Frugal Gardening 101

Do you love to garden, but have very little money to spend on it? Well here is the way to have a lovely garden, full of vegetables, flowers and shrubs to your heart's content spending very little, or NO MONEY!!

I have bought almost no plants in my yard. I got them through various outlets and techniques. So read and start saving money on gardening today!

In this free e-course, you will learn the following way to SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! in your garden.

Lesson One: Growing From Seed

Growing plants from seed is the most frugal way to get a lot of plants for a little money. These are the sources I use for frugal seeds.

BUY THEM

Although this may not be the most frugal way to get seeds, but it is the way most people do it. You can buy seeds from many places, and even if you end up buying them at a garden center and paying premium price, you're saving a lot of money over buying the starter plants, or established plants.

Some of the cheaper sources of seeds are places like dollar stores and discount stores that have the seeds that are common, but cheap. You can buy marigolds, zinnias, and most common vegetables for 8 or 10/$1. Not many seeds in a pack, but if you only have a small place to garden, these are perfect.

If you want cheap specialty seeds, then online auction sites are really good. I've gotten what would amount to $100 worth of plants from 10 seeds I bought on an auction site for $6.00.

EXCHANGE THEM

Gardeners have been trading seeds with each other for years. There are so many seed exchanges online, it isn't funny! Just Google "seed exchange" and you'll find a plethora of sites to join where you can trade to your heart's content. For the cost of postage, usually less than $1, you can get many envelopes of seeds from those who have extra. Many people will also offer seeds for postage, if they have a lot of the more common seeds, or a plant that just produces too many to trade. You wouldn't believe the wonderful plants I've gotten from traded seeds! Everything from African violets to orchids!

GET THEM FROM OTHER GARDENERS

Gardeners LOVE to give things away! I have at least 3 dozen plants in my yard that I got from seeds given to me by fellow gardeners. Don't be afraid to knock on doors and ask for the seeds from a plant! I've made some lovely gardening friends this way. If I see a yard with a plant I want that has seed pods, I'll get seeds of my own that I see they don't have, and go right up, knock on the door, and offer them in exchange.

Also, don't be shy about going on sites like Craigslist or Freecycle and asking for plant seeds. Many people have them, and would never think of giving them away unless someone asks.

Free seeds are the best, and the plants will always carry memories of where you got them.

SCAVENGE THEM

I've gotten a lot of wildflower seeds right off the side of the roadways in undeveloped areas around my house, or from undeveloped lots or fields. There is nothing wrong with "saving" a wildflower by spreading it's beauty to another location. If you have development going on all around you, you actually NEED to rescue those seeds for future generations!

Don't forget old homesteads or houses that are being torn down, either. Those yards can be a bounty of beautiful flowers for free. Of course, ask permission first.

I've even scavenged seeds from plants at public buildings and shopping centers. I won't say it's right, but sometimes, you can get them from the garden centers. I always ask first if I can take a seed pod, but I've never been told no.

I have a friend who regularly visits botanical gardens and takes his "collection" kit with him...envelopes, marker, and a backpack. When no one is around, he harvests seeds from the plants. Not advocating this, but it's done a lot more than you think. I have done it twice, and regretted it both times, as I ended up with invasive plants. Serves me right for stealing!

GET THEM FROM YOUR STORE BOUGHT FRUITS AND VEGGIES

I've grown many a wonderful crop of vegetables from seeds saved from things bought at the store. I've justified the cost of some exotic foods by growing the seeds and not ever having to pay for them again! If you live in a climate where tropicals such as mango and avocado will not bear, keep in mind that they make lovely houseplants...for free!

Lesson Two: Free Plants, Where and How to Get Them

Most of the plants growing in my yard were free. Here are a few ways you too can get free plants.

SEED SCAVENGING

You can scavenge seed from roadside plants or get seeds from friends and other gardeners. I've scavenged seeds from the trees and bushes in parking lots and garden centers (with permission, of course). I've picked up seeds from the sidewalks during my walks. Maples trees (yes, even japanese maples) grow from seed, and they usually drop a ton of them in the fall. Want a crabapple tree? Pick up a few crabapples and get the seeds from them. I've even stopped at houses and asked for seeds from plants I see pods or fruit on. If you know someone in the produce department of your local grocery, or the owner of the local green grocer, you can get them to save fruits and veggies that they are throwing out so you can have the seeds. That's where I got all of my red papaya trees, from someone who was throwing one out. Just be good about picking them up, or they won't save them for you anymore. Nothing feels better than getting a ton of free plants for nothing more than the water, soil, and sunshine needed to grow them.

