Aug
Articles, Home & Garden
Growing Greens
From quinoa to carrots – now’s the ideal time to start your own veggie garden and grow some homegrown greens!
With the rising cost of living, growing your own food is a great way of reducing some of your costs, while also getting back to basics and teaching your kids how to take better care of the earth and their health.
Having recently written about the amazing benefits of quinoa, here’s how to grow it for yourself! [READ ‘Keen on Quinoa’]
You can find Quinoa seed packs starting from as little as R13 for 200 seeds
When to start…
Right about now!
Plant at the beginning of spring, by sowing seeds barely covered with soil in uniform rows.
Keep the soil moist until the seedlings sprout.
Weed by hand until the plants are 10cm (4 inches) tall, gradually thinning plants to 45cm (18 inches) apart.
As the plants grow, they will shade out most summer weeds.
Where?
Quinoa adapts to most soils but grows best in fertile, well-drained earth.
Position in full sun if you can.
What to expect…
Quinoa grows to about 1.2 meters.
Wait until the plants shed their leaves to harvest your quinoa.
When the weather is dry, bend over seed heads into a large bucket and clip them off.
Working in a dry place, strip off the seeds, use a fan to winnow out debris, and spread the seeds on screens or trays to finish drying indoors.
What else is good to grow?
Now is a great time to grow many herbs and veggies, either by seeds or nursery six packs.
Here are some hardy options, no matter your level of experience with gardening:
- carrots
- cabbages
- beetroot
- lettuce
- spinach
- tomatoes
potatoes (you can even grow potatoes using leftover potato peels, making them incredibly easy and waste-free to grow!)
So there you have it – some of the easiest veggies to grow in order to save the planet and your budget!
Mums, do you have a veggie garden or have you been wanting to start one?
Comment below to let us know x
Amazing article. It’s healthier and more nutritious. Awesome family initiative were the whole family can look afternoon what they plant. Affordable and reliable as things is so expensive these day . We have patatoes , peppers , onions , chillies , cabbage and carrots, celery, dhania and apples we tried .
I’ve got lettuce, potatoes, rocket, spinach and onions growing. (I cut the bottom off the onion and put it in water, soon you will have sprouts). Thank you #Mumbox for the awesome article.
My kids and i love growing things in our garden. Our current crops are strawberries, thyme, rosemary, lettuce, mint, coriander and tomatoes 🙂
I have tomatoes in my garden
Dont have one, but really want to start one. Iv seen many people doing it and always wanted to try it but never found the time. Will definitely give this a try!
I never though that greens could be grown in a flower pot. I am inspired. Spring is here and l am definitely trying this.
The other day l visted a friend and was inspired by the fact that she has all herbs and harvests them from her garden wehnn cooking. That is something l never thought about. Growing greens in flower pots is the new normal. Thank you Mumbox
I’m really inspired I need to start growing greens now in my back yard. Let’s try growing greens. Thank you #Mumbox for the motivation
I wish I had ‘Green Finger’ but I will attempt these after this article.
I am motivated now, I am starting my own veg garden to save planet and money