Saving money on gardening happens almost naturally when you talk with people about your interest. If you tell someone what you're aiming for, there's a good chance they'll try to help you. Someone may give you a tour of their garden and offer cuttings or bulbs or seeds they can't use. Someone else may be thrilled to have you take home their grass clippings or leaves, or cardboard for developing new beds. Someone may lend you books to inspire you. Someone else may give you unused garden tools or help you haul the heavy stuff in return for some of your garden's bounty. Maureen

I am a big time collector of LARGE cardboard sheets, which I obtain for free at an appliance store. I also pick up bags of leaves and grass whenever possible and use these two components as a major part of my mulching/composting program. It's all free! Also, I reproduce much of my own seed, and, my tools are not motor driven.

There are some wonderful technologies out there for irrigation, etc. But if it's going to cost me very much I don't do it. Gardening doesn't have to be expensive.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Well, that is a start and on the right tract for frugal gardening, but you do not say much about how much area you have to work with or other important considerations involved.

There are many money saving things that you can do, most local places that sell seed, put some on at a fraction of the regular price at the end of the season. I have found those to be good and viable seed, without problems. If you grow open pollinated or heirloom plants, you can save your own seed from the fruits of that. Most of the various forums have exchange sections where you can trade seeds or request and perhaps someone will send you some free seeds.

Other good resources are making your own compost out of fall leaves and other materials, and finding someone in your area that raises animals that would be happy for you to take away some, or all of their manure. Or, you could raise some chickens, rabbits or things of that sort to eat or sell and use their manure for ammending and fertilizing your garden.

Your area probably has a Freecycle and you could possibly find free garden tools, plants or other things on that if you join and post.

The possibilities are almost endless if you really think about it and are innovative. Perhaps more specific questions would bring more specific answers.
Just my thoughts.
Bill P.

There's a plant store in our area. he sets up for about 6 weeks. When he is ready to close down he gives me all the plastic potters, including the 6 pks. i also get about 1 and 1/2 cubic yards of used potting soil. I use this after sterilizing it to start my seedlings. i also sell tomato plants that we grow extra.
Last year we sold about 500. A small amount, but it paid for electricity, seeds and every thing else for our garden for the year.
We buy our seed from a company that caters to market gardeners. We often get such deals as 8 oz. of chard seed for $2. The seed that I bought 3 years ago is still germinating just fine. i make sure I get the open polinated varietys, so that when ever I can I save seed after the initial purchse.
Ask when you go to the dump They might let you have leaves, and wood scrap free for the taking.
For grass clippings check out the parks dept. or local cemetary. Our local cemetary will load your pickup with grass clippings, just to get rid of them.

You may want to read through and maybe do some searches at The Frugal Gardening Forum....

There is a thread
Plant from the produce department?
and
Your favorite frugal gardening tip

both good reads, besides the great replies here.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Frugal Gardening Forum

The soil and compost forum may give you some good ideas, also the organic gardening forum. Look at any forum that interests you.

You might also look near the top of the vegetable forum for the link that says exchange. When I first started using gardenweb around the year 2000, I was amazed at how many people offered seeds for free. Sometimes the cost would be a self addressed stamped envelope-SASE. Sometimes the person offering the seeds just asked that we send our names and addresses and they would send seeds. I got all kinds of free stuff, and when I had been gardening long enough, I had seeds to exchange as well.

There are also links to exchanges on the tomato forum, possibly the allium forum. Can't remember. I think so. Some regional forums have exchanges as well. I am in the Pacific Northwest and there are some very active gardeners who plan plant exchanges.

You might check your phone book to see if you have a "Cooperative Extension" office in your town or nearby. Might be called "County Extension" or "Agricultural Cooperative Extension" office. This would be in the government section of your phone book under county. A group called the "Master Gardeners," are associated with them. In fact, a person becomes a Master Gardener through training with the Extension Service. My local Master Gardeners are quite active and have fundraisers yearly. Great place to get plants, usually cheaper than a nursery or big box store. And the quality is excellent, at least locally.

Gardening is practically a state passion here in Oregon, because stuff grows so well, but checking in your area would be worthwhile. You may discover some real treasures.

