I am a sucker for gardening stuff.  We have a pretty big yard, for an urban neighborhood and we had to pretty much start from scratch when we moved here.

The yard was in poor shape with the entire back yard filled with pea gravel and bamboo and the front yard surrounded by very badly kept privet hedge.  There were lots of other invasive plants that we ripped up as well and very little that we kept other than the trees.

Now that all that pea gravel is gone (after digging up 36 pickup loads full ourselves) and we have grass (from seed) and a beautiful fenced in yard (front and back, no more privet), we have been turning our efforts (and wallet!) to making it more beautiful and serene with perennials and shrubs and other gardening hardscape.

But, since we are limited on funds and have a lot of ground to cover (literally), we are learning ways to do this more frugally.

1.  Be Patient. Buy smaller plants, that are less expensive.  It will take a year or two longer for it to grow to a mature size, but as you know, the years go by quicker than you think it will.  And, it’s fun to watch your plants mature in your yard.

2.  Go Native. If you, like me, were not blessed with a green thumb or the natural ability to nurture nature, then buy plants that are native to your area.  They will grow because they belong, not because you baby them.

3.  Befriend people with big gardens who divide and give away plants. One of my best friend’s mother divides her plants all the time.  I am on her “list” of people to give plants to.  Love it.  My Dad does this too.  He has given me loads of Hostas and has a Red Bud tree and Crepe Myrtle tree that he is giving me too.

4.  Experiment with some of your own plants. I took cuttings of three of my plants last year and replanted them, just to see if they would grow if I did this.  And they did!  So, this year, when I trim them, I am going to replant all of the cuttings and watch my garden expand for free!  My Dad does this all the time too, hence the Crepe Myrtle tree I’m getting.

5.  Know when your favorite nursery is having sales. I am on the email list of my favorite nursery.  They have a reward program and I get emails when they have special sales for reward program members.  They have great sales too!  Many nurseries often also have sales during the hottest month (when nobody wants to plant) and at the end of the season.

6.  Check Craiglist, Freecycle and yard sales. Craigslist has a ‘farm and garden’ area (where we found our fabulous Compos Tumbler!) and I have seen many plants posted on Freecycle, but they go fast!  I bought a stone planter with a Plantation Lily in it for $5 years ago from a yard sale.  It’s beautiful and the Lily comes back every year.

7.  Look for perennials that drop seeds and spread. New plants every year for free!  You can even dig them up and replant them in different spots.  Of course you don’t want them to be invasive plants, but self-seeding isn’t always a bad thing.

8.  Focus on perennials. I had to stop buying annuals.  I just can’t afford to buy plants every year that don’t make a reappearance each year.  It’s hard sometimes as there are some wonderful plants, that I love, that are considered annuals in my area due not being able to withstand our winters.

9.  Learn to love foliage as well as flowers. There are a lot of beautiful plants out there that are not super showy in terms of flowers.  Since we have a lot of shade due to huge Sugar Maple trees in our yard, I had to learn more about shade plants, which don’t usually have much in terms of flowers.  Some of my favorites are Heucheras (coral bells) and Sedums.  Their foliage is beautiful and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.  And, they are pretty economical.

10.  Put the word out for what you are looking for. If you are looking for rocks for example, for some hardscaping, you’d be surprised who is out there looking to get rid of some rocks!  We  had all sorts of people come and help us dig out our pea gravel so they could take it home and put it in their own yards.

11.  Go on garden tours. If you have residential garden tours in your area, this is a fantastic way to discover new plants and landscaping ideas, as well as what grows well in your area.   My Mom and I go on these for Mother’s Day.

12.  Look for drought tolerant plants. Save time, money and the environment with plants that don’t require a lot of extra watering.  Plus, they have a better chance of surviving a hot, dry summer.

Help me save some money!  What are your frugal gardening tips?

Find more tips of all kinds at Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

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I was talking to my Dad about how I planted twelve tomato plants (hoping for a huge bounty this year!) and he reminded me that I need to plant them really deep, which I had forgotten, so I went back and planted them deeper into the ground.

But, the best tip he gave me was one he got from a coworker.  About cutworms.  Cutworms are devestating for small plants.  They attack tomato plants at the bottom of the plant stems, near the soil, and kill your plants before they even get started.

But, his coworker said to wrap the bottom of the stem with some aluminum foil.  The cutworms can’t get through it and it will expand as the plant gets bigger and continue to protect it!

I thought this was genius.  So, I wrapped all of my tomato and pepper plants.  Fingers crossed!

The other problem I have is with slugs.  They eat the leaves of my plants and always go after my tomatoes, peppers and hostas.

