Did You Know It's Easy To Grow The Most Cost Efficient Fruits and Vegetables?

*Pictured Rabbiteye Blueberry Bushes and Everbearing Elan Strawberry plants with PVC Arches over them and black bird netting on the PVC pipes. You can easily put PVC pipes into the ground by first pounding rebarbs into the ground and then sliding the 3/4" PVC pipes over the rebarbs in the ground. Bird netting is necessary since birds love blueberries, tomatoes, and strawberries, and does not harm them. Make sure it is secure so the birds do not get into them. Check your garden often to make sure no birds are caught and if they are simply open the bird netting to let them out.

Have you ever thought about starting a vegetable/ fruit garden to save your family lots of money? If not, you should. It is very easy to grow a small garden in your backyard to save you a lot of money.

The best money saver is Cherry and Grape tomatoes because they grow quickly, produce a lot, can be eaten as a snack or with meals, and do not crack as easily as the larger variety of tomatoes. All you need is about a 3 foot by 6 foot spot and mix in some vegetable soil in with the hard clay and a black drip soaker hose $5 from Lowes or Home Depot to water them directly at the roots about once a week. A  drip soaker hose saves you a lot of money in watering your plants because it gets right to the roots of the plants, which is what needs the water and does not waste any water.  Just  water them once a week for 15 to 30 minutes, and maybe longer during hot times of the year.

You can either stake tomatoes and peppers with poles or use a Tomato Cage (Get the tallest one) You can get $100 worth of tomatoes from May thru October from 4 tomato plants bought as small tomato plants at $3 each at Lowes and the nice thing is they produce tomatoes continuously, so you never have to run to the store for months. The best kind is the Husky Cherry Red. Plant them after the first frost is over in Spring or Late March to Early May. Also put some pine needles down for mulch and use rocks, wood, or timber as borders to keep the weeds out. Over time, this investment will save you and your family money for years. The top cost effective things to grow and easiest are tomatoes, lettuce, blueberry bushes, strawberries, peppers, herbs, and apple trees. Good soil is important, so always mix the hard clay with good topsoil and some vegetable soil. Always check the plants USDA growing zone map at http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ and compare it to your location's growing zone to make sure the plant will do well in your area.

Peppers and tomatoes grow from Spring through October. Lettuce grows only in the cooler times of the year of early spring and Fall. Blueberry bushes & strawberries grow in Spring. Everbearing Strawberries grow from Spring through Fall. Blueberry bushes and strawberry plants are Perennials. Blueberry bushes can live for 20 years or longer and strawberry plants can live for at least 3 years or longer and produce new plants by themselves with runners they produce every year. Tomato plants, lettuce, and pepper plants are annuals and must be planted every year. Lettuce is the easiest to grow from seed, but most do best started from young 1 to 6 inch plants.

 Start small , stay within your budget, and add to it over the years.