A look through the yellow pages for garden stores and nurseries might be a good idea too. My two favorites locally have passionate gardeners working for them, and they are often up on whats going on in the gardening community.

Have you looked to see if there are any garden clubs in your area? You never know what you might learn.

Well, I'll stop before you start throwing things at the monitor. I realize this is long. Wishing you a great 2007 garden.

Mary

To the many great suggestions already posted, I'll add just one - for soil.

I keep several extra empty garbage cans at home. When I see new construction going on, and they have pushed the topsoil off into a pile, I ask them if I could have a few cans. The answer is often "yes", since the construction crew usually has to dispose of the excess soil off-site anyway.

Little by little, that builds up the garden. Of course, you couldn't sneak that past the hubby, since it will take both of you to lift it. ;-)

All great ideas that I hadn't thought of. I live in a suburban area where no one has veggie gardens.
Love the idea about the soil and the garbage cans..

4 things come to mind immedieately:

1) Garden intensively. make the most of efficient plantings in the areas you develop. this increases yield and reduces costs for everything from soil improvements, tool requirements, space requirements, water, etc.

2) Borrow books from the library. You can really learn a lot about intensive gardening without having to spend a penny. The internet is loaded with good info to.

3) Plant only what you really are going to use. if you will only eat one head of cabbage, why bother with the cost of planting and maintaining a whole row?

4) Focus on growing foods that are more expensive to buy in the store. There are some things I won't grow because I can buy them for so little. Red peppers, on the other hand, cost a fortune around here. so I grow a lot of them and freeze them.

Good luck!

Two little items that come to mind - start a worm bin. Mine consists of 2 plastic storage containers - one fits inside the other. They are about 12 in x 18 in by 12 in deep, and have holes in the bottom and top sides. One cover catches drips on the bottom bin, and the other cover for the top.

Buy a lb of worms - cost about $20.00. Shred some newspaper in the bottom bin add some ground up vegetable left overs, some coffee grounds, tea bags, etc. and the worms. You can find more information on the Vermicomposting Forum.

This will compost your left overs and newpapers. I also invested in an expensive paper shredder from Staples, that make it a lot easier. Rotate the bins as the herd increases. This material is great for the soil and except for the initial outlay is free.

Second - I keep a 5 gal bucket, shovel and some black heavy duty plastic (33 gal) garbage bags in my truck. Whenever I go past the dairy, I load up on free composted manure, loading as many bags as I can shovel into the bucket, and lift into the back of the truck. It's easy when you do it a bag at a time (for us older folks). The dairy will also skip load a truck (for a small fee - about $5.00 to $10.00). Horse farms will probably also have free manure - tho I haven't tried those locally.

I bought a couple of hens - (initial cage was a bit expensive and feed) - but have fresh eggs and chicken manure to add to my bounty, and the manure is handy to come by - no hauling.

Start seeds - to plant out - a small flourescent light hung under a shelf makes a great heat/light source - and the forums on seed starting can fill in all of the details.

I use yogurt cups filled with potting soil for my seedlings, as they hold up well and won't breakdown easily. They are then set in a plastic shoebox to catch drips and then under the lights - these are also used over and over.

Gardening can be as economical or expensive as you make it, but is a great way to get nice fresh veggies and exercise as well. You also get a chance to meet a lot of helpful folks in these forums.

Good luck.

Bejay

Great tips Beyay! I raise red worms also but forgot to mention them.

George

macmex, could you(or someone)please explain why the cardboard?

I'd add that the soil at lowes is a great deal. I'm broke and that's how I got ALL my soil, peat moss, cement and rocks.
They used to have 'recovery bags' - big clear bags that you could put the stuffin so it wouldn't leak, this year, they didn't, but I just carried a few 'contractor bags' - they're big black thick plastic bags. I bought a big box of about 100 when I bought my house. The bags cost me 10-20 bucks, but they've lasted us a looong time. We've used them for leaves, heavy gross trash, to line the bed of our minivan, to line my garden bed in winter etc. They can be used over and over.