TRADING

Trading is so much fun! If you get into a website that has a garden exchange, many times they will have plant trades set up at someone's house. You can take all your extra plants and trade them with other gardeners for their extra plants. At the end of the day, there are always people who don't want to haul their leftovers home, and will offer them to you for free. I've made many friends at these trades, who still give me free plants from time to time, as I do with them, when we visit.

"RESCUE" THEM

Yes, I said rescue! There is so much development going on nowdays, and there are so many precious native plants being plowed under and dug up, that if you should go onto some of this undeveloped property and dig up a few things for your yard, probably nobody will say a word. Of course, technically you're trespassing, so it might be wise to ask permission, but if none of the neighbors owns the lot, and doesn't know who does, then you can tell them what you're doing, and usually nothing comes of it. Just be respectful, and don't leave huge holes or strip large areas of plants. I've rescued many a plant from the roadside, such as daisies, black eyed susans, and coreopsis.

Another place to rescue plants is on trash pickup day in your neighborhood.

I've gotten some GREAT plants, like a navel orange tree, a ficus tree, two anthuriums, and countless philodendrons and cacti by rescuing half dead plants from the garbage. Usually, these are still in their decorative pots or baskets. Why do people throw these away? They aren't plant people, and someone gave them one as a gift, or for a funeral, or wedding, or some other event. They try to grow it, but end up all but killing it, so they toss it out. If you enjoy nursing plants back to health, this can be a great way to acquire some nice plants.

Sometimes people thin out plants in their yards. I've gotten elephant ears, cannas, railroad vines, grasses, and gingers this way. They just toss them out on trash day, and you can go and take your fill.

During my forays into the world of rescue, I always carry wet paper towels and plastic bags for rescuing cuttings from easily rooted plants. I've gotten hibiscus cuttings galore like this! Hibiscus grow quickly, and every spring it seems there are just piles of trimmings for the taking on trash piles everywhere. Make yourself familiar with which plants in your area grow easily from cuttings, and see what you can find on trash day.

ASK FOR THEM

Yep, I said ask for them. I've gone to houses and asked for cuttings, seeds, or even babies I saw coming up around a plant. No one has ever turned me down, in fact, some of the best plants I have came from just going up and asking. I usually leave with more than I asked for, too, because gardeners love to share.

DO FREE YARD WORK

I got hundreds of dollars of free bromeliads from a lady who wanted them thinned, and said I could have the extra ones. These weren't cheap plants, either, but the giant kind that cost $40-50 in the garden centers. Where I used to live, variegated liriope brought top dollar, and grew like a weed. People would come to your house and offer to "thin" it for free, and they would then take the rest for their yards, or to sell. You can offer to trim bushes, thin plants, clean up seeds and fruit that has dropped and get loads of growing material. Most people do not even know the value of what they have in their yards, and will gladly let you do the work for free. Believe it or not, the upper income neighborhoods are the best place to do this.

ASK GARDEN CENTERS FOR PLANTS THEY ARE THROWING OUT

This seems to work best at local places. Most of the big box stores have strict policies against giving plants away, but the local places sometimes will just direct you to their trash pile and say "help yourself". This saves them money on dumping fees when they have to dispose of them, since dumps charge by the pound.

Lesson Three: Free or Cheap Fertilizer

If you're going to grow plants, of course, you have to feed them. There are many ways to feed your plants without breaking your bank account. These are just a few ways I have used.

COMPOST

Compost is the best possible way to feed your plants and nourish and amend your soil. Now you can make your own compost out of kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, etc., or you can check with your local city or county governments to see if they have a free compost program. Most localities do. If you choose to make your own, there are a lot of great sites online that can tell you how to do it much better than I can.

If you don't want to do either of these things, there is always the cheap compost you can buy at the big box stores. When it comes to composted materials, there is actually no difference in nutritional value between the higher priced varieties and the cheap store brands. The difference is largely in the texture of the material. More expensive manures or composts have been sifted and dried so that they are easier to spread. Most of the store brands may have clumps or be very wet and sticky. It doesn't matter. They all have the same benefit....they amend your soil and bring nutrients to your plants.

I've used all three types of compost, and I much prefer homemade, but when I run out, then the store bought is my next favorite option. In fact, I've used literally hundreds of pounds of this stuff over the years, and always gotten good results.

