Frugal Gardening. Where to Look for Things for the Garden
 (Read 500+ times)
By Wayne Anthony
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Most people who enjoy gardening are always looking for ways in which to cut down on their garden bill. Many gardeners fail to realise that a frugal approach to the garden is the only answer. This different approach to gardening could save you money in the long run, make new friends, and more importantly still have a wonderful garden to be proud of.
Knowing where to look, having a different approach and seeing something differently is part of the answer to frugal gardening. For example, people who see an old bucket see it as just that, an empty old bucket. But I see a bucket full of carrots, potatoes or even annual and perennial plants all flowering on the patio. Sure it’s an old bucket but how much would you pay at a garden centre for a planter?
How many of you have a baby bath in the attic? Now how many of you have one in the garden? Well I do and it’s full of seaweed at the moment. That seaweed and the liquid inside the baby bath will keep my plants, trees and shrubs fed for years to come when I drain it and bottle the seaweed extract. And as for the seaweed itself, well I intend to mix that into the soil next spring and then plant my plant and vegetable seeds. The bath will then be utilised for something else, maybe a planter.
Do you get my drift? I don’t save every bucket, bath or bottle but I reuse many of them as best as I can in the garden. It’s all part of being a frugal gardener, and believe me you will still have a wonderful garden. So if you haven’t got an old bucket or baby bath in the loft where do you look? Well read on and I will tell you a few good places to look.
Friends and Family
What a better place to start than friends and family. I am sure if you ask they will have something they no longer need. Look at it and see if you can use it in the garden. Imagination plays a big part here. Sure it might look old and decrepit now but full of flowers and you wouldn’t notice the old thing would you?
1 Euro Shops
It seems every country has these shops. Cheap shops which sell almost everything for 1 Euro or less, and it’s just perfect for anyone who wants to become a frugal gardener. To me a shop like that are like an Aladdin’s cave and not for the food and drinks they sell either. Instead I go past them and look at the other sections. Many have a garden section where they sell things and they are perfect. I have picked up wind chimes, ornaments, planters and even plants from these shops with many being less than a carton of milk.
Tips and Skips
You know the ones. The skips that stand outside people’s homes when they are throwing things away or renovating the house. Have you ever looked inside one of them? I know someone who once found a laptop in there. A working laptop. It wasn’t the latest but it more than did what they used it for! That is probably a rare occurrence, but if you do look inside these you will find allsorts of useful items for your garden.
Car Boot/Yard Sales
I don’t know what you call them in your country but in the UK they are called car boot sales, but the principle is more or less the same no matter which country you are from. People sell things they no longer want with most selling things very cheap. It might mean getting up a little early on a Sunday morning but you could be fruitful and find lots of things you can use in the garden. Don’t be afraid of bartering either. Most of the sellers will reduce the price, just be polite and smile!
So there you have it. Being a frugal gardener doesn’t or isn’t hard to do, all you need are a different approach, imagination and the confidence to do it and you will. The final outcome will still be the same in that your garden will be wonderful and just how you want it. It just means you will have paid little or nothing in getting it to the stage where you are happy and sitting there in summer enjoying a beer and your garden.
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Author Bio Box: Wayne Anthony
.jpg) Follow Wayne on his exploits across Europe @ http://sensibleliving.wordpress.com/ he loves to be a frugal gardener so much so he has written an e-book on the subject. Just follow the link on his website.
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