Author Topic: Cheap gardening  (Read 36971 times)

robartsd

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #50 on: April 25, 2016, 09:05:10 AM »
A smelly compost pile indicates that nutrients are escaping. You want to trap them with more high carbon material - like mixing in or burying under dry leaves.

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #51 on: April 29, 2016, 05:21:55 AM »
A few I have been thinking about lately:

- strips of elasticised cotton fabric (think old skivvies or undies) make great plant ties
- I can get huge bags of manure from the roadside for $1 around here, vs $10 for a smaller bag at the nursery. Just need extra time before using for it to rot down.
- seeds from the big brands like Yates are incredibly expensive. I never realised this, but have just bought some fancy pants seeds online for around $1 per packet and will see how they perform.
- toilet paper rolls, milk cartons etc for seedlings
- use it up! don't buy more than you think you will use, and don't 'save' things for the perfect moment that may never come. This year I am going to sow a fair few seeds past their best before. If none sprout, I will buy more seed. But I bet some will, and we will be more careful in future about buying things before we are ready to use them.

robartsd

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #52 on: April 29, 2016, 11:29:02 AM »
- toilet paper rolls, milk cartons etc for seedlings
TP tubes are great for seed starting pots. Cut the tube in half, then cut tabs on one end. Fold the tabs in to make a tiny pot about as deep as it is wide. When planting the seedlings in a larger pot or the ground, simply open the bottom of the pot to allow the roots to grow deeper (and potentially slide the pot up to provide a paperboard collar around the stem at ground level to help protect the stem from pests). The paper will decompose in the soil over a year or two.

I've placed a bunch of these in a plastic tray that a Costco apple pie was packaged with. I cut several very small slits to allow for drainage from the plastic tray and have been experimenting with watering by flooding the void between pots (a good way to water seedlings is probably the weakest link in my current gardening practice). We tried marking the paper pots with a pencil when planting the first year we tried them, but the pencil quickly becomes very difficult to read.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #53 on: April 29, 2016, 07:37:05 PM »

- use it up! don't buy more than you think you will use, and don't 'save' things for the perfect moment that may never come. This year I am going to sow a fair few seeds past their best before. If none sprout, I will buy more seed. But I bet some will, and we will be more careful in future about buying things before we are ready to use them.
Certain types of seed remain viable for a long time - such as lettuce, while others such kale do not.  And it is not like they become 100% unviable, just gradually the rate of germination decreases.  So you just plant them thicker.  I have old seed and planted a lot of chard and got four seedlings while the lettuce came up way too well and now I have to thin like crazy.
Talking to a organic veg grower, he listed off a bunch of seeds that would be a problem when I mentioned this. 

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #54 on: April 29, 2016, 10:27:34 PM »
I paid one time for manure--fellow delivered and included the large garbage can it was collected in.  Other times I "paid" with my labor of collecting it.  Usually not hard to do.  Post something on Craigslist offering to muck stalls for manure.  Probably get more takers than you can handle.

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #55 on: May 08, 2016, 03:24:05 PM »
Similar to the seed swap at the library--

Just found a local plant swap group on Facebook.  Have too many of some tomatoes and would like some more peppers this year so I'm giving it a go.   Sounds like a great way to meet like minded people as well.

FunkyChopstick

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #56 on: May 10, 2016, 03:13:45 PM »
I am still cracking up over recycled beer. Epic.

I work in Vet med and was considering using our used pine cat litter on the beds outside but since it would attract other cats to pee/pop on it I have decided to try it out on a small ornamental bed instead of the veggies. We shall see!

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #57 on: May 18, 2016, 11:29:24 AM »
Did a non-cheap thing this week.  Decided I want more garden space THIS year and so opened up a few more raised beds.  I went and bought "super soil" from the local garden center.  I do mix in a lot of my own compost in my beds but that takes time.  Doing it this way should net me a lot more produce this year.  Still, I'm usually more patient and can take the time to develop the garden beds over a year or two. 


Only other option I could think of was the local dump does compost but you never really know what you are getting.  Also its really compost--not soil!  I could buy sand cheap (about $10 a trailer load down by the river) and mix it with the compost I guess...


Anyone have any hints for getting good cheap garden soil fast?  Good, cheap, fast, is usually a choose one of these things kind of option... 

