Gardening is new to me. So it's a learning process as I stumble along and learn by reading, watching, trial and error. I go to my garden plot once a day for 30 to 60 minutes after work and a bit longer over the weekend. I spend time watering the garden and chatting to others, which gives me a healthy active outdoor activity, educational entertainment and social interaction. I will also add I have found it to be meditative in that I am relaxing more and enjoying the sounds of nature around me.
The initial outlay of getting my plot ready is costing me money but those costs will balance out and reduce when I harvest my goodies in the near future and following years. I have purchased a few stakes, irrigation equipment, tressel for my plants to climb, plants and seeds. I still need to purchase a timer and a couple of eggplant plants for my bottom plot. I try to purchase wisely and use recycled where I can.
I estimate I am already saving $5 to $10 a week in grocery shopping by using my very limited bounty. I am no longer buying weekly bags of spinach for a start and I menu plan with my produce in mind. In the past 2 weeks I have harvested eggplants, herbs, spinach and my first 2 Lebanese cucumbers. All has been integrated into my meals.
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| Eggplants. |
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| I use the eggplants in lasagna, ratatouille, stir fry, pasta sauce. |
I started a small garden in my back yard and it was going well until we got two straight weeks of pouring rain... now it has turned into a jungle and I can't tell the weeds from the veggies!
ReplyDeleteI hope to get out there this week and see what I can do to clean it up.
Your eggplant look so delicious. We had our first tomato last night - everything seems a bit slower this year - I think because it is a bit cooler. I have been eating green salads out of the garden for a few months though. It is also important to compare what we save to organic vegetables, which are pricier. I am hoping to have a glut soon....
ReplyDeleteYep, have a continuous veg garden down the back...we try and grow as much as we can...its not always a lot, but Im sure it all helps along the way as well as being much better for us, and teaching the kids along the way that it is possible and something that we can all do.
ReplyDeleteI think having our allotment saves us quite a bit of money, and means that we can eat things that we wouldn't be able to afford to buy, such as strawberries, raspberries, French beans and courgettes which are all very expensive in the markets and supermarkets here.
ReplyDeleteI grow our own veg. It started off as a challenge but now it's fun and must save us heaps.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that we can eat fresh, unprocessed food whenever we want to.
Barb.
I am growing strawberries (not doing very well this year)courgettes, runner beans and green beans (both not doing very well!) chillies and some tomato plants.
ReplyDeleteYour eggplants (we call these aubergines in the UK) are looking great and I've noticed from other posts your spinach is doing well.