A lighthearted look at how home-grown produce can save you money.
Grow chicken feed (good for guinea pigs too)
Animals such as chickens and guinea pigs love to forage on green scraps, so feed them leftovers or peelings and reduce your food bill for these household pets.
Make compost from vegetable scraps
If you’e generating more than enough waste from your vegies than even the most ravenous of guinea pigs can deal with, then compost it. All those extra nutrients provided by compostadded to your vegie plot or pot will benefit the next generation of produce.
Grow and sow your own fertiliser
Green manure crops are an excellent way of fertilising your soil, so why not collect some of the peas and beans left over from your harvest – or allow them to dry on the vine – and plant them in either the ground or a pot to be dug in as green manure. Your soil will love you for it – and so will your bank balance.
Turn wattle trees into mulch and animal feed
Acacias, or wattle trees, are a great source of nutrition for animals, which happily feast on their seeds, while the foliage makes an excellent mulch for the garden. Branches and stems can also be used to make wigwams for climbing plants such as beans, peas and cucumbers.
Brew up some liquid fertiliser
Place any leafy green material from the vegie garden, such as cabbage leaves, spinach leaves, rocket etc, into an old pair of pantyhose. Submerge the bundle in a bucket of water and wait as it breaks down. The result is a not-so-pleasant-smelling brew that your plants will adore – liquid fertiliser on the cheap.
Sell excess produce
It’s always a shame to waste unused produce simply because it gave you more than you could eat. Why not set up a stall out the front of your house and sell it off? It may not save you money directly, but surely making money is just as good? Be warned, though – many councils frown upon this.
Barter extras
Think about establishing a bartering system for any surplus produce. Your neighbour may be interested in swapping fresh produce for mowing the lawn or doing some grocery shopping for you. Or you could simply swap your produce for theirs – allowing you access to a greater variety of home-grown fruits and vegies.
Set up a community vegie box system
If you live in an area blessed with many home gardeners who have an abundance of leftover fruits and vegies, think about pooling your resources to set up a community vegie box system. Everyone donates their surplus to the system then splits the proceeds from sales made – and people will pay for locally grown produce.
Supplement dogs’ meals with fresh vegetables
By simply adding grated vegies such as carrots or zucchini to your dogs’ meal you can stretch their regular food a little further as well as giving them a healthier diet – all the better for taking you for a walk around the block.
Cut fruit and vegie bills
Obviously, if you’re growing more or all of the fruit and vegetables you consume that’s going to equal cost savings at the supermarket.
Grow your own mulch
Many plants will provide mulch for your garden. Even things like store-bought mulch will often contain seeds that once germinated you can simply pull out and lay down on the surface as mulch. Tea-trees are a fine example of a garden plant that supplies mulch.
Use tall-growing plants as climbing frames
Taller-growing plants such as corn will act as the perfect support for climbing plants like peas or beans. Try not to use heavier varieties such as cucumbers as they may cause the corn to bend. Simply plant the seeds at the base of the corn and as they develop encourage them to grow around the stem of the corn.
Pad meals out with extra vegies – eat your heart out, Curtis
In times of increasing electricity bills and horrendous house prices, being able to feed yourself and your family for little outlay is very appealing. It’s amazing how much further you can stretch a meal with the addition of extra vegies. Editor’s note: don’t tell the kids but this works a treat for spaghetti sauce with the addition of mashed pumpkin – and they can’t tell the difference.
Grow your own coffee – cuts your coffee shop expenses
If you’re lucky enough to be in an area where you can grow coffee,why not give a coffee tree a try? Refer to the previous issue of Fruits and Vegies for all the help you’ll need. Then you’ll have no reason to spend time sitting in the coffee shop eating the black forest gateau that had to go with your skinny latte. It’s win : win – for your waist and your wallet.
Become a home-grown home decorator
The produce from your garden can be decorative as well as delicious. Just look around for that will create interesting focal points around the house – think of a vase filled with lemons, or leaves of kale. Be creative – that won’t break the bank.
Make your own cleaning products
Using garden produce to create household cleaners isn’t new but many of us are now realising that the exorbitant price of some cleaning products isn’t financially or environmentally viable and so are returning to the old ways. Here’s three for starters, but you’ll find plenty more.
Lemon juice has long been known as a bleach for helping to remove stains from fabrics and is especially useful for tablecloths.
Lavender infused in a spray bottle of water makes ironing smell great.
Cleaning windows with lemons will leave them sparkling at little cost.
Stake your claim on prunings
Hold on to those sturdy prunings, they can be utilised as stakes for some of your more droopy plants. Why bother with store-bought stakes when you can use things already in the garden? Branches from deciduous fruit trees are perfect for this job.
Plate up the barbie on banana leaves
Save washing up – which means using less water, leading toreduced water bills – by using leaves from the garden as platters. Banana leaves are an obvious choice but see what else you have around the garden that you can use. Ideally, larger-leaved varieties are better – things like cabbage and lettuce are great choices but make sure whatever you choose isn’t poisonous.