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #58 on: May 18, 2016, 12:03:28 PM »
arktinkerer
Be careful about municipal composts - they can have a lot of salt content.  I do lasagne gardening.  I always seem to have some old leaves around and scare some topsoil for free.  My dad is a farmer so there is free access to all the manure I want.  I find it is exponentially cheaper to go the garden center or building supply place and buy a couple of garbage cans of soil over pre-bagged.   They seem to just look at the amount and charge me $5 or $10 bucks if I can't get some soil from one of the neighbours putting in a patio or me digging  trench for free.

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #59 on: May 20, 2016, 07:46:16 AM »
I have plenty of organic matter but real soil (i.e. dirt!) is harder to come by for some reason.  I guess I should investigate about growing in pure, or almost pure, compost.  Anyone do gardening, other than 'ponics, without dirt?

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #60 on: June 04, 2016, 02:32:14 AM »
I paid for dirt today too. It was a sad day, I didn't like doing it, but for the number of raised beds we are starting it would have taken a LONG time to scrounge enough topsoil on the cheap. Trying a no dig/lasagne method on some of the beds to cut down the amount needed.


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Stache-O-Lantern

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #61 on: June 05, 2016, 11:35:10 AM »
I redirected the slow drip of water runoff from the AC condenser to a vegetable plant with some leftover PVC pipe i had in the garage.  Now that plant doesn't need any water from my regular drip irrigation system.  I think it's enough water for a much larger plant, but that  will have to wait until next year.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #62 on: June 05, 2016, 12:47:34 PM »
Wanted a second tomatillo. There was a pretty sad looking little guy when I went to Grocery Outlet, their only tomatillo left. The top had been chopped off, but has closed over just fine. Instead of the $2.99 it normally was, I got it for $0.99. Still more than I wanted to pay (I was hoping for free haha) but there are a couple of really viable and strong looking leaves setting on the bottom (and a good strong central stem), so I have hope it'll pull through just fine.

Traded a neighbor some of our mint and volunteer cherry tomato starts (we have so so much) for a big hearty oregano plant.

pekklemafia

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #63 on: June 05, 2016, 11:37:59 PM »
We made our own garden trellis for the beans and other viney things with branches from a junky tree we cut down in the yard and chicken wire. I just posted some pics on the blog.

I also have all of these vegetables (pumpkins? Tomatoes?) popping up all over my garden - I'm guessing the compost didn't get hot enough to kill the seeds from whatever I tossed in there! Free plants yo. I'll take it.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #64 on: June 06, 2016, 09:56:51 AM »
We made our own garden trellis for the beans and other viney things with branches from a junky tree we cut down in the yard and chicken wire. I just posted some pics on the blog.

I also have all of these vegetables (pumpkins? Tomatoes?) popping up all over my garden - I'm guessing the compost didn't get hot enough to kill the seeds from whatever I tossed in there! Free plants yo. I'll take it.

Probably tomatoes. They are especially hearty! "Once you have a cherry tomato, you always have a cherry tomato" Could be pumpkins too I suppose, but we are inundated with volunteer tomatoes.

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #65 on: June 06, 2016, 02:40:44 PM »
Do you find your volunteers grow true to type? I have heard some people say theirs didn't give much fruit.

We put all out rotten/bird eaten toms into a big pot with dirt this year as a little experiment, will see what pops up in spring.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #66 on: June 06, 2016, 02:45:01 PM »
Do you find your volunteers grow true to type? I have heard some people say theirs didn't give much fruit.

We put all out rotten/bird eaten toms into a big pot with dirt this year as a little experiment, will see what pops up in spring.

They haven't flowered yet this year, much less given fruit, but last year the (neglected by previous tenant) was 100% mint and tomatoes- cherry tomatoes (probably sweet 100s or something similar) and yellow plums. They gave us TONS of fruit, just absurd quantities, with absolutely zero care (no caging or pruning, although I did water some on hot days later in the summer- no care at all through spring though, we hadn't even moved in), and they were delicious. So it seems like they were true to type, since that garden had not been actually used in 3 years.

Stache-O-Lantern

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #67 on: June 06, 2016, 02:59:35 PM »
Do you find your volunteers grow true to type? I have heard some people say theirs didn't give much fruit.

We put all out rotten/bird eaten toms into a big pot with dirt this year as a little experiment, will see what pops up in spring.

It depends on the vegetable.  Tomatoes are likely to self-pollinate, and are more likely to breed true.  Some other vegetables less so.  I saved some pumpkin seeds one year, and they grew as a zucchini plant, with just a hint of orange color on the zucchini.  So for squash I've learned to bag the flower and pollinate by hand if i intend to keep the seeds.

horsepoor

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #68 on: June 06, 2016, 03:11:29 PM »
Following!

