How to save money by growing it yourself
There are a lot of reasons why you might grow your own food and one of them is that it's a good way to save cash.
But if you are gardening in order to save money, the first thing you need to do is stop and think about what you grow and how you grow it.
Grow what you want to eat
It may sound obvious (OK, it is obvious) but if you want to grow your own veges to save money, grow the veges you otherwise buy. There's no point cultivating rows of Florence fennel if you don't have a foggy clue how to use it, or tending to a thriving crop of silverbeet if it goes straight in the compost.
In general, especially if space is at a premium, I suggest gardeners looking for bang for their buck focus on cut-and-come again crops such as leafy Asian greens or broad beans (both of which you can sow now) where you harvest again and again from one plant. Brassicas you harvest all in one go are not much return (in terms of meals) on the space they take up or time they take.
Sow from seed
Sowing from seed is always cheaper than planting seedlings. A packet of seed is just a few dollars, and often contains hundreds of seeds – a punnet of seedlings is usually twice as expensive and usually contains six plants. (Plus only a very few vege varieties are available as seedlings, whereas starting from seed means you can pick from the hundreds of heirloom and hybrid varieties that are sold as seed.)
Starting from seed is – obviously – slower though, and you need to be organised enough to get your seed started at the right time so the seedlings are ready to plant outside at the seasonally appropriate moment. In fact, success with seed sowing is all about sowing the right seed at the right time. All seeds have their own temperature preferences for germination – if the temperature falls too far below (or goes too far above) this, seeds are likely to rot in the soil. So do your research first. Otherwise you are wasting your money. And indeed, your time and (what might be) limited garden space!
Growing from seed can really start saving you money if you collect the seed from plants yourself. Most seed needs to be collected between late summer and late autumn but even now, there's probably seed worth saving if you look out for it – such as the seeds in pumpkins and squash you stored for winter and are eating now. These open-pollinated cucurbits won't come true to type but, as you'll know if one has popped up in your compost heap, you'll probably still grow something edible!
You can also save seed from store-bought tomatoes, chillies and peppers… they are likely to be hybrid varieties, so again won't be clones of the parent plant but in my experience usually grow perfectly well. You can even try growing the dried beans and herb seeds you buy from bulk bins (test they are viable first by leaving a few between damp paper towels in a plastic bag for a few days to see if they sprout).
Don't cross off cuttings
Remember you can start plenty of edible crops from cuttings too. There are different sorts of cuttings (semi-ripe, hardwood, heel, leaf and root) and most of them, you take in warmer weather. But you take hardwood cuttings in winter, and you can grow fruiting plants and woody herbs this way.
Consider:
- Grapevines
- Gooseberries
- Currants
- Mulberries
- Figs
"Recycle" store-bought vege
Once you start thinking creatively about potential sources of edible plants, it's amazing what you realise you can grow.
- The chopped-off roots of the spring onions you buy from the supermarket can be popped into a vege bed and should sprout back.
- You can plant the roots of lettuces too and you might get a second crop (although hydroponically grown lettuces can struggle to adapt to the real world).
- You can plant any sprouting spuds as soon as it gets warm enough for these subtropical tubers – although we don't normally recommend this, as the seed potatoes you buy are certified virus free whereas the old hairy potato from the bottom of the pantry isn't! But there's no problem planting the runners that form on kumara or taro in the warmer weather.
- You can even sow the stones from apricots, nectarines and peaches which all come true. OK, so that's a long game – and unlikely to help you through the current cost crisis! – but in a decade or two you'll be saving a fortune.
Do you have a vegetable garden? Do you find it saves you money?
Written by Jo McCarroll. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.