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Tip Store: Gardening: Fruit and Vegetables

​Maximise Your Harvest

After spending money on seeds and vegetables it is good to get the most out of those plants. I have found by harvesting leaves from lettuces and kale and pea pods from the peas the plants last longer.
It is also a good idea to observe where the sun is on your garden and what areas have shade. Root vegetables such as beetroot, carrots and potatoes and leafy vegetables such as silver beet, spinach and lettuce can be grown in shade. Tomatoes and corn grow best in sunny areas. Check the micro climate of your property e.g. my front gets the morning sun, and the back gets the afternoon sun. I have found that any vegetables that I have tried to grow in the front are eaten by snails, yet vegetables grown in the backyard are not touched so I keep the front for fruit trees and herbs. There is no such thing at my place as unusable.
Contributed by Ann Green

​Garden Frames for Plants

​I recently found an old wire clotheshorse on the side of the road in my neighbourhood. A bit rusty in some spots, but I carried it home and stuck it in the garden to use as a frame for my tomatoes to grow up. It's easy to pull out and move around to other plants when the tomatoes are done. I also found a standing wardrobe frame that will do the same job with just a couple of pieces of rope, string or wire added. And even if you don't have a clotheshorse laying around, it is actually cheaper to buy a brand new one (about $6 at Bunnings) than it is to buy a similarly sized plant frame or trellis, and the clotheshorse will allow your plant more room to spread out too, giving you better access to the fruits of the plant, rather than being stuck up against one flat surface.
Contributed by Robyn Thomas

​No Weed Winter Gardening, Using Waste Materials

​Throughout the year I save any newspapers, magazines, sale catalogues and cardboard boxes to use as a weed barrier in my garden. Lay down a layer of newspaper or cardboard and cover with mulch (garden straw, grass clippings, Autumn leaves, palm fronds, bark mulch or pebbles - whatever you prefer) to hold it in place and look more attractive. Over time any weeds beneath will die off as they have no access to sunlight, so you won't have to pull them out.  Autumn and Winter is the perfect time to do this while the weather is cooler and in preparation for new growth in the garden during Spring, without the need to constantly weed. If a weed does pop up here and there throughout the year, lay some more newspaper on it and cover with mulch again. You've reused something which would usually have to be recycled and saved yourself a lot of energy in not weeding your garden throughout the year, and all for free! And of course throw down some of the compost you've made from household, garden and kitchen waste, beneath the newspaper layer as a free fertilizer and soil improving food for worms - then let the worms dig and condition the soil for you, with no extra effort or expense.
Contributed by Trixy Krix

FEEDING THE GARDEN WITH EGG SHELLS

Egg shells are kept in the oven on a oven tray. When they are dried out, I crush them finely in my small blender, pop them in another yogurt container with the lid on. When I have enough I spread the egg shells around my plants. The plants get the good calcium from the crushed eggs shells. Egg shell halves are also good to pop in a little soil, seeds and watch them grow, then plant the whole thing. Seedlings are good to do to as well. I don't have a compost bin but I save all my vegie scraps, mix them up and add them to my soil. 
Contributed by Irene Wilkinson

Perpetual Veggies

I use the bottom of celery or spring onions cut off about 40mm from the bottom on each and re-grow in water. Once they start sprouting I pop them to grow in the garden and start off my next lot.
Contributed by Deborah Hunter Kells, 14th January 2017

​Don't Bin it, Stick it

Use a spring onion, stick the bottom inch in the garden or the whole bunch if left too long in the fridge. Onion, ginger, sweet potato shooting, bottom of lettuce, left over carrots, celery, over ripe tomato plant it. Bunch of spinach or coriander, herbs to big for quick use - put it in the ground, you can use it later or if going to seed collect them and use later in the year. It will not replace all your vegetables, but it often fills in when running out, saving that quick trip to the shop where you will spend more than intended. Being on my own, I have halved my vegetable bill and stopped wasting any.
Contributed by Con Shaw, 6th May 2016

Grow Your Own Mushrooms

Approximate $ Savings: $8-9 per kilo 

Veggie gardens need sun but there's one delicious vegetable you can grow in full shade, under the house or in a shed...mushrooms. The kits you can buy from Bunnings are not very good value but check out your local mushroom farm. They often sell (or even give away) their used mushroom compost for the garden. I can get trays of "spent" mushroom compost for 60 cents each and I keep them moist in a shady corner of my garden. They keep producing for 6 weeks or more and the mushrooms are fresh and absolutely delicious. When they finally stop producing mushrooms the compost is excellent for the garden and holds moisture particularly well if used as mulch. Get more tips about this method at http://green-change.com/2009/01/17/growing-mushrooms-from-mushroom-compost/