Self sufficient gardening

[solway cropper]

My fruit and veg growing costs me very little really. With three compost heaps, two leaf mould cages, as much seaweed as I can collect and chicken manure from neighbours the only compost/fertilizer I need to buy is a tub of BFB each year. I save some seed but I also buy in a small amount each year. Fruit bushes have been propagated from cuttings/layers and I will be having a go at grafting apple trees next year, having ordered half a dozen rootstocks. What I have to spend I consider irrelevant to the amount of food produced but I know gardeners who throw money at their plots and still end up with next to nothing. Like anything else in life it can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be.

[Feral007]

We're spending a bit getting ours up and running. Because of the thin soil and dryness we are building it up, so this year will probably be the most expensive for us. Still will be worth it in the end.

I find the fruit trees the most expensive, and the corms. Most others I can do seed, and swap some around the area, or pick up small plants at local fete/sales.

We are tryiing to do some 18 day hot composts, this first 4 days it wasn't hot enough, because of the cold nights still I guess. But that will be a big saving if we can get that happening.
AS well as being cheap, it has to be not labour intensive in the long run.

Same as the cost of getting ours going, I don't mind putting in some intensive time early on, but I aim for it to be fairly self regulatory in the finish.

Time and money are both the hardest things to come by these days. If you're working more to have the money, then you have less time for doing the doing.

I appreciate all the help on here because a lot of it is tried and tested. And you get all views.
But also the library here has the magazine on various topics, so that helps money wise. And my son is great at researching online so that helps as well.

I don't look on it as a hobby - it's more like a Challenge what with the weather and the beasties.

[planetologist]

Planetologist - can I ask how much space you have to grow your crop? Are we talking back garden, allotment or CSA share? or anything in between

I have a quarter acre (1000 m2) plot, which is about 40% vegetables and carbohydrates, 20% fruit, 13% house and the rest is temporarily tiny trees that might make some heating wood before the land gets converted into chestnut, walnut, hazelnut and more carbohydrate beds. I have fairly heavy soil with lots of stones and quite compacted while it was the previous owner's lawn, so now that I have about 25 beds to take care of I only manage to add a few beds a year. The difference between clearing an existing bed (even if the weeds got away from me) and digging a new one is phenomenal.

No CSA share, though I did get permission to dig 25 kg of potatoes as a thank you for the time I've put in.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks I have a similar amount of land, but not the commitment to take it to its full potential. I really should try harder!A large part of mine comprises 80 year old apple trees and they limit the options for cropping.

[Bigmallly]

We're spending a bit getting ours up and running. Because of the thin soil and dryness we are building it up, so this year will probably be the most expensive for us. Still will be worth it in the end.

I find the fruit trees the most expensive, and the corms. Most others I can do seed, and swap some around the area, or pick up small plants at local fete/sales.

We are tryiing to do some 18 day hot composts, this first 4 days it wasn't hot enough, because of the cold nights still I guess. But that will be a big saving if we can get that happening.
AS well as being cheap, it has to be not labour intensive in the long run.

Same as the cost of getting ours going, I don't mind putting in some intensive time early on, but I aim for it to be fairly self regulatory in the finish.

Time and money are both the hardest things to come by these days. If you're working more to have the money, then you have less time for doing the doing.

I appreciate all the help on here because a lot of it is tried and tested. And you get all views.
But also the library here has the magazine on various topics, so that helps money wise. And my son is great at researching online so that helps as well.

I don't look on it as a hobby - it's more like a Challenge what with the weather and the beasties.

Feral, I just wondered if you have any similar forums down under whereby you can swap seeds & genarally exchange ideas for your conditions

[Andromeda]

This year the only thing I bought was some seed compost - it's been my main outlay for several years now. This year I ran an experiment where I started off half my seeds in seed compost and half in home made compost that I'd sieved to make it very fine, I have found no difference in germination rates or in the quality of the final produce.

My plan for next year is to use home made compost for everything in my home vegetable garden (10m x 10m plot) and track the results, if the results are still comparable to using bought in seed compost then I will use it for everything I grow on the allotment as well.

I generally save my own seed so I seldom find that I 'need' to buy any, however my home garden is also my experimental garden so if I see variety that I haven't sampled then I will buy some seed (and save my own if I find I like it).

My only other costs are my plot rent and an occasional replacement net/fleece/bunch of canes as I don't need to buy fertilzers or feed.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks Andromeda. Very helpful I don't buy canes as I have a clump of bamboo that I cut for canes and hazel for beansticks.

[Feral007]

BM - there are lots of aussie sites, but our area is very dry, very cold, and always windy. Short growing season. Traditionally it's a farming area and big on sprays etc. So a lot of forums aren't suitable for our climate.
As for seeds. there are some organised seed savers, but I'm not totally organised yet. I have been swapping a few things locally, and trying to get a bit of a network. People tend to not offer, but if you do they will reciprocate.