Last year I put little shallow dishes of beer out for them to drink.  They love beer, the little lushes.  So, they go to drink it, then drown.  A little morbid, but effective.

Recently we’ve learned a couple of other tricks that we are trying as well.

One is crushed eggshells.  Wait until the eggshells are completely dry, then crush them, but not too finely.  Spread them around the plants.  Then, any soft bodied critter, like slugs, that try to cross over them will stop and go away because the shells are sharp and hurt/cut them.  This might even help stop cutworms as well.

The other tip is to sprinkle oats around your plants.  The slugs eat them and then the oats expand, since slugs are made mostly of water, and it kills them.  (btw, this same concept works with instant grits and ants).

Hopefully between these tips, my coffee grounds and compost, I will have a good bounty this year!

Do you have a tip for keeping critters off of plants?

See more great tips for all kinds of things at Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

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To kick off the Mother’s Day Weekend, on Friday night, I drank margaritas with a couple of girlfriends on the front porch.  We chatted and laughed and had a great time.  My head hurt on Saturday morning.  I don’t do hangovers well any more.  Damn sneaky tequila.

Saturday, the kids went to my parents and I spent the day with my husband.  We saw Wolverine (loved it) and ate delicious Thai food for lunch and spent too much money at Target.

It was a good day though.  I long and long for a break from the kids, then spend the whole time, wondering how they are and what they are doing and missing them.  Breaks are good.  Helps you to realize how much the little time suckers mean to you.

On Sunday (aka Mother’s Day), I slept in.  I woke up feeling the best I had in I can’t remember when.  And, since it was sunny after nearly two weeks of straight rain, we finally got to work on our square foot garden and plant the stuff we bought 2 weeks ago.

We planted tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, capsicum, strawberries (hope it’s not too late, but it might be), carrots, and radishes (upon my son’s insistence though we don’t eat them…guess we will soon though).

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend.  My oldest son made me beautiful things both at pre-school and with my Mom on Saturday and my husband (and boys) brought me flowers.  It was wonderful.

As I’ve said before, I will spending a day in June on a garden tour with my Mom for Mother’s Day, so she had other things planned for Sunday.

All in all, a great weekend.  Relaxing and re-charging.

Some articles I did read, that I really liked were Treehugger’s about the largest Ikea in the southern hemisphere being built in Sydney, next to the largest Salvation Army in the southern hemisphere no less.

And, the link love article at Fiscal Fizzle about frugal Mother’s Day gift ideas, which could also translate into ideas for birthdays or Christmas.  Always great to have lots of ideas of how to shower Mama with love, I say!!

I love this video that Get Rich Slowly posted and although I’m a bit late to the party, I got lost on Marc and Angel Hack Life blog.  There are just so many great articles, but I did especially love the What Money Can’t Buy post…it hit a chord on this lovely Mother’s Day weekend.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

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If your Mother is like mine, she already has everything she could want or need.   When I do buy her something I tend to get her things for her garden.  Something that will grow and flourish over time and not clutter up her house (my Dad’s a pack rat).  In the past I’ve given her fun, perennial plants that she has never heard of and a gift card to her favorite nursery so she can pick something out herself.

But, what I really like to get her is something that she can’t buy herself.  Time. So, since I am fortunate to live near her, that is what I like to give.

Time spent together with her daughter.  We are going on a local garden tour of really nice, established gardens in our city.  It’s run as a charity event every year, but it’s not very expensive.  Only $10.  We did it a couple of years ago and had a wonderful time.

We drive around to all of the gardens on the list (they are pretty spread out, so we have to drive).  We walk around the yards, some are quite large, and get ideas for our own gardens, take photos, ask questions and learn about newly discovered plants and have a generally lovely day together outside.  Then, I take her to lunch as well.  It’s so much fun!

Spring is a great time for things like this.  There are home tours and garden tours all over our city.  As well as little art festivals.  There are all sorts of fun things you can do together if you check out what is happening in your city.

The garden tour we are going on is actually in early June, so we aren’t going on Mother’s Day, but that doesn’t matter.   What matters is that it’s a special day just for us.  No husbands or kids to interrupt our silly girl/mother/daughter fun.

I’m really looking forward to it!  The gift of time.  It’s a gift to me as well.  Happy Mother’s Day to us both!

Do you have any Mother’s Day traditions in your family?

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Blueberries and Raspberries

Saturday we went to the Farmer’s Market in the afternoon and picked up another blueberry bush (mid-season producer) and raspberry bush (Heritage everbearer).

We already have early and late producing blueberry bushes, though the late producing one is really slow coming out of dormancy, so we are a little worried about it.  Going to throw some coffee grounds on it tomorrow since I was told they are acidic loving plants and therefore love coffee grounds.  I didn’t know this or I would have been putting grounds on them all winter.