Another thing I do is buy seedlings from lowes/hd when they don't look too good. I bought squash from there for about 50cents for 6 of the (4"?) pots b/c they were dried out. I got 4 to come back to life. I do that all the time. I've even found piles of seedlings about to be tossed, and have taken them for nothing - most of the time, I can make them live again ;)

If you (or anyone else) want seeds, I have about 3.4 billion collards and some red or yellow peppers. Just email me your address, I'll do my best to send them. I don't do trades b/c I'm reallly bad about following through- so you may get your seeds in March;)

LovelyC:
I recommend Steve Solomon's latest book, Gardening When It Counts. It contains excellent, comprehensive advice and strategies and resources for those who need to grow good nutritious veggies on a budget.
-O

Conact the fellow gardeners in your community and neighbourhood.Being friendly and helpful is the prime virtue of gardeners in my experience.I am sure you will get lot of help from them like grass clipppings,extra containers and pots and extra seedlings.

I use the large cardboard sheets to lay on the ground where I want to kill grass and start preparing the soil for planting, or to lay between rows or things already planted. Then I lay grass trimmings, leaves or weeds on top. This kills the weeds/grass which might otherwise come up in that spot and helps maintain soil moisture, improving fertility. Cardboard itself composts down very well, helping to improve the soil, and there aren't many people out there who "compete" for it.

Anywhere I don't have something planted I lay cardboard and mulch. Our garden only about 6 mo. old, in one of our property's pastures. We have lots of rocks and Bermuda grass, which is highly invasive. While I work on double digging beds (and rock removal) I just keep laying cardboard and mulch in the fallow areas. This helps beat back the grass and weeds and build soil at the same time. Right now I'm bringing home bags and bags of leaves and piling them up on cardboard in the garden.

Regards!

George

>>Posted by amazingme Alabama (My Page) on Sat, Nov 4, 06 >>at 12:29

>>macmex, could you(or someone)please explain why the >>cardboard?

I second the cardboard. Use it all the time. Good way to spend less time trying to kill grass. I'd like to cover my whole lawn in it! Right now leaves are really easy to get. people even bag them for you! Great compost. Dirt can also be free depending on where you live. Wood chips are really easy to come by around here (maybe there too?).

Check the vegetable exchange; i'm offering veg seeds for postage.

darndogs
I like your ideas, probably because it's my philosophy already.
My biggest expense seems to be dirt (the growing kind) because here in Naples FL yards beneath the grass are sand and rocks.
If I tried getting it from contractors (another posters idea)I'd probably get arrested.
The library has been my greatest resource (beside GW boards). When I find a great book there I want to own I go to half.com or amazon used and get it for half-price or less.
Denise in Naples

Denise - I'm a recent transplant from S. Florida and can totally relate to your woes about the soil. You really have to build it from scratch in that region. I gave up gardening in Florida real quick after growing tired of feeding the bugs and not my family. Yuck!

One thing to your advantage down there is things grow really fast - especially the yard, so you have a huge resource right there for composting. Compost mixed with some vermiculite and some peat, is a fantastic growing mixture. The other advantage you have down there is the abundance of fresh veggies year round, whether it be the local farmer's market, farms or coconuts floating down the canal. All of these are great things to compost. Have you spoken to your local Publix or farmer's market about collecting their rotted veggies? Hit up your neighbors with mango, avacaodo, and citrus trees to see if you can pick the rotted fruit from the ground - they will probably PAY you to do that! lol.

If you want to build raised beds (which is essential in that area, IMHO) how about tearing apart wood pallets which can be found for free at most ports and home improvement stores? You'd have to stack the wood 2-high but you can't beat free.

OK, cheapskate: from a "value for the dollar" angle, I think a garden is one of the best investments you can make.

I'm one of those over-analytical types, and last year I kept a harvest record in Excel from a "return on investment" perspective. I kept the costs in one column and the value of the vegetables we picked in the other. (It meant I had to weigh everything, of course, but I didn't mind the extra chore too much.)

At the end of the summer I checked the totals. I spent approximately $100 on our small garden and got more than $800 in fresh veggies. I used grocery store prices...a couple of bucks for a pound of tomatoes, etc...and I realize that's not entirely an "apples-to-apples" comparison, since I grow organically. So ballpark $800 but probably a good bit more than that.

