It’s really tough gardening on a budget, if you have to choose between feeding your family or feeding your plants, then the former has to take precedence of course. Tomato feed is really expensive for a tiny bottle where I live, but even at cheaper UK prices it might still be unaffordable for the OP. However, there are ways of making your own free fertiliser - plant teas 🌱
Nettle tea or indeed any old bunch of fresh weeds steeped in water for a spring nitrogen boost. If you have space to grow comfrey, comfrey tea is high in potash so can be used instead of bought tomato feed during the flowering/fruiting season.
An excellent all-round plant boost is alfalfa (NPK 3-1-2) which can be bought in pelleted form cheaply from horse food suppliers. One sack can last you for years. Either make a fermented tea or just spread the pellets directly around your plants in the ground.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I often buy tomato food in Home Bargains, so if @youngalistairyoung4K0pr0XO has any of those sorts of shops around, it's worth looking there too. There's B&M as well, and The Range, but it's difficult to suggest something when we don't have all the detail. I got some of Asda's own brand tom food recently - 2 litre [concentrate] for about £4. I get a 10% discount as well, so it's pretty cheap.
I started growing comfrey last year but it isn't in growth for a good while yet. There's tons of it in the lanes near the farm along the road. Interesting re the alfalfa @Nollie . I wonder if the mill/feed supplier along the road stocks it. I might have to go and have a look one day
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Lucky you having comfrey in the lane @Fairygirl, I would be out there with my bucket! It’s too hot and dry to grow here, unfortunately. I hope we hear back/have given the OP some useful ideas, but interesting discussion re gardening on a budget anyway.
I have a fermented alfalfa tea recipe if your interested, but you need the 100% natural alfalfa pellets with no added sugar, so not the stuff for rabbits. The fermentation is supposed to release growth hormones for plant uptake.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I did cut/pull some foliage last year @Nollie, and there were a few roots attached so I stuck them in pots and grew them on. Whether they'll take well having been planted out is another matter, but the damp border they're in should be fine. They grew quickly in the pots. It's rampant round here I'll have a look in the mill re the alfalfa to see if it's the one you mention. Thanks for that.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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Lots of clematis growers do the same - a very weak feed solution every time the plants are watered.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Nettle tea or indeed any old bunch of fresh weeds steeped in water for a spring nitrogen boost. If you have space to grow comfrey, comfrey tea is high in potash so can be used instead of bought tomato feed during the flowering/fruiting season.
An excellent all-round plant boost is alfalfa (NPK 3-1-2) which can be bought in pelleted form cheaply from horse food suppliers. One sack can last you for years. Either make a fermented tea or just spread the pellets directly around your plants in the ground.
I started growing comfrey last year but it isn't in growth for a good while yet. There's tons of it in the lanes near the farm along the road.
Interesting re the alfalfa @Nollie . I wonder if the mill/feed supplier along the road stocks it. I might have to go and have a look one day
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have a fermented alfalfa tea recipe if your interested, but you need the 100% natural alfalfa pellets with no added sugar, so not the stuff for rabbits. The fermentation is supposed to release growth hormones for plant uptake.
I'll have a look in the mill re the alfalfa to see if it's the one you mention. Thanks for that.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...