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Gardening On The Cheap, Part 2

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By MONICA BRANDIES | The Brandon News

Published: February 16, 2007

You don't have to spend much money to have a great garden.

And one of my recent columns mentioned five ways to garden on the cheap. They are: plan, plant seeds, share plants, shop at garage sales and revive the almost lost.

Here are five more ways.

1. RECYCLE. Much of what the rest of the world does not want is great for the garden.

By recycling the "Big Three" -- newspapers, grass clippings and leaves -- you can add mulch, humus and a small amount of nutrients to your soil with no cost except for the hauling and the spreading.
Growers must constantly renew and can never get too much humus in the soil.

It will encourage microbial life in the soil that will make your plants thrive and save much in the costs of fungicides, insecticides, water, fertilizers, lost plants and especially frustration.
Success is much cheaper than failure.

2. COMPOST any organic recyclables like sawdust, kitchen and/or garden scraps.

The best compost piles are one third each of material, air and water. This allows the pile to get hot enough to destroy many weed seeds and disease organisms and to decompose quickly.

Layers of green and dry material with a thin layer of a catalyst such as cotton seed meal or cheap dog food and occasional turning work best. But you can't make compost badly, only more slowly even if you don't follow all the rules.

3. MULCH to cover any naked ground. Use grass clipping, leaves, pine needles, woodchips, sawdust, old carpets, black plastic or whatever you have or can find.

Put a layer of newspaper, cardboard, mulch cloth or black plastic underneath more attractive materials so you don't have to use as much mulch.

Mulch keeps in moisture, soaks up rain that would otherwise run off, keeps down weeds, keeps the soil temperature more even, prevents mud splashing onto the strawberries and disease spores onto rose leaves, and encourages earthworms and other beneficial soil builders. Mulching is one of the best and easiest practices for any garden in any soil. Use your own, ask your neighbors, and even gather from the neighborhood.

4. WATER WISELY. Your garden will thrive on less water if you mulch, group plants according to needs, water more deeply and less frequently except for germinating seeds -- the only place to sprinkle. Also, water with a soaker hose instead of a sprinkler.

Try to water in time for all the foliage to be dry by nightfall. Water new or wilting plants even if you have to take a bucket into the shower with you or dip out your bath water to save.

Better yet, get rain barrels or large buckets to collect and re-use rainwater.

5. WATCH CONSTANTLY. Walking around your garden every day just to see what is happening is more than just pleasant.

It can be your opportunity to see and pluck off the first cabbage worms or tomato hornworm. Wipe webworms away with an old cloth and capture the grasshoppers any way you can. One woman I knew kept shears on hand and cut them in two.

Stomp or drown plucked bugs or put them in a bag and then burn it. Catching harmful insects in the early stages means you will save both your plants and the cost of insecticides.

Also remember than most insects are harmless and many are beneficial. Many caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies.

If harmful bugs do get ahead of you, try home remedies first. Spray with a forceful stream of plain water, or add dish detergent if the first doesn't help. Then, if you really need something stronger, work up through the arsenal of available insecticides.

You'll find that mechanical and biological means work well in most cases and you'll seldom, if ever, have to resort to chemicals that could be dangerous.

Monica Brandies can be reached at monica@gardensflorida.com.

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