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Frugal Gardener

lovetogarden
19 years ago

I'm looking for ways to save money in the garden and came across a book on the net 'The Frugal Gardener'. Before I purchase the book I wanted to get a real review (not one written by the publisher). Anyone out there read the book and if you did what did you think?

Comments (4)

  • Adnama
    19 years ago

    I don't have it, but the customer reviews at amazon are pretty specific and informative.

    A brief, not-too-helpful review

    Customer reviews from Amazon--differing views, seems helpful

    An Article by the same name. Kinda interesting, not the book, though

  • Adnama
    19 years ago

    Sorry! I thought I'd put links. Ergh... second try.

    I guess just copy and paste for the not-so-good review here:
    http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2003/indoor_armchair_gardening.htm

    And the article by the same name here:
    http://www.webmomz.com/Parenting/parenting-Organize-Frugal-Gardener.shtml

    And the Amazon link here--

    Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon customer reviews; seems helpful

  • Adnama
    19 years ago

    Okay, so most of this is probably useless, but I spend almost nothing on my garden, so here ya' go anyway...

    Grow from seed! Last year (my first garden--everything started from seeds I bought on sale in the summer, fall and winter) I left my arugula unharvested and it re-seeded itself and came back fuller. This year I think I'll leave one or two of everything and see how much I can stretch that.

    I buy children's gardening tools whenever I can; toys are cheaper, usually, and can work--but I check the clearance on 'real' tools, too. And I refuse to buy a watering can as long as I have drinking glasses and fingers to put around the edge. 8^)

    We have an obnoxious chinaberry tree in our yard, so we are constantly pruning it. We use its pruned branched to make trellises for the peas and cages (pyramids, really) for the tomatoes. Pretty much anything in the garden that isn't a plant is something we've reused. Most of our edging is rocks that were in the yard already or picked up one at a time on walks (NEVER stolen from a yard). I drove past a demolition site and picked up (with permission) some of the stone and concrete chunks from breaking up a driveway. One bed is edged in pieces of terra cotta that I got when my grandma's giant planter fell over and broke in a windstorm.

    If it gets ugly, I paint it. I went to an independently owned paint/lumber shop and asked for a paint color the owner wanted to get rid of. He had several and gave me two at about 75% off, after putting them on the shaker for about 20 minutes. (They were pretty, too.)

    Coffee cans (plastic or metal lined w/ plastic) painted and with holes punched in the bottom make good flower pots--and come in various sizes! (And yogurt, sour cream, margarine containers... everything. Though harder to paint...) Coffee cans also protect fragile plants in a hailstorm. For the flower pots I DO have, I got mis-matched pretty tea saucers and dessert plates at Goodwill for about $.30 each to use under the pots, instead of spending a quarter more for terra cotta. It adds up.

    Habitat for Humanity has a thrift shop called Re-store where they resale whatever could be salvaged from demolition projects. Excellent source for building materials, cheap.

    Egg cartons are great for starting seeds.

    The dollar store and BigLots and the like can have great little surprises. Sometimes you can get those giant Steralite-style containers and that's much cheaper than a bench-trunk or potting shelf for storing tools outside.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Freecycle

  • dogs_dolls
    19 years ago

    go to the Frugal Gardening forum on this site. They have reviewed this book.

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