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Feel good about your food – here are some tips for growing your own crops this winter season!
Yes, as you've already heard from us quite a few times already, the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables is skyrocketing these days.
In one of our previous stories, we even talked about how the price of a dish that was usually recommended as being "cheap" had also increased, with major supermarkets charging an average customer up to $30 for the ingredients.
Because of this, we here at the SDC are always looking for new ways to assist you, our members, in mitigating the costs and lowering the amount that you spend on groceries for your household.
Having your own edible garden in the backyard is something that many of you members have previously suggested as a way to lower your grocery costs, particularly when it comes to buying fresh produce.
According to renowned Australian author Jackie French, who also writes for The Canberra Times, "when you grow your own [food], you learn to eat according to what is in the garden rather than according to a recipe."
And it's true – one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things that can be accomplished in a garden is growing one's own food, particularly one's own fruits and vegetables.
When it comes to delicious flavour and excellent nutritional value, nothing beats freshly picked, homegrown produce!
Grow your own fruits and vegetables at home to cut food costs and save money. Credit: Ros Drinkwater/Alamy.
However, even though Ms French said that growing your own edible garden can be extremely satisfying, it also requires a good amount of your time and a bit of elbow grease. On the other hand, it certainly beats the time you spend battling through a supermarket, don't you agree?
Starting an edible garden is not that difficult, says Matt De Britt, a member at CHOICE. All it takes is time, sound advice, and common sense. And if you pick your plants carefully, growing even a small number of your own veggies can help reduce the relatively high cost of purchasing them from the greengrocer or supermarket.
Even though we are already well into one of the colder months of the year, you might be surprised to learn that you can still start your garden during the winter. The difficult part is figuring out which things to plant and which to avoid.
To achieve the best results, try to stick as much as you can to seasonal produce, says Ms French. "One of the most important ways to have free food is to learn what to eat in what season."
She even mentioned that in recent weeks, her broccoli has been producing gorgeous, large heads that are ready to pick, and that the red cabbage is beginning to form lovely heads, along with cauliflower and asparagus. Wintersweet carrots are also a good option.
Even a few vegetables can be grown to reduce grocery store costs. Credit: Veggie Garden Seeds.
The following are some pieces of advice for winter planting that you can follow:
- Pick winter vegetables like peas, chives, leeks, onions, and spring onions.
- Summer and spring vegetable seedlings can still be planted from August. You might want to keep them inside, though.
- Put seeds in seed trays if you want to grow beans, pumpkins, watermelons, or zucchini. Make sure they are left in a location with plenty of natural or artificial light.
- When growing produce out of season, you must allow enough time for plant maintenance. You'll have to take care of them until the weather turns warm again. After that, you can transfer these plants to your garden in the spring.
- Beetroot, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, and turnips are the best winter crops for people who live in cooler climates, such as some areas of Victoria and Tasmania. Even at very low temperatures, they can still continue to grow.
- Warm weather is frequently experienced during winter in tropical areas, such as some locations in northern Western Australia and Queensland. However, you could pick vegetables like carrots, beets, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and zucchini despite the frequent downpours. Thyme, parsley, oregano, and garlic are also excellent herbs to add to your garden.
And according to CHOICE, you should also:
- Cultivate high-yielding, multiple cropping plants. A bean seed, for instance, will produce numerous crops over the course of a season, whereas planting a cauliflower will only result in one harvest and can take four months to mature.
- Pick fast-growing plants like radishes, lettuce, and spinach.
- Grow long-producing plants like perennial spinach and silver beetroot, which are green leafy vegetables. Additionally, heirloom fruit and vegetable varieties typically produce larger yields, increasing your harvest.
- Choose crops like heirloom varieties that don't require a lot of resources to grow (like a lot of water) and are less prone to pests.
- And of course, this goes without saying but you should also choose vegetables that you personally enjoy eating, can be easily preserved or stored, and cost a lot to purchase at the supermarkets.
Credit: Gardening Australia.