I've posted this tip on these forums before, but I use cut up mini blind slats for all of my plant marker needs.  Mine are from shortening excessively long blinds, and I have a lifetime supply by now, but even if you had to go pay retail for a cheap-o blind it would be cheaper than buying plant markers.  I use a Sharpie on them, and it generally fades enough by the end of the season that I can just write over and re-use.  Also easy to cut them to any length with scissors, and I use a paper punch to punch holes in some and tie them to the tomato cages.

dougules

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #69 on: June 06, 2016, 03:34:15 PM »
I see discussion on potatoes, but potatoes are cheap at the store.  It seems to me that if you are worried about cheap you'd want to focus on high value crops.  Plant some fruit trees.  Grow tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, green beans, and other things that are more expensive.  Then plant potatoes if you've got space, time, and resources leftover. 


pekklemafia

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #70 on: June 06, 2016, 08:17:37 PM »
Do you find your volunteers grow true to type? I have heard some people say theirs didn't give much fruit.

We put all out rotten/bird eaten toms into a big pot with dirt this year as a little experiment, will see what pops up in spring.

It depends on the vegetable.  Tomatoes are likely to self-pollinate, and are more likely to breed true.  Some other vegetables less so.  I saved some pumpkin seeds one year, and they grew as a zucchini plant, with just a hint of orange color on the zucchini.  So for squash I've learned to bag the flower and pollinate by hand if i intend to keep the seeds.

Neat! I grew a few heirloom tomatoes last year, so hopefully they do grow true to type... Then again, who knows which tomatoes got tossed into the compost :P

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #71 on: June 06, 2016, 08:56:25 PM »
Do you find your volunteers grow true to type? I have heard some people say theirs didn't give much fruit.

We put all out rotten/bird eaten toms into a big pot with dirt this year as a little experiment, will see what pops up in spring.

It depends on the vegetable.  Tomatoes are likely to self-pollinate, and are more likely to breed true.  Some other vegetables less so.  I saved some pumpkin seeds one year, and they grew as a zucchini plant, with just a hint of orange color on the zucchini.  So for squash I've learned to bag the flower and pollinate by hand if i intend to keep the seeds.

Neat! I grew a few heirloom tomatoes last year, so hopefully they do grow true to type... Then again, who knows which tomatoes got tossed into the compost :P

The fun is waiting to see what come up. I get all kinds of odd tomatoes after several years of encouraging the volunteers.

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #72 on: June 07, 2016, 07:54:19 AM »
I see discussion on potatoes, but potatoes are cheap at the store.  It seems to me that if you are worried about cheap you'd want to focus on high value crops.  Plant some fruit trees.  Grow tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, green beans, and other things that are more expensive.  Then plant potatoes if you've got space, time, and resources leftover.
While I agree with the gist of this, potatoes can be very efficient in terms of amount produced for space/effort invested.  Growing them in a barrel or large container by starting at the bottom and adding dirt once a week takes only a little time for the first few weeks.  After that no weeding or even much attention to watering (I position mine so they get hit with the sprinkler occasionally).  Lastly, they sit in the container until harvest rather than needing to be harvested during a small window of time like many other foods.  Of course, to top it all off, almost anything fresh from the garden is way better than store bought in terms of flavor.


Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #73 on: June 07, 2016, 07:59:00 AM »
I redirected the slow drip of water runoff from the AC condenser to a vegetable plant with some leftover PVC pipe i had in the garage.  Now that plant doesn't need any water from my regular drip irrigation system.  I think it's enough water for a much larger plant, but that  will have to wait until next year.

I like this.  Think of it as free drip irrigation that happens when you need it most!  Best fig tree was an uncle's that was planted to use the condensate.  We use to have a bed of Jerusalem Artichoke that got the condensate as well. 

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #74 on: June 07, 2016, 01:37:26 PM »
I see discussion on potatoes, but potatoes are cheap at the store.  It seems to me that if you are worried about cheap you'd want to focus on high value crops.  Plant some fruit trees.  Grow tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, green beans, and other things that are more expensive.  Then plant potatoes if you've got space, time, and resources leftover.
While I agree with the gist of this, potatoes can be very efficient in terms of amount produced for space/effort invested.  Growing them in a barrel or large container by starting at the bottom and adding dirt once a week takes only a little time for the first few weeks.  After that no weeding or even much attention to watering (I position mine so they get hit with the sprinkler occasionally).  Lastly, they sit in the container until harvest rather than needing to be harvested during a small window of time like many other foods.  Of course, to top it all off, almost anything fresh from the garden is way better than store bought in terms of flavor.

