Simple ways to save money while you garden
Fall used to mean one thing in the garden: cut everything down, rake every leaf, bag the debris, and leave the beds spotless before winter. Garden experts increasingly recommend something much less exhausting—and considerably better for the insects, birds, soil, and plants sharing your yard. A more selective fall garden cleanup can preserve overwintering habitat,…
A $4 tomato plant doesn’t sound expensive until you need six tomatoes, four peppers, a tray of lettuce, basil, broccoli, and a few flowers. Suddenly, the spring garden-center trip costs $60 before anything has gone into the ground, making a $3 packet containing dozens of seeds look like an obvious bargain. But the real seed…
That first sun-warmed tomato picked straight from the vine can feel practically free. After all, you planted one little seedling and several weeks later you’re carrying tomatoes into the kitchen by the armful—or at least that’s how the successful years go. Start adding the price of the plant, fertilizer, cage, mulch, water, pest control, and…
Spot a tiny fuzzy caterpillar crawling across an oak leaf and your first instinct might be to take a closer look—or even pick it up. With its thick coat of silky hair, the puss caterpillar can look more like a miniature toupee than an insect capable of delivering an intensely painful sting. Hidden underneath that…
Your grass turns brown during a scorching, rainless summer, so you do what seems reasonable: stop pouring hundreds of gallons of water onto it and let the lawn go dormant. Then an HOA violation notice appears in the mailbox demanding that you restore the green lawn—or face a fine. It sounds absurd, especially when local…
Walk into a dollar store in late winter and you might find vegetable seed packets selling for a fraction of what the glossy garden catalog charges. Put a 50-cent packet beside a $5 packet of seemingly similar tomato, lettuce, or cucumber seeds, and it’s reasonable to wonder what you’re actually getting for that extra $4.50….
You replaced thirsty turf with coneflowers, milkweed, native grasses, and other plants that provide food and habitat for wildlife. The bees seem delighted, but then a letter arrives from the homeowners association saying your yard looks overgrown and needs to be cleaned up. HOA native plant rules are becoming a bigger issue as more homeowners…
Pulling weeds or spreading mulch can produce an unwelcome surprise when something underneath suddenly starts moving. A snake tucked beneath mulch, leaves, landscape fabric, a flowerpot, or a piece of wood may have been resting there long before you disturbed its hiding place. Your first instinct might be to grab a shovel, move closer for…
The instinct to clean up the yard every fall is hard to resist: rake every leaf, cut every brown stem, remove every dead flower head, and make the garden look tidy before winter arrives. Your neighbors may appreciate the neat landscaping, but the bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial insects that spent summer in your…