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How can you be a cheap godless gardener?

The ecomony''s lousy. Costs are up. Incomes are down.

Gardening has many benefits. Sense of peace, connection to nature, sense of accomplishment, source of pesticide-free food, something to do on Sunday morning as the neighbors drive to church....

But if we don't watch ourselves, we can buy great plants, hardscaping, watering systems, packaged compost, and wind up with what amounts to $20.00 tomatoes. Not cheap. Maybe really, really, good, but not cheap.

As an officially "cheap" guy, I do lots of things to save money in the garden. None are original. Some I learned from grandparents, who learned from their parents. Some are newer to me. Please feel free to add more! I could probably use some of your frugal habits!

1. Grow from seed. A packet of seeds can last for several years. This year's beans were from packets that I bought last year, so essentially free seeds. The tomatoes were from 2 to 3 year old seed packets. Even more free. Fresh seed is usually very cheap, compared to buying the plants. Saved seeds take a little more effort, but if you have nonhybrid varieties, they are even more cheap.

2. Grow from free starts. Some (not all) of our grapevines were from cuttings taken from established vines. Very little effort, and no cost. It takes about 4 years to get grapes from cuttings. We also have chives, mint, multiplier onions, garlic, garlic chives, forsythia, fig trees, pussy willow, rose of sharon, sedum, sempervivum, strawberries, and roses grown from free starts. Somehow, this is also much more rewarding than buying them. It's also fun to say, "This came from my friend's yard" or "this came from my grandmother's yard". I also have irises that came from illegally-dumped yardwaste in a local park. Somehow, I take pride in that as well. They are really gorgeous, too. I think that the official word for this is "scrounging".

3. Let the lawn go brown. This applies to dry-summer climates. Not all neighborhoods allow brown lawns, and not all spouses allow them. If you can get away from it, quit watering it, let it go brown. Cut any weeds that come up. When the rains start again, the lawn will green up and grow again. Mine has for the past 5 years. This is nature's cycle. Expectation of green lawn in a dry-summer climate is zone-denial. Tell the neighbors to get over it. Meanwhile, you save the cost of energy, gas/electricity if you are using a power mower; cut back on the water bill, and can be smug about your environmental consciousness.

4. Exchange with online or local friends. Most of my fig trees were started from cuttings that came from an online fig forum. Members mail cuttings to one another, so the cost is just postage and packaging.

5. Use gardening to accomplish other goals. This grape arbor provides shade for a south-facing French door. We built the arbor over a weekend. The grapes were either cuttings, as already mentioned, or 1st year plants for about $10.00. The arbor provides deep shade in the summer, keeps the bedroom much cooler than it used to be, saving air-conditioning costs. It also provided about 50 pounds of grapes last year, which are so sweet and 'grapey' they make the grocery store grapes hang their heads in shame.

6. You know I had to mention chickens. Actually, they do not make for cheaper eggs than you can get from the grocery store. However, the eggs are much better, and they come from happy hens. To save money, on feed, I feed them fresh weeds or leaves every day. This supplements their diet - they still get prepared chicken feed. Given how rank the grapes grew this year, I break of a couple of 6-foot grape branches and give them to the hens, every day now. They devour the leaves quickly. The hens also get lots of kitchen scraps, and any slightly moldy but not rancid veggies and other foods. I no longer buy packaged manure for the garden - instead, the chickens provide lots of good compost.

7. Scrounge for compost sources. Drop by starbucks or other coffee shops and ask for coffee grounds. Our local shops sometimes give me 50 pound bags of coffee grounds, happily. Unfortunately, then I feel guilty about taking something for free, and but a cup of coffee. Coffee grounds are similar in carbon/nitrogen ratio and other minerals, to manures, but smell a lot better.

8. Save eggshells and scatter them on the tomato patch. Eggshells are high in calcium. You could buy lime, but eggshells are free. I crush them so that they don't look like eggshells.

9. Grow some shade trees from seeds. True, you may not live to sit in their shade, but someone will. I planted ginkgo, locust, and maple seeds when I was in grade school. These are now huge trees (because I am old). A seed-planted ginkgo, started 10 years ago, in my yard is about 15 feet tall now. I feel very good about that.

Tags: cheap, frugal, fruit, gardening, organic, vegetables

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on May 11, 2010 at 1:30pm

You're welcome, Daniel. I love seeing what other people do so I can get ideas, so I appreciate what you post here.

