Green Services Direct

Due to the current cost of living rises and the constant squeezes on family budgets, we are all looking for different ways to save money on our weekly shopping. One of our biggest spends must be the weekly food shop at our local supermarket and we must all have noticed the steep rise in the cost of many of the fresh food items we buy. Some have risen substantially in price, other fresh items have dropped in portion size. It has to be said that all along the supply chain from the producer to the supermarkets costs have risen and if they are to continue to be profitable, they need to pass at least some of their higher cost onto the customer. The supply chain for fruit and vegetables starts with the grower, then the picker, the transporter and so on until the produce hits the supermarket shelves. What if we were the grower and the supply chain started and finished with us?

A packet of a few hundred lettuce seeds for instance will cost less than £2. Planting these gradually between March and July will give you a crop from May to October. One iceberg lettuce on a supermarket shelf costs in the region of £0.55 and while this may not be a massive saving in monetary terms, it is in percentages and if we could achieve that across the board on our fruit and veg, it would show a worthwhile saving. You would also have the satisfaction of knowing that you had grown your own produce and it has to be said that a tomato, grown in our own garden, tastes so much better.

The array of fruit and veg available to us in seed form is astonishing, so we should plan carefully what and how we grow our produce. A large garden offers more scope to plant vegetables like potatoes, which take much more space than many other crops, whereas a smaller plot will benefit from better planning and space management. Start by working out which fruit and veg you eat most and which would save you the most money. Potatoes for instance taste really good, fresh out of the garden, but need a fair bit of space to grow and are actually not that expensive to buy, when compared with the cost of growing them.

Produce that grows vertically can often be trained to grow against a wall or fence. Runner beans which will produce an attractive display of flowers and will give a substantial crop of beans over a few months. They also freeze well, which is always a consideration when planning your crops. Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and blackcurrants are all expensive in the supermarkets but you can buy small fruit bushes relatively cheaply, which if looked after will give you a good crop of fruit year after year. One of the beauties of these fruits is that they freeze well, so if at any time you have an overabundance of them, put them in an airtight bag or container and put them in the freezer for use at a later date.

Tomatoes grow vertically and again can be attached to a trellis, wall or fence, three plants will give a crop adequate for a family of four. Also, worth a thought, is planting tomatoes in a hanging basket. This may seem uncomfortable to many who have never done so before, but there are now a number of varieties of tomato which are bred specifically for planting in hanging baskets. Varieties such as Tiny Tim, Red Robin, or Tumbling Tom are suitable for planting either indoors in a decorative wicker basket or in the garden in a 35mm lined basket. Either way, plant your seeds in the normal way and when your plants are ready to be planted out, plant one or possibly two into your basket as you would any other plant. Once you have your crop, you can take the seeds out of a few of them, save them and replant some in the spring to give you a start for your next year plants. With the possible exception of fruits, it is advisable, from a cost point of view, to buy seeds rather than plants. You can buy a packet of a few hundred seeds for the price of just a few seedling plants and the extra time to grow them from seed is only a matter of weeks.

One of the most expensive items in growing your own fruit and veg can be compost, so it makes sense if you are serious about growing your own, to make your own compost. This is not difficult, although it does take the contents of your compost heap or bin six months to a year to completely decompose.

Compostable materials fall into two basic categories, brown (carbon-rich) and green (nitrogen-rich). You will need more carbon in your mix than nitrogen, if there is too much carbon (browns), this will slow down decomposition, whereas too much nitrogen (greens), will make your pile a little smelly. To achieve this ratio add about one part brown for every two parts green.

Browns (carbon-rich), tend to be dry, woody materials. Greens (nitrogen-rich) are usually fruits and veg coloured (green, red, yellow, etc) and normally a little moist. A good rule of thumb for greens and browns is;

Browns (Carbon-Rich)

• Dried leaves
• Sawdust and woodchips from untreated wood
• Shredded black and white newspaper
• Egg boxes
• Egg shells
• Cardboard
• Dead, dried-out plants
• Tree bark
• Straw
• Peanut shells

 Greens (Nitrogen-Rich)

• Fruit and vegetable food scraps
• Coffee grounds
• Tea bags
• Green garden cuttings
• Fresh leaves and flowers
• Grass cuttings

When adding materials to your composter, always break up things like eggshells or egg boxes and shred paper and cardboard so that you are always adding small pieces of material. The smaller the pieces the faster they will decompose and the easier they are to mix into the existing compost.

Growing vegetables does not need a shed full of tools, the basic requirement would be;

• Trowel
• Spade
• Garden Fork
• Pruning Shears
• Hoe
• Hose/Watering can

Two “nice to haves” to add to that would be

• Gardening gloves
• Kneeling pad

Many gardeners get their plants and seeds for free by swapping with neighbours or other local gardeners, but no matter how you source these, any established gardener who grows his or her own fruit and vegetables will speak of the satisfaction of successfully growing then eating their own produce. They will also tell you that the food is much tastier and fresher when picked from the garden and cooked straight away.