20 ideas for frugal and green gardening

Sparkling sun! Colorful blooms! Chirping birds! Freshly mowed grass! Can you smell Spring? The soil is getting warmer and it is time to start that garden! Growing your own food can be fun and an inexpensive hobby. Gardening need not be a daunting and wallet draining activity. With a little planning and creativity you can enjoy growing your own food! Here are some frugal and green gardening tips that I have learned from my container and square foot gardening.

Tips for frugal and green gardening

1. Start small : I cannot stress this enough. This was a big mistake I made initially. Start small and take care of what you plant.
2. Gardening tools : Garage sales are the best place for buying tools. They are not only cheaper than new tools, they are of better quality too.
3. Planters and pots : Get creative here. You don’t need to buy fancy pots from the store to start a garden. Anything that can hold soil and plants can be used as a planter. Colorful buckets from the Dollar store, gallon milk jug (cut off the top portion), small dustbins, old pans, coffee cans, anything can be used to plant. If you do want the planting pots, try Freecycle first and check on Craigslist/garage sales before buying it new from the store.
4. Start from seeds : Start your plant instead of buying grown plants. Its cheaper and in my experience the plants I have started turn out much better than the store bought plants.
5. Share : When buying seeds you get a lot more than what you need (usually). Try to form a small group and coordinate what you are planting. You can buy the seeds and share them with 2-3 people. Also try the local gardening group or Seed saver exchange for heirloom seeds that are shared by other gardeners.
6. Seed starters : Even here anything goes. Small foam cups, an egg carton, egg shells (pictured above), small yogurt cups, newspaper origami or even the discarded toilet roll inner cardboard.
7. Buy bulk : If you are buying plants, buy by the tray and share. That will be a lot cheaper than individual plants.
8. Don’t bother with vegetables that are cheaper to buy than grow. Instead go for something that you will use a lot and is costly (well, unless you are growing it as a hobby). For example, potatoes are much cheaper to buy than grow, whereas basil is much cheaper to grow than buying a bunch and using just a little.
9. Know your land : Growing native plants will save you a lot of work and money spent on seasoning the soil for exotic plants. Even when you are buying plants, try to get the ones that are already potted using local soil. This will ensure that the plant will stay alive after transplanting.
10. Plant strategically : Strategically placing insect repellent plants like marigold, chives or basil can reduce the need for insect repellents (more on that with an entire square foot gardening plan next week).
11. Make your own seeds : Whenever possible, try to save seeds from good vegetables that you get. For example, if you love the heirloom tomato you got from this week’s farmers market, just save one tomato and plant the whole tomato. It will grow (except some hybrid ones from supermarkets which won’t be as good as the parents).
12. Go organic : Attract ladybugs to save your garden from pests, instead of using pesticides. Plants like cilantro, dill or caraway attract these little gardener’s helpers. Have a bird bath to attract birds.  They eat the bugs as well. But be careful, they also eat maturing seeds, which brings us to the next point –
13. Protect small plants from the wind and birds by covering them with the mesh baskets you get when buying strawberries or cherry tomatoes. Half gallon milk cartons, toilet paper roll inners or even newspapers can be used to protect the tender seedlings from birds and snails.
14. Newspaper mulch : Use newspaper or cardboard as mulch. News paper/card board  help with weed control and hold moisture for long periods of time.
15. Compost : You can convert your old (large) trash can into a compost can by drilling holes in the lid, sides and bottom. Cover these holes with a screen and place the can on top of  bricks or some kind of raised platform for easy circulation of air under the bin. Then you can add all your vegetable scrap, coffee, tea leaves, egg shells, banana peels, leaves, faded blooms and other kinds of organic rejects to make your own compost. If you can’t do this, check 2 places before buying your compost. (1) Your local city center. Most of them have a compost center. They will let you have the compost for free as long as you haul it (check what kind of compost this is before taking this route). (2) Your local farmer. They will have horse manure or some kind of compost which you can get for free or for much cheaper than the gardening store.
16. Plant label/tags : These need not be fancy either. If you have old window blinds, cut them and use them as labels. I have used popsicle sticks as labels.  Using a permanent Sharpie helps prevent what you write on them from fading or washing away immediately.  These tags will be very useful in identifying the young plants so that they can be given appropriate care.
17. Tomato cages : Old pipes, shower rods or closet rods (a lot of people throw these away while remodeling. Craigslist has them in the free section) can be placed together and tied with small wires/wire hangers/scrap yarn (some people use panty hose for more support but I have never personally tried that) to build a cheap tomato cage or any support for beans, peas, etc. I used repurposed bamboo and tied them together with zip ties.
18. Self watering/aqua globes : These are very expensive. Make your own. Take a 2 liter plastic soda bottle (or smaller if you can refill them more frequently) and cut off the bottom. Drill a few holes on the cap. Insert the cap side  in the soil. Fill it with water. You have your own aqua globe and you have recycled a plastic bottle!
19. Knee pads : Use old door mat, carpet scrap or even an old exercise/yoga mat as knee pads for comfortable gardening.
20. Save the produce : Finally cook, save, freeze & can all the extra produce to use in the off season.

I am not an expert gardener. I love garden and one day wish to have a huge garden. What are your favorite tips for gardening? What are your garden plans for Spring & Summer?

Tagged as: cheap, frugal, gardening, tips