Point is, though, that an 800% return on investment in six months is something any stockbroker would give his eyeteeth for, and it's enough to make a cheapskate like me very happy indeed.

A flaw in that kind of analysis is obviously the time spent scrabbling around out there, but since I chalk that up under "play" instead of "work" I don't bother with it. Yeah, I could have made five bucks an hour flipping burgers or whatever, but given the choice...

Ed

Ed, I agree. We have been weighing both our garden produce and that which our animals (chickens, turkeys, and soon to produce goats). We haven't done any final calculations, but clearly the garden is way out ahead; and like you, it's "play time" for us.

George

If you keep up with the hours spent and add the cost of that much recreation you'd be way more ahead. How much per hour does exercise at the gym/spa cost? The movies?
My garden probably costs about as much as I get from it, but I get personal satisfaction and more flavor from it.

Just a few suggestions here..Join a local garden club there are numerous ones out there and can easily be found if not check with your local ag. extension in your area..Lot's of helpful folks out there. I am all for lasagna gardening and intensive gaardening such as square foot gardening. At your local library you might look for Mel Bartholomew's Square foot gardening (found a lot of good ideas in there).. Also you can check with your local tree landscaper's some will happily deliver a load of wood chips/shredded wood for free rather than pay to haul it away, if you are looking for mulch in large amounts that's an easy one. Keep a garden journal to track your progress it help's to read back over your notes on rainy day's and keep from becoming discouraged. I would also suggest the winter gardening forum as well to help beat those winter blues. That's just my own humble opinion...

Barb

LovelyC, everyone has excellent suggestions. I wanted to say too that I live in a suburban area and mine is the only veggie garden around. When I started, I did so with nothing more than a shovel and a rake but my garden was very tiny then, no more than 4x6. I simply dug the sod out of the area and turned the soil by hand. I didn't know much about gardening at all, made no amendments to my pure clay soil. In sheer ignorant bliss and luck, I ended up with delicious fresh tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and beans. The seeds were given to me by a neighbor whose child was doing a project at school comparing various seeds, I hadn't even thought about a garden until she asked if I wanted them. At that time, I had been on a strict budget too and couldn't have done the things I do now at any rate, even if I knew better, LOL.
The point is, don't let your budget deflate your ideas about a garden. I also have lots of seeds of practically any kind of veggie I would share with you if that would help. Just let me know via email. Lori

Don't be upset if you cant grow everything you planned to!! For me that is the most important thing I could do to save money. I spend the most time and money trying to grow things that arent working out well. Go with what works, and gardening is easy.
My goal is to grow everything imaginable myself. I hope to have fresh produce all year here, which is very possible in zone 9 California. When disease, insects, or animals attack my plants, I try to protect them, sprays, bird netting, and traps cost alot and take alot of time.

Never buy $1.00 bags of soil that are heavy. You want a large bag that feels light and fluffy. Those heavy bags often are comprised of ash which turns to a clay like consistency when water is added.

If you're on a budget, start asking around for yard scraps, grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, newspaper, shredded paper, and cardboard. Then stary layering them wherever you want to plant. You'll be ready to direct sow seeds by spring.

Follow the advice above and visit the Soil, Compost, Mulch forum.

heh...

Gardening is only expensive if you're one of those who feels that you MUST have all the latest high-tech gadgets and gizmos. Humans had been successfully gardening for thousands of years before any of that stuff was ever invented. The Amish still don't use it.

But I used to live in the city and I do understand the need to purchase soil and compost and that kind of stuff. That's one of the great things about living in the country... the soil is already here, I have a constant supply of leaves and other organic material for composting, and I even have a pig that supplies me with some manure.

Freecycle.org has been a fabulous resource for me... have found everything from bricks to seedlings, to landscape timbers, to fencing. I've given away tons of nursery pots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Freecycle

freecycle is great. I just read on our local one someone is giving away 20 tomatoe plants. It was expensive for me this year b.c this is my first real year of gardening, making raised beds and filling them. Next year will not be nearly as bad. I will just have to add compost and such to the soil. ask around to relatives to see if they have any tools they are not using anymore. Im on the hunt for a push mower myself, I am sick of the gas powered one.