Money Saving Garden Hints with Gorgeous Results

Thought the first tip would be about the plants? No plant is a bargain when the soil is so poor it doesn't grow well or -horrors- quickly dies. Your soil can be improved and there are cheap ways to do that.

Number 1 Tip:
Make your own compost pile. Your own bin or one that is purchased will collect all your green waste, vegetable peelings from the kitchen, coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc. And it should reduce your garbage that would need to be collected to some degree, too!

I used to hear stories about gardeners who would not find it beneath them to follow the horse trail to gather good horse manure. If you have a source of manure from a horse, cow, or chickens, that is ideal to age for some months and then fertilize your soils. Forget about waste that comes from you, your cats, or your dogs, which aren't healthy wastes to use.

All those leaves you either have hauled away or burn? Save them! Compost them! Create leaf mould which is one of the best soil conditioners- and they are free!

Making good compost for healthy vegetables.

Near a quarry? See if you can get some rock dust to re-mineralize your soils. Might be cheap, might be free.

Need to buy fertilizer or conditioners? The end of season (falltime) stores usually discount their lawn and garden supplies.

Learn about green manure, almost as good as the brown stuff.

Old shoes or old chairs? new pots and new potstands. Old fence boards? new raised bed frames. Old windows? new coldframe. There are all sort of ways to make a new part of the garden from old sources of materials.

The main thing you need is ingenuity, so put on your thinking cap.

Like everything else garden plants and supplies have an off season.

This usually falls in July if you live in the USA. Many garden centers hold sales in July, but the problem with buying their bargains is that this is the hardest time to keep new plantings alive. The hot dry weather of continental USA is taxing for plants. Drought can mean death to new trees and shrubs even if they are planted in the spring. So weigh your choices, and if you can give your plants attention and enough water, by all means buy the bargains.

Supplies suffer no such problems -so stock up on pots, tools, hoses, or whatever you find on sale.

Autumn is an excellent time to buy sale plants for a cheap price, and as long as the ground is not frozen you can plant them. Cover them with some mulch and they should be an excellent investment. I guarantee nothing- but have had GREAT results from autumn planted bargains.

Just take a sharp tool of the appropriate size for the plant and slice into it. Take part of the plant and a good bit of root and you are the new owner of a number of new plants.

Perennials
Perennials usually have to be divided at some point, although there are a few that you only divide when you want more plants, but did you think about the possibility of having many plants of one you just purchased? I did this with moss phlox, phlox subulata, which I had planted on a hillside in my yard.

I took the plant out of its container and simply pulled it into a number of pieces with roots, then planted each piece. Keeping the new plants moist while they settled in was work that would have been done,regardless. For the money of one plant I had several that soon grew into larger sized plants that covered much more ground. There are plants such as moss phlox ( indeed all types of phlox) that like to be cultivated like that

Shrubs
People are afraid of dividing shrubs because they are woody, but many types of of shrubs are easy to multiply trough division. Simply divide off a small start from the side of a shrub such as a weigela or a spirea, and plant it just like any new little shrub.

Plants that have multiple stems and fibrous roots are most likely able to be divided into many new plants, those with tap roots and single trunk are least likely to be successfully divided.

Some Plant Science, here.

The cheapest way is to get something free.

Passalong plants are what some call them, friendship plants by others, but they are the plants that other gardeners wish to bless you with. While it is good to not kick a gift horse in the mouth, you still need to know how to avoid problems from this act of kindness.

Some plants are invasive and you will hate yourself for planting them. They are sometimes something you bought unaware of its thuggery, but often they just grow SO well that others have lots to share with you. Understand the nature of the gift plant before you make it comfortable in your garden. Other than that, if you are given a nice healthy plant that is loved by others... it will be a great addition for your garden and you can start the next prime way to gain many inexpensive plants.

No plant is a good deal if it takes over the garden and creates endless hours of weeding

Buying from Yard sales and benefit sales, buying at the end of the season- these are all ways to save money on your plant purchases.