Confessions of a Frugal Gardener
Frugal: Economical in the use or appropriation of resources. Recycle, Re-use, Reduce!
As an avid proponent of not throwing away anything that has a useful second life, I created and give a talk on the subject as a member of the Dallas County Master Gardeners Speakers Bureau. The presentation allows me to pass along my (and some others’) ideas on ways to recycle and use everyday items in the garden, instead of buying from a gardening catalogue. Here are some of the best ideas.
Forget buying plant supports. Wire sign holders that are prolific at election time easily bend into required shapes and are excellent supports for many plants. Ask candidates for office if you can collect their signs.
Seed starters? What a great use for cardboard toilet paper tubes. Carefully fold one end of the tube for the base, fill with good potting soil, and place in a container once used to hold store-roasted chicken. Plant your seeds and cover them with the clear top of the chicken container, pierced with air holes to create a mini green house (voila!), until the seeds sprout and grow to a few inches tall. The seedlings are then very easy to plant because you don’t need to take them out of the tubes. The cardboard will protect the tender roots during planting and quickly decompose.
Need labels for those new seedlings? Try plastic knives, or cut strips from a plastic yogurt container, and mark them with a permanent marker. You may have to re-mark after a while, but that’s easy to do as you check your plants’ progress. And if, like me, you forget where you planted bulbs, especially if you have planted different kinds, use plastic knives, forks, and spoons to mark their locations. I seem to have accumulated many of these utensils over the years, for use in the garden.
Tired of trying to get rid of those pesky weeds that have established roots? Cut them to the ground. Then dig a small trench around the root the size of a tuna or fruit can. Firmly place the can over the top of the root and add mulch to hide it. Over time, the lack of light will kill the plant. This works particularly well on nuisance trees that seem to establish themselves so firmly and quickly.
If you like potting plants, a good way to prevent soil from running out of the drain-hole is to cover the hole with coffee filters. Layer three or four of the triangular-shaped filters at the bottom of the pot. You can often find a partially used package of filters for less than a dollar at estate sales.
If you use netting to protect your vegetables from birds, put old tennis balls on the stakes that hold the netting. This protects the net and makes for easy removal and replacement as it is pulled over the balls.
And if a mini greenhouse is your wish, collect and reuse those plastic water bottles in the ultimate recycling project for the garden. This one was built by students and parents at a school in Wales.
Fran Powell, Dallas Master Gardener since 2011, abhors waste and believes that giving items a second life is better than recycling. She also likes to reduce money spent and practices the philosophy of recycling in her home as well as the garden. Fran is a member of the DCMG Speaker’s Bureau and, in addition to her Frugal Gardening talk, speaks on roses and Earth-Kind® roses.
