Everyone around the world has felt the sting of rising grocery costs, especially those people that don’t have an income, such as retirees. One of the ways of mitigating this cost as much as possible is by growing food at home, which is a lot easier than many people realise. Not only is it good for the budget, but gardening is a relaxing and fulfilling hobby that comes highly recommended for those in their golden years.
It’s easy to be intimidated by gardening for the first time, but with the right knowledge and preparation, it’s simple and straightforward and makes for a great way of taking pressure off the budget every month.
Avoid Pesticides
One of the first tools that beginner gardeners tend to turn to is pesticides. It makes it seem like an easy, cost-effective, and efficient means of keeping pests and weeds at bay, but there are many unseen, long-term dangers.
For instance, many pesticides are non-selective, which means that not only will they get rid of those pesky grasshoppers, but they can also end up killing the pollinators that many plants rely on. On top of that, these synthetic chemicals weaken the overall health of the soil that’s used for growing in, and over time it can become more and more difficult to get the same yields.
The idea is to build soil health over time, which means using natural materials as much as possible.
Composting Is Easy
Composting is highly recommended as a natural and cheap means of feeding your plants. It’s simple to make, requiring only a small space somewhere in the corner of the yard. There are two types of composting: hot and cold.
Cold composting means piling a bunch of organic matter – such as leaves, sticks, and veggie scraps – somewhere in the garden and letting it break down over the course of a year or so. Hot composting is significantly quicker, but it does mean turning the compost with a pitchfork every few weeks. This ultimately depends on how much physical labour the gardener wishes to invest, or if they’d rather keep busy with other hobbies, like the latest PGA betting odds and bets while they wait for their cold compost to mature.
When buying compost from a nursery, make sure that it is organic compost and that it’s free of any long-lasting herbicides, which can sit in the soil for months and even years.
Choose Hardy Plant
In general, a hardy plant refers to a plant that’s resistant to frost. Most plants in the temperate zone (much of the USA and Europe) can withstand some frost, but tropical plants will need protection. For this reason, it’s a good idea to try and focus on hardier plants, with kale and spinach being excellent examples.
As your gardening skills improve and you have the time or money to install a greenhouse, it becomes possible to successfully grow a wider range of different plants.
