Why isn’t everyone gardening? It’s probably one of the best way to save on the fruits and veggies you’re buying all the time, and it’s one of the most incredible pass times. This is my gardening 101 guide (which my farmer husband helped me with) to help you save money and find a new hobby to love!
Gardening 101: Harvest Seeds Before Hand
The best way to save money is to harvest your own seeds from the produce you buy. Seeds usually only go for $3 a pouch, but that’s $3 for every vegetable you buy. Depending on how much you want to grow, it might be most cost efficient to take the seeds you find in your own grocery.
How to do this:
Pick out the seeds from, let’s say, a tomato. They are small, so be very delicate. Place them all on a paper towel and dab them with another paper towel to clean them off and dry them. Then place the paper towel on a sunny spot and let them naturally dry for about a week.
Once they’re dry, you can start planting!
If you do want to buy some pouches, however, I would encourage you to go the organic route. A lot of time, the non-organic seeds have coatings over the seeds that are most definitely not organic material. You also just get better quality seeds.
Gardening 101: Choose Your Soil
Chances are, you didn’t spend all of last year creating your own soil. However, take this opportunity to start now so you don’t have to buy soil again next year. Here’s how to make your own soil:
You need a 4x4x6 foot wooden box that has a lid on the top and is completely open at the bottom. You can use scrap wood to make this. Once that’s all roughly put together, pop it in an area in your backyard that is you aren’t using and that has soil access on the bottom (for the worms to get in) and leave it there. Throw some leaves in there, some bugs and worms and other organic material you might find in your yard and for the rest of the year, throw your food scraps in there.
But don’t worry about the smell! Contrary to popular belief, compost doesn’t have to smell while its doing its magic if you do it right. To ensure an effective and earthy smelling compost be sure that your compost has a majority of carbon rich material (cardboard, wood chips, sawdust, leaves etc) and a minority of nitrogen rich material (kitchen scraps, veggies, legumes, fruits, etc). The ratio you want to target is 20:1. Meaning, you want 20 times more carbon than nitrogen. Lastly, don’t include animal bones unless you want raccoons in your compost.
Yes, even through the winter! The composter gets hot on the inside so it keeps itself warm throughout the cold weather. By the next summer, you’ll have rich and beautiful soil that’s ready to nourish your seeds for the year.
In case soil from your composter isn’t available this year, then I would recommend buying an organic bag (depending on how much you’re planting of course. If you’re planting a lot, I’d get 2-3 bags).
Gardening 101: Seed Starter Ideas
When it comes to saving money, some of the best seed starter trays you can use are simply egg cartons. Save all your egg cartons and plant all your seeds in the egg spots. However, this only works when the plants are small. Since egg cartons tend to be shallow, the roots can grow through. I like to use these biodegradable seed starters. Once your seeds are stable, you’ll want to transfer them to bigger pots. I like to use these biodegradable pots as they don’t contain microplastics when transferring your seeds.
Gardening 101: How To Properly Nurture The Seeds
Now comes the part where we have to care for our seeds. Once your seeds have been planted, really get the soil nice and soaked with water.
Water your seeds every other day or so. It depends on the soil. If the soil dries fast, water everyday. But if the soil keeps its moisture for a bit, no need to water so much. At these beginning stages, however, nice soaked soil helps with the germination process of the plants.
You do not want the pot to be flooded with water. If there is water pooling at the top, you’ve added too much. You want the soil to absorb it nicely.
In order to have strong baby plants, make sure you have lots of sun. Most of us will have our plants next to a window with sun, which is fine, but make sure it’s enough. A lot of times the sun exposure isn’t enough and you’ll notice your plants are getting leggy. This means that they’re growing super tall, but thin. They’re trying to reach the sun, but over extend themselves, and they end up unable to support themselves and die.
Give lots of sun and constantly rotate the plants so that it isn’t always leaning to one side. All plants lean towards where the sun is.
If you’re willing to invest, I’d recommend getting a small greenhouse like this to pop in your backyard. It keeps itself warm and gets all the sun the plants need!
Gardening 101: How To Properly Transplant
Once the little babies have outgrown their little pod, it’s time to transplant!
Use the biodegradable pots for this. You need to be extremely delicate in this process, especially if you put multiple seeds into one pod. Slowly remove the entire plant, all the way down the root from the pod (feel free to take the dirt completely out) and place it in an already-filled-with-soil pot. Cover the roots and a bit of the stem with dirt and then immediately pour some water! Soak the soil (but don’t flood it) and place it in a nice and sunny spot.
A lot of times plants will droop for a day or so when they are transplanted. It’s called transplant shock. Don’t be alarmed this will go away as long as you keep them well watered and ensure lots of sun covers them!
