Fresh fruit and veg are getting ever more expensive. Herbs cost a small fortune and often wilt in the fridge before making it into your dish, while occasional ingredients like chillies are cheaper to buy in bulk, but you can rarely get through a whole pack before they shrivel.
It’s one of the reasons for a resurgence in gardening, and before you think: I can’t do that, I only have a balcony, a new wave of gardeners is here to tell you that’s not a problem. Kia Codd is one of them.
The 33-year-old caught the gardening bug three years ago, but, far from an enormous veggie patch, she has a simple balcony in her Melbourne apartment where all her magic is made.
“Gardening helped me with burnout at work. It’s very calming and relaxing,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I started with herbs—basil and coriander—and then kept expanding. It’s addictive and easy to grow so many things.”
Kia started urban gardening three years ago and now shares her tips and tricks on TikTok. Credit: Supplied
Urban gardener shares tips for growing food in small spaces
“I mainly grow fruit and veg, but I love flowers too, and they help the fruit and veg as they attract the pollinators.”
Kia’s balcony now boasts around 20 pots, and she’s started a TikTok with some of her tips, which has gone wild, with thousands of followers
“Gardening is such a passionate niche, and there’s so much to learn, I think people like to find a source for ideas,” Kia says. “It can be quite overwhelming when you start out.”
What fruit and vegetables can you grow in pots?
Kia tells us that she has yet to find a fruit or veg that she can’t grow in a simple pot, which means the floor is open. Her TikTok video showing chillies, beets, beans, a variety of herbs, spring onions and even potatoes all growing on her balcony has had thousands of views.
“You just need the right size pot – a deeper one for root veg like potatoes and carrots, and shallow containers are good for leafy greens and beetroot,” she says. “People are often giving pots away on Facebook Marketplace, or Bunnings has great quality, plastic pots for around $11.”
She adds that fruit and veg love the sun, so if you can find an area with 4-6 hours of bright sunshine a day, it’s ideal.
“If your area gets less [sun], start with things that are tolerant to shade like the herbs and leafy greens,” she says.
Gardening tips can help save money at the supermarket
The best bit is that with relatively small set-up costs, a bit of balcony gardening can really keep the savings rolling in. Chillies were Kia’s biggest hit last year.
“We had such a prolific chilli crop,” she tells us. “We got a year’s worth from the one plant. I froze them and haven’t had to buy chillies all year.”
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In her money-saving video, she explains the chilli plant cost her $5, and when you compare that to supermarket chillies that cost $30-$34 a kilo, she’s had quite the bang for her buck.
She has plenty of other money-saving tips when it comes to gardening.
“Start with seeds instead of seedlings,” she says, because they are cheaper. “Even better, you could use your supermarket leftovers.
“You can grow spring onions from the leftover bits you chop off, just plant the roots,” she says. “And if you buy fresh supermarket herbs with roots on, give them a go too. I’ve had about a 70 per cent success rate with the ones I’ve planted.”
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