Food prices at the grocery store are higher than ever. If you watched the price of tomatoes and thought you could grow food for less money in your garden, you're probably right.
If you want to grow a garden that saves a significant amount of money, however, you must plan ahead.
Entering the food through gardening, especially strolling through the garden paths buying anything that seems necessary, will cost you more than you'll ever get back to your gardening efforts.
Here are 11 gardening tips to get the best financial performance of your garden:
1.. Resist buying too smooth gadgets
Can you use your favorite tools, anyway
The trick is to keep your tools in good condition - clean and sharp. Some good basic tools should last many years.
2. Wean your garden from quick fixes
Commercial fertilizers are working, and you may want to use a little when you first start. If you buy a special solution for each type of plant, however, you spend too much.
There is no secret ingredient that makes plants grow. Start collecting egg shells, coffee grounds and vegetable kitchen waste (sauté garlic and meat).
There is a whole science behind composting, you want to learn. However, you can start using free compost long before becoming a master composter.
If you have any chickens or other farm animals, you can compost manure.
Otherwise, look for local farms composted manure cheap. You will get more for your money you want to buy it at the store. (Manure should be composted thoroughly before you jump on your garden.)
3. Plant crops that give you a quick return
Lettuce is about as fast growing as they are coming. Plant inside or outside it. You can eat the thinnings in two or three weeks, and the harvest lettuce for months.
Instead of paying $ 3 for a bag of spring vegetables at the store, you can buy a pack of mixed lettuce seeds for a couple of dollars. lettuce bolts during the summer heat, so the plant again in the fall.
Other crops with a rapid return are herbs, green beans, and peas. It's easier to stick with your gardening when you have something to show for it almost immediately.
4. Installation for the long term
Some gardeners call long-term plantations "permaculture".
The idea is to plant things that do not mean from scratch each year. Berries, asparagus, rhubarb trees and fruits, once established, can give you a generous return for many years.
A good fruit tree can produce 0 pounds of fruit at its peak. This is a very good return on investment of a $ 15 tree.
5. Stick with crops that you and your family actually like
If you ever are buying radishes, do not plant them, at least not as a cost reduction strategy. Limit the number of things you try in a year, too.
6. plant crops that work well in your area
You can try to grow watermelons in cold regions of the north, but it will probably be easier and cheaper to buy the mid- summer. If in doubt, look at what people are developing successfully close.
7. Keep an edge on pests
There is nothing more discouraging than discovering a deer ate all your row of strawberry plants, or your broccoli heads are half small green caterpillars.
Whether you are an organic gardener dedicated or not, you need to take action if you want a harvest. Learn about the pest in your area and what to do about them.
For example, you can stay ahead of the cabbage butterfly by the routine check for eggs on the underside of leaves of the plant. It is much easier than choosing the tracks of your food later.
8. Use drip irrigation
drip irrigation saves money because no water is sprayed into the air and lost evaporation. It does not require an expensive sprinkler system -. You can with a hose
You can even use it for a garden away from home
Simply fill a large bath, covered. with water, and attach it to drain the pipes that pass through your garden.
9. Do the work yourself
It is difficult to make gardening savings if you pay for the work. You may have to make an exception for the heavy work to start, especially the first year.
However, the gardening works best if you consider your time to be free.
10. Save on seed
seed packets Share with a friend, or retain additional seeds for next year. Many seeds are good for two or more seasons.
If you choose non-hybrid varieties, you might be able to save your own seeds from the harvest of this year.
Do not bother with seeds from hybrids, however. You will get interesting results, but they will be a disappointment.
11. Extend your harvest season
To save serious money, you need to eat from the garden over several months of the year. You may want to put some vegetables in a cold frame, which is not as difficult as it sounds.
You can harvest green tomatoes before the first frost, and let them ripen slowly in a cool place.
If you get a harvest of green beans and strawberries, you might consider taking up the canning and freezing.
What is your infallible garden high performance cultures?
photo credit: Jane Boles via photopin cc
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