Turn rosemary stems into skewers.
While buying bamboo skewers won’t necessarily break the bank, we believe that every little bit counts, and for great alternatives for the barbecue or the grill look no further than your vegie patch. Rosemary is a perfect choice as skewer material – it’s mostly straight-growing and firm so you can easily thread meat, chicken, fish and even fruit on lengths of stem, and the flavour from the rosemary will be infused into your food. Yum.
A brush with thyme
While we’re ton the subject, hands up all those who have melted at least one cheap pastry brush by using it to marinade meat on the barbecue? Exactly! You’ll never spend money to replace another pastry brush when you follow this handy little tip: the leaves and stem of many herbs will provide an aromatic brush that adds to the flavour of your cooking. Think thyme, rosemary, oregano, tarragon and savoury, to name a few. Remember too that some of these herbs come in a variety of flavours so you don’t need to have the same taste every time.
Fruit for jam – you’ll never buy the jar stuff again!
Any jam that is half decent is going to cost you at the checkout – but for just the price of some sugar and a bit of delicious fruit from the garden you can make your own – and you’ll be wondering why you ever bought that other stuff (except perhaps to get the jars to put your homemade beauty in). If you’re planning to use your fruit to make jam, think of adding a lemon tree to your ‘orchard’ so you can use the fruit as a setting agent. The hardest thing is not eating all the fruit before it can be made up, but the tip is that jam doesn’t care if you have to cut a slight blemish from the fruit before it goes in the pot, so damaged pieces are ideal for jam making.
Eat your way to a healthy lifestyle – and forget the doctors’ bills
Now this may be stating the obvious, but we’re all aware of the burden the healthcare system has on society. Now, some people can’t help getting sick – but nobody wants to be ill, so if growing fruits and vegies at home leads to a generally better lifestyle – and it has been shown that gardeners are usually a healthier lot than most – then it’s going to mean less costs associated with healthcare.
Reduce petrol bills by feeding yourself from the garden
The convenience of being able to simply step outside the door to replenish the pantryis one of many reasons to grow our own produce at home. The added bonus is that, by collecting dinner without venturing out in the car, you’ve saved on your fuel bill, and cut your greenhouse gas emissions –to say nothing of avoiding the dreaded mobile speed cameras and a potential fine. Less food miles mean greater tasting produce all round.
Forget eating out
You’ll never want to eat out when you can cook up a storm with delicious home-grown fruits and vegies on hand. You save the money on the meal as well as having the peace of mind of knowing exactly what you’re putting in your mouth. If you feel your culinary repertoire is too limited to not eat out, invest in a good cookbook filled with recipes that highlight the use of fresh seasonal produce prepared by a chef who understands that we don’t all want to cook to a three-hat standard.
Find a cheaper addiction
Tending the vegies in your garden or on your verandah quickly becomes addictive – take it from people who know. So while you’re busy enjoying the fruits of your labour, you’ll soon find you have neither the time nor the inclination to cruise the shopping centres making impulse purchases with your fantastic plastic. You’ll be spending so much time in the garden you won’t have a chance to buy that gorgeous pair of shoes.And besides, where are you going to wear those glamorous $400 shoes anyway?
Discover free childcare
Keeping the kids entertained is often a costly exercise. Getting them involved in the garden will leave them wondering what was appealing about going to the movies or indoor play centres and eating far too much junk food. Look at our DIY for Kids article for some fun ideas – but think about giving them an area they can call their own, even if it’s just some handpainted pots.
Pamper yourself in a home-grown day spa
No need to book, just close the door and soak in a bath infused with fresh organically grown lavender – it’s cheaper than a trip to the day spa and a wonderfully relaxing experience. Just place some lavender flowers in a muslin bag – the toes from old pantyhouse, while less attractive will serve the same purpose, but make sure you wash them first – then attach a piece of pretty ribbon and dangle it in the hot steaming water. Perfect after a long day in the garden, and you can take a glass of champagne with you and not have to worry about drink-driving. How good is that?
Like a mini facial with that?
While you’re lying in that lavender bath described above, apply a couple of home-grown cucumber slices to your eyes. Multitasking rules with the busy lifestyle we all seem to live. . Note: it’s advised that you don’t eat the cucumber pieces after you’ve finished – not cucumber at its best really!
Hold the candles
Overgrown vegies make great outdoor candle holders – think jack o’lanterns. Any vegetables that may have grown too big to be truly desirable in the kitchen can be re-invented as candle holders scattered around your garden. Thick slices of zucchini with a hole scooped out in the middle for a tea light can be used as a centrepiece for an outdoor dining table. Or try carving ‘roses’ from any unpalatable radishes for another form of tea light holders.. Over-ripe pumpkins can be hollowed-out Halloween style and a church candle placed inside to add light to the garden – though you will probably want to do without the scary faces.
Get chooks
Chickens are great money savers. They give you eggs, manure and eat scraps – the perfect companion.