Fresh young potatoes really do taste a lot better than store-bought. I am taking a break from potatoes this year because I got some sort of insect eating the leaves of the few I had. I pulled them up and got rid of the plants. Hopefully next year I can plant some. Had over two hundred pounds last fall, and that was too much!

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #75 on: June 07, 2016, 03:14:05 PM »
Re: potatoes, it kind of depends what you care about.

I don't generally grow potatoes because we have a potato farm nearby where I can buy cheap and delicious potatoes from the roadside any time I want.

However, we have planted sprouting potatoes into an unused bed at times for a pretty much effort free crop. It doesn't save a massive amount of money, but part of me likes the efficiency of using what you have.

I can see growing potatoes making sense if:
- You want to grow fancy varieties not easily available where you live
- You care about organic growing methods
- You have plenty of unused garden space
- You think they taste better fresh
- 'Self sufficiency' is important to you.

I think the bigger danger for most people isn't growing low value crops but growing things they don't really care to eat. Seems like many people grow things like silverbeet (chard) because it is an easy crop but it never actually makes its way to the dinner table.

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #76 on: June 07, 2016, 07:59:52 PM »
Trying leeks this year because we have trouble with onions.  We really like onions and garlic and enjoy the greens of both.  So leeks seemed like a good thing to try.

FerrumB5

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #77 on: June 07, 2016, 08:25:04 PM »
Trying leeks this year because we have trouble with onions.  We really like onions and garlic and enjoy the greens of both.  So leeks seemed like a good thing to try.

Buy a bunch of green onions from the store. Cut white parts and stick them into dirt. In 1-2 weeks you will have all season green onions, just cut one or two from each plant when you cook so that it regenerates. Works 100%. Mine are 1 - 1.5 feet tall already :) See e.g. here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq9iTtef9jM

horsepoor

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #78 on: June 07, 2016, 11:05:54 PM »
Trying leeks this year because we have trouble with onions.  We really like onions and garlic and enjoy the greens of both.  So leeks seemed like a good thing to try.

Let a couple go to seed, and you should have volunteer leeks the next season.  I did this by accident, and have baby leeks all over one of my garden beds. 

What troubles do you have with onions?  Mine never get too big, but they're usually a worry-free crop.

rockeTree

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #79 on: June 08, 2016, 04:37:32 AM »
Shallots another relatively trouble free allium if you're casting about!


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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #80 on: June 08, 2016, 07:07:17 AM »
Rooting tomato suckers for extra plants = free tomatoes.

Loretta

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #81 on: June 08, 2016, 07:17:26 AM »
I have a garden on my high rise apartment balcony.  I used orange Homer Home Depot buckets but you could probably source similar free buckets from restaurants or used the Costco-sized plastic receptacles for cat litter or laundry detergent.  I did tomato plants last year but they were all a bit disappointing in taste.  This year I planted some sunflowers and 2 clematis plants for some vining and shade potentially, as the sun coming through the balcony doors is HOT HOT HOT.  I put egg shells, banana peels etc in the soil as they appear in the kitchen.  This clematis might also bring some hummingbirds around which my cats would enjoy watching from the living room. 

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #82 on: June 08, 2016, 07:33:45 AM »
Trying leeks this year because we have trouble with onions.  We really like onions and garlic and enjoy the greens of both.  So leeks seemed like a good thing to try.

Buy a bunch of green onions from the store. Cut white parts and stick them into dirt. In 1-2 weeks you will have all season green onions, just cut one or two from each plant when you cook so that it regenerates. Works 100%. Mine are 1 - 1.5 feet tall already :) See e.g. here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq9iTtef9jM

We've been doing the reverse-- the cut off rooting section of white and red onions get stuck in various garden beds.  Maybe half or more grow greens.  Usually the bottom doesn't fully develop though.  Same result when I planted onion starts.  I read somewhere that onions have particular ratings on which regions they grow in.  Multiplying onions are less picky and leeks aren't picky at all.  Garlic hasn't been a problem.

robartsd

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #83 on: June 08, 2016, 08:55:02 AM »
or used the Costco-sized plastic receptacles for cat litter or laundry detergent.
Warning: most plastics obsorb and release chemicals in contact with them, don't think that by washing out your bucket you've completely eliminated ALL of whatever was in them. Of course filled with good clean soil rich in organic matter, you're not very likely to have problems in your produce, but you should still be aware of the potential.

