I've always composted to save money and for the environment. Haven't bot fertilizer except alfalfa pellets for years. Since last year I've become even more serious and am getting many gallons of used coffee grounds weekly now from a local coffee shop. Stockpiling them wrapped in tarps in the snow til spring. Planning to visit some horse boarding places to see if I can get free "fertilizer" there.

I buy perennials yearly from local charities' sales. One year I bot a baggie of unnamed poppy seeds for 25¢ and they turned out to be peony poppies - gorgeous flower display, altho short lived.

We find plants at yard sales sometimes.

I've occasionally dug up interesting plants along the side of the road. Have to recognize what they are so you don't get an invasive one and make sure you are not on private land. Will be looking for mullein this spring as I love that herbal but haven't found it anywhere on our land.

I've gotten a few nice plants by complimenting people at yard sales on their gardens. Often people have extras and don't want to throw them in the garbage so are happy to share with fellow gardeners. I've done the same thing with my extras.

Swapping with friends has given me some nice plants.

One year when I lived in a milder climate I quickly bot 3 small packs of roses at a large discount store and didn't realize there were 4 in each pack! So I had 12 roses in big pots on my deck. They only cost me pennies each.

Because our land is forested we often dig up small spruce or fir trees and plant them in our house yard. Survival rate has been pretty good.

We feed the birds year round with black oil sunflower seeds and they are my only insect control so I save on insecticidal sprays. Of course the seed costs but I love having lots of birds here. They drop seed all over and it's easy to transplant the largest sprouts and compost the rest. I let many plants self-seed so have extra shastas, Jacob's ladder, lamb's ears, poppies, calendula, columbine, etc. coming every year. Many get weeded eventually but this year I'm keeping every seedling for my new garden.

We have a lot of weed seeds blowing in from the pasture land so DH digs the irises at least every second year to remove the weeds and they fall apart so we have lots of them. They'll be handy this year in the new garden.

Planning to seed more perennials and annuals this year than usual. I do the perennials in wooden flats on the rock base under the deck, it's like a heat sink. The annuals are seeded directly in the garden.

Like luckygal, I have dug up the occasional native plant. Thats how I got my Tellima grandiflora, Geum macrophyllum, and an unknown fern. Also a wild (and invasive) yarrow.

Also look for end of season sales at nurseries. Some places are really great with those, and have all sorts of plants 50% off or more. Some places will even give plants away. I have gotten several things on a free rack.
And if you establish a good relationship with a nursery owner you may be able to ask them to keep any near-death plants for you. Even ask for bags of soil, mulch, etc. that have been split open in shipping and unpacking to be reduced some in price.

In the seven years I have been gardening I have never mail-ordered plants. I have come close to it, but have always backed out as soon as I totaled it all up. They charge extra to ship into WA state :-* So I always just wait and keep my eyes out at the plant stores. I almost always find what I want when I go over shopping in Seattle.

Keep a list of plants you want to get. That will reduce impulse buying and buying the wrong kind of plant. Many a time I have boughten a plant thinking it was what I wanted only to find out it was the wrong species/cultivar.

I have gotten some free bulbs from Brecks. They had a coupon for it in thier catalog, get $25 off when you buy $25 worth of product. Gardens Alive have also had a similar coupon.
CMK

Hey everyone haven't been on here in some time.

I would say..
buying perennials that multiply quickly so you can divide them among the rest of your garden

I direct sow annuals that are easy to grow from seed and will reseed on their own

swap with friends to get different plants you don't have

end of the season sales, usually you can get plants/bulbs pretty cheap

start cuttings ( I had myself 3 huge gardenias that way)

wait to buy the plants that you have drooled over in the Bluestone catalog till they go on their huge 50% off sale in May!

Meghan

We GWers here in San Antonio will be having our Spring plant swap March 21. Our first was Oct. 2006. We have one in the spring and again in the fall.
It is easy to organize one, just ask a few friends if they are interested. Then they will ask their friends, etc.

We get a pemit for a pavillion with about 12 tables, at a local park. We have kept it real loose, no tickets for plants, as some trades do, no sales. Just friendly folks and everyone walking around looking at each others table. Trade a plant for a plant or what ever both are happy with.
We sometimes do pre- trades through the TX GW or emails.

By the end of the trade we are all tired and give away as many of our extras as we can con anyone into taking.

Lots of good tips here, I'm growing open pollinated heirloom veggies, this way I can save my own seed.
I try a new to me tomato every year looking for one to replace the hybrid 'Celebrity' which for years has been a favorite. Thanks to Melissa I found one of the tomatoes (Cheerio) I've been looking for.
I think growing seed you've saved yourself saves lots of $$$, whether it be veggies or flowers.

Annette

I am doing tomatoes from seed this year too. I have never tried it before. I bought a Burpee heirloom tomato seed mix at the store last week. I can't wait to try. I wanted to buy plants from Territorial Seed, but they were going to charge $15 for shipping alone.

Right now there are a few tomato sprouts growing on my window sill. I took the seeds from just a grocery store tomato! I just put the fresh seeds into a bit of dirt and they all popped up!
CMK

There's all these new thinsg I'm trying that I'm excited about.
I love this thread.
The wintersowing forum has me trying a bunch of seeds -- veggies, flowers, herbs. I'm also trying the lasagna method for a new veggie bed, and composting in a big trash can. I'm also going to try to use a lot of recycled stuff -- my current idea is to try to plant some strawberries in styro coolers -- I've asked freecycle for some.
That would be my biggest tip -- join your local freecycle group because there are many things that people don't need that can be used in the garden.

