios ).

*  Need a mini greenhouse to start your seeds ?  Use the plastic cover from a  doona / sheet  set.

*  Poke holes in a water bottle lid to make a seedling watering can ( of sorts ).    

Recycled bricks for the path

Cutting up old socks

Bedding packaging greenhouse.

What items do you recycle for use in the garden ?

My Best Broccoli Growing Tips

 Broccoli is one of the few vegetables we grow during the Winter months.  On the occasional year our broccoli plants have bolted and gone to flower before we can pick the heads.  Other than that,  broccoli is so cheap to grow,  fairly easy to maintain and a super food to boot.

Here are some of the tips and tricks Darren and I have learnt along the way.  We hope this helps you grow a bountiful crop to enjoy. 

*  Broccoli is generally a Winter vegetable that tolerates colder weather.  There are newer varieties that  can be grown all year round but we stick to growing in Winter.

*  I plant seeds in punnets during late Summer / early Autumn.  If the seeds fail to germinate I have been known to buy a punnet of seedlings from Bunnings.  With 8 - 10 plants per punnet,  it still works out to be more economical than buying broccoli from the supermarket.

 *  We've found if we plant out broccoli seedlings too early in Autumn we run the risk of a cabbage moth invasion.  Cabbage moths lay their eggs on the underside of the plant leaves.  Once the eggs hatch you have a hungry family of caterpillars who will eat the leaves and decimate the plant.

*  Daily inspection of the plants is necessary if you see white butterflies ( cabbage moth ) fluttering around the garden.  Squishing the cabbage moth eggs or caterpillars is a natural way to keep them under control.

*  This year we planted our first crop of broccoli plants a little too early.  To combat the cabbage moth invasion, Darren made his own cabbage moths out of icecream container lids and attached them to wire.  They have been placed at random heights in the garden.  Cabbage moths are territorial so when they see the artificial ones they soon fly away without landing on the plants.

*  Broccoli plants grow much better in well composted soil.  Darren adds our own compost to the bed about a week or two before planting.  Once the plants are growing I feed them with liquid seaweed fertiliser every week to top up the nutrients.

*  Once the main broccoli head has been picked,  smaller broccoli florets appear on the plant that can be picked and eaten.

Smaller florets from the plant.

Artificial cabbage moths

Made from icecream container lids.

Do you have any broccoli growing tips to share ?

Our Money Saving Autumn Garden

With most gardens winding down after a productive Summer,  ours continues to save us quite a bit of money.

Silverbeet grows all year round and our two plants provide us with greens on our dinner plate at least twice a week.  When broccoli is too dear to buy at the supermarket,  silverbeet is a nutricious  alternative.

Our lemon tree still has fruit from last season  as well as new fruit growing that we will be picking in a couple of months.  All fruit we cannot use straight away is juiced and frozen for year round savings.  Lemon chicken,  lemon butter,  lemon on fish and lemon drinks for sore throats are some of the ways we enjoy our lemons.  At 80 cents a lemon in the supermarket,  we are saving a small fortune.

The raspberry bushes are almost at the end of it's picking season.  Since early December we've picked over 4.5 kilos.  All fruit has been frozen as picked and turned into delicious jam a few times a year.  I also make a couple of batches of raspberry and white chocolate muffins for afternoon teas and snacks on the go. The cheapest raspberries to buy are $10 a kilo in the supermarket,  so our bounty would retail for a minimum of $45.  WINNING  !!

The last of our potatoes will be dug up in a week or two.  I'm hoping the latest crop will provide us with free potatoes for another six weeks.  The last time I bought potatoes was mid December last year.

The $4 punnet of lettuce seedlings I planted a few months ago is still growing well.  We've enjoyed many salads during the warm weather we had.  Now that it's cooled,  we like to add lettuce to our lunches of dry biscuits and tuna.  Just another way to get nutrients from  green vegetables.

