How to Build a Mini Hoop Greenhouse

I would love to live in an area where it was warm all year round. Because I live on Prince Edward Island, although extremely beautiful in the summer, my growing season isn't nearly as long as I would like. I have to wait until the end of May, beginning of June to put out tomato, pepper and other transplants. I started doing research on how I can get the most from my garden.

One of the ways was to build a mini hoop greenhouse. You can do this too, and here's how:

Supplies:

PVC or PEX piping

Rebar or U clips if you have boards around your garden

Heavy Duty Painters Plastic (3.5ml)

Rocks, bricks or heavy sticks

Clothespins

Thermometer

Time spent: less than an hour

First

-After prepping and tilling garden (which had been done on an earlier day), measure garden. This is our side garden and it measures 20'x4'.

Second

-Measure out where your rebar will be placed. It can be placed 3-4 feet apart. I used 1 foot rebar for our posts. It's cheaper, I found, to buy a long piece of rebar and have it cut to size, than to buy the sizes that I needed. It saves you about 45% doing it this way.

-Stick rebar in the ground until only a few inches are shown.

 Third

-Take your PVC or PEX piping measure and cut with a hacksaw where you need it.

- I found it cheaper to buy it in a 50 ft length and cut it myself, than to buy it cut already. About 1/2 price.

-Be careful when cutting it! We don't want any ER visits from this project!

Fourth

-Measure all pieces the same size. This is where some help comes in handy. I had some very cute help helping me through this project.

 Fifth

-Take piping and insert into rebar on either side of the garden. It's so easy a child could do it!

Sixth

-Open your painters' plastic and spread it over your hoop house to see if you need to trim any off. Because of the size of my garden, I didn't need to cut any.

Seventh

-Pull the plastic tight around the hoops. Draw it from the sides to the front and fold under. Here's where you need the heavy rocks, bricks, sticks or whatever. Use the rocks to hold it in place. I also placed it around the sides to have extra protection from the wind as it can get fairly windy on this Island.

Eighth

- Place a thermometer inside your hoophouse and monitor the temperature for a couple of days before putting transplants inside. Keep an eye on the temperature. Mine was up to 44 degrees Celsius  one day and it was only 15 outside. If you need to cool your hoop house down, just use the clothespins to pin up the opening on either end to let the air go through. Remember to keep a watch on the temperature when the house is open as well. 

I would love to see your hoop house! Send a picture to our email: fighting2bfrugal @ yahoo dot ca,  or pop on over to our Facebook page and share it there!

Salsa Recipe

Here for your tastebuds and garden bounty, is my salsa recipe. I hope you like it! Have a salsa recipe to share? Comment, email, or Facebook us!

Liz's Salsa Recipe:

20 large tomatoes

6 large onions

1 3/4 cup vinegar

6 large peppers

3 hot peppers

8 tsp cummin

8 tsp salt

9 dashes of hot sauce

3 small cans of tomato paste

7 tsp oregano

10 cloves og garlic

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp crushed chillies

1 bunch of fresh cilantro

6 tbsp cornstarch

I cut everything up in my food processor, throw it all in a large stock pot and simmer it for 25 minutes or more, stirring occasionally. This makes a medium hot recipe. Sometimes I switch the quantity around for the hot and sweet peppers depending on what has grown in the garden and if I want hotter salsa or not. Then place it in a hot water bath for 20 mins. Tastes better after it's been stored for a few months and the flavours have had time to set.

What's your favourite salsa recipe? Please share it with us!

Enjoy!

Rising Food Prices on Their Way (Again!)

It seems like we hear this headline frequently in the news -especially over the past year or so. Yet again it's making headlines with the drought effecting crop production.

Both McCain and Maple Leaf have warned in the past week, that food prices are going to increase. The NY Times has warned us that food prices for all types of food are going to jump starting this fall by 3-5%, depending on the type of food being purchased.