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #84 on: June 08, 2016, 08:56:39 AM »
One problem people have with onions is that because the leaves are skinny, they don't eat sunlight as well as other plants. You have to be fairly vigilant with the weeding, especially when they're small, and make sure they're somewhere with lots of sun.

Loretta

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #85 on: June 08, 2016, 07:36:35 PM »
Don't tell me what to think.  Please.  Thanks.

or used the Costco-sized plastic receptacles for cat litter or laundry detergent.
Warning: most plastics obsorb and release chemicals in contact with them, don't think that by washing out your bucket you've completely eliminated ALL of whatever was in them. Of course filled with good clean soil rich in organic matter, you're not very likely to have problems in your produce, but you should still be aware of the potential.

Arktinkerer

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #86 on: June 08, 2016, 09:34:14 PM »
Don't tell me what to think.  Please.  Thanks.

or used the Costco-sized plastic receptacles for cat litter or laundry detergent.
Warning: most plastics obsorb and release chemicals in contact with them, don't think that by washing out your bucket you've completely eliminated ALL of whatever was in them. Of course filled with good clean soil rich in organic matter, you're not very likely to have problems in your produce, but you should still be aware of the potential.

I think he's telling you what NOT to think!

Trudie

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #87 on: June 16, 2016, 02:24:53 PM »
I see discussion on potatoes, but potatoes are cheap at the store.  It seems to me that if you are worried about cheap you'd want to focus on high value crops.  Plant some fruit trees.  Grow tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, green beans, and other things that are more expensive.  Then plant potatoes if you've got space, time, and resources leftover.

Agreed.  Herbs are a good investment to grow your own, for instance.  Also, unique varieties.  But potatoes, onions, and various other root crops just aren't worth growing your own if space and time are limited.

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #88 on: June 17, 2016, 08:16:40 PM »
I see discussion on potatoes, but potatoes are cheap at the store.  It seems to me that if you are worried about cheap you'd want to focus on high value crops.  Plant some fruit trees.  Grow tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, green beans, and other things that are more expensive.  Then plant potatoes if you've got space, time, and resources leftover.

Agreed.  Herbs are a good investment to grow your own, for instance.  Also, unique varieties.  But potatoes, onions, and various other root crops just aren't worth growing your own if space and time are limited.

If your only goal is to save money, you may be right. But I still grow potatoes, onions, carrots, beets and daikon radishes.

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #89 on: June 17, 2016, 08:27:01 PM »
Transplanted a few tobacco seedlings this evening. The original seed cost me $1.25 in postage, a few years ago, and since then have been saving seed. Also had a few volunteers come up from last year.

I planted sweet corn today from seeds saved from last year. This is the third planting this year, so I should get nicely staggered harvest. Saved sweet corn can be iffy, not every ear is as sweet as with original purchased seed, but it is usually pretty good, and no great loss if the occasional ear isn't perfect.

You can identify sweet corn seeds by the shape. Non-sweet varieties have a smooth seed, but sweet corn is always wrinkled. You just can't tell haw many sweetness genes that particular seed will carry by visual inspection.

horsepoor

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #90 on: June 17, 2016, 09:58:19 PM »
I see discussion on potatoes, but potatoes are cheap at the store.  It seems to me that if you are worried about cheap you'd want to focus on high value crops.  Plant some fruit trees.  Grow tomatoes, cantaloupes, peppers, green beans, and other things that are more expensive.  Then plant potatoes if you've got space, time, and resources leftover.

Agreed.  Herbs are a good investment to grow your own, for instance.  Also, unique varieties.  But potatoes, onions, and various other root crops just aren't worth growing your own if space and time are limited.

If your only goal is to save money, you may be right. But I still grow potatoes, onions, carrots, beets and daikon radishes.

If you normally spend a lot of money on herbs that's true.  But if you fancy fancy potatoes, growing them is a good option.  In the last week, I've dug up at least 10# of beautiful, organic red, yellow and blue new potatoes better than the ones that go for $2.99/lb at the co-op.  The plants that have been watered incidentally while watering other things in the same bed had some bigger potatoes, but the other ones are good too, and I've done exactly nothing since throwing them in the ground and dropping some straw mulch on top.  Looking forward to when the fingerlings are ready to dig.  The local feed store sells red, blue and gold seed potato for 59 cents a pound in the spring, and fingerlings are like $1.99, but a lot of my taters come from volunteer plants, since I invariably miss a couple when harvesting, and they spring up the next year.

