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Volume 2, Number 18, May 3, 2007 (Read It Online) We have lots of new gardening requests this week. Please look them over and see if you have any advice to offer. Thanks for reading, Susan
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By Diana from Highland, MI
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1. Begin with a plastic cola bottle. Choose a size that will suffice for whatever you're planting.
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Rate It: Start putting in your plants; work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers and put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic, they will not get through wet newspapers. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf49365838.tip.html
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Rate It: Cut the pretty pictures from packets or greeting cards, punch a hole and use a ribbon to hang and they make beautiful gift tags. You can also laminate them and make bookmarkers, coasters, placemats, many uses. Great as thank you gifts. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf94706741.tip.html
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Rate It: I discovered a nifty tool for starting my seeds. It uses newspaper and is a wooden form that you wrap and tuck the paper around. It is called "The NviroPotte" and is made by a family business in Eastern Canada. The lovely thing is it uses Newspaper! They have a website. Cheers and happy potting! By Roz from Victoria BC Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf73723370.tip.html
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Rate It: Share Gardening Duties With A Neighbor If your gardening skills are minimal, try asking a neighbor or friend to co-garden with you to not only cut costs but also the work! If you don't have a place to garden, perhaps try looking for someone who does who wouldn't mind a "helper". Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf89826585.tip.html
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Rate It: If you're new to planting flowers, you might want to plant perennials. They'll bloom every year without you having to replant them. So make the most of your planting time and dollars. By T.H. Shasta Daisy And Self Seeding Annuals An easy perennial to grow and enjoy is the Shasta Daisy. I bought a small plant in a pot at Walmart a couple years ago for about $3.00. It blooms from late spring way into summer. Mine is budding right now and should be blooming in a matter of a few days. It just keeps growing bigger, so can be divided. I believe I can divide mine this fall into 4 new smaller plants. Once it starts to bloom, just remove the spent blossoms when they are no longer pretty. Many annuals will reseed themselves back, and come back every year. Some examples are Four 'o clocks. They will grow to about 3-4 feet high, and bloom all summer up to frost. You can collect the seeds and plant in other locations, also, but what drops to the ground will grow the next year. They come in various colors. I have "hot pink", but have seen them also in yellow and white. Portulaca is another self seeding annual. It also goes by the name Rose Moss. They spread out to fill in the bed and bloom all summer up to frost. Flower colors may vary, reds and yellows. Yet another is Periwinkle. They are usually white or pink. They are small plants and when they reproduce in the spring, may come in very thick and you can then thin and plant in other locations. Ask Neighbors And Know Your Zone Buy and get for free the perennials you see and like from neighbors and friends who are splitting up perennials from their flowerbeds. They can tell you how it grows for them and the water conditions the plant likes and the amount of sun the plant needs each day. You will also get a perennial that will be hardy for your area. We live in a zone 3 here in southern Manitoba. I hate it when I go to the local Canadian Tire, Walmart or Home Depot and they are selling zone 5 plants to unsuspecting customers. A new gardener would think that they, themselves, did something wrong when they planted it or watered it wrong, when the perennial does not come up next year, just as I did when I started to garden with perennials years ago. So, know your zone and ask about the perennial before you spend the money on it. How easy it is to grow, is it an invasive perennial, does it require a lot of water or sun, etc. Related:
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Rate It: Before transplanting your tomato plant seedlings outside, make your planting hole a bit deeper than usual, and drop 2 teaspoons of epsom salts in each planting hole. Sprinkle some dirt in the hole, and then add your seedling. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf696494.tip.html
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Rate It: Take time to plan your garden, on paper, to make the most of what space you have available. Keep track of the brands and varieties you use, that you might like to plant again, next year. Make notes on what kinds didn't work as well as you'd have liked, so you don't make the same mistake another time. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf206958.tip.html
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Rate It: Diagnosing Plants That Need More Iron Plant leaves that are all turning yellow need iron, available in garden centers as Ironite, not more water. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf931348.tip.html
