Frugal Gardening Tips

[newmommy]

I'm already antsy to start our garden! I still have 5 more months to go - guess it will be a very well planned out garden! Since I've been reviewing my tips and looking up more, I thought I may as well share this info! If you have some helpful tips, please post them! I put this in chit chat, but thought it would also fit here!

Recycle your everyday garbage!
The following items can be repurpoed in the garden - saving you time weeding and watering - plus being environmentally friendly!

Paper plates and coffee filters
Reuse slightly used paper plates and new coffee filters as weed blockers! Cut in from the edge and make a hole in the center. Then wrap the plate/filter around your plant!

Milk jugs and 2L soda bottles
Both of these can be used as extra protection for plants. Simply cut the bottoms from the jugs and place over your small plants. To keep them from blowing away, poke holes in the sides and stake down with wire hangers cut long enough to shape as a hairpin.

Use soda bottles as a watering conservation system. Poke 3 or 4 holes down one side. Bury the bottle up to the bottom of it's spout, making sure to positon the holes toward where the plant will be. Use a funnel to fill the bottles with water and/or fertilizer.

Toilet paper and paper towel tubes
Use these as seed starting pots! Cut each 'pot' to about 2 or 3 inches tall. Place on an old baking sheet, fill with soil and plant your seeds. When seedlings are ready to plant, push the plant down through the ring slightly (about an inch) and plant your seedling with the ring around it. The buried part of the ring with act as protection against cutworms and the upper part serves as protection for the seedling.

Newspaper
This can be a great timesaver for weeding! Dedicate some time before you plant to bury several thicknesses of newspaper in the pathways of your garden. This will keep weedss out and water in. And in a year or two the newspaper will decompose, making it a much more Earth-friendly alternative to plastic.

Old t-shirts and pantyhose
Reuse these for tying up plants. They will hold the plant, yet stretch just enough to not damage the plant.

Space saving tips:
*Plant pole beans in a spiral - use heavy wire fencing as your trellis.
*Use your chain-link fence as a trellis for vining plants.

Here are some helpful sites for gardening and canning:
Better Homes and Gardens - Gardening site
Home Preservation
USDA - Gardening

[angelau]

I like those tips! Does anyone on here use earthworms? There's a lady around here that does talks on using earthworms to get great gardening results. I can't wait till gardening season!

[stepheneva]

Thanks for the great tips. I can't wait to start gardening.

[Adam & Kevin's Mommy]

Thanks for the great tips! Love the fresh vegetables in the summer!

[bullislandqueen]

He garden year round!! Right now we have brocolli, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower.

A great site we have used is www.farmersalmanac.com.

They have monthly calendars telling you wheen would be great days for certain things.

[thinkgreen]

Originally Posted by newmommy

Toilet paper and paper towel tubes
Use these as seed starting pots! Cut each 'pot' to about 2 or 3 inches tall. Place on an old baking sheet, fill with soil and plant your seeds. When seedlings are ready to plant, push the plant down through the ring slightly (about an inch) and plant your seedling with the ring around it. The buried part of the ring with act as protection against cutworms and the upper part serves as protection for the seedling.

Newspaper
This can be a great timesaver for weeding! Dedicate some time before you plant to bury several thicknesses of newspaper in the pathways of your garden. This will keep weedss out and water in. And in a year or two the newspaper will decompose, making it a much more Earth-friendly alternative to plastic.

I really love these two tips. Thanks!

[thinkgreen]

Originally Posted by angelau

I like those tips! Does anyone on here use earthworms? There's a lady around here that does talks on using earthworms to get great gardening results. I can't wait till gardening season!

I always get earthworms to come naturally. If you have the space to build your own compost, they love it! They're attracted to that rich soil that's created.

[NROMSRD]

Recycling in the Garden

Recycling in the Garden

My parents rarely threw anything away. Our cupboard is full of old margarine containers used to hold leftovers and my dad always kept scraps of wood or string for use around the house. I have found some interesting ways to recycle and reuse around my own house that you may help you.

Plastic Milk Jugs I have used these to help me save time while I water my plants and water more effectively. I put a few small holes in the bottom of the bottle and fill it with water and then set it at the base of my berry bushes. The water seeps out slowly allowing the water to sink in and water deeply instead of just on the surface forcing the roots deeper in to the ground for a healthier plant.

I have also buried half gallon jugs in the ground again with holes poked in the side beside the plant and then filled it up with water and capped it. The water seeps out slowly again watering the roots of the plants and making for stronger plants.


Home Made Mulch We have a large mulched area in our back yard and we also had a bad ice storm tear through our area which took down a lot of our trees. So we rented a chipper and went to town, in just an hour we had a lot of mulch to help cover our garden. I wouldn't recommend putting it near the house because of insects but this is at the back of our property. The money I spent on the chipper was less than the cost to have the waste hauled away.

Compost If you have house plants or a garden you probably already know the value of compost, but did you know there are ways to compost that don't involve large piles of waste and that smell? There are plenty of plans on the internet to build a worm compost bin. Worms eat your food scraps and produce great compost. I recycled two plastic storage bins to build my compost bin. As we were cleaning our out our house and eliminating junk we had extra bins.

Plastic Film Canisters Ok maybe you don't remember what these look like but cameras used to use film, and they used to come in little plastic canisters. They make great storage if you label them and we have found they make for great micro caches if you geocache. If you don't you should it is a very fun experience.

Newspaper Pots You make your seedling pots out of newspaper by folding them around an old tin can. The Newspaper will biodegrade in the soil so you don't have to spend money on cow pots or pete pots, which have their own environmental baggage.

[NROMSRD]

The Dollar Stretcher - Gardening: Frugal Gardening Tips

[djntysmommy]

thanks for all the links! these are handy tips. We are planting our 1st veggie garden this yr