Frugal garden ideas?

[Edson]

Matt just did a nice breakdown of some frugal gardening suggestions by Treehugger. How do you keep it cheap?

For me, the big one is starting my own seeds. And saving some of them. I also like to salvage other people's yard waste - especially leaves. And I've gotten nearly free compost ($25 per truckload) from a nearby organic dairy farm, just by asking.

[Jess]

- scavenged old windows in frames to use as cold frames
- husband brings home 8ft scraps of wood to raise beds
- husband brings home buckets
- scavenging pots and metal poles on rubbish day
- learning how to save seed this year
- I had to pay for compost but saved on delivery by fetching it myself

[Kerri]

So far, I've scavenged old cinder blocks to make three above ground raised beds through craigslist and paid little to nothing for them. I saved seed from some of my plants last year - Painted Mountain corn, Oregon Trail shell pea, borage, Broad Windsor fava - and hopefully will continue with other plants this year. Some free truck tires turned into potato and squash beds after cutting one sidewall off. There just isn't enough material on this 60' x 120' lot to produce compost for all the beds so I'm hoping that a compost experiment out at a friend's land using horse manure (from a friend with horses who lives down the street) and used goat bedding (my friend's goats) will be successful. She'd gotten some very good cold compost in the past for free from a fellow who lives nearby and I'm hoping she'll let me know when she sees him again. And I have gazillions of plant pots I got for free either through craigslist or freecycle. I also buy old but still serviceable gardening tools for cheap at yard sales. I just wish I had better access to a truck for compostable materials!

[amygwh]

One of my frugal practices involves having gardening friends. For example, a few weeks back I gave a neighbor some foamflower plants that came up in my back lawn, seeded from plants inside a planted bed, that I had dug up for sharing, and today she offered me some seeds for New Zealand spinach. I've never grown that before, but I've always been curious, so now I have some new seeds to try.

I grow some tomato, pepper, and eggplant starts for another friend whose cats eat her seedlings, and when she sees a great garbage pile of pots or a great deal on potting soil (she gets out a lot more than I do), she lets me know or otherwise shares what she found. This same friend and I pool our seed orders and split the shipping costs.

What we do isn't exactly barter, because the transactions aren't carefully planned, but what we exchange is mutually beneficial and saves us all some money.