"estates" are not productive, not earth-friendly, and they don't have a right to tell me what to do with my yard.

Heh. Have you had experience with people not liking how you deal with your yard?

I will have to have a stern talking to every neighbor that borders our land, as they decide something should be done and just do it... they know I have back problems, so they think they are are "helping" me. I'd rather take a few years to do something myself, and do it right, rather than have someone come in with "help" that will take me a very long time to fix.

You found a water barrel at a big box store? Which one?

I think I remember reading something years ago about how immigrants in Cleveland somehow kept their fig trees going from year to year. They'd bury them in the ground overwinter... as I remember, my memory could have become less persistent on this.

I'd gladly take some of your seedlings, but I'm trying to find plants that got their start in this region. Someone in a local tree planting group is working on getting a village nursery started... I'll write them again.

I'm going to try the "lasagna method" (probably the same thing as newspaper mulch covered with compost) of getting plant beds started this year since we have so much room. I ask local gardeners about no til methods, and they look at me like I'm from another planet. One of our neighbors brings in a... can't remember the name, it's a commercial piece of machinery used on construction sites to dig holes. There goes the soil structure!

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on May 11, 2010 at 4:43pm

Actually my neighbors have been OK. I think as long as there is the guy who stands in the front driveway powerwashing it, hours on end, several days a week, keeps their judgements pointed away from me. He does have a really clean driveway, however.

My house had been abandoned when I bought it. I think they feel like it's better to have someone living there, even if it is the strange guy with all of the fruits and vegetables in the front yard, and the brown lawn and too many weeds. Some other neighborhoods in my town do have covenants stating what can be planted in the yard, and what color the house can be painted, etc. But not mine.

Water barrel was from Lowes or Home Depot, I forget which.

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on June 7, 2010 at 10:05am

Thanks! I'll have to check out the local Home Despot, as the Lowes is a packed lunch and day trip away.

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on June 7, 2010 at 11:18am

Would a wee pygmy pig become a pet?

In Vermont, we have transfer stations (used to be known as the town dump). Once upon a time, every farm had its own dump. That started to change when toxics started leaking into the groundwater, lakes, streams, Lake Champlain, etc... We have voluntary recycling at the dump, but not everything can be recycled locally. Plastics are a big culprit. Also, everyone who lives in the area pays for a sticker, and then a punch card. One punch equals a 33 gallon garbage bag, so it costs $2 a bag to throw away garbage.

I need to check out construction sites and ask for scrap lumber. I was going to use plywood as bottoms for my square foot gardens, but found that formaldehyde is used in the manufacture of most plywood. I would love to be able to scavenge bricks!

Permalink Reply by Tonya Wynn on November 3, 2011 at 5:54pm

Minutes ago found a new site (new to me) called Dave's Garden, where people can trade plants and seeds and list there wants and haves. Wasn't too easy to contact the other members, though.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on March 17, 2012 at 5:48pm

Oh I really love this article. I am trying to spruce up my garden in my yard. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on August 29, 2012 at 12:22pm

Moving this post back to the top... Still relevant.

I would emphasize more, starting from seeds and cuttings.

Exchange starts with friends and contacts, in person and on line.

Saving seeds that grow true or are OK if they don't. Saving seeds is a good way to develop locally adapted varieties, and also to bring in new genetic diversity to your area.

Scrounge - I have some great plants from discards, found while walking the dogs or at yard and estate sales, waiting to be hauled away.

Rustle - With some ethical precautions. Don't steal without asking the owner of the property, but there are roadside plants and abandoned houses and cemeteries, and old cemeteries where the manager will let you take some rose or shrub cuttings, or iris rhizomes. These abandoned plants, by the mere fact that they survived, are well adapted to your own region. Darwinian choices at their finest.

Close-out, end of season, mark down. Be careful with these - some are good only with compost. Still, I have a rhubarb, some shrubs, and perennials that just needed some TLC and were marked down to near-give-away. OK if you are careful and don't mind the risk and sometimes wait for recovery.

Permalink Reply by Tonya Wynn on October 24, 2012 at 1:27pm

I got a whole 8 x 4 sheet of gypsum at Home depot for $1. It was a damaged one that i needed for its calcium content.

Permalink Reply by Tonya Wynn on October 24, 2012 at 1:38pm

It is seed exchange time, ya'll. I have some zone 8 seeds ya'll may like...native persimmon (must trim to keep low), trifoliate orange ('edible' round lemons great in tea..HARDY!!!)...