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Outdoors

5 Frugal Gardening Tips For Spring

Springtime is here. As the weather is warming up, the days are starting to get longer and we all start to see the beginning signs of plants and flowers in bloom, we totally understand why you might find yourself having the urge to get out and do a bit of gardening.

Due to the fact that sometimes the cost of equipment and tools can be a little expensive, we wanted to be able to provide you with some frugal gardening tips for spring. That way, while your garden may end up looking like a million bucks, you won’t have to spend that much money for those kinds of high-end results.

Know where to get your plants. There is sometimes a misconception that in order to start a garden, you need to buy new seed and plants when that isn’t necessarily the case. There are local nurseries and botanical gardens that will sell you their plants that appear to be a bit more withered and worn for a discounted price. You can also speak to them about giving you plants that are considered to be out of season. Also, if you are planting a fruit and vegetable garden, remember that many of the foods that you already have in your refrigerator have seeds in them. Preserve some of those rather than purchasing new packets.

March 29, 2013

Outdoors

Join A Community Garden

Spring has sprung and it’s time to start thinking about gardening again. Gardening is a great way to supply your family with fresh veggies and herbs and it can save you some money on your grocery bill. Gardening is also a kind of therapy, a chance to get outside and commune with nature. A little dose of fresh air and exercise is good for the soul.

If you don’t have a yard of your own in order to plant a garden, why not take advantage of a community garden? If you don’t know if there’s one in your local area, perform a simple Google search and see what comes up. You will likely be surprised how many opportunities there are close to home. And if you don’t find any information, perhaps you can partner with your neighbors and start one.

A good friend of mine first introduced me to the idea of joining a community garden. She lives in a condo but she enjoys gardening and didn’t want to be left out just because she didn’t have her own backyard. She became part of her local community garden and found it to be a positive experience.

Community gardens are a great way to connect with your local community and they make gardening accessible to those living in condos and apartments. I have never been part of one myself because we have a postage stamp sized yard and I have converted all but one of my flowerbeds into gardens, but if I were to live in an apartment again, I would definitely consider joining one.

Have you ever been part of a community garden?

April 16, 2010

Outdoors

A Cheap Way to Keep Cats Out of Your Garden

Last year our garden was full of cat poop. There’s really not a nice way to describe it. We don’t have a cat of our own, but many of our neighbors do and their cats seemed to think that our garden was a giant kitty litter. We decided this had to stop so we did our best to find solutions by talking to other people about it and by searching online for ideas.

Some of the suggestions seemed to make sense, while others were way out there. One example was to drop by your local zoo and ask for some tiger feces. The idea was to spread tiger feces all through your garden. Apparently domestic cats are afraid of larger cats feces. Who would have thought? Needless to say I didn’t try that route.

Instead, my husband and I decided to go to our local dollar store and pick up a couple of packages of 100 wooden kebab sticks. We stuck them into the ground pointy side up throughout our garden and we haven’t seen any cat poop in our soil since!

So, rather than spending a bunch of money to solve our cat problem, we spent about $2 and we can reuse the sticks every year. The only down side is that if you’re not careful, you can put a few wholes in your hands when weeding your garden or when you are picking vegetables. To be honest, I think I’ve hurt myself more by being careless than any cat has ever been hurt by our clever idea.

If you’ve ever had any trouble with cats in your garden, try this out. I laughed one day when I looked over to see our neighbors trying out our trick. It looks like it’s working for them, too!

October 2, 2009

Outdoors

A Cheap Way To Go Camping

My husband and I love camping during the summer and we’ve even tried our hand at winter camping. I must admit I enjoy camping in the summer a lot more. It’s a lot more comfortable, except for the insects. Camping is fun, but it can also become expensive if you’re not careful. Some simple things we do to save money when we camp include bringing our own food rather than purchasing our food at overpriced campgrounds or eating at campground restaurants.

We camp in a tent rather than staying in a cabin. Our campsite fees are cheap because we don’t require electricity. Some people prefer to camp out “in the sticks” where they don’t have to even pay any campsite fees. We would probably do that too if we were more familiar with the areas we camped in. The downside is there’s no fire pit and no bathrooms!

We never make reservations as it costs more when you do, and so far we’ve only regretted that decision once. There is almost always a space available so making reservations isn’t really necessary unless you plan to camp on a Stat holiday.

For entertainment, we fish for a while and go on some of the hiking trails. We also spend a lot of time just lounging on chairs and eating Spitz. We fish off the shore and my husband is usually successful at catching at least a few fish for our dinner. I am definitely not a skilled fisher, but my husband seems to always do well. You definitely don’t need to own a boat or have your own private dock to catch fish.

To make it special, we often bring our favorite foods to enjoy in the outdoors and we often eat a lot! Hopefully we burn some of the calories on our fishing and hiking adventures!

It’s just nice to get out of the city for a while and except for the cost of gas to get to our destination, there isn’t a lot of expense involved when it comes to camping in a tent. If you and your family need a getaway, camping might be just the thing for you.

August 5, 2009

Outdoors

Plant A Vegetable Garden

Spring is here and I am getting restless. I can’t wait to get planting my little garden but I know it’s a bit too early for that yet. When my husband and I moved into our home a couple of years ago, we decided to make the flowerbeds along the side of the house into a small vegetable garden. I even dug up some of our grass along part of our fence to create more garden space. We planted tomatoes, peas, carrots, green onions, green beans, spinach, and cilantro. Although we don’t have enough space in our small backyard to make a garden we thought we would see how our makeshift flowerbed garden would turn out. I’m sure our neighbors thought we were a little odd, but we didn’t care. It’s amazing how much can grow in such a small plot of land. We had so many tomatoes that we gave some away and had to freeze some because we couldn’t use them all. Not only were we savoring fresh vegetables, we were saving money as we hardly had to buy any fresh produce all summer. Even if you live in an apartment that has a balcony, it’s definitely worth your while to plant some vegetables. You could use a five-gallon pail and plant a tomato plant! Gardening gives you a sense of satisfaction and it helps you to get exercise! It’s neat watching things grow that you planted and it’s a great excuse to get outside and get some fresh air! If you enjoy using fresh herbs in your cooking, rather than buying them in the store, plant an herb garden. You will save a lot of money and have fun in the process. Another suggestion: Buy your seeds from a dollar store where you can get 3 or 4 packets for a dollar instead of paying $2 to $3 for each one. Last year I bought both and the cheap ones worked just as well. Happy gardening!

April 17, 2009

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