Gardening on a budget

Our wonderful Facebook community have shared their top tips on reducing food waste and saving money in the garden.

Shared tips on how to reduce food waste

• Take leftovers for lunches - keep them in clear containers so you don’t forget them, make desserts or smoothies with fruit that is past its best, compost scraps, just scrub potatoes don’t peel them. – Merrin
• Approach each meal preparation with the thought “What needs using up?” – Phoebe
• I keep a large resealable bag in the freezer and add all vege peels and off cuts, and any veges that I may have left in the fridge too long, and make vege stock every couple of weeks. Just add some bay leaf, salt, pepper. - Patrick
• Grocery day quiche: Self-crusting recipe and all the leftover veges thrown in. – Kendra
  I grow my vegetables and share with my friends. Composting and worm farming. I make tomato relish and vegetable pickles. - Maricel
• Picking leaves from plants when I am ready to use them. Storing vegetables properly (potatoes away from onions, bananas away from other fruit). Turning potato skins into chips. Leaving the skin on when I cut carrots. - Serena

Broccoli stalk fritters made using broccoli stalks
Try the recipe here >

tips to help save money in the garden while 'growing your own'

• Grow things that you can collect seed from so that you can grow continuously with no more outlay e.g. tomatoes, capsicum, pumpkins, onions, garlic, shallots, beans etc. – Daina
• Grow seedlings then swap with friends, workmates or family for what they have. – Emma
• Give the plants a chance. There’s a few I would have thrown out because I thought they had done their dash, but was persuaded to keep and they’ve flourished. Don’t write them off too quickly. – Elizabeth
• Home composting, worm farms and growing food in a variety of containers. A couple of potatoes can grow many. Only grow things that grow well in your area. Never pull spring onions out of the ground simply cut off the top and they will grow back. – Bernadette
• Join community gardening pages, they are so often sharing local climate tips and/or offering seeds. – Georgia
• We have recycled all sorts we had in the garden shed for supports, grown from seed and now collect our own seeds from our crops as well as researching more innovative ways to grow large crops in small spaces, like vertically. – Chloe
• Pick the first tomato laterals and put into water until they develop roots then plant. Free tomatoes! – Sally

Autumn is a great time to save seeds of summer crops to sow next spring. Crops such as tomatoes, beans, peas, pumpkins, lettuce and rocket all set seed readily. Collect, dry and store seeds in clearly labelled envelopes. Check out our Seed Saving Guide here >