Garden

Growing up, my parents had (& still do have) a HUGE garden, especially for the city.  With this garden we had canned green beans, pickels, salsa, spaghetti sauce, tomato juice and potatoes that lasted us for almost the whole year! Not to mention, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and onions to eat almost all year long.  

Now, my dad's garden isn't your typical size, unless you own a farm, or you're lucky and have that kind of land like my parents'; however, any size of garden is a great money saver. Growing your own food and canning it is not only better for you, its cheaper too!

  

If it's your first time gardening, don't start out too big. Start out with something you really like and then each year add a little. It takes time to figure out what you want and how you want to grow your garden and that's ok. Just remember every little bit is a little bit that you are saving. 

I've tried a few new things each year, but after last year I decided I really only need 4 veggies; tomatos, onions, cucumbers and green beans.  I want to have canned green beans, pickels, salsa and spaghetti sauce. Other than that, I don't really need anything else. So even though my garden isn't very big, really a puddle compared to my parent's lake, I can still get a lot of canned goods, by just planting multiple plants of what I want.  I'm looking forward to putting this plan into action this Spring and Summer!  

Don't have room for a garden? Find some friends who garden and ask if you can have a spot for some plants, or buy some of their harvest.

Another great thing to can, applesauce.  All you have to do is find someone who has an apple tree.  People who have apple trees are usually more than willing to share their apples, whether for free or a small fee.  Either way, you can make your own applesauce a little cheaper.  You can find the recipe on my post about baby food, here. 

Do you garden?  What are your favorite things to grow?