Guest post by Katelyn Thomas

You’ve started a garden to save money, not to spend it! Who knew that it could be such a costly operation? Mulch, soil, fertilizer…the list seems to go on and on. Before you shell out a lot of cash, you may want to try thrifty alternatives for some items. Here are a few things I do to make gardening frugal:

• Make friends with a farmer. If you know a farmer, paying for expensive fertilizers will be a thing of the past. I asked my neighbor if I could buy a wheelbarrow of aged cow manure and he dropped an entire backhoe load of manure in for me and wouldn’t take a dime. Even if you pay for manure, odds are that it will be cheaper than the stuff that comes in bags at the store. (Make sure it is aged, though. Fresh manure can burn your plants right up!)
• Swap plants with friends and neighbors. I found a good price on parsley - a four pack for $2. I split it with the rest of the family. I also gave away over 30 of my prolific strawberry plants. They hopped out of their bed to grow in the path. In return, I’ll get help digging out a few big things I need to move. In years past, I’ve gotten tomato seedlings, peppers and a ton of perennials.
• Use cardboard and newspaper. I lay cardboard on my temporary vegetable garden paths before I put down a layer of mulch. This way, I can make the layer of mulch a lot shallower and still keep weeds at bay.
• Collect leaves in the fall and chop them up with your mulcher or by running over them with a mower. (Make sure there aren’t any sticks, first.) Chopping leaves gives you a head start on leaf mold, which sounds unpleasant, but is rich crumbly stuff that plants love. This can replace expensive bags of hummus.
• Head to a real farmer’s market. We have one of those overpriced markets where plant nurseries set up booths, but there’s also a local market at the local auctioneer’s barn every Monday. That market is filled with booths of veggie plants that are downright cheap.

Katelyn’s first love is holidays, but she also enjoys living a thrifty lifestyle and has been gardening frugally for many years.

image (c) Linette Gerlach

Guest post by Linette Gerlach

You can plant a garden even on a shoestring budget. For very little money you can grow enough food to help feed your family through the winter.

Here are a few tips to help get you started:

• Start your plants in recycled pots, or containers you make yourself. You can make your own plant pots out of newspaper, or egg cartons.
• Buy your seeds at the local farm store. There you can buy as much or as little of each type of seed as you want, and you’re paying by the weight. You don’t have to buy extra if you only want a few watermelon seeds, and the seeds are usually cheaper than purchasing pre packaged seeds.
• Swap seeds and plants with neighbors. If you have extra tomato plants, or chives trade them with your neighbor for peppers, or thyme.
• Save your own seeds. You can save your own seeds from many plants for next years crop. Before you save a particular seed do a little research to make sure the plant will grow back true from seeds.
• Start a compost pile, and make your own fertilizer for your garden. This is a huge money saver, and you’re also recycling your waste at the same time.
• Make your own potting soil, by mixing about half regular soil, with half compost. You may have to play around with the mixture a little to suit your soil.

If you have tips for saving money in the garden, feel free to share them in the comment section.

Linette shares more gardening advice at Mother Earth’s Garden, and cooking and gardening advice at The Home and Garden Cafe.

Image L Gerlach

My dad has a beautiful plant on his back yard. He keeps promising me that no one can kill it. We will see about that. I will let you know how mine survives the wilderness in a few months. But I digress. I want to plant it along the outskirts of my yard as a boundary of sorts. The plant is called a wandering Jew plant and is absolutely beautiful. I hope it works well and doesn’t get eaten by the wildlife around my house.

Your frugal challenge for Saturday is to be patient with your plants. I intend to buy 2 small plants from my local nursery and then let them grow this year in the pots. Next year I will divide them up and plant them outside. I am hoping that by then, I will have several shoots to plant and won’t need to spend a lot of money to cover my flower garden. Perennials are a great way to save money if you can have patience. Buy the smaller plant this year and divide them up next year. That way you have 2 plants for the price of one and an equally satisfying garden to enjoy. Although, if I could divide and save money, I would enjoy my garden much more! Also make sure you get plants that are very hearty for your area. That way they will grow well with little effort. My personal favorite is celosia. It will grow great and with little effort. They come in all kinds of colors and are beautiful. They are an annual but I haven’t had to replant them as they came back 3 years in a row for me. Go figure.

So enjoy your garden this summer and remember, patience literally pays off if you buy small and then divide and replant next year.

I am a mosquito magnet.  If there is one around, it will find me.  This past week while I was at camp, many mosquitos found me.  I’ve done a little research and found some inexpensive ways that you can fight off mosquitoes.

1.  Keep your lawn mowed and bushes trimmed.  This eliminates having a nice place for mosquitoes to rest.

2.  Keep spare tires and other items that collect water stored in a sheltered area.  This cuts down on the amount of rain these items can collect.  Empty standing water from buckets, boats, planters, wheelbarrows, etc.

3.  Make sure roof gutters drain properly to prevent standing water.

4.  Change the water in bird baths at least once a week or install a fountain or dripper to keep the water moving.

5.  Wear light colored clothing.  Mosquitoes are attracted to dark clothes.

6.  Keep your body covered as much as possible.  Yes, mosquitoes can find their way through the fabric, but it helps to cut down on the number of bites.

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Fall is quickly coming.  Want to plant some mums?  Let me give a frugal piece of advice.  Don’t buy the bigger plants.  Buy the smaller plants.  They will grow and you can split them later if you can be patient.  You can save a lot of money by buying the smaller versions and feeding them Miracle Grow.  By the end of the season, they will be the same size as the bigger plants but your wallet won’t be as light.

Another way to save money in the garden is sharing.  Do you have a friend that likes to garden as well?  Maybe this year you can both divide your favorite plants and swap. That way, you can both have some new plants without spending any money.

Picture courtesy of the National Chrysanthemum Society.