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Top 11 Tips
To become a little more home sufficient
- Vegetables
Grow some of your own vegetables. Grow tomatoes for quality and flavour, salad veg such as cucumbers and spring onions and other more expensive veg to save money. Staples such as Potatoes and carrots would take up a lot of room for the amount you would need and would work out more cost effective to buy from your local farmer/farm shop. - Fruit plants
Grow your own fruit. Strawberries and raspberry are probably the main ones. Grow plenty of them as they always taste sweeter when grown and picked yourself (fact) and will save you a lot of money. White currants and Tay berries are a novelty, unless you have the time, do not over complicate things or waste space on fruit you will not get round to using. One or two rhubarb plants would be more than enough for most families. - Orchard
An orchard. Apples, plums and pears are the main, useful tree fruits. Cherries require training and/or netting to avoid being stripped by birds. They also require regular picking and do not stay fresh for so long, for the average 9 to 5 family they are a waste of time. - Recycle
- Hedging
Use hedging rather than fencing on your boundaries. Hedging is cheaper, can be laid to retain size and regenerate, can be clipped to size, give shelter, nesting sites and food for wildlife, look more attractive, especially when in flower and can provide flowers and fruit for wine making and eating. Use native broadleaf species for vigour and reliability. - Propagate
Propagate your own plants. Sowing seed and taking semi ripe and hardwood cuttings are the easiest ways to propagate vegetable and garden plants and cost next to nothing. Most tree and shrub species will fill a 2 ltr pot within 3 years and be large enough to plant in the garden, without running the risk of being dug up by a cat! - Natural, local resources
Use the natural resources around you. Check your garden, if you live in an area of stony soil, perhaps with flint or large pebbles you could collect the material when the ground is dug over for vegetables and use to make a dry stone wall or set them within a newly rendered surface for decoration. Clay soils can be used to make cob walls. If there are a collection of large shrubs and trees in your garden or on your land, perhaps these could be coppiced or cut back for firewood. Natural streams running past some properties could be utilised for fishing or for keeping domestic ducks. - Poultry
Keep poultry. Poultry are a source of eggs, meat, manure and amusement. They can also be used to forage over rough areas of ground prior to being rested or dug over. - Hazel trees
Grow your own Hazel trees. As well as a source of nuts they are a valuable tree for wildlife and can be coppiced to produce rods for weaving decorative panels and livestock hurdles. - Insulation
Insulate your home, place loft insulation in the roof, get your wall cavities insulated and go for a home with smaller windows! - Heating and energy
Reduce your electricity bill by generating your own heat during the winter. This can be achieved by using a wood burning stove, your fire place or a solar panel.
Make use of household paraphernalia within the garden. Make your own compost.
Perennial flowers such as Lupin and Hollyhock can be planted out in their first year from seed!
It is probably not worth bothering with a wind turbine within your garden. Leave it up to the government and energy firms to generate cleaner energy for the national grid. It’s far easier. However, if you are creating a new build or starting a new small holding it would be better to establish your own electricity supply from the start.