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Rate It: Preventing Cats from Littering Your New Plants When I dug a hole and planted a tree, the cats decided to use the soil as litter box. Not wanting my new tree to be killed, I inverted a plastic tray from the nursery-the big mesh kind, and cut a hole in the middle the diameter of the tree trunk, and then cut into it from one edge to the hole. I slipped this around the tree trunk and the cats won't go near it. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf713071.tip.html
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Rate It: Plant the Plants You Buy Quickly Given to buying flowering plants on impulse and not getting them into the ground before they die, I have made myself promise to get plants into the ground the day I buy them. This may mean I'm gardening under a halogen lamp, but less dead plants! Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf636129.tip.html
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Rate It: Mix Perennials into Your Garden
Perennial plants and flowers stay around for more than just one gardening season. Some of them bloom again for only about 3 years, while others will continue to bloom for many years to come. View This Article: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf484183.tip.html
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Rate It: With spring right around the corner, here is a tip for pruning rosebushes. Get a medium cardboard box, then use a spring loaded clothespin to grab each branch just above where you make your cut. Leave the thorny branch in the clothespin jaws and transfer it into the box. This sure saves your hands from being jabbed by all those thorns! Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf931975.tip.html
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Rate It: If you start your plants from seed as I do, or even buy them from the local nursery, when you plant them in the ground insert a toothpick or wooden match as close to the stem as possible and into the ground. This helps prevent cutworms from cutting off the tender plants at ground level. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf590701.tip.html
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Rate It: Make a Gardener's Tote
Ready for Spring gardening? View This Article: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf478700.tip.html
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Rate It: Trade Flowers and Plants with Friends and Save Money Save money on plant by trading. Here are some great tips from the ThriftyFun community. Post your own advice here. Friendship Garden Do you need to add to your flower garden but are low on funds to do so? Not to worry. Start trading with your friends. For example, every spring I have new shoots from my hostas. I let it be known that I am willing to trade. And the nice thing about this is that when you get a plant from a friend, you associate that plant with that friend. Now that's what I call a really and truly great friendship garden. Happy trading. By Joesgirl Sell or Trade Perennials I add to my flower garden by using the money I get by dividing the existing perennials and including them in my annual garage sale. People love me for it (it's becoming a very popular garage sale) and I also win because the money I make I use for more perennials for my 10 acre yard. I also trade with girlfriends and find that I associate the plant with the girlfriend as I wander my flowerbeds. Trading can also be done with future consideration in mind. Keep track of the plants and, in the future, return the favor. I am growing some baby irises that were given to me and if they live and I can get them to multiply in my yard then the original owner would like a few back in return. I paid nothing for them and it is a win-win situation for him and me. I also keep a running list on my computer as to the name of the perennial, when I got it, where it is planted, how much I paid or not paid, etc. This way when I go to a nursery or a plant sale somewhere, I know what I already have in my yard and don't purchase the same perennial again. Trading Plants With Friends Instead of buying new plants, trade plant starts in the spring with friends. That way everyone saves money and gets new plants for free! By Kelly
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Weed Killer That Won't Kill Ice Plants What weed killer will not kill ice plants? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf94844308.tip.html
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Rate It: We found this in our backyard this weekend (end of April) when we were taking out a chain link fence. It was on the ground but might have fallen off of some plants (mint, clematis, morning glory or other weeds). My son said that is was "buzzing" in his hand. I saw another one of these when I was planting some seeds but that one had been squished so I didn't pay much attention to it. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf12151855.tip.html
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Rate It: I have a beautiful gravel driveway but the weeds are driving me crazy (no pun intended). Do you have a low cost solution? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf20088547.tip.html
