Archive for Garden

The Quest to Grow My Own Vegetables!

First of all Happy New Year to you all!

The last 6 months of 2010 have been …well hectic to say the least. New job, new house and yip I have even started to grow my own vegetables.

Let’s rewind a little…each week I visit the supermarket (as most of us do;) and when the time comes to pay for my goods I always think to myself ‘how on earth is it that much?’. When I get back home, unpack my shopping backs I started to realise that most of this stuff I could indeed grow myself.

So this is where it began, no longer will I be paying for someone else to grow veggies for me and kindly wrap them in not so friendly plastic. Off I went to my local garden centre..and for pennies picked up the following:

- Tomato seeds- Cucumber seeds - Egg Plant seeds
- Morning Glory seeds (local favorite here in Thailand)
- Spring Onion seeds
- …and of course some large pots and soil so I can sit them on my veranda all in all cost me under £10!

Oops and I must admit my girly shopping addiction came out also during my trip leading me to also buy a red and also a yellow rose bush…just to keep things looking pretty ;)

So around a month later, we have ‘some’ signs of life, my tomato, spring onion and morning glory are reaching for the sun yippee…although I may have to wait a little while yet until I can tuck into them…although it is very much worth the wait as I know exactly where my food has come from and the cost will in the long run, be much cheaper than the supermarket charges me.

Also I have a massive addiction for spinach at the moment, so I popped some cuttings/roots into a pot too and they are growing like weeds so maybe in a couple of weeks I can enjoy a lovely salad with my own home-grown spinach.

Why not give it a try? If I can do it (and by the way I am definitely NO Alan Titchmarsh!) then I am sure you can too :)

Check back soon and I will pop some photos up of my progress.

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Save Money And Grow Herbs At Home

My weekly food shopping used to cost me a fortune, often costing around £80 to £100, apart from cleaning products I found that the highest costing items on my bill were actually fresh veg and herbs. It got to the point where I considered not buying them, but my friend suggested growing them at home instead.

Now my garden is not exactly big, and I have never really considered myself much of a gardener. In the past the most gardening I have done is quickly mow the lawn so to me this was something new. However I was very suprised at how easy it was to do – so much so I felt silly for not doing it before.

First thing we done was to check out my cuboards for things I could use to plant my herbs in rather than go and buy them. I had an old tin, plastic container from last nights takeaway (bad I know!) and an old small pot. This is a great tip if you too want to grow herbs at home, scout your home for tubs and tins and re-use them – this saves you money and is a great way to recycle, you can use other things such as egg boxes, tins and even cans. If you only have one tub then don’t worry as there is no harm in growing more than one herb in the same container.

Next thing was to get some seeds, I spend £5 in total for basil, coriander, tomato and cress seeds and another £2 on soil. When I got home I simple divided the soil between each container and planted my seeds. As I said before I have not got a huge garden so I have simply popped some plants on my window lege inthe kitchen and some outside under my kitchen window.

All I need to do now is water them and watch them grow. Easy…and it means I am eating fresh organic herbs whilst knocking at least £10 off my weekly food bill!

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14 Months to 50: One real womans account of her new healthy lifestyle

Whilst doing some research for Organic and Green Living I came accross a very interesting blog by a lady named Lisa. Lisa is 49 years old and is undergoing a lifestyle change. Her aim is to stick to a healthy lifestyle in a bid to get healthier thus be extra fabulous by her 50th birthday – and by the looks of it she is doing just great!

Lisa is sharing her journey via her very own blog named http://14monthsto50.wordpress.com within readers can follow her lifestyle changes. Some of which include what exercise she is doing and what delicious fresh veg she is growing! I have found this blog very inspiring and I am sure she is doing the same for many more men and women!

One great area of 14 months to 50 is the ‘what’s in my fridge section’ here readers can see what food Lisa has, browsing through her blog you will find loads of fab tasty recipes all of which include some of these organic or fresh ingredients.

I wanted to share the 14 months to 50 blog with my readers as it just goes to show that it is never too late to start a healthy lifestyle and show that real people such as Lisa are making changes for a healthier thus happier life. Be sure to check out her blog or her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/14monthsto50 and maybe you too can pick up some fab tips to try at home.

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