Go Green and Beautiful
Here at Consumer Debt Support (CDS) we would like to change the topic of talking about finances and debt all the time – it can become a bit too much. With this week’s blog, we would like to share ideas about how to get creative in gardening without spending too much money on materials. Instead recycle what you have and have fun while creating outdoor or balcony gardens. What is nice about this, is that the whole family can join in and have fun together.
We often have sprouting potatoes, onions or sweet potatoes growing in the veggie basket or the groceries cupboard. A great idea is to plant those veggies in your garden instead of tossing them into the refuge bin. Create a veggie patch or if you are living in a flat, you can buy a strong quality refuge bag, add gardening soil to the bag and place those veggies in the bags. Water your veggie the same way as you would water your veggies patch outside in your garden.
You can manage the space of the veggie bag by placing it in a card board box the size you want to take up in space. You could harvest vegetables in 9 weeks, cut the bag open and shake the soil out and there is your harvest of fresh potatoes, onions or sweet potatoes — actually any veggies can grow in a bag of soil.
If you have tomatoes that are no longer great for eating or putting into a salad, don’t toss it into the bin. Put them in a pot with soil. Any old pot should do and soon you will harvest lovely fresh and wholesome tomatoes in your little garden.
If you have old pot plants that have dead plants in them, recycle and reuse those pots by filling up with fresh soil and get those veggies growing. Use recycled water for your veggies. Catch the cold water while you wait for the hot water to run into your basin and collect it in a bottle for the veggies and herbs garden.
For outdoor you can use old shoes for some decor in your garden or family barbecue area. Instead of throwing the shoes out, use them by having some good old garden fun and create shoe planting pots.
Keeping in mind the water restrictions, planning what you will be planting, it is a good thought to plant succulent plants, also known as water storage plants. These are normally thickened and fleshy leaves. It is usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions and is ideal for tires or old shoes and will survive on a little water.
I found this amazing website with great gardening ideas. https://homebnc.com/best-vertical-garden-ideas-designs/ the author: BY HOMEBNC ON 2016-05-26
The following vegetables can be grown vertically. Lettuce: Loose-leaf lettuce varieties are best for vertical gardening; Spinach: This green seems to be specially made for vertical gardens; Swiss chard: This rainbow-colored vegetable will brighten up your vertical garden; Red amaranth: This warm season greens needs rich, moist soil. Let us not forget about a herb vertical garden. This you can even do in the kitchen: thyme, mint, sweet basil, origanum, chili plant, rocket or marjoram, and you can grow these anywhere in your outdoors, even on a flat balcony. How nice to think you can prepare meals using herbs, salad leaves and vegetables out your own garden?
The following plants that will grow best in a vertical garden, will be: Foliage Boston fern, sword fern, Nephrolepis Rabbit’s foot fern, Davallia fejeensis, Lipstick plant, Aeschynanthus , Baby’s tears, Soleirolia soleirolii, Purple waffle plant, red ivy, red flame ivy, Hemigraphis alternate, Party time, Mai Tai, Cognac, Crème de Menthe. Alternanthera, Limelight, bower wattle and Petunias can work well in a vertical garden and will grow nicely in a little shade and morning or afternoon sun.
Bring the colour into your garden – use old cans, Coke bottles, plastic water bottles or collect old, colourful water boots or shoes and let’s have some fun in creating a water saving garden that is beautiful and easy to maintain.
The following plants are great for vertical gardens on balconies and they bloom into beautiful colours. Plant Azaleas, Geraniums, Impatiens, lavender, morning Glories, Pansies, Petunias and Snapdragons. You can place them close to one another to give you that amazing blooming colour. Lavender has a therapeutic scent when watered — this can be good for your moods.
You can hang the vertical garden on the balcony wall and create colour to your flat — no matter how many stories high up you are living, you can garden anywhere. Why not have some fun? Why not bring a little bit of nature into you home and have fun with your children creating this beauty? Let us have some fun. We can’t change the situation or troubles we are dealing with overnight. So why not have a little fun and bring some green into your living area.
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