With spring here, some of you may have caught garden fever. If you are like me, you like to get outside when the weather turns warm, save some money, and find more ways to be healthy. Also it can be a fun thing to do with the whole family. We got outside today and had a picnic and played soccer.
Growing herbs and vegetables in your garden is a great alternative to paying the price of organics. Say you made a salad and need tomatoes. How great is it to go out back and pick a few fresh ones from the vine? Last year, we grew tomatoes, green beans, watermelon, potatoes, squash, cucumber, green onions, and shallots, along with herbs like chives, rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, and oregano.
Chives
While we were in the backyard today I decided to look around and see what were were going to have to work with. Our chives and shallots (which are perennials – plants that regrow each year) were already starting to mature and are well on their way.
Shallots
If the concept of planting a full garden is daunting, or expensive — try this neat little trick to get you started. This was a tip my mother-in-law, who is a Master Gardener, sent me last year.
Green Onions
“If you don’t use the white ends of your green onions, plant just that part in dirt or a glass of water and they will re-grow the green ends–fast. In my experience, it has been at least an inch a day! I always have them on hand, and at $1.00 a bunch, I am also saving money.”
Be sure to checkout Money Saving Mom’s guest post today on How Gardening and Preserving Can Save You Money.
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What gardening tips or ideas do you have for someone just starting out? Or, what would you like me to provide you on gardening? I am going to try to document our gardening planning this year as well as get you some step-by-step instructions to get started yourself!
Love it! What other ways we save money in starting a garden. Any other tips?
Great! My husband has already ordered some seeds for our garden this year. And yes, it is so great to be able to get fresh tomatoes straight from the garden….I'm especially thinking about that now as I see the prices of produce in the stores. I need help in knowing how to preserve the veggies. We canned some green beans and tomatoes last year. And I froze a bunch of stuff, but there are some things that I don't know the best way to preserve. We had a bunch of butternut squash go bad before we could use it this past year. And my husband is going to try garlic this year. I don't know how to keep it, as I usually just use the refrigerated minced garlic in a jar. :> Love your blog!
Tanya–
Here’s a good resource for canning and freezing. My mom is THE canner and she helped me get some supplies last summer for green beans. She bought me the Ball Blue Book (we got it at Wal-Mart with the canning supplies) and it covers just about everything! (http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Guide-Canning-Freezing/dp/B000FUAOJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269306436&sr=8-1)
Another good resource is the US Dept. of Agriculture. They have good resources too: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html
Thanks for the reply! We borrowed a canner and the ball book from our neighbor last summer. I think we’ll buy our own book this year. Our green beans were good but a little bit mushy…maybe we packed the jars too tight. I’ll check out that other link too. I’m so excited about our garden this year! Good luck with yours…
Most things can be grown in a pot on a sunny porch or deck if you don't have space or soil for a garden. Here are a few things we've done or that we're trying this year:
Done: Get a few vine-ripe tomatoes (we use mountain pride or mountain spring. They are beautiful, crack-free, yummy tomatoes) and plant a few of their seeds to see if they will grow. If so, plant a bunch in a pot. Our seeds are already sprouting.
trying: Grow potatoes in a pot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgXBxTf00HI
The Square Foot Garden is now our favorite gardening book. It works great. Especially the cheep greenhouse ideas so you can start seeds early.
http://www.amazon.com/All-New-Square-Foot-Garde…
I'm going to try both these methods this year:
Mince and freeze in ice cube trays like I do with fresh basil for use in sauces and cooking.
Clean off the dirt, put in a mesh bag in a dry, warm and WELL air-circulated place and let it dry out for fresh use.
I've heard that you can can them with a pressure cooker but that it is hard to do.
Thanks, Kelly, for the gardening tip! I am looking forward to your gardening tips for planning, etc. I was so jealous of your “fresh from your garden” veggies last summer. I look forward to trying to grow some of my own this year!
Great tips Kelly!!! I have “wild” chives that I'm going to try to transplant to a container. We'll see!