How are you going to combat food prices? We all know that our salaries aren't going to go up the same percentage per annum as food and fuel. Do you have a garden planted? It's not to late to get some fall crops in yet. There are several books on the market about gardening year round to get the most food from your own garden. One of the latest to join my library is The Year Round Gardener by Niki Jabbour. She also has a blog that you can catch up on all of her latest doings and findings as well.

Another way to lower your food bill, if you are a meat eater, is to buy a side of beef, whether it be beef or pork (you can get it a quarter, half, full animal). If you have the room in your freezer, this is a great way to buy your meat. We are getting a 1/4 cow that's been organic grass fed only. It works out to be $6.38/kg for my hamburger, steaks, roasts, stewing meat -whichever cuts I choose. Also, look at substituting meat for at least one meal a week with grains or legumes to cut down on your bill.

Looking for a few more ideas for saving money on your grocery bill? Check out our post from our achieves for ways to keep the money in your pocket instead of the grocery till.

All in all, it can be done with work and determination. What are your tips and suggestions? Comment here or come on over to our Facebook page to join in the discussion.

Enjoy!

Gardening for Frugal Local Food- May's CBC Radio Column

Hello readers, the May CBC Mainstreet PEI radio column is up and ready for your listening pleasure. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Enjoy!

Gardening, Science and Bees

Yes, they all do go together. And yes, they are all frugal. 

I love to browse the Vesey Seed catalogue. This winter my eyes fell upon this beauty:

http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/birdfeeders/masonbeehouse#closed

I want it so badly that I was tempted to just order it without putting any thinking into it. Totally not a frugal way to be. Not a normal thing for me to be like. I am far from a spontaneous shopper.

I am one that needs to rationalize wants versus needs, and really need to find a strong argument to buy anything that is a want (just ask my husband).

I didn't have too hard of a time finding reasons to make this purchase.

I love to garden. I am just waiting to get my fingers in the dirt here on PEI. Because I love to garden, I know that this will help my garden be even more prosperous this year. The mason bees find around 1000 blossoms a day to help with the pollination. 

Also, I have been reading in the news a lot regarding dying bee colonies. For any of us who have watched The Bee Movie, by Dreamworks, we were able to see what would happen if bees weren't doing their job. All of our food would disappear. My having this little bee home, would help keep bees in our area, thus helping the local agriculture industry as well as my own garden.

One last reason, is that my children love to be outside - in any weather. This will help with their science studies as they see how fragile and interconnected the world is. I don't homeschool, however, I do light summer schooling with our children so their brains don't turn to complete mush. Here's hoping this will help derive more curiosity in science. 

Do you rationalize things? How do you get your wants while living frugally?

Enjoy!

Harvesting my Tomatoes

This year I had my own tomato transplants. I had forty plants that went in my garden. I was so excited to have a bounty for them. I planted hot house, roma and beefstake tomatoes. Out of all of my lovely plants I had ONE tomato that was beautiful. ONE. How sad. You see, blight hit my garden and I lost my crop. So much for me canning my tomatoes, making my own salsa and spaghetti sauce. I was depressed. My pantry shelves were going to be empty.

Thankfully, for the past several weeks, canned tomatoes have been on sale like mad. $0.99 for a 28oz can of tomatoes. That's up to half price depending on when and where you buy them.

This week they are on sale at No Frills and I added 40 more to my pantry.

That may seem like a lot to you, but we use at least one can a week and I would rather stock up now at a good price than have to pay double come this winter.

How did your garden turn out? Do you can your own tomatoes? Do you have any solutions for blight for me for next year?

Enjoy your day!

Gardening for the first time?

Gardening, as been stated so many times is a great way to save money on food, help the earth and eat very local. But it can be rather intimidating.

Here are a few books and links where to purchase them to help you get you started. Check them, or something similar out at the library first. If it seems like a way of gardening you would like to follow, I highly recommend buying them so that you can keep a quick reference. It's your gardening bible.

