Grow Your Own Food!

Other ways to save money is to actually grow your own food. You don't need a farm or even a large back yard. You can start with simple herbs that you can use to cook with or to make teas. You can even grow some fruits and vegetables in pots.

You can grow just about any kind of berries. The best containers for growing fruit are those only slightly larger (2-3 inches) than the existing rootball. A good size for most fruits is 18 inches in diameter and at least 16-18 inches deep. Soft fruits like strawberries can be grown in much smaller pots and work well in hanging baskets or window boxes. Set large pots on casters to make moving them around the yard and in and out of the house easier. http://tiny.cc/hQKZP

But if you want to move beyond small fruit here is a list of all the fruit you can grow in pots:
Tropical Fruits
Citrus Fruits
Avocado
Banana
Key Lime
Kumquat
Lemon
Strawberry
Carambola
Cattley Guava
Guava
Papaya
Passion Fruit
Pineapple

Pretty amazing! for more information on how to grow fruits in pots visit: U of F Fact Page at http://tiny.cc/1vdjl

So far I have planted the following:

drawf lemons (very succesful), mint, spearment (yerba buena), cilantro, drawf oranges, oregano, tomato, guisquil (see picture), bell pepper, lettuce, papaya (only gave one fruit), avocado (will take 4-6 years to bear fruit), casava (yuca-matures in 6 months).

I have had the most success with the drawf lemons. They are delicious. I just love them. The herbs are all very succesful too and I love to add mint to my salads and I have learned to add them to my main courses too.

I have had tomatoes before and there is nothing like a tomato grown in your own backyard. Once you've tasted a tomato that is home grown you don't want to buy them at the store. I had to start my tomato garden again because my dogs got into my garden and destroyed them. I guess they like tomatoes too! This time I invested in cages and I think they will do much better.

Guisquil is not a very tastey vegetable, actually its tastes like water, but it has no calories and takes on the taste of whatever you cook with it. I could not verify it but I have been told it has diuretic properties. So far I have about 5 quisquiles from 1 seed in less then a couple of months.

You don't have to buy plants you can plant seeds from fruits and vegetables you've bought at the store. Not all of them will flourish but some will. Just keep trying or go ahead and buy a plant or two at the store. If you have a friend that is into gardening and has some herbs they may give you a spring and that is all you need. I have a beautiful lush mint plant that was planted from a spring that came with a take out dinner from a vietnamese restaurant!

My brother is also into gardening and he has beautiful pineapples in his garden from left over pineapple tops he bought at the supper market.

So next time you want to save some money, think about growing your own food! Its fun, organic, and cheap.