Frugal gardening

[catherine]

Thanks, iris lilies, danna, and Jilly. It's kind of growing on me and I know that the plants will get much larger and diffuse the visual impact of the pine nuggets. Plus, as you said, they will break down eventually--just like getting a hair cut you don't like and consoling yourself that it will grow back.

[Rosemary]

I concur on leaving the mulch. Here, things are covered with snow for 6 months anyway, so that's how I console myself to wait to change things that I don't particularly like!

[cdttmm]

I agree --leave the big nuggets. Remember, your plants are also going to get bigger so soon it will balance out and you'll likely be happy with the larger chips for the various other reasons already stated!

[cdttmm]

One of our more recent frugals on the gardening front was the change we made to our flowering pots. We have an enormous deck that looks out on a pretty spectacular vista. One might think that anything additional might be unnecessary, but the deck is so expansive that it ends up looking weirdly empty. We used to plant about 20 pots of various sizes with various annuals for color and interest. Talk about expensive! Sure, I could have grown a bunch of those annuals from seed, but I was never that organized, nor did I really have suitable space to do so. About three years ago we decided to make a change. We bought a collection of pots that all go together (not identical, but matching). I took cuttings of succulents from a friend and my mom mailed me more succulents, and now I have this beautiful collection of pots with various succulents. I bring them inside for the winter so we get to enjoy them all year long. No more huge outlay of cash for loads of annuals every spring. What a relief!!!

[rosarugosa]

Cdttmm: +1 on the containers. I think containers have a disproportionate visual impact relative to their size, but also account for a disproportionate share of one's annual gardening expenditures. Here are three things I did to keep my costs under control this year:
Used much less pricey Dracaena for an accent rather than Purple Fountain grass
Planted a couple of pots with succulent offsets from my garden
Planted a pot with an envelope of free lettuce seeds that we got in the mail as part of some marketing mail. It looks really cute, and is also potentially edible!
I also resisted the allure of flowers and planted all foliage plants in my containers. This has been my intention for the past few years, and I always succumb to the allure of something or other at the garden center. So my large containers have Licorice plant, Kong Coleus varieties and Dracaena. I am very pleased with the way they look.

[Aroha]

I created a little wicker-like fence using the prunings from my hedge. I thought it looked quite cute around the new garden that I had created - until I came back today and found that in the couple of months since I last looked the prunings have actually sprouted. Oh no, I just wanted a wee edging, not a new hedge. I think I will have to pull them out before they roots take too strongly. So much for frugality.

[Gardenarian]

Aroha - I'm planning on doing a little wicker fence this winter, and I'm hoping it will sprout into a hedge - what do you bet it won't?

I've learned to use my pine needles as mulch. Silly, I have a ton of pine needles but never knew that they were good as mulch. I'm using the pine cones on top of the needles around my roses - looks very pretty. And free

[awakenedsoul]

I leave my pine needles on the ground as mulch. Sometimes I use them in my chicken's nest box, too. I gather up the pinecones, (they are huge!) and use them as borders in my front garden. I like the look, too.

[Aroha]

Gardenarian, I hope your hedge sprouts where you want it to.