MANURE

You can get manure from many different sources, depending on where you live. Most people who have horses or cows will give it to you for free. The problem with fresh manure is that it can burn plants, so if you get it, you need to compost it (let it rot) for at least a year before using it. If you have no place to do this without angering your neighbors or drawing large amounts of critters into your yard, you should stick with less odorous and easier ways of fertilizing. I once got a free load of chicken manure that became a giant fire ant mound before it composted enough to use it.

The downside to using manure is that it can contain a lot of weed seeds. If you are a mulcher, this may not be a problem, but if you like to leave your ground bare, for instance so flowers can reseed themselves, this might not be best for you,. especially if you do not like to, or are not able to, spend hours weeding your garden.

HOMEMADE FERTILIZER CONCOCTIONS

The best source I know for these is Jerry Baker's books. You can get them from any local library, and they have dozens of recipes for fertilizers for every imaginable use, which are made largely from stuff you probably already have at home, such as beer or ammonia. You can also look these up on the internet, just by searching for "homemade fertilizer".

CHEAP CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS

I feel obliged to mention these, although these are NOT my favorite thing to put on my plants. For one thing, they pollute the ground water, which flows into our streams and rivers, and then to our oceans, where it causes red tide and fish kills among other nasty things.

However, if you just can't bring yourself to do anything but spray liquid or spread granular chemicals around your plants, then I'll tell you what to look for.

When you look at a cheaper fertilizer, do not just look at the price. Look at the ingredients. If it has no minor elements, and no micronutrients, then you really should look somewhere else. Some stores carry cheap fertilizer that is nothing but the three major elements, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, and although your plants will grow with the addition of these, it will not grow as well as if you get a more complete and balanced fertilizer. It is possible, and I won't plug the place that has it, to find a nice granular fertilizer with some minor elements for around $6 a bag. You can also get comparable liquid feed fertilizers as store brands that are just as good as the much more expensive name brands. You just have to be a smart shopper, and compare labels.

HUMANURE AND SEWER SLUDGE

Yep, that's what I said. Some sewage treatment facilities will give you all the sewer sludge you want. It's already been treated for all the nasty bacteria, however, there are a lot of chemicals in it, so if you're concerned for the environment, you might not want to use this.

Then there are the commercial brands, which are not that expensive, and better for your plants than chemical fertilizer (although your plants won't grow as quickly).

In foreign countries, "night soil" or "sweet pots" have been used for centuries as fertilizer. It's not a good idea to use this now, though, because of how much meat we eat. Meat byproducts are very, very bad for the soil, and can carry bacteria such as e. coli. The only way to destroy this is to heat it to temperatures that you cannot possible obtain unless you happen to own a smelting plant or a huge firing oven. So best not to use your own manure on your plants.

FISH AND SEAWEED

Native Americans and other indigenous people have used fish as fertilizer since farming began. No one has been able to say conclusively why plants grow better with fish buried around them, but somehow they do.

Seaweed is also a good fertilizer, but best used in places near salt water, since salt is very damaging to most plants that are not accustomed to it.

BURY YOUR GARBAGE

Not all your garbage, but if you don't want to compost, or aren't allowed to in your community, you can add nutrients and organic matter to your soil simply by burying your organic waste, such as peelings, etc., right into the soil in your garden. This is called "direct composting" and is a very efficient and clean way of disposing of organic wastes from your kitchen. You can even put shredded paper into your garden, but I wouldn't use a lot of it, because it may contain harmful dyes. If you use biodegradeable dies in your printer, then there is no harm in using the shredded paper in your garden. After all, paper is made from trees.

Lesson Four: Free Mulch

Let's face it, mulch is expensive. Even at $1.50 a bag, you can spend a lot for a normal sized yard. But there are alternatives, and they can save you big bucks.

UTILITY COMPANIES AND TREE SERVICES

In many communities, your utility company will deliver free of charge the chipped wood cut from their right of ways. Of course, this is more readily available in the summer months, when things are actively growing, and may contain diseased or invasive plants, leaves, and other unsightly things. However, it's free, and can be used as a 2" underlayer in your garden. Top it off with 1" of "esthetically pleasing" mulch, and you've saved 66% off your mulch bill.

Tree services too, will dump a load of mulch for you, but you usually have to take the whole truckload, and believe me, that's a lot of mulch. Great if you have large areas that need mulching and you aren't concerned with asthetics.