I haven't bought any new plants in about a year. I have bought a good potting mix for starting seeds. That's what I've been doing to add to my gardens, planting seeds from gardeners from the swap here in this forum and from the FL Gardening forum. I also make cuttings from plants I already have. I've just had my hours and pay cut at my job, so I'm definitely not going to be buying any plants this year. I'm appreciative for what I have and the seeds shared by others. It is amazing and fun watching something grow from seed. Very rewarding.

Happy frugal gardening to all ~ FlowerLady

Someone on my local Craislist asked for some ppl to trade garden plants with cause she needed to cut back on spending.

kim

Reading the thread about peonies reminded me of my use of tomato cages for any perennial that needs help to prevent flopping over. I buy old ones at yard sales (have even gotten them in a free bin at YS's) and DH cuts them into two pieces. They can then be used for one medium size plant and one smaller one as plant rings. Very inexpensive and are hidden by the foliage so work well for me.

Craigslist also has a free section for those with CL nearby. Unfortunately for me the nearest good CL is a day's drive away.

Just put these on your finger tips and place in your gardening gloves and leave them in there (or just the fingers the that wear through your gloves).

Long lasting gloves.

{{gwi:639529}}

Libby

Libby! Brilliant. But what are those? The rubber fingertips people wear in offices when filing papers or counting money?

I save money by staying out of nurseries and stop looking at catalogs. I am too impulsive and seduced by beautiful blooms.

I would second those who have said PLANT SWAPS. I have been to the Gardenweb Mid Atlantic one in Spring, and it was alot of fun and you always go home with tons of stuff. If you don't have plants to give, all they require is brownies :) My town also had one last year, but it was pretty lame. I basically dropped off a bunch of stuff and didn't see anything new for me, so I left.
Native plant sales are usually "good deals" places, and I also often divide my own plants to grow my gardens.

Propagation through cuttings, seeds, and divisions. I built a homemade cloner for $45. I'm trying hardwood cuttings, rooting in water, and in soil. I also divided a lot of my perennials grown from seed last year. I hope the shastas especially bloom. I've been pulling plants and bulbs from the woods behind the house to plant in the yard. They've naturalized back there.

And trading and plant swaps. Can't beat getting new plants for postage. Also helped two friends divide their plants - peonies and hosta. I planted 60+ hosta divisions (each with more than 3 eyes) along the north side of the house. The bed was at least 10 years old when we broke it up. He kept 20 or so clumps, I took the rest which was a 5 gallon bucket full.

The rubber fingertips people wear in offices when filing papers or counting money?

Yes, they're cheap and they last a long time. You can get them in any office supply store. This was my own idea. I should patent it :)

Libby

From my experience something you have to invest in - quality soil. I lost so many plants by skimping on soil. Now I compost and enrich. Yes, there are plants that don't mind clay, sandy, hard, rocky, wet soil, and I let them be. However the ones that require more luxurious accomodations - reward me with such abundance and beauty, I forget guilt of spending an extra buck.
I have read recently somewhere that if you don't have time to compost, just put your banana peels (or whatever compostable) in a blender - and water your plants with it. I have not tested this one yet, though I like the idea.

This year I plant A LOT from seed - it is very reasonable, and saves a lot of money. And will do my best to stay away from nurseries, where I go to "just see what's new". Usually most of that "new" follows me home.

Libby - I LOVE it, and please, patent it after I've bought some!!!

Nancy.

The only things I can add is making out a seed order with your gardening friends to split the shipping costs etc. Also friends of mine have split the cost of packets of seeds that none of us want a full packet of.
Jean

For nursery pots I started using old food cans, and pop bottles cut down to about 6" deep, & poke a few holes in the bottom.

Seed saving from one year to the next. You can't save seed from foods you buy at the grocery store because most are hybrid varieties and won't reproduce true. You have to start with heirloom varieties, and save those seeds.

Make my own compost from leaves, paper, grass and kitchen waste. You cut down on a lot of trash by composting junk mail and boxes that canned pet food comes in. Cardboard makes good compost, as does newspapers, paper grocery sacks, clothing labels, dryer lint and cereal boxes.

Make your own seed starting mix from peat and perlite, because it needs to be sterile to prevent damping off and diseases that attack tender new growth. I make my own potting mix from screened compost, sand, used seed starting mix and perlite. It's especially important to have a loose, open potting mix with my nursery pots that have straight sides (cans and pop bottles) otherwise it would be too difficult to get plants out of them for up-potting.

Cheryl

Great ideas here! I really like the rubber tip idea - that's the first place my gloves go and it seems like it happens after a few wears.

I like the banana peel in the blender thing...I'm going to try that. I do make my own compost every year. I do agree with you, Natalie, about the soil quality. This year I bought garden soil but also a small bag of seed starter and now I mix a little of the starter in w/regular soil. It's a little less expensive, and I seem to be getting a better germination rate.

here's a question...do any of you have a composter? or do you have an operation like me - where you have a big pile in spring/summer of stuff and keep adding to it all season? Just curious if the composters you buy let you compost all year (even in winter)?

Estelle