Grow Your Own Vegetable Garden
With the cost of food perpetually increasing along with the growing demand for eating organic vegetables, now is the perfect time to start growing your own vegetables. With a few key ingredients and not too much space you'll be able to start growing vegetables in next to no time.
Keeping the price down
Growing your own doesn't need to be expensive. Sure, you'll be able to purchase fancy ceramic containers and all kinds of horticulture accessories, except for the fundamentals, your investment needn't be more than potting compost for containers and a few seeds. Containers themselves can be any recycled vessels that have voidance.
Essential tools
You'll need containers, as well as gardening gloves, a watering can and a pair of scissors is enough to get you started. For gardens and allotments, the extra basics you'll want are: a garden fork, spade or shovel, hoe and hand hoe, hand fork, rake and pruning shears. Several of those things can be bought cheaply second-hand.
Where to grow
The garden or plot can be any size, there are only a few things that the plants will need, which is plenty of natural light, good soil and lots of water, if you don't have much space you may have a window that you can use to grow a few herbs or tomatoes.
What to grow
Grow what you like to eat. Some people say that growing onions are not worth it as these can be bought quite cheaply from most supermarkets, even though onions are one of the simplest vegetables to grow and can be used in a wide variety of food. So bear in mind the cost of the vegetables that you're planning to grow. Rocket, baby dish leaves and herbs cost quite a lot to buy therefore they would make a good-value crop, particularly the cut-and-come-again varieties. These are all possible to grow in containers, even on a window.
Hardening off
Young plants like tomatoes and chillies, can be started inside, these would need to acclimatise to the outdoor weather. Once transferred to medium sized pots, they need to be left outside during the day and brought back in at night time for a number of days before being left out.
Protecting your veg
The healthier the plant, the less likely it is to catch diseases, Pests, however, Pests, however, are inevitable. Slug pellets can definitely help however they're a chemical poison, and although not harmful to humans, there are many other alternatives that you can use instead including ground coffee, crush eggshells or salt. Copper wire or piping placed around plants can give slugs an electrical shock and will scare them off. Insect and disease infestations are ineluctable. Arm yourself with a good book to help you to recognise these troubles and the way to solve them.
Composting
A compost bin in a garden or allotment is an important part of the grow-your-own method. The more you grow, the more compostable matter you amass. Plastic compost bins dont cost to much to buy and don't use much space. It ought to be placed directly on the ground to let worms have access. You'll also need a bucket-size plastic or ceramic instrumentality with a lid in your kitchen for collecting stuff, lined with a bag. As a rule of thumb, solely compost vegetable scraps - no cooked food, meat, fish or dairy farm merchandise. Eggshells, teabags and low grounds are OK.
Keeping the price down
Growing your own doesn't need to be expensive. Sure, you'll be able to purchase fancy ceramic containers and all kinds of horticulture accessories, except for the fundamentals, your investment needn't be more than potting compost for containers and a few seeds. Containers themselves can be any recycled vessels that have voidance.
Essential tools
You'll need containers, as well as gardening gloves, a watering can and a pair of scissors is enough to get you started. For gardens and allotments, the extra basics you'll want are: a garden fork, spade or shovel, hoe and hand hoe, hand fork, rake and pruning shears. Several of those things can be bought cheaply second-hand.
Where to grow
The garden or plot can be any size, there are only a few things that the plants will need, which is plenty of natural light, good soil and lots of water, if you don't have much space you may have a window that you can use to grow a few herbs or tomatoes.
What to grow
Grow what you like to eat. Some people say that growing onions are not worth it as these can be bought quite cheaply from most supermarkets, even though onions are one of the simplest vegetables to grow and can be used in a wide variety of food. So bear in mind the cost of the vegetables that you're planning to grow. Rocket, baby dish leaves and herbs cost quite a lot to buy therefore they would make a good-value crop, particularly the cut-and-come-again varieties. These are all possible to grow in containers, even on a window.
Hardening off
Young plants like tomatoes and chillies, can be started inside, these would need to acclimatise to the outdoor weather. Once transferred to medium sized pots, they need to be left outside during the day and brought back in at night time for a number of days before being left out.
Protecting your veg
The healthier the plant, the less likely it is to catch diseases, Pests, however, Pests, however, are inevitable. Slug pellets can definitely help however they're a chemical poison, and although not harmful to humans, there are many other alternatives that you can use instead including ground coffee, crush eggshells or salt. Copper wire or piping placed around plants can give slugs an electrical shock and will scare them off. Insect and disease infestations are ineluctable. Arm yourself with a good book to help you to recognise these troubles and the way to solve them.
Composting
A compost bin in a garden or allotment is an important part of the grow-your-own method. The more you grow, the more compostable matter you amass. Plastic compost bins dont cost to much to buy and don't use much space. It ought to be placed directly on the ground to let worms have access. You'll also need a bucket-size plastic or ceramic instrumentality with a lid in your kitchen for collecting stuff, lined with a bag. As a rule of thumb, solely compost vegetable scraps - no cooked food, meat, fish or dairy farm merchandise. Eggshells, teabags and low grounds are OK.