BellaOnline Forums Money Frugal Living Grow a Victory Garden

In these tough economic times, it's a good idea to remember what our parents and grandparents did in wartime - gather seeds and starts, preferably of heirloom varieties - and grow a Victory Garden.

There are edible plants for every space, whether outdoors in arid areas or in cold climates, and container varieties for indoor or balcony growing. So there is really no excuse for not growing SOMETHING you can use to supplement your pantry. You can save money, add fresh nutritious produce to your menu, and have a relaxing new hobby, all at once.

Even people living in RVs can have mobile container gardens. I have seen this often in my travels. At least grow at least an herb or two, or some miniature tomatoes in a pot.

You can do this! Have you considered, or ever had, a victory garden?

Jilly, I am SOOOOO glad I saw the title of this topic in the 'brand new posts' list. That's exactly what I'll need to do once I find a new home. Thank you for giving me something so positive to look forward to. Your timing is awesome!!

I will start. Last year I moved onto this piece of land (high desert) and promptly started amending the soil (via sheet mulching). I also began my compost bins and set up barrels under my eaves to collect rainwater.

This year I am still working on the soil. It's this very hard, compacted, gravely limestone. Mainly I am building up instead of digging down. I am covering my mulching experiments in this forum elsewhere.

This fall, I am actually taking the leap and putting in a few edibles.

Here is what I did so far:

I found some peppermint to grow in the one wet spot (under a seep leak from a bad pipe) and put that in the ground over the weekend. This was a six dollar little bush like plant i bought at my local farmer's market.

Put some sprouted potatoes into a tire potato mound. I used some cheap top soil, a bunch of wet newspaper, some free mulch, my own compost and free coffee grounds from Starbucks as a growing medium. The potatoes were free from a food pantry. If you wait long enough, any potato will start sprouting. Then you can plant it and wait.

I also stuck some free squashy food pantry tomatoes all around the yard in various places, including in the potato mound. Those already have their seed leaves up.

I also have some bad cucumbers, and various squashes I plan to save the seeds from and set in the ground.

I bought some garlic at the farmer's market also, and will put them in the ground in a week or two, once i know that the heat is definitely over for the year.

I have some seeds to plant this fall: nasturtiums (flowers and leaves are food), radishes and carrots to overwinter in the ground, basil and chives. All other seeds will probably have to wait for spring.

Other ideas for this fall - I want to root some rosemary from a bush in front of my local senior center, put in a few nut and apple trees, and gather up some free manure from people with horses for a raised bed i am starting. I scrounged up some free pallets to use as the walls of the bed, and am busy tossing mulch of all kinds inside. I will let this 'cook' over the winter so become part of a better soil for spring.

Do you guys have any frugal ideas for your victory garden? Would you like to be more self-sufficient for your food needs?

Sandy, that is wonderful! I think garden planting is one of the most fun, relaxing things you can set aside time to do.

In your dreams, what would you plant in your victory garden?

Okay, i have now set aside four areas to grow food in this fall. I have been building a large raised bed from pallets and junky mulch, an area of tire stack raised beds, adding more browns and greens to my compost, and tilling the one good soil spot (i didn't even know i had one until I starting mucking around). I am also making an area to plant root crops that i plan to overwinter.

WHEW. Tired. Much digging and lugging of manure and rain water.

I grow salad greens and peppers in large containers on my front and back porches and patios and it's so nice just to step outside and "snip" a bowl of fresh greens.

Maybe someday I'll move beyond container gardening and do something on a larger scale.

I think the key to making your gardening efforts pay off, no matter how large or how small, is to save your seeds or get starts from gardening friends because buying packages of seeds or seedlings can be very expensive!

This is a really good time of year to start your victory garden - there are tons of good fall plantings you can get in before the frosts (winter squashes, pumpkins, spinach), and a few plants that can live under the frost (like root plants - radishes, taters, carrots, parsnips, etc). Just set some bales of hay or mulch out on top of the root plants and leave them alone. Dig up a few to eat whenever the ground is not frozen. They will keep until spring...and you will always have a source of fresh produce even if there is a winter storm that knocks out your power for a few weeks.

Just get those pups in the ground now! You even have time for a fast growing early girl tomato plant and a row of lettuces.

Oh, and cloves of garlic. THIS is the time to set them in.

Another good fall planting - fruit and nut trees. Get them in the ground now so they can set roots before spring. You will be rewarded next summer by getting a leap on things today.

What will be in your fall garden?

Msbaby, i totally agree! Save your seeds, barter and share starts and slips, and think like a village. We can all save big if we share our largesse. Otherwise, one person hoards all the rosemary while someone else sits on rotting tomatoes...

I just planted the rosemary cuttings tonite in the garden plot. I took branches from my local senior center and stuck them in a jar of water until they rooted. We shall see if they take!

I also put in some cloves of garlic and seeds of chives. The garlic was from a farmer's market and the seeds i got at ACE hardware when they were having a sale.

My potatoes are starting to come up! They are so cute. And I am so strange for thinking so, but still...