Our Coronavirus Journey – Part 3
There has never been a better time to begin simulating The Good Life and ‘grow your own’!
The current Coronavirus lockdown has given us all the opportunity to spend more time in our gardens. We’re using this time to rediscover our green fingers!
With many supermarkets low on lots of fruit and veg, having your own supply has become more important than ever.
All you need is some decent compost that is not at an exorbitant price! We found B&Q particularly useful as they’re offering a very efficient collection service, with social distancing thrown in!
Ever since we have been together (although I suspect Mr Way has always been green fingered), we have enjoyed growing fruit & veg in the spring/summer months. I will caveat that by saying, we are by no means experts and frequently get it wrong, but we have fun doing it!
It goes without saying that, like everything, we try to attain our yearly crop as frugally as possible!
I am so excited to grow our own again this year. Due to our Africa trip we had a year off last year (although our blueberry bush was abundant in July which was fantastic!).
2016
I recently took a trip down memory lane and discovered that in 2016 we went tomato mad!!! Which included some disasters/overrun plants!
2017
In 2017 we reined the tomato growing in a bit and added herbs, strawberries, blueberries, and rhubarb to our collection. Although we had to battle the wind and broken pots:
2018 & 2019
In 2018 & 19 we added tumbling tomatoes, gooseberries and kept everything else going as much as possible. Unfortunately, our rhubarb died, and our gooseberries got ravished by caterpillars just before we left for Africa last year.
2020
This year we have ramped it up again and decided to plant:
- Tomatoes – this is a must – we are growing both tumblers and upright plants
- Courgettes
- Purple sprouting broccoli
- Mixed salad
- Kale
Returning to life are:
- Blueberries
- Gooseberries
- Strawberries
- Mint
- Chives
- Rosemary
We have all this extra time on our hands at lunchtime and in the evenings that we decided to make a concerted effort this year!!!
Below are some of our frugal gardening tips. Things that have worked for us OR we are trying out for the first time this year.
What to Grow In
Seedlings
These do not have to been grown in fancy propagators or with fancy equipment. You could use:
- Old pots from the garden centre
- The cut off bottom of milk bottles or any plastic bottle
- Egg Boxes
- Recycle plastic fruit containers, either to plant in or to cover seedlings with for protection
Established Plants
When your plants are ready to plant out it can be quite expensive to buy lots of high-quality plant pots. Here are some ideas to grow your own in a frugal way:
- Grow bags – these are brilliant for tomatoes, chillies, courgettes or similar – with bricks and planks and wood/ a pallet to raise them off the floor and prevent rotting
- Plastic flexi tubs – sometimes known as garden trugs – much cheaper than most plant pots of a similar size
- Bags for life – this is the first year we are going to try using these. However, the internet and a gardening book I have reliably informs me that they are a remarkably effective and cheap alternatives to plant pots.
- Reusing/re-purposing plant pots used previously – we have loads (although all quite small, which is why we need to use the above two options)!!!
- If you have a lack of space re-purposing old guttering by attaching it to a fence to create a mini herb garden works a treat!
Great Returners
We have found that fruit trees/bushes/hanging plants are a fantastic element to add to your small garden.
After the initial outlay they return each year very successfully and with minimal care and attention. We were told that our strawberry plant would only last us one year but by mulching down the old plant each year Mr Way encourages the new growth in it’s place.
FRUGAL NOTE: We bought our blueberry bush with gift vouchers, were given the gooseberry bush by a family member who decided they didn’t like gooseberries and bought the strawberry plant extremely reduced in a garden centre sale! Win, win, win!!
Freeze Your Crop
If you get a particularly large crop one year the fruit can be frozen easily for a later date. Just be careful to keep an eye out for the pests and protect your plants with netting or bugs spray.
If you have any great frugal growing tips for us, please let us know. We have a very small garden but are willing to have a go at anything as long as it doesn’t cost much!!!
Are you planning to grow you own with this extra time we have been blessed with? Let us know what you’re planting!
I just started with planting and I’ve been binge-watching Youtube about it. I recently planted tomatoes, garlic and basil (all pasta sauce ingredients hahaha). The basil is so easy to maintain and it’s so easy to propagate as well, the tomato plants are still small and the garlic is just a week old.
I also have mint and choco mint which I bough from the market but sadly, they just died last week.
Can’t go wrong with pasta sauce ingredients! We don’t have any basil but quite fancy giving that a go. Our mint has been thriving recently!