In a months time I will be picking the first head of broccoli with more to follow shortly. I have many plants at various stages of growing.  If all goes to plan I'll be blanching and freezing lots of broccoli with the hope of not having to buy any for a long time ( if at all ).

We have beautiful displays of vibrant chrysanthemums growing in our flower gardens.  Not only are they enjoyed out in the garden.  We pick punches of flowers to brighten up our home and to add a pop of color.    We love to spread the joy around by taking punches of flowers to our daughter's homes when visiting. 

The chicken have enjoyed many meals of weeds and old veggie plants.  This in turn reduces the amount of chicken feed they eat.

Our labours of 2020

Our chrysanthemum display 

Enjoying flowers in the home

Darren is growing kale ( not for me )

Tiny broccoli seedling

Our bigger broccoli plants

Our lettuce patch

Lots of flowers

Our entertainment

Just coming into bloom

Silverbeet for another meal

There are always lemons.

Are you still picking anything from your garden ?

Silverbeet Will Save The Day

 If there is one vegetable you'd like to start growing,  then Silverbeet ( chard ) might be the vegetable for you.  There are so many reasons to grow silverbeet even if you think you might not like eating it.

*  Silverbeet is a cool climate plant but can be grown in warmer climates providing it gets extra water and shelter during heatwaves.  In most climates it can be grown all year round.

*  Leaves can be picked within 7 weeks of seedlings being planted.

*  The same plant can have leaves harvested year in,  year out.  My good friend Maureen from The Cheapskates Club has had the same plant growing for about 7 years.

*  It's a wonderful space saving plant that can also be grown in a pot.

*  When broccoli is too dear to buy in the shops,  silverbeet makes a wonderful green vegetable substitute saving you lots of money on your grocery budget.

*  Only 2 plants are needed to feed a family of four.

*  Silverbeet makes a great ' filler ' to stretch meals further.  Shred the leaves and add them to spag bol sauce,  lasagne,  chop suey and stir fries.  

*  When you only have sad veggies in your fridge crisper, don't go to the shops.  Just pick a few silverbeet leaves,  coarsely chop and toss in a little bit of water in a saucepan.

*  Silverbeet is a good source of vitamin A,  B6,  C and K as well as riboflavin and folate.

Picked leaves

The silverbeet plant

Silverbeet added to a tuna pasta dish

Do you grow Silverbeet ( chard ) ?

How do you use the Silverbeet leaves ?

Growing Vegetables Saves Money

Spring is a great time to get outside and get your garden in order before the Summer heat arrives. Spring is also the time to plant lettuce, tomato, corn, beans, zucchini, cuccumber, silverbeet and a variety of other vegetable seeds.

When starting a vegetable garden for the first time, it's best to start off small. Pick two or three vegetables for the first year and see how you go. Then for the following years add an extra one or two as your confidence and knowledge improves. By doing it this way you're not shelling out a small fortune.

Many vegetables can be grown in pots as well as a garden bed. Growing vegetables in pots can be a great option for those who are renting or who are elderly. You can place the pots on a plant stand or an old table. When the Summer heat arrives, the plants can be moved out of the searing heat. Just make sure the pots are reasonably deep and you feed and water the plants regulary as they can dry out quickly

Growing your own vegetables is an easy way to reduce your grocery budget. For example, lettuce can be grown all year round for just a couple of dollars. The salad mix variety looks pretty with all it's different colors. It's good for you and you can pick as much or as little as you need for each meal. Lettuce prices in the supermarkets vary for $1 - $3 so growing you own could save you a small fortune.

For the last few years we've been able to grow enough tomatoes to pick for our Summer salads as well as cooking and freezing about 30 tins worth.  All for about $4 for a punnet of seedlings.

Silverbeet can be grown all year round and makes a wonderful addition to chop suey,  spag bol,  lasagne and dishes that need a green.  When broccoli and cauliflower are too expensive to buy,  I just pick a few leaves from the veggie garden and lightly cook.  This becomes our ' green ' on the dinner plate.

