Welcome to week 2 of my Weekly Green Tips series. One blog a week with 7 tips on a given theme giving you 365 ways to help make the world a better place. Today I am looking at ways to help you grow some of your own veg.
Week 2 - 7 ways to get growing
1. Learn how to grow things
If you have never grown anything before the internet can be a great source of help and ideas. Pinterest is packed full of links to gardening posts and there are plenty of online courses you can sign up for. Do make sure they are for your country/area, though!
2. Go organic
Why go to the effort of growing your own vegetables if you are going to spray then full of chemicals? If you are new to growing then you might as well go organic right for the start but if you are already gardening then now is the time not ditch those chemicals and go organic.3. Swap your excess produce
Every once in a while you'll grow too much of something and if you dare to put one more dinner containing courgettes on the table you may well be met with quite understandable howls of complaint. However someone else may well have an excess of other produce so don't waste your extra harvest, swap it with friends and fellow gardeners.
4. Buy seeds with friends
Often seed packets contain far more seeds than you could possibly use (packets of bean seeds in France contain enough seeds to grow for an army) so it's a good idea to team up with a friend or two and share out the seeds from one packet, especially those seeds, such as parsnip, that do not germinate well if extras are saved for the next year.5. Make your own plant labels
These are very easy to make simply cutting plastic strip from white plastic bottles. An even more rustic alternative involves scraping a section of bark off a small stick where you can then write the plant name.
6. Water your garden efficiently
You may think we have an unlimited amount of water and much of the time this is true - but using less water means it will last longer in times of drought. It also takes energy to supply safe water to your taps so using less will save energy. For details on tips on water-wise watering please click on this post I wrote.7. Grow bee attracting flowers
Many vegetables contain seeds e.g. tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, sweetcorn etc and these will not be produced if their flowers are not first fertilised and for that you need bees. So, as well as growing vegetables do include some bee attracting plants in your growing plans. If you grow herbs that you allow to flower then you get the advantage of attracting bees and having herbs to harvest. For example, bees love chive flowers, below, and they also give a real oniony kick to salads.
Have you any favourite tips on how to grow things?
For more weekly green tips please visit - 7 disposables we don't need.
You can pin me ...
Or grab my badge ...
You know, I should grow more things in my garden but I am not very green fingered and also I haven't got much time as I work full time. I do have mint and garlic (although last year I pulled it out too late!) but I am slowly getting there
ReplyDeleteOne of the #weeklygreentips I have planned is 7 vegetables ANYONE should be able to grow so do look out for that one!
Delete