Page 18 - HFHB - Magazine

Want to Know How to Get Cheap

Organic vegetables this spring?

It’s no secret that home grow produce tastes better, has kitchen.
greater nutrient content, and is the one form of ‘organic’ that
you honestly know complies. I’ll let you in on a little secret Choose a seed raising mix to start your seeds because they
that you might not know if you haven’t grown vegetables need lots of room to move during germination. Get the kids
before, it’s not that hard. There are of course a few to help you through this stage. My kids use a spoon to fill the
fundamentals you need to get right, but you will be blown sections of the egg carton. The trick here is to not push the
away by the level of output a small patch or even pots can soil down. If you give the egg carton a couple of light taps
produce, especially if you focus on the high yielding crops. that will suffice.
There is a slightly different process to use with small seeds
# Tip 1 –Starting From Seed Is Extremely Cost Effective as opposed to bigger seeds. With the small seeds, you can
The thing to remember with seed raising, is it takes about just sprinkle them on top and give them a very light top layer
4-6 weeks for them to be ready for your garden. If you can of soil. You'll find they don't like being buried in deep.
protect them through the initial stages of life, they will be However, you can use a pencil to poke a hole in the soil and
much stronger when they head out into the veggie patch. bury a larger seed deeper in the soil and cover it up. Just
remember not to compact the soil.
Seeds only cost a couple of dollars a packet, so your outlay
is minor compared to the abundance of healthy organic # Tip 2- High Yielding Plants For Continuous Output
produce you will harvest in return. My top picks for Spring, are silver beet, tomatoes, cucumber,
eggplant, ornate lettuce, beans & capsicum. These veggies
First off you need to select your seeds to sow. Check out our will keep on giving. You only need a few of each and you will
latest planting guide by joining our 'How you growin' mum? have a continual supply for months.
Facebook group. Here you can also join the conversation
about growing produce in your family garden. It's a great Silver Beet / Swiss Chard—This is one of the easiest
place to ask for help and get guidance along the way. vegetables to grow because it doesn't need a lot of sunlight
and can bounce back if it misses a water. The worst thing
There is a huge selection of seeds on offer these days, so you can do to this plant is not pick it fast enough. It responds
you can try just about anything, as long as you're in the right really well to liquid food and by picking it continually you
season. actually stay ahead of the caterpillars.

We like to use egg cartons since we have them already, but Cherry Tomatoes—As long as cherry tomatoes get enough
you can purchase biodegradable jiffy pots or round sun, and you don't kill them before they get to the harvest
pellets as a different option. I've tried egg shells but they are stage, you will benefit from an abundance of produce. Don't
a bit of hard work because you have to take the lining from start messing with them if they get a bit scraggly looking,
the inside of the shell out first. You can also use toilet roll they will still produce if they are left in a tangy mess. You are
holders with the bottom folded in to make a base, and use almost certain to stop production if you start trimming it back.
newspaper to make little cups by folding them like origami. I
find the egg cartons the easiest option. They can all be Cucumber—'Sun Lovers' is a great name for cucumbers, so
planted in the garden with the seedlings which helps with the make sure they have plenty of light. The fruit is incredible
transplanting stage. The other option is you can use existing resilient to pests, however they can get burnt if exposed
seedling trays or recycled containers from your garden or repeatedly to a scorching sun. As long as the wide canopy