Cos lettuce

Mixed lettuce

From our backyard

Silverbeet

Will you be growing vegetables for the first time this year ?

Have you planted your seeds or seedlings this Spring ?

Tomatoes We Grow

Last year Darren came across a punnet of budget friendly tomato plants.   We had an amazing success with them so I thought I'd share the information with others.

They are available at Bunnings Hardware stores for $2.97 per punnet.
There are approximately 6 plus seedling per punnet.
They are called Tall Staking variety

We found them to grow more upwards than out which makes them suitable for smaller veggie gardens.  They are a medium sized tomato and from our experience last year,  nothing seemed to eat them and there was no signs of disease.

When planting the tomatoes,  we added a few timber stakes around each plant to tie the branches to as they grew. We used old cut up socks as garden ties.  These are free and reduce damage to the branches.

Unfortunately Darren didn't keep the information label from last year.  So I went into Bunnings with the words " tall staking " in my mind hoping they'd be available this year.  I found quite a few punnets of them but no variety listed on the label.

 I had a staff member ring the suppler to find out the variety.  They then rang the grower who said they are the Gross Lisse tomato.  We've grown Gross Lisse tomatoes before and found them to be much bigger and prone to bugs / diseases.   The staff member from Bunnings seems to think the parent plant from the ones I bought have better growing characteristics.  I'll go with that.

From the 7 plants we grew last year,  we had enough tomatoes for salad eating,  about 12 jars of relish and 26 x 410 gram tin's worth to freeze.  In other words,  plenty of tomatoes.

The plants did die pretty quickly once the tomatoes started ripening so we kept picking as we needed. Once there seemed no life left in the tomato plants,  Darren picked the rest off whether they'd ripened or not.  The green tomatoes were left outside under the pergola to ripens in the Autumn sun.

Our Backyard

Growing some of your own food doesn't have to take up too much space.  I guess you could say we have a reasonably sized backyard but it certainly isn't on the large side.  Our home was built in the mid to late 80's when house sizes were anywhere from 12 -  25 + squares.  Our is 15.5 on an average sized block for the time.

I've taken some photos of our backyard to give you an idea of how our fruit trees and veggie garden are laid out.  I hope you enjoy the tour.

This photo is taken from our back gate that separates the front yard from the back.  On the left is the feijoa tree.  Just before that ( not in the photo ) is a strawberry guava bush and the loganberry bush.  The small tree closest to the bottom of the photo is the peach tree.  Directly above that is the pear tree  Across from there is the apricot tree.  Behind the apricot tree is the mandarin and cherry trees.  The two strawberry patches are on the left just before the shed.

Looking slightly right from the previous photo  You can see the mango plants in the terracotta looking  pots under the pergola.  Each side of the sliding door are two pots of raspberry plants.  They haven't done as well as expected and we'll pull them out at the end of the season.  Right behind the mango plants you can just get a glimpse of the veggie beds.

This is almost at the top end of our pergola looking out at the strawberry patches and the cherry tree.  Behind the cherry tree is the worm farm and two compost bins.  On the right of the photo is our plum tree.  The green shed is " mine ' and stores the Christmas decos and tree,  and my excess grocery stockpile like toilet paper etc.

The plum tree is on the left,  veggie beds in the middle and our lemon tree on the right.  Darren's garden shed is just behind the lemon tree.  The raspberry bushes grow on the left side of Darren's shed.

This is looking towards the chicken coop and run in the far right corner of the yard.  We had an area set up for a sick chicken to rest in during the day. The other chickens were pecking her and she wasn't getting enough food.  Just near the clothesline is a very small avocado plant.

Looking from my garden shed towards the start of our backyard.  Cherry tree on the right.

Our pergola with assorted pot plants,  fruit tree cuttings / plants.

Rosemary bush just below the hose reel.  Chicken feed in the bin.

Taken from the right side of our backyard.  I'm standing up against our fence.  You can't see it but the chicken coop is to the right of Darren's shed ( silver ).

The back of our house and garden.  Clothesline included.