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Rate It: Could you please help me with the care of these bamboo plants that I got from my Father. There are two stalks in each tubular glass vase full of water. Both vases are in a sunny window (not direct sun though). In one of the vases, the bamboo plant's leaves are on the light yellow side but some are still green and some of the roots are kind of orangy. In the other vase, most of the leaves are green with only a couple that have a small yellow strip that starts at the beginning of the leave (the part from the stalk, not near the the end of the leaf). The roots in this vase are the regular yellowish green color. My father thinks the plant with several yellow leaves is the one he may have put too much fertilizer in at one point, but he thought it would be OK b/c he eventually emptied the water out and put new water in when he thought that's why the leaves were yellowing (from the fertilizer). The leaves seem to get dusty quickly and I was wondering if I should take a sponge and wipe them down. Will the dust effect their growth? Is it better to not fertilize the bamboo? Are the stalks OK totally submerged in water just like the roots? And one last question... To keep them from growing up into the chandelier over the table they're on, do I take a kitchen knife and just cut the bottom of the stalk? If not please let me know the right way to do this. I really like these plants and don't know if they are fragile or can take all this shuffling around in order to clean the vases and refill the water and so on. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. VJK from Massachusetts
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Rate It: Spring has finally sprung in NE Ohio, overnight my yard is filled with dandelions. I remember many years ago the elder relatives making dandelion wine. Any good recipes out there to try? From what I remember was a fairly simple process. I do not use pesticides or chemicals and try to be very environmentally correct since we live on a lake. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf15812699.tip.html
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Rate It: I'm looking for something I can make or adapt for my tomato plants that would work like a Wall O' Water. I can't afford to buy the actual product so I was hoping someone can give me some alternative ideas. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf36170033.tip.html
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Rate It: Is there a safe way to kill weeds and grass around perennial plants? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf83890419.tip.html
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Rate It: Why is there moss in my garden? Why is there moss in my garden? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf58804702.tip.html
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Rate It: Removing Grass From Ground Cover How do you prevent and remove grass from mature ground cover? It's taken years to get this bed established and is very difficult to dig around. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf61982380.tip.html
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Rate It: I put our old toilet out to plant stuff in this summer (nobody wants it). But I noticed after the 3 days of hard rain the toilet part is half full of water! how can I make sure it drains somehow? The back part drains out of the bottom but the seat part looks like it could root rot anything I put in there. It's half FULL of water. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf93787231.tip.html
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Rate It: Getting Rid of Japanese Knotweed Does anyone know how to get rid of Japanese Knotweed, just short of using napalm? Salt doesn't bother it at all, and digging it out is impossible without renting a bobcat, even then the smallest piece of root will regrow... Right now, I've resorted to throwing heavy plastic tarps over it and snipping off all the new shoots, but it's a lot faster than me. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf84042516.tip.html
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Rate It: Preventing Cats From Spraying on Plants I have stray and neighborhood cats that spray on my front porch, and also my plants and flowers. They are killing my garden! Does anyone have an idea on how to prevent them from spraying on outdoor plants? I've heard of the pepper and coffee grounds, but I don't think they are sniffing, they just lift and spray. Help! Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf94543984.tip.html
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Rate It: Trees and Shrubs to Block the Sight of a Road A busy two lane road will be enlarged to four lane behind my boyfriend's property in the future (maybe 2 years). What types of trees, shrubs, or bushes would be an effective screen so as to block the sight of the enlarged road? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf49688394.tip.html
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Rate It: Several unidentifiable 'somethings' were crawling up the stems of my collards and there were a number of holes in the leaves. I made sure the leaves weren't touching the ground. What to do now? This is an organic garden. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf87417253.tip.html
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Rate It: What is the best way to protect bulbs from wildlife? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf145012.tip.html
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Rate It: Do you have any tips to share for maintaining your lawn mower? Post them below. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf574151.tip.html
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Rate It: Does anyone have some general tips for growing annuals? I want to plant from seed. Should I start the seeds and grow seedlings first or just plop the seeds in the ground? Any tips for a beginning gardener would be great. I believe I have Begonias and something else. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf917327.tip.html
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Rate It: Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here
If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish. More Information:
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