Apr 25 2008
Dirty Green Thumb (frugal style)
As soon as the snow starts thawing and the air smells sort of wormy, I know that spring is around the corner and my fingers start to itch to garden. For those who aren’t into getting dirt under your nails, this obsession would seem foreign, even strange. But the tree-hugging freaks that love getting intimate with Mother Nature’s soil know that once you get the gardening bug, it’s like malaria - it’s with you for life!
While gardening doesn’t make you sick - on the contrary, it’s a great way to stay in shape (regardless of how round the shape is) - the prices at garden centres and hardware stores are enough to test any budget or frugal resolve. If you want to stay strong and keep spending minimal, how can you still indulge your whims? Like all frugalities, you just have to plan and work with the fiscal timing…
- Hold True! The first rule of frugal gardening is to realize not to buy when you want to. In the spring, prices are at a premium. If you can hold off and wait until mid-summer (mid July) or later, prices can drop drastically. I bought trees that were 75% off the original price.
Two caveats with this: make sure the stock is still alive and forget garden specialty stores (they know that you can plant almost year round).
- Sprout Your Own! Seeds are a cheap and fairly easy way to get new plant stock. There isn’t the instant gratification you get with buying a 3 year old perennial but remember, you have to pay extra for that. Seed exchanges can be a great way of using what you have and trading for what you need. Dollar stores can also be a good supply of decent and economical seeds.
Use old coffee cups, recycled plant pots, old bags, egg containers to start the seeds in …basically anything that will drain excess water and hold soil. Label your seedlings to remember what you have and be prepared to plant on as soon as they have their first true leaves. Like all babies, they’ll need a little TLC but will soon take care of themselves.
- Share and Share Alike. Plant exchanges are an amazing way of getting more garden diversity and remembering that plants belong to everyone. Simply divide up some of your perennials and seedlings and ask around with friends, neighbours and co-workers to see who wants to share.
- Ask The Man! Many companies have by-products from their business that make excellent garden products and are often available for a song. A local chocolate factory sells organic cocoa mulch for 25% of what garden centres would charge. Many coffee stores will give buckets of grounds away for nothing - they would pay to dispose of it otherwise. Don’t be shy and see what you can get for (next to) nothing!
I’ve done all these things and more. Each spring, I mow my fall leaves and bag them to use later for leaf mulch. I rake up pine needles to add to my compost. Above all, I have to constantly restrain myself from spending money on plants that I want now! Atleast I’m aware of how weak my resolve can be when I look at something beautiful that I covet.
Onwards frugal gardeners! While penny pinching can be less fun sometimes, it definitely is a test of ingenuity.
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