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Gardening 10 Commandments

August 10, 2017 by Steph Coelho Leave a Comment

Every gardener has some commandments that the hold dear and follow. These are my 10 commandments for frugal gardening, as well as for beginning gardeners who are just getting started: 1. Thou shalt have fun: If you aren’t having fun while gardening, find another hobby 2. Thou shalt save money, not spend money: If you…

Grow Plants From Cuttings

August 10, 2017 by Steph Coelho Leave a Comment

One of the best ways to save money when gardening is to not purchase plants for your garden in the first place. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished. One of the best and easiest ways to do this is to make use of plant cuttings. Learn to grow plants from…

How To Get Free Seeds From The Government by Amanda Blankenship Seeds might seem like a small expense, but any seasoned…
Should I Use Enviro Ice On My Plants? by Kathryn Vercillo Every week, I receive food from Hungryroot. It's a great…
From Trash to Treasure: Transform Shredded Paper Into Garden Gold by Amanda Blankenship Should you use shredded paper as garden mulch? It might…
What Happens to Plants If You Use Enviro Ice on Them? by Amanda Blankenship About a year ago, I wrote our first article about…

Can a $2 Bag of Dried Beans Become a Garden Full of Beans?

A two-dollar bag of pinto or black beans looks like dinner, not a packet of garden seed. But dried beans are mature seeds, which raises an irresistible frugal-gardening question: could you take a handful from the grocery bag, put them in the ground, and eventually harvest far more beans than you started with? The answer…

What Happens If You Plant Spring Bulbs Upside Down?

You spent an afternoon planting tulips, daffodils, or crocuses, cleaned the dirt from your hands, and then suddenly had a terrible thought: Were some of those bulbs upside down? Garden instructions usually tell you to put the pointed end up and the flatter root end down, so realizing you may have reversed a few can…

7 Garden Cleanup Jobs That Can Actually Wait Until Spring

The first chilly weekend of fall can make gardeners feel like they’re racing a deadline: cut everything down, rake every leaf, clear every bed, and leave the yard spotless before winter arrives. But that traditional approach can create unnecessary work while removing winter habitat that birds, bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial creatures use until…

Don’t Store Garden Soil Like This Over Winter — You Could Ruin the Whole Bag

That half-used bag of potting mix left over from summer may represent $10, $15, or even $20 you won’t have to spend again next spring. But tossing an open bag behind the shed, leaving it where rain can reach it, or forgetting it beside your containers for several months can turn perfectly usable growing media…