Save Money on Plants

RE: Save Money on Plants Post By (Guest Post) (07/08/2005) The best ways I know of to save money on plants is to save your own seed and to spend wisely when buying plants. I spend good money on fruit trees, they are a wonderful investment. It is worth saving seed from vegetables to re-use. Why buy new seed when your plants will make it for you. I save parsnip seed and sprinkle it around, also turnip, radish, carrot, lettuce, rocket. I also keep broad bean, scarlet runner beans, green beans, pumpkin, cucumber. In fact, now that I think about it, the only seed I need to buy is corn, I do like the flavour of hybrid corn best and if I run out of seed or forget to save it. i need to get more Turks turban pumpkin as I didn't plant it last year. I love finding little surprises all over the place, like lettuces growing in between the pavers on the back verandah and parsnips down the driveway. If you throw around enough seed you will rarely have to buy seed, or plant it. I grow wallflowers and let them seed, also sweetpeas, nasturtiums and cornflowers, and foxgloves. That's about all the flowers I have, just because I mostly love vegetables and they also have magnificent flowers. The carrot flower is spectacular. The other way to save money is to take cuttings. I have successfully planted lavender, rosemary, thyme and geranium cuttings. Every now and then I have a success with daphne. I take cuttings from cape gooseberries, runners from strawberries and pepino cuttings, also raspberry and loganberry as well as globe artichoke starter plants. If you know someone who is successful with taking cuttings it will be much cheaper. I think it is a great idea to swap too. If I have an excess of anything I will offer it to someone in exchange for their excess. It makes it OK to ask for someone else's excess if you have something to offer. It will save you an unbelievable amount of money. This year I have swapped dried tomatoes and zucchini for day old bread, pumpkin and tomatoes for fejoas, potatoes for chestnuts, pepino cuttings for horse manure, potaoes for grape cuttings, broad beans for fresh fish, potaoes for plums and music for wine. It's very addictive, this bartering thing and will save you heaps. Good luck! Save Money on Plants in The Fall Post by ThriftyFun (4042) | (05/23/2005) Profile | Blog! | Contact I use the fall to add any plants or shrubs when the nurseries are having 50-75% off. Last year I wanted to add a Magnolia tree to my yard and normally they are expensive but I went in September and bought one for half the cost. The person at the nursery told me it is fine to plant, you just put in ground but don't fertilize to promote new growth. My tree came back beautifully in the spring. Our nursery also guarantees all their plants for a year no matter what time of year you plant. I went this weekend and bought several plants and shrubs all for half off. By Bulandd