Gardening Money Saving Tips Anyone?

Miss_Moneybags

Hi

I come from a family of mad gardeners and we all save seeds and cuttings as much as pos to share out amoungst the different members of the family. We also swap with neighbours and friends when we can to keep new plants being introduced to the family circuit. We make our own compost and have water butts where we can too.

To save more we try to use old food containers like yoghurt pots for seedlings and ready meal trays etc. Any more tips from you green-fingered savers would be really appreciated.

Cheers :beer:

scuzz

egg shells instead of slug pellets?

I've heard burrying your own hair will discourage cats from your flower beds/veggie patch

kiwichick

If you use the cardboard egg cartons you can save these as they make fab seed trays. When the seedlings are big enough for transplanting you can plant the whole cup in the earth as it decomposes over time. Same with the card milk cartons. We used to use these at school in NZ.

[Deleted User]

I'm always running out of plastic name labels, so I save my margarine tubs.

To use just clean them out and cut them up into labels and then use a multi surface writing pen to mark the label. At least this way all my friends know exactly what plant they are getting!

I also keep my garden string in a large yoghurt pot with a hole through the plastic lid. Never gets tangled and stays clean.

This thread is a great idea and I'm looking forward to seeing a load more money saving tips for gardening. So come on all you MSE'r......get your thinking caps on.

halloweenqueen_2

Make 'pots' for runner beans using newspaper and then you can put them straight in the ground. Old tights for plant ties, blend in and doesn't cut into the plants. Old ping pong balls or ariel toppers to go on the tips of pointy canes - which i haven't bought any of since growing a bamboo plant in my garden.
A guy we knew collected everyones old banana skins as they were great for compost.

savingpennies

I use the inners of toilet rolls to plant seeds for peas/beans/sweet peas.

Miss_Moneybags

Thanks for the replies.

I have heard that banana skins are good for roses and should be planted just under the soil surface around the rose bed.

I have also been told that growing Chives around roses will help prevent Black Spot and to cure powdery mildew on plants like Gooseberries use Bicarbonate of Soda. Mix 10g per litre of water and spray every 7-10 days as soon as the mildew is seen.

janb5

I keep the name label from new plants and punch a hole through it. I then attach it via a treasury tag through a cane or stick . It withstands most weather conditions and means I don`t forget its individual name.

Noozan

I save toilet roll tubes for planting things that need a good undistubed root system like sweet peas, sweetcorn and runner beans. The whole tube can be planted and will just disintegrate in the ground. Use empty yoghurt pots to start off seeds in. Or buy the cheapy plastic cups (50 for £1 from Poundland) and use those as plant pots.

As someone else has said, old tights make very good plant ties.

Cut up strips of plastic milk cartons to make labels.

Swap saved seeds with fellow gardeners. Also, swap surplus seedlings.

Use empty bottles with the bottoms cut off and lid removed as mini cloches.

Grow garlic near plants that are susceptible to aphids.

Cut up bits of old carpet into small discs to use as cabbage collars. Carpet is also good to keep compost warm.

GreenFingers_2

Hello MissMoneyBags,

An interesting topic and potentially a huge thread…

Perhaps the biggest single money saver I can think of at the moment is regarding the savings to be made on buying bulk fertilizers. It may only be useful to those with largish gardens, allotments and so on or for friends and neighbours who can club together to buy the bulk bags. My own patch is just about a ¼ acre so buying bulk makes sense. Here’s some actual examples:-

1. A good all round general garden fertilizer for flowers, vegetables and shrubs is Growmore pellets. If you buy a 1 kilogram bag from the garden centre it’s going to cost about £1.50 approximately. If you buy in bulk, a 25 kilogram bag will cost £9.98 (last years prices). The garden centre equivalent for this amount would be £37.50 – a saving of £27.52. I buy one bag and it lasts me at least 2 full years therefore my general fertilizer costs work out at £4.99 per year.

2. I have quite a lot of lawn and I really like to look after it so by definition it needs a really, really good feed amongst other things to keep it healthy. This can be very expensive unless you buy bulk lawn fertilizer. I use both a Spring and Autumn granular feed called Vitax Microgran No. 1 & 2. I buy one 25 kg bag of each type and this can last for two full years. The total cost of 50 Kgs at last years prices is £45.90 or £22.95 per year. To buy 50 Kg of lawn fertilizer at a garden centre would be in the region of £125.00 approximately - a saving of £75.50.

The above bulk prices include VAT and delivery charges.

There are a number of these suppliers dotted about but the one I purchase from and have done so for a number of years are called Avoncrop Amenity Products. They have an office in Berkshire and another in Devon and one of their telephone numbers is (01344) 426600. Their glossy brochure is very good and they sell a variety of garden related items. Please note I have no affiliation or vested interest with the above company – they are just a very good supplier of the gardening things I need.

Hope this has been of use.

pol

I too use many of the tips on this thread. I also keep plant pots in an old pair of tights, round in one leg and square in the other. Garlic or onion under roses will deter greenfly. I use corks on the end of canes (bought pretty cheaply from the homebrew shop). I knit my own hanging basket liners from either charity shop wool or unpicked stuff in any combination of brown/black/green/grey wools. These can be picked up cheaply because shops always have sludgy colours left over.
If you plant tagetes/marigolds between the veg, they deter whitefly.
I have also made my own pots and troughs from hypertufa.

HTH
pol