10 Low-Cost Gardening Strategies To Help You To Spend Less Money All Year Long

Whether you are an eager plant gardener, a beginning herb gardener or just like to have a pretty yard, these frugal tips may help you save a little money!

1. Stale coffee and coffee grounds make great organic fertilizer. They provide many trace minerals and low, gentle levels of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. Some individuals even operate their own home business providing this exact service.

2. Remember a good soaking of water less frequently trumps a light sprinkling each day — for vegetables and for your grass.

3. If your neighbour has a plant you especially like, ask for a cutting, rather than going to the nursery and purchasing one. Perhaps you could trade a cutting from one of your own plants.

4. To simply water a tomato plant, bury a bottomless coffee can next to the plant and tip the water into the can. This allows the water to go directly to the roots.

5. Plant marigolds in your plant garden. They will attract insects that eat aphids and other pests.

6. My man bought some used carpet at a garage sale, cut it into wide strips and laid it down between the rows in our garden. Now we will be able to pick peas with getting our shoes muddy.

7. Use grass clippings as mulch around your plant plants to keep moisture in and weeds out. Simply don't don't use the clippings right after you have fertilized your grass or treated for weed control.

8. If you have got access to them, pine needles make fantastic mulch.

9. A natural, frugal garden pest spray: mix 1 large spoon of liquid dishwashing soap and 1 cup of cooking oil. Use three tablespoons of this mix to 1 quart of water and spray on plants.

10. In the herb garden, to keep plants like mint from taking over too large an area, put it in a clay pot and simply plant the entire pot! "He who plants a garden, plants happiness."