(http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/StephanieSuesanSmith)

(http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/books/carrotslove#closed)

(http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/books/buildingusing#closed)

(http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/books/thebackyard#closed)

Don't think you have the space to garden? Check out container gardening:

(http://www.amazon.com/Lasagna-Gardening-Small-Spaces-Containers/dp/0875968864/ref=cm_lmf_tit_6)

How do you garden? 

Enjoy your day!

Transplants and your garden. Frugal food!

(http://www.arthurgreenhouses.ca/index2.php)

Don't these veggies look absolutely delicious? Don't think you can afford to have fresh veggies? Gardening is a great way to save money, and now is the time to start planning your garden and growing your transplants. It's a great way to cut down on your food budget and beat the higher food prices that are coming. Remember the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper?

(http://www.ncfreshlink.com/shipperdirectory/vegetabletrans.htm)

You don't need much room or time to start your own transplants. You need an indoor mini greenhouse, like this one:

(http://mysweetshack.blogspot.com/2010/04/starting-seeds-indoor.html)

Seeds:

(http://www.yenra.com/seeds/)

Dirt:

(http://www.cryosites.com/images/soil_mffzn2h)

And a sunny window:

(http://thecouponproject.com/2011/04/todays-shopping-and-gardening-adventures.html)

And about 4-8 3weeks before your last frost. That'll depend on where you are living. 

We have started peppers, tomatoes (3 types), cucumbers and watermelons for our garden. Mind you my peppers aren't doing as well as I would like, but they are in and it's much cheaper than even buying the transplants. It's amazing how quickly they go from seeds to plants. I'm going to be starting my second tray of flower transplants and more tomatoes and peppers today. Here's hoping that they take off this time. We use them all to make salsa or canned tomatoes for the winter. 

Do you grow your own transplants? What are you growing?

Enjoy your day!

Coupon for seeds

Hello all, gardening is one of the most frugal ways to save money on your grocery bill, and believe it or not, spring is coming and it's time to start those transplants. Time to buy your seeds, dirt and containers. Don't you feel warmer just thinking of the garden? Home depot has a deal on this week for buying seeds. Print this coupon off and when you buy two packages of seeds, you get the third free!

It says one per customer, but it doesn't say anything about being a customer at different times or printing off more than one and getting your family members to help you out! Happy gardening!

Enjoy your day!

The Ant and the Grasshopper

We all, I think, know the story of the ant and the grasshopper. You know, the one where the ant is working away all summer gathering up food for the winter while the grasshopper lounges around? Then the winter comes and the ant has a lot of food to get through and the grasshopper is starving.

With the aside of grocery stores at our convenience, where they only have a couple of days of food on hand at any given moment, what are you doing to be make sure you have food if you need it? Are you an ant or a grasshopper?

I ask this as we do have gardening season coming up. I know I have talked about gardening on here before and even on chilly days like today, I know the time is coming that I will be eating from my garden.

Aside from eating fresh produce from my garden, I look forward to eating my food throughout the winter. You see, I can. Not that I can eat it, which is true, but I participate in the old art of canning food from our garden for our use.

Last year we had a wonderful year for our tomatoes. I was able to can enough tomatoes that they lasted in our home supply until the end of March. I also used a lot of the tomatoes to make our own salsa. In fact, I used our own garlic, onions and peppers as well! We are currently on our last bottle and I may have to resort to buying some salsa to make it August.

I just received my sales flyers and that's what got me thinking about canning. There are a lot of canning products coming on sale tomorrow and I am hoping to pick up an extra thing or two.

My transplants are all growing very well in my family room. I am hoping that I have A LOT of tomatoes again this year.

Are you a canner? Do you want to learn?

There are many reasons to can. To use your own produce through out the year and keep everything local. To know what's in your food. To cut down costs on your food budget. To learn how to provide for yourself should you ever need to.

It's good to put food aside and it's fun! As you plan your garden this year, and I highly recommend whatever your situation is that you do grow some food, plan to grow a little more to put aside!

Here are a few great sites to check out when planning to can your food:


Canning Garden Produce


How to Can Anything


How to Can and Freeze Fruits and Vegetables From Your Own Garden

Enjoy your day!