LEAVES

Instead of bagging your leaves in the fall and putting them out for the trash man, use them as mulch in your garden. Also, ask your neighbors who have bagged their leaves if you can have them. Most of them don't care, and the city will be grateful not to have to pay to dump them.

FREE COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Most communities have a free mulch and compost program. You'll have to go pick it up yourself, and it may contain plastic, paper, even glass, but it's free. My community has piles of composted leaves that it lets sit for a year, then gives away for free. Great compost for your garden!

PARKS

Well, this sounds sort of radical, but I have a small park at the end of my street with widely spaced pine trees. I have gone there and raked and bagged this free pine straw and used it as mulch around my acid loving plants. Saves the city having to pay someone to rake it, so they don't mind.

STORM CLEARANCE MULCH

If you live in a hurricane prone state, or even a cold state with lots of ice and snow storms, you can arrange to get free wood chips after a large storm. After Hurriane Charley hit my area, there were literally TONS of free chips available. All you had to do was go to where they were and get them. In some cases, the tree companies would also deliver them to your house instead of taking them to the dump site.

CONSTRUCTION SITES

I know we all have seen sites where they are clearing for construction, and there are piles of wood chips. If you ask, these are also yours for the taking, and many times, they have a front end loader that they will use to dump them into your truck for you.

PINE TIMBER TRACTS

If you can find someone who owns the tract of timber, many times, they will let you go and "harvest" the pine straw for free. I used to have a front yard that was a half acre with 22 pine trees. There was a man who came by my house every year and raked it for free for the pine straw.

POST AN AD ON FREECYCLE OR CRAIGSLIST

Post a simple ad saying you will rake for the leaves/pine straw. Good exercise and free mulch too!

Lesson Five: Plants For Pennies From Cuttings

There are many ways you can obtain cuttings for your garden. I am going to outline a few here, and some techniques for rooting and transplanting cuttings. Some are easier to root than others, but overall, it's an easy and cheap way to get more plants into your garden.

TAKE CUTTINGS FROM YOUR OWN PLANTS

Too simple, right? You have a plant you love, and you'd like more, but you don't want to spend $4 a pot for it. No need...you can just take cuttings from your own plant and root them.

GET CUTTINGS FROM PUBLIC PLACES

DISCLAIMER: i am not in any way advocating the wholesale pruning or destruction of plants in public places, just a few (5 or less) snips here and there. Always be responsible about any cutting gathering you are doing, and it is always best to get permission.

Really, no one is going to say much if you take a couple of cuttings from a bush at a park, although you might want to go there during a time when there aren't many people about. Don't make a great spectacle out of it. Just make sure you have a jar of water in your car to stash them until you can get them home. Going to the park with clippers might be a little obvious, so I usually just break some pieces off, stash them into my "gathering" bag (the cloth handbag I take to all parks), and then take them back to my car to place in water. O.K., technically, this is stealing, but the way I figure it, your taxes pay for those plants, and their upkeep, so if you want a few snips, they should be yours.

My best cutting huntings have been at public parks with walking trails. You're pretty well hidden on the trails, so if you find a plant you'd like a cutting of, just be sure you have plastic bags and wet paper towels with you, and there you go. Many times I've come back from a nature walk with a backpack full of cuttings and seeds.

Also, if you see some bush growing by an office building, most of the time if you ask, they will let you have a few snips, as long as it doesn't destroy the look of the plant. Try to take your cuttings from a less obvious place on the plant, like lower limbs or the back that is against a wall.

Mall parking lots are great places to get cuttings. Park near the plant you want to get snips of, or near it, and on your way back to your car, just take a few snips and be on your way.

Restaurants will also sometimes let you take a few cuttings of a desired plant. Banks, shopping centers, just about any public place will agree to let you get a few cuttings of plants around their buildings, if you ask and are careful not to take advantage.

FRIENDS, FAMILY AND NEIGHBORS

Neighbors are not the same as friends. I've met some of my neighbors by asking for cuttings from their plants. We aren't necessarily buddies, but we do share a passion for gardening. Make sure to return the favor by maybe rooting something from your yard and giving it as a gift.

Of course, friends and family will be happy to give you cuttings from their plants and yards.

ABANDONED PROPERTY

Sometimes, abandoned homes have the most wonderful plants! I have many times stopped my car in the driveway of an old, rundown, abandoned house and rambled the grounds taking cuttings or gathering seeds. To be honest, I've even dug a couple of bulbs or offshoots here and there, but don't tell on me!

