A hot topic that is often discussed on the Lose Baby Weight Private Support Group is how to keep to a budget.
Today motivating mum Eleanor Hannah has written in with her advice on how to get your own veggie garden up and running.
“One way to save money and stick to a budget is grow a lot of your own veggies; herbs and fruit trees. Sometimes this can be hard if renting but here’s a few tips to get started- especially if your renting


The GREAT news for budget concious mums is that the July 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge is the BUDGET Challenge with all recipes have a cost per serve which will save you even more money on your shopping bill. See all the details here

Fruit Trees

Try to pick fruit trees that your family eat the most of and then see if you can get dwarf variety’s.  Some ideas could be apples, pears, oranges, lemons etc.  They can be easily grown in pots making them easy to transport and this time of year is sometimes cheaper to buy as garden centres are trying to clear stock.

What Veggies To Grow & How To Plant Them

Again try to pick out the top veggies that you purchase on a regular basis and go from there.
I find planting from seeds cheaper in the long run but you can start with the little 6 pack of veggies you can buy.
I grow almost everything in tyres cauliflower broccoli spinach silver-beet celery tomatoes garlic onions strawberries carrots (tyres stacked two high to get the depth) potatoes and sweet potatos etc.
If you don’t like tyres another option is pallets from the hardware shop Bunnings etc they normally just get rid of the untreated ones for free which is what you need. Same concept lay something under the pallet before putting your garden mix in and then the plants don’t root into the ground.
Setting up a garden while renting, some landlords won’t let you plant gardens or there is no existing garden try using tyres on top of a good few layers of newspaper or hessian sacks to stop the weeds and for say cauliflower and broccoli I plant 2 plants per tyre

 What Herbs To Grow & How To Plant Them

You can grow your herbs in tyres too I have coriander chives basil Rosemary to name a few.  Herbs tend to need alot of sun so pick a sunny spot in your garden for them to grow.
Also a lot of these things are fine to grow in pots or hanging baskets as long as you keep increasing the size of the pot as the plant gets bigger.

 Fertilising & Pest Control

Your food scraps can be dug directly into the dirt around your plants to help fertalise them.
You can also use your used coffee grounds to prevent slugs and snails from eating your veggies/herbs.  Simply sprinkle them around the plants.

 Build Your Garden Slowly

Start building your garden slowly with buying one pack of seeds a week or one punnet of seedlings and build your garden from there.  This way can make it very cost effective for those on a tight budget.

If budget isn’t an issue you can start your garden with the top ten things you purchase every week that is a fantastic place to start. If you are unsure as to what can grow in your area try google “planting times” and usually there is a planting guide calendar that shows you when are the best months for planting different things.

 Hope these tips have helped you, as a family of 2 adults 3 children with 4 part time and another on the way, I do anything I can to save money and this has really helped us.

Eleanor xx

You can see Eleanor’s latest update here too

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