Onions, I both grow and buy.  It's worth it to me to grow red and sweet onions, but then I buy a 50# bag of yellow onions each fall because mine never grow that big and uniform, and I don't want to devote enough space to grow 50# worth when I can buy them for $12.  Same thing with plain russet potatoes, though I might try dry-farming some next year.

slackmax

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #91 on: June 19, 2016, 08:04:14 PM »
It'll only save me about 30 cents on my next water bill, but I just got 35 gallons of free rain water by diverting the downspout from my roof into a big garbage can!  I already washed my car with a few gallons of it, and now I'm watering the garden during this recent hot spell.

Erica

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #92 on: June 19, 2016, 11:57:37 PM »
Potatoes are almost free once you get them going.

My neighbors give me their manure so I throw it in a plastic pool with "the eyes" of the organic potatoes already inside.
Originally obtained the free plastic pool off of Craigslist. It already had a few holes which was great

I had to buy the organic starters from the nursery at first. 25 cents a piece.

Every potato, I cut out the eyes and cook the remaining potato.The eyes are tossed back in to make a new plant


We grow red, white and purple potatoes at almost no cost. I water the plants once in a while, that's it.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2016, 12:02:18 AM by Erica »

FLBiker

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #93 on: June 24, 2016, 01:57:31 PM »
One tip -- I've found that tomatoes (especially cherry tomatoes) are really easy to propagate via cutting.  I use a mix of 1/3 finished compost, 1/3 vermiculite or perlite, and 1/3 other dirt.  I cut off 6-8 inches, plant them in 4 inch pots, and keep them damp.  I've been doing it for years, and 80-90% of them take.  Once they start growing in the 4 inch pot, I transplant them.

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #94 on: June 25, 2016, 08:43:35 PM »
Pulled up a bunch of volunteer tomatoes to give to a neighbor. He appreciated them last year, and eagerly accepted when I offered. Too many this year to count.
I also transplanted a bunch of tobacco seedlings that all sprouted as volunteers, all in clumps too close together. They need a lot of space.
The volunteer sunflowers have started to bloom, and the volunteer daikon radishes are also in full bloom. Pretty! Purple and yellow flowers, mixed in with the yellow sunflowers. A big chunk of the garden is basically a volunteer jungle of radishes and sunflowers, with tomatoes mixed in.

FerrumB5

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #95 on: June 26, 2016, 08:21:17 AM »
Lots of watermelon volunteers. Just sticking them into garden spots that are not taken by flowers, bushes, or vegetables. If they survive - good. If they die - oh well

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #96 on: June 26, 2016, 07:41:13 PM »
Lots of watermelon volunteers. Just sticking them into garden spots that are not taken by flowers, bushes, or vegetables. If they survive - good. If they die - oh well

Never had watermelons volunteer. Cantalopes a time or two.

FerrumB5

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #97 on: June 26, 2016, 07:52:43 PM »
Lots of watermelon volunteers. Just sticking them into garden spots that are not taken by flowers, bushes, or vegetables. If they survive - good. If they die - oh well

Never had watermelons volunteer. Cantalopes a time or two.

Next time you eat wm with seeds - just throw them into garden everywhere. Same with any other berry/vegetable. I'm already weeding out :) tomatoes

Tom Bri

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #98 on: June 26, 2016, 11:12:07 PM »
Lots of watermelon volunteers. Just sticking them into garden spots that are not taken by flowers, bushes, or vegetables. If they survive - good. If they die - oh well

Never had watermelons volunteer. Cantalopes a time or two.

Next time you eat wm with seeds - just throw them into garden everywhere. Same with any other berry/vegetable. I'm already weeding out :) tomatoes

Tomatoes! Too easy. I rarely buy watermelon, so usually only eat the ones I grow, so it's too late in the season to grow back. Ever get any come back the following year?

MissNancyPryor

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Re: Cheap gardening
« Reply #99 on: June 26, 2016, 11:27:43 PM »
For several years I have been using the Costco apple containers as little greenhouses for seed starts.  It seems so wasteful to pack apples that way (at least they are conventionally recyclable) but they are terrific little individual greenhouses for new plants. 

 

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