I have no idea what type our other raspberry bush is.  It was given to us last year from the grower that we always buy from…it was her last one and really small, so she just said we could have it.  We planted it and it produced about three berries last year.  This year, however, it’s looking really good so I’m hoping it will produce well too!

Kiwi!

Next weekend I’m also going to get a kiwi plant.  The same grower we get the blueberry/raspberry bushes from also has kiwi vines.  So excited about this!  I did not know this, but kiwi plants do not like a lot of sun…and because it’s a vine, it needs a place to climb.  After we found this out, we realized we have a perfect spot for it.

We have a bed already made up that is actually our ‘nursery’.  My Dad made it for us as a temporary spot to put plants until we figure out where we are going to plant them permanently.  It works really well if you get plants from other people (like if they’ve divided plants and give you some) and they aren’t already in a pot with dirt.  Anyway, this spot is next to an old wire fence, perfect for a vine. And, it doesn’t get a lot of sun, perfect for kiwi.

Kiwi’s are a second year producer and these plants are two years old, so it should produce this year.  How exciting!

A Raised Bed

We have decided to add a raised bed to our garden this year.  We already have an area, next to our blueberries, where we plant tomatoes and peppers, mostly.

This year, however, we are going to have a go at a raised bed as well.  We are going to start small, with a 4 x 4 one.  We are buying the wood from a local eco-conscious garden market.  The wood is locally cut Eastern Red Cedar.  We will buy some of their compost as well, which is local organic certified horse manure and mix it with some organic topsoil (the mix they recommend).

Why Red Cedar? Well, cedar is a natural pest deterrent against all sorts of critters, including slugs, which were extremely detrimental to some of our plants last year.  It is also naturally rot resistant and lasts about three times longer than untreated pine.

I am not sure what we are going to plant in these beds yet however.  I know that I would like to plant strawberries and potatoes. And, maybe also some butternut squash, spaghetti squash, leaf lettuce, parsnips,….I have a long list and need to narrow it down.

I don’t think my husband really cares so long as it’s not too much work.  He likes the idea of growing food though.  Especially for our son.  He loves going out and picking berries and tomatoes.  He usually eats them right after he picks them.

I am not sure if I should plant the potatoes in the raised bed or one of these cool potato bins.  And I’m not sure if I should plant the strawberries in the raised bed or a strawberry pot or similar.  If I chose the alternative growing vessels, I would have more room for other things in the raised bed.  So many decisions.

What do you think?  How do you plant/grow your potatoes and strawberries?

What else do you enjoy growing that you’ve had success with?

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Don’t throw them away!

There are too many great uses for coffee grounds and here are some of my favorites.

Get rid of ants – That’s right.  Ants don’t like coffee grounds so sprinkle them on anthills, around your yard or anywhere you don’t want ants to go.  Wish I would have know this in Australia…ants would throw a huge party in our kitchen every summer there.

Compost - Just throw them in your compost, filter and all.  It will add rich nutrients that your garden will love you for.

Put them directly on your acid-loving plants – Plants like azaleas, rosebushes, rhododendrons, camellias and hydrangeas love coffee grounds.  Throw your grounds straight onto the soil, even in winter when the plants are dormant.

Get rid of cellulite – That’s right folks!  Apparently there is coffee in those high-priced anti-cellulite creams, so why not?

According to DIY Maven,  you mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then apply the mixture to your “problem areas”.  You then wrap the areas with shrink wrap and leave on for several minutes.  You then brush the loose coffee grounds off and wash with warm water.  For best results it’s recommended you do this twice a week.

Whew, a bit time consuming, but you never know, I might get desperate as swim suit season approaches!

Good for Skin and Hair – I had no idea!  Check out the Rainforest Coffee Skin and Hair Program on how coffee grounds can help with wrinkles, balding, dandruff and age spots, among others.  Who knew!?

Home Care – mix coffee grounds with water and use as a fabric dye or furniture scratch repair.

Deodorizer – Dry out the grounds on low heat in the oven or outside in the sun.  Wrap in a linen sachet or put in a bowl and use where odor needs to be absorbed, similar to baking soda.  I store my compost scraps in my fridge until I take them out to the compost bin and dried coffee grounds keeps them from being stinky.

Pet Flea Care – When you are washing your dog or cat, after they are wet, massage coffee grounds into their skin and fur.  This will rid them of fleas and their coat will be super soft.  They will also smell pretty yummy I would imagine!

Don’t drink coffee?  See if any friends or family will save their grounds for you!  Do you have a favorite or interesting use for your coffee grounds that I didn’t list?

Get more tips and tricks over at We Are THAT Family and Works For Me Wednesday.

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