Silly frugal gardening things you do

**Jaded** · 08-30-2007, 12:36 PM

I stole this idea from the silly frugal tips thing. What frugal things do you do in your garden?

I had the lady from the school save me a bunch of large veggie cans to start plants in. When I go to plant them, I cut out the bottom and put right into the ground. The pots decompose, adding iron to the soil.

Save Folger's plastic containers to hold just enough fertilizer to go around the front or back yard. Scoop it with an old mandarin orange can. I also store my gloves in one, and small garden accessories.

Save toilet paper holders and wrap holders to cut into "peat pots" for seedings. You just put them into trays just like peat pots (I beg my trays from Home Depot...they just toss them out!), and plant right into the ground once they're established.

For those of you who grow african violets, or root cuttings, Yoplait containers and plastic bathroom cups make GREAT rooting kits. Use one play of yarn (just tear it apart) as a wick, fill the cup with 1/2 peat, 1/2 perlite, fill the Yoplait container with water, and set in the plant. Water the top to start the wicking process, and VOILA! Instant Reservoir! Cute sitting on a kitchen windowsill too.

Don't bag those leaves! Use them as "undermulch". Put two inches of leaves, and one inch of storebought mulch on top for looks.

Call your local utility company and see if they have a "free mulch" program. The company they use to trim the right of ways will come deliver a whole load of wood chips to you for free. CAUTION...A LOAD OF CHIPS IS A HUGE PILE!

You can also call tree trimming companies and see if they will bring you a load of chips, but you may get diseased tree chips in it, so use it somewhere it won't do harm. I used to use it on my hedgerow to keep from having to weed eat as much.

Stick old utensils that have worn out, or have broken handles in the garden as "junk art". People are always telling me "You left your clippers against that tree". I tell them they have outlived their useful life, and are now being used as art.

Make trellises out of strange things...like I have a trellis made from the bottom and back of an old metal futon that was thrown out.

Empty old coffee grounds into the garden. Rinse and reuse the coffee filters in the bottoms of pots to hold the soil in.

I found an old double sink on the side of the road, brought it home, sealed the holes, buried it in the ground, and now I have a perfect small water/bog garden.

Use old newspapers as undermulch. 5 layers is best to keep down weeds.

If you can't have a compost pile in your yard, bury peelings and egg shells around your outdoor plants. Soon you'll have the best soil in town!

Save junk mail envelopes to store saved seeds.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

**Jaded** · 08-30-2007, 05:02 PM

One more I just thought of...use old shower curtains to make small bog gardens. Dig a hole, put in the shower curtain, fill with cheap organic peat, add plants. You can cover the edges with dirt, or stones. This is a great way to make small bog gardens inside other gardens.

**Peaches** · 08-31-2007, 01:49 AM

My husband just poured all the out of date beer (about 10 cans) into the compost pile. Apparently this creates heat and speeds up the composting process.

This year we are taking an old bathtub, filling it with soil and covering it with a pane of glass in an effort to grow our own sweet potatoes.

I reuse yogurt pots to propagate seedlings.

Talk to other gardeners! They might have something they don't want that you want (we got two - YES TWO! - greenhouses this way)

**jinx** · 08-31-2007, 07:53 AM

MY dh likes me to save used coffee grounds to spread around our garden. We also get them used grounds from out local starbucks. The have 5 lb sealed foil bags of used coffee grounds for use in the garden.

**Persimmon Lace** · 08-31-2007, 06:36 PM

I use those bright yellow cat litter buckets to plant my peppers in. The garden is, if nothing else colorful! And productive!

**Jaded** · 08-31-2007, 10:08 PM

Hey, I like the cat litter bucket idea! Why not put them to good use? They're sturdy, and you probably paid a lot for them with the cost of the litter.

**sunshine** · 08-31-2007, 11:22 PM

I use heirloom plants, and save the seeds from year to year.

I save the discarded bath basins from work to start plant seedling in, each spring.

I use plastic milk jugs for plant covers in the spring and late fall.

**ravenmaniac** · 09-01-2007, 04:50 PM

I reuse the plastic coffee "cans" my Folgers coffee comes in. I use them as flower pots. I poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage. You can also use contact paper to cover the lable and make your own decoration. I compost fruit and veggie scraps, and coffee and tea grounds.

**Neeley** · 09-01-2007, 05:32 PM

I am not much of a gardener. However, I have several house plants. My DS and DD drink about 2 cases of bottled water (72 bottles) a week. Neither one ever finishes a bottle completely and I use the water they leave in each bottle to water my plants with.

I am not the most frugal person in the world, so for me just doing this is a big step.

**Jaded** · 09-01-2007, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Neeley

I am not much of a gardener. However, I have several house plants. My DS and DD drink about 2 cases of bottled water (72 bottles) a week. Neither one ever finishes a bottle completely and I use the water they leave in each bottle to water my plants with.

I am not the most frugal person in the world, so for me just doing this is a big step.

Hey, I think that's great! Every drop of water saved counts.

**annymoll** · 09-01-2007, 11:02 PM

I am not the most frugal gardener but I do let the neighbors have the peaches, pears and cherries (one tree, because I love cherries)from our fruit trees. I always get jams in return, and sometimes wine.I also ask if I can dig up the iris bulbs around some of the old houses on the farms. I have iris that are beautiful and they mean alot to me, because some have come from folks that were old when I was a child.

**Jaded** · 09-02-2007, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by annymoll

I am not the most frugal gardener but I do let the neighbors have the peaches, pears and cherries (one tree, because I love cherries)from our fruit trees. I always get jams in return, and sometimes wine.I also ask if I can dig up the iris bulbs around some of the old houses on the farms. I have iris that are beautiful and they mean alot to me, because some have come from folks that were old when I was a child.

Plants like that are the best. When I moved to FL, I brought a couple of heirloom plants someone had given me. Most of them died, but the purple leaf plum is alive and well. It never blooms here, too hot, but the leaves are gorgeous, and I get a lot of comments on it.