Top Tips For Growing Your Own Fruit and Vegetables

Here at Electric Ireland we want to help you live smarter, not just in how you use your electricity, but also how you go about carrying out tasks and chores around your home and garden.  With the summer months now upon us and the weather allowing us to spend more time in the garden (well, at least those days where it doesn’t rain), we wanted to share with you some top tips to growing your own vegetables.     

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is not only a great way to save on your shopping bill but there’s also something rewarding about growing your own food.  Enjoying the fruits of your labour and teaching your children how to grow their own produce is something extremely fulfilling, so here are some tips to help you get started.

Growing Your Own Fruit and Vegetables

1. Decide on Location for Growing

Before you run out and buy seeds and bulbs to start growing your own fruit and veg, look at your surroundings to see what exactly you will be able to grow.  Do you have an area in your garden to allocate to growing fruit and vegetables and do you have enough space to grow everything you want?  If space is tight, you can always look at window beds, hanging baskets or grow bags for herbs and smaller fruit and veg.

2. Prepare Your Grow Area

If you have an area in your garden that is suitable for growing fruit and vegetable, be sure to take the time to mark it out so that you separate it from the rest of your garden.  Cordon off different areas for different food, and if you are looking at adding a herb box or some window beds, take the time to prepare these areas to ensure you have the perfect growing environment for your fruit and vegetables.  Some things to consider here are soil depth, natural light and water access.

3. Get Your Soil Ready

Soil is fundamental to the success of any homegrown fruit and veg, so ensuring you have perfect growing conditions is important.  Use small pots where you can to help keep slugs away and be sure to allow plenty of depth for any roots to grow.  If you’re planting any trees to grow fruit, be sure to leave a good amount of space around the base when planting.  When buying your seeds and bulbs, find out the best food for your plants and use this with compost and water to enrich the soil and help to create the perfect environment for your fruit and vegetables to prosper.

4. Plant and Wait

Once you have prepared your garden area or pots and baskets for growing fruit and vegetables, go to your local garden centre and see which fruit and vegetables you want to start planting.  Consider seasonal produce and food that you are going to eat at home as this will help you make a saving on your weekly shop over time.  Garden centre’s will have plenty of knowledgeable staff on hand to help you make the right decision, so you can start to enjoy the benefits of growing your own fresh produce, and enjoy #SmarterLiving.

5. Enjoy the ‘Fruits’ of Your Labour

Depending on what type of fruit or veg you grow, you could be enjoying the ‘fruits’ of your hard work in a matter of months.  There’s something special about heading out into your garden and picking some fresh produce to enjoy at your table the same day.  If you have a lot of space with which to grow your own fruit and veg, you’ll soon start to notice big savings on your weekly shop.

This handy guide from Which gives you a good idea of the weekly savings you can look forward to when you start growing your own fruit and vegetables.

Have You Got Any Tips to Share?

What are your top tips for growing fruit and vegetables from your own home and garden?  Share your best tips with us on our Facebook and Twitter page using #SmarterLiving, and we’ll share the best.