[starloc]

When i eventually move full time to Bulgaria the plan is to be virtually self sufficient for food and power obviously i will buy things if there needed but the plan is to be able to not buy anything if need be,

I was in Bulgaria about 4 months this year, while there I have been studying how Bulgarians do virtually self sufficient living

The people in our village most of them keep a few animals to get by without compost or fertilliser and for food
You can grow tobacco to make tobacco water for a pesticide, weedkiller is unnecessary as the animals churn the garden up in areas fenced from your crop that you move around, pigs churn the soil up and remove roots , goats eat everything on top

Generally most animals are killed before the winter for food and because animal feed would need to be bought for them ( as the land isnt big enough for winter feed for the animals ) and they would need heat as well.

Everything is produced on own land or swapped locally , extra crops are also sold to pay enough for winter firewood and rates

I rooted a load of grape vines and fig trees from the garden and swapped them for other plants and seeds this is how everyone gets things , seeds in the local shop were 0.3 Lev ( about 12 pence ) a pack if you need to buy any , i got another couple of fruit trees in pots from a neighbour in swap for a nut tree i didnt want in the garden

All the stuff i dug up is in great piles , wood in the barn, dry things like pine cones as firelighters... in the barn , all the elderflower grass etc is in giant piles at the end of the garden it was rotting well when i left it when i go back if its rotted enough it will go back on the garden as fertiliser.

I got a couple donkey carts loads of manure delivered in swap for some bits of metal i dug up that used to be an old plough, did it get scrapped....No! it was spare parts for the man down the roads plough

I have about 10 acres of land in Bulgaria but only 2000 sqm at all usable ( it took about 2 months to clear it! ) , the rest of the gardens are full of fruit trees , elderflower and weeds , the elderflower and fruit trees could make rakia....to swap for things if needed!

Lots of work to do but i would like to be self sufficent eventually for food, power etc , it will take years though, Bulgarians make it look so easy but im sure its not

Ive come home for the winter this year.... Its something like -22C this week , it was about +40C in October when I left to drive back

[veggiechicken]

Thanks Starloc - that's really interesting. Its how we used to garden/farm when everyone had their own piece of land but little money. I know a lot of swapping still takes place here and long may it continue!
Sounds as if much of your outlay will be on heating in the winter!!

[frogga]

I'm hoping that 2013 will only use seeds that have been given as presents or paid for and unused in 2012. With 80 barrows of leaf mould per veg patch and 25 barrows of compost from the heap means I pay very little for fertiliser and then over winter I throw the waste from the chicken pen on to be dug in late January.

With all this, the only expenditure in 2013 will be £15 on seed potatoes, £5 on 2 packs of parsnip seeds and plenty of hard graft! (I hope!!!)

[Feral007]

Like Starloc we will be trying to swap things and network. Networking and communicating are such big things here. Everyone is busy, and lots working in town as well as farming, but I'm sure we can do it. Will just take time and effort.

[sammy_roser]

I am no where near it. Every year I have big plans to set up compost bins etc. But have so far failed so have to buy lots of mpc. Seeds I save what I've grown but buy new seeds each year. I will be better in 2013 I promise. Anyone fancy donating a compost bin and setting up my rainwater collector thing feel free

[Snow]

This is what I'm aiming for, though not in full self-sufficient quantities as I just dont have a big enough plot. I think ensuring everything I grow pays for itself and more should be doable though. I grow in my back yard, so no rent for me thankfully. My plot is 3 X 2.3 M...If I can get help I might be able to add another few square meters.

The big limiter is whether you are already established or not.
Once I've got things established, hopefully this next year, I plan to collect seed and not have to buy any more. And I hope to enhance my collection via seed swaps. There are one or two I found locally to me that I should be able to go to in February so I'm pretty excitted about that. My wife bought me a couple of magazines this year for my birthday which came with seeds and although I only want about half of them, the others wont go to waste, I'll be swapping them. I am particularly interested in non-hybrid seeds for the obvious reasons. I already have enough tools. not many, a lot I dont have still, but I manage with what I have.

I did spend a little bit of money on some wood and debris netting this year as I think I'll need it to keep butterflies off, and some compost this year too. Compost is probably my biggest issue because I dont have much space to have a composter. I thought about it and I may possibily still get one but I'm giving pit/trench composting a go instead. It should result in an equal amount of compost, right? But the digging may be a limiting factor for me. We'll see.

Seed compost too, a problem.

One of the themes of this thread seems to be about encouraging others to grow, and I completely agree with that. I'm in my early 30s, and my daughter who is three is encouraged to help out. She loves planting things and picking things and watering things. Some of the other stuff she will learn as she gets older, but I want her to have the knowledge how.

I did buy some onion sets today. They were £1 at Wilkinson and I couldn't resist getting something in the ground in the next week, even though I already have some seed.

[Bren In Pots]

Snow how about something like this for composting you could position one in each of your beds.

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