MEDIANS AND HIGHWAY RIGHT OF WAYS

You know how sometimes you see those workers digging up things, or pruning things on the right of way, or the median, and you wish you could have some of them? Well ASK THEM!! More than likely, they won't mind at all, because all that stuff goes into the dump.

LANDSCAPING CREWS

Most condos and places like country clubs have a crew that trims the shrubs from time to time. Find out when they're going to be there, and go get some cuttings from them.

Anytime you see any landscaping crew trimming something you might like, just go ask. They will be happy to give you some.

Lesson Six: Free or Cheap Tools

With all things, sometimes in gardening, no matter how frugal you are, you have to spend money. One thing you have to spend money on is tools. You can go to a discount box store and buy the cheapest tools you can find, and that's fine for the casual gardener who never leaves his tools outside for weeks at a time, but that's not me, and I daresay, quite a few of you are right with me.

Click edit above to add content to this empty capsule.

Since I am forever leaving my tools lying about, I buy a mixture of quality and cheap tools. For instance, I tend to buy quality large tools, such as shovels, hoes, loppers, etc. However, since I am such an absent minded gardener, I spend less on hand tools. It's not unusual for my hand clippers or trowels to go missing for months at a time, and it's always best to have several $1 to $5 sets of them lying around. I think I have 5 sets now, and can probably only find one or two on a good day.

When I'm in the market for a replacement for one of my larger tools, I may go to the local box store, however, if time isn't an issue, I buy tools wherever I can find them. Here are some of my favorite places to shop for tools:

Get Tools for Free

Using recycling sites, you can always ask for old tools that can be refurbished. I once was the recipient of a lot of old, rusty tools that were nevertheless, good quality. A little elbow grease, some naval jelly to remove the rust, and a good oiling and they were useable again, and are still in use in my garden.

Once in awhile, luck will have you finding old, yet still refurbishable, tools on the side of the road for garbage pickup. This isn't a reliable or steady source, but it never hurts to get out and see what's in the rubbish heap.

Yard and Estate Sales

I'm going to be shopping yard sales anyway, so while I'm out and about, I always look for gardening tools. Here in FL, it's not uncommon to find gardening tools being sold by someone who is no longer physically able to garden. Not only can you find hand tools, but usually you can also find things such as edgers, weed eaters, tillers, power saws, etc.

Estate sales are the best place to look for these, as they are usually divesting themselves of everything in the house. The children don't really want it, and they, or the company holding the sale, are always willing to negotiate a price.

Thrift Stores and Consignment Shops

Thrift stores and consignment shops are a great place to find tools. So many times, people donate what they can no longer use. I have found some wonderful vintage tools in thrift stores, made to last forever. Some of the larger stores, like Goodwill or Salvation Army, won't bargain with the price, but the prices are always reasonable, if you know what you're looking for. Smaller, independently run shops will often come down on the listed price for you.

Flea Markets

Your best bet is to find a flea market that has booths for individuals who are selling true flea market/yard sale type items. A lot of the larger flea markets only have new merchandise, and although you can find bargains on tools there, buying used is always cheaper.

Dollar and Discount Stores

My two favorite stores of this type are Dollar Tree and Dollar General. I usually buy most of my hand tools from these places, since, as I said earlier, I'm always losing them. Dollar General in particular has some rather heavy duty hand tools for very reasonable prices. I'm still using some of the trowels I bought there 10 years ago. Dollar Tree has cheaper made things, and you have to check them out to see if they are going to withstand what you might be doing with them. Sometimes, a $1 tool isn't worth it, if it's only going to last through one use.

End Lot and Deep Discount Stores

My favorite store of this type is Big Lots. I get most of my clippers, hoes, shovels, etc. there. I pay less than the big box stores, and still get good quality. It should be your first stop before going to the big box stores to look for tools. Usually for the same, or a dollar or two above the price of the big box stores, you can get the same or better quality tools.

Shop Online

You never can tell what you're going to find on some of the auction sites, or even online gardening supply sites. Many times, you can find quality tools on sale and get free shipping during the off season. I've gotten tools for 50% off with free shipping at some merchants.

Big Box Stores

When you have exhausted all possibilities, and simply must have the tool today, then your big box stores are your best outlet for garden tools at reasonable prices. When I have to buy at these stores, I always buy quality, as I've found their lesser priced tools are not easily refurbished or repairable when needed.

Lesson Seven: Free or Cheap Containers

Where do you get pots?