Gardening 101: From Pots to the Ground
If your pots are salvageable, I’d recommend keeping them for another plant. But, if they’re becoming destroyed, I’d pop them with the pot into the ground.
All plants need sun, but some thrive in it more than others. Make sure to plan out your garden based on the needs of the plants you’re growing and where the most sun is in your garden. A good rule of thumb is that you want your plants to be getting at least 6-8 hours of direct sun throughout the day.
Another thing to do before planting into the ground is check how much space is needed between your plants. Some plants can be planted close together, while others need lots of room to be able to grow big. Ensure these measurements are included in your planning!
Once all is prepared, you can now start planting into the ground! The cheapest way to plant your garden would be to just plant straight into the ground, but you can also do raised beds in wooden crates with the bottom taken off. Wooden crates tend to give a neater look, and, it doesn’t effect the resale value of the home (as some people would just want plain lawns when they move into their homes).
If you’re taking the plants out of the pots, squish the middle of the pot a bit to loosen up the soil, usually the soil is molded to the pot. Once that’s loosened, take the plant out with all of the dirt and place into a hole in your garden. Cover it with not only soil, but also any of your composted soil. You want to give the plant as many nutrients as you possibly can. Water immediately!
Gardening 101: Daily Upkeep
Watering
You’ll easily be able to tell the difference between dry and wet soil, so that’s an easy indicator that your plants need a watering. It’s also important to note the temperature for the day. Rainy days = no watering. Sunny days = more watering. With watering it is quality over quantity. Long slow deep watering is better than quick frequent watering (this mimics rainfall) try to avoid watering in the heat of noon as most of the water will evaporate, it is better to water in the morning or evening and water thoroughly to get the soil saturated.
You can use a hose, but ensure that the nozzle has a soft flow like this attachment. Or you can use a watering can like this.
Pruning
When pruning, you can control the way in which you’d like them to grow. If you leave the foliage to grow outward, you’ll have more of a bush. If you cut off the bottom leaves and give it room to grow long and tall, you’ll have more of a vine. This is helpful if you don’t have a lot of room in your garden.
Pruning is good as well in case there are any diseased or dying leaves or branches. You want to keep your plants healthy by removing these problems. This of course is dependent on the plant so make sure you research best practices for the type of plants you want to grow in your garden.
This shear set would work great.
Protection
Especially if you’re doing it the organic way, animals will want to take a few bites out of your crop. These are some thing we did to help:
- Cayenne pepper around the plants. Animals don’t like the smell of cayenne pepper and it can burn their noses a little bit.
- Nets. We use nets for our fruit bushes for the birds.
- Pinwheels. Pinwheels that reflect light can scare little animals off.
- Raised beds. Taller beds means less animals can climb it.
Stability
There will come a time when your plants start to get really tall and will need the support as they start making veggies and fruit. Climbing and vine-like plants would like some sort of wall trellis. While other plants do well with spiral or other trellis’. You can even just pop a tall and sturdy stick in the ground and tie your plants to it as they get taller. This of course is dependent on the plant so make sure you research best practices for the type of plants you want to grow in your garden.
Gardening 101: Harvesting
You don’t have to wait for every single fruit or veggie to be ripe to harvest. Some will ripen faster than others. In some cases, like tomatoes, if they ripen too much they can burst or get damaged. It’s always good to keep an eye on the ones ripening faster and to harvest them right away.
You want to pluck the fruit or vegetable right from the tip of the fruit / vegetable. You do not want to cut an entire vine from the plant as it can still use that spot to make more.
Always wash your fruit or veggies before consuming, to get rid of any dirt or bugs that might have been on the harvest. And be sure to enjoy what you’ve sown. I used to not want to touch my fruits and veggies because I was so proud of them – but remember that they can still go bad!
When it starts to get cold and there are still some veggies growing, it’s okay to harvest them early, else they might die. To finish ripening them, you can pop them by a sunny window inside your home and let the sun finish ripening them that way .This of course is dependent on the plant so make sure you research best practices for the type of plants you want to grow in your garden.
Gardening 101: Save Your Seeds
Be sure to save as many seeds as you can from your personal harvest. This will help you save money next year. Try and be very intentional about which fruits and veggies you take seeds from. You don’t want the tiny fruits or the misshapen veggies. You want the big, juicy and healthy looking fruits and veggies because you want to pass those genes along.
Gardening 101: Be Patient
The biggest tip for you today is the be patient with the process. Some plants will take the entire growing season to finally give you a proper harvest. Don’t harvest anything before it’s ripe (unless it’s getting cold outside), don’t over water thinking that might help, and don’t over prune!
Be diligent and patient with your garden and watch the incredible harvest you’ll get!
