Thread of ways to make gardening cheaper and easier!

I am new to gardening, but I love it!! I also thought I'd share this

Don't through out your garbage, reuse it!

I made a mini green house from things I found in the trash

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It's a bit difficult to see in the picture but basically its a plastic re-closing cake container and some cardboard egg cartons (egg shells would add more nutrients into the ground). As most of you know, the cardboard can go right into the dirt for easier transplanting.

For those of you with a smaller growing space, try vertical growing! I think its a great idea, here is a site http://www.easywaystosavemoney.com.au/blog/1098/verical-garden-5-of-the-cheapest-and-easiest-gardens
post your ideas people:daisy:

 

That's a lovely little greenhouse!

A few ideas I've seen are 2-liter bottles cut open to use as cloches, paving your walkways with reclaimed pallets, laying down old newspaper to kill weeds between rows, (my mom's been doing that for decades!) putting four doors together to make a cute mini-shed, making a watering can out of a hole-poked plastic jug, slicing milkjugs to make mini-greenhouses, the newspaper starter-pots that you fold yourselves & just plant as-is... there are TONS of ways to reuse items for your garden!

love,
mom

 

if your going to take pallets from businesses make sure you ask the manager first. My mother just told me about a man that got arrested in my town for taking pallets outside a wally world i think.

First time i've ever heard of anyone pressing charges for that. I mean usually businesses don't even press charges for shoplifting, when i worked at sears they wouldn't. I hear the same for krogers and meijer.

 

There are alot of produce scraps that can be used to start vegetables with - Like sprouted potatoes, garlic, carrot tops, celery, onions...

 

Yea, Wal-Mart is like that. They will not help you at all. I was in the local store and noticed they were throwing out left over herb plants, I tried to get them to let me have them. NO! NO! NO! was the answer.

Gardening cheaper & easier includes not wasting you most rare resource - time....

Peace, eace:
poor_old_dad

 

As far as walk ways go I've used mine as compost plts. I dig (sandy soil) down to where the color change to sub soil occurs and dump in the contents of the 5 gal kitchen compost bucket and refill the hole. By the time I come around the walk way a few months later I have rich soil to spill over into the beds and fat happy earthworms.

Wally World here gives away only empty banana boxes except if you can come up with a 501-3c type tax number. Soooo if your local Cenior Center, church, or ? sponsors a community garden??? maybeee.....

 

I have gotten free pallets via both Craigslist & Freecycle. Businesses post there when they want to give them away, and then I KNOW they will be there and I can set up a time to pick them up!

I haven't tried sprouting veggie-tops yet. As a little girl I remember trying this with carrot tops, and just creating mucky-moldy water. I'm guessing that daily water-changes are key to any success though, and have been considering lining my kitchen window with scallion & garlic jars to see if I have any luck.

love,
mom

 

I kind of messed up my garlic, I think. It was sprouting like crazy so I took it and crowded it into two pots of soil, knowing it should be planted with more room. One nice warm day, I moved the plants into some additional pots. It all had alot of really nice long roots! Ever since that time the top green growth has been all droopy. I don't know if they are going to do any good. I may have to start over next time some garlic sprouts in the house.

I had a California Avocado that had a couple of big, stout roots growing from the pit when I cut it to eat it. I figured it had already done what it would do in a rooting jar. I popped it straight into some soil. The top of the pit is cracked open and something seems to be wanting to come out but it's really slow so I don't know if it will do any good or not. I know that the plant won't produce fruit for me but I just wanted to grow the plant.

I have some potatoes that are sprouted and I need to get them in the dirt. One year I just half jokingly popped a couple in the nearest bed and was surprised to get about a dozen of the best little potatoes I've ever tasted.

 

I've seen an avacado tree produce in San Francisco. Part of the trick I'm told is it takes two to tango.