Cheap Gardening

One way to lower grocery costs and improve the quality of  your meals
is
to garden. Even people who live in apartment settings can garden either
with containers on windows and porches, or by joining a garden co-op
which
charges a small fee for space.  Another often over looked source of
food
is to plant perennial plants, shrubs and trees which bear fruit.

To get started you need