Tips for saving money on landscaping supplies and plants.
Free Plants
I work around a very busy Metro area. Recently, the landscapers were replacing the spring flowers/bulbs with summer plantings. They were throwing the spring plants out! I asked them if I could have them and they said sure! Needless to say, I have enough tulips for next year and I planted the pansies in hanging baskets. It saved a lot of money by buying hanging baskets this year! So, next time you see landscapers or gardeners replacing plants at a business or business complex, be sure to ask!
By Michelle
Call The City
I've also picked up flowers from city landscapers as they were dismantling one season's display to get ready for another. You might even be able to call city hall and get dates ahead of time so you don't have to rely on chance!
By Anna
Dig Up Saplings - Ask First
If you are in the market for trees and can identify the different varieties easily, go to a wooded area (if you have one near) and transplant some saplings into your landscaping. Most landowners won't mind if you ask them.
By mc2grants
Use Freecycle
Post on your local Freecycle group. Every spring/summer, I offer the things I have and invite people to share what they have. I've received some great plants and made some new garden friends.
Rescue Plants!
Definitely recycle plants! I have rescued a lot of potted/bedding plants and nursed them back to health, it's fun to see them responding. You can also get cuttings of plants like spider plants or mint which are really invasive.
By pamphyila
Grow Roses From Cuttings
My mom, who REALLY had a green thumb used to plant roses by just planting the bloom. I have never tried this, but have seen it work in her yard. Cut a rose branch with a bloom and five leaf fronds. Dig a hole and submerge three leaf fronds under and two on top, pinch off the bloom and cover with a jar until the rose "catches". I would guess maybe month. She worked for the OSU botany department as a secretary an learned lots of neat stuff... she is gone now. I wish I had listened closer.
By Margie
Frugal Landscaping Tips
We made a soaker hose out of an old hose that had two small holes in it by just adding over a hundred more holes to the hose. It was great fun for our older kids to stab the hose with an ice pick. It was a good family time and we saved $30.00.
Use discarded items you find as unique planters... tires, rims, boots, wicker chairs, hard hats or buckets.
Recycle your yard waste and veggie scraps to create your compost pile. Add coffee grinds, egg shells, veggie scraps, leaves, and yard waste into a pile and stir every week. It is great exercise and in one year you will have saved money for not paying a gym for a good work out and for not having to purchase fertilizer/top soil for your new plants.
Also when you buy fresh foods at the farmers market save your seeds. Dry them on wax paper then store them in an envelope an freeze till next year and plant. Some will grow and not produce fruit but have pretty blooms others will prosper and give lots of produce, so either way it is free plants and possibly free food! Hey, who doesn't like that idea! I have five kids, what do you expect!?
Visit your rural mill or seed store, not a Lowe's or a nursery but a dirt on the floor, bags of horse feed stacked to the ceiling, cat sleeping on the counter kind of mill. Place a wanted ad on their board and you will be surprised at how many local farmers have plants or seeds they are willing to share or sell for a reasonable price. We got several mature raspberry plants for $4.00 total, normally a start costs $5.00 each at Lowe's.
The best thing we ever did to save money was to go to a home and garden show and take lots of pictures of all the expensive things we were wanting. Then we went home and with mostly scrap wood, fencing, iron, and whatnots, we were able to spend less than $75 and created an enchanted patio space instead of hiring the work out and spending $2000. Now that kind of saving is worth forfeiting a Saturday and working up a little sweat.
By Hoffmann House Network
Do you have any more ideas? Please post them below.
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