Could kick myself in the butt!

I have a fair size garden (20'x30') in my backyard, but am always trying to cram more in it. I do kind of square foot planting and kind of french planting.

Recently, I was speaking with a friend who gardens similarly to me. She read about using a metal rack in the garden in a lean to format to grow cucumbers on so that you can use the space underneath to grow produce that likes more shade like lettuce, spinach and whatnot. Luckily for her, her daughter is taking a welding course at school and is making her some racks, but we both thought that old oven racks would work well also. I thought that would be a fantastic idea and started looking around for some.

Here is the part where I kick myself in the butt.

You see, it was a month or more ago that we had said conversation. I wish that I would have kept that in my mind during spring clean up. I am sure that I could have found some old stoves being thrown out that I would have been able to get the racks out of.

So much for my frugal self.

In fact, I remember where there was a stove being tossed out. When I went back, of course it was gone.

Dang it.

So my frugal tip for you today, is capturing the moment. When you have a good idea, act on it. Get it out there so that others can help you.

Anyone on the Island have any old oven racks they don't want/need anymore?

Enjoy your day!

A comeback on blogging

My apologies for falling out of the loop. You know how they say breaking a good habit is easier than starting one? Well, I can attest to that. After being away for a week on a trip, it was hard to get back in to the grind.

This past week, my husband, father in law and myself learned the art of laying hardwood floor. We bought this beautiful Oak hardwood that worked out to be $2.79 a square foot with taxes in and after a rebate and sale awhile ago. This past week, we got around to laying it. It was rather intimidating to start it and to make sure it was squared. However, we learned a new skill, how to appreciate others work a tad more and saved DOLLARS!  All of these things are a great thing!

This is a great way that you can save money around the home, now with libraries in every home (internet) we can enlist videos and other's knowledge on how to do many things. What do you do around your home to save money? Please send it in and we can have a reader's post on it.

The other lovely dollar saving thing that I was able to have yesterday, was four wonderful loads drying outside on my clothesline. That's $3 in my pocket and not Maritime Electric's!  Gotta love this spring weather!

With spring here, I have a question for you: are you planning a vegetable garden this year? We have had one as long as I can remember. It's always been a part of my life, and living on PEI, we are blessed with VERY fertile soil. Today, my children and I are planting some more transplant seeds to grow in our beautiful sunny room.

What kind of gardening do you do? We are sort of a square foot gardeners. I bottle what we don't eat or give away. In fact, we are currently on our last bottle of salsa and just ran out of tomatoes last month. I am praying that we have a bounteous harvest again this year.

Join with me in gardening, whether you have acres, a small plot or a balcony. Everyone can do it. There is nothing like seeing your food grow and then eating it and it's a great way to keep it VERY local and save some dollars.

Tell me, what are you going to grow in your garden? Send us your garden list and we'll post it! Keep us updated through out the summer and share some tips on canning, preserving, and some photos on how your garden grows. Email me at smile_zil at yahoo dot ca

Enjoy your day!

Saving money on Produce

I know it's fall (feels like winter today), but it's time to think of next summer so you can save money on your produce. Time to manure your garden.

You don't garden yet? No matter how small your land is, or even if you have a patio, you can garden. If you have a plot of land that you can plant veggies on, find someone to till you up a patch, or rent a tiller from a shop and get'er done!

By manuring now, it gives it time to seep through the winter into the ground so that your garden will be wonderful next summer. My FIL has been going for years, and with the lovely red soil that's every where else on his land, it's not red anymore in his garden. It is black! He has the most amazing garden and I think should be featured in Vesey's.

So see how big a garden you want and find some manure at the garden stores, or a farmer that lives near you. Then this winter you can do the planning of what you want to plant and what type of garden style you want to follow. Or do you already know? Please feel free to share!

PS Another thing that I heard through the grapevine, is that seeds are going up in price by as much as 40% next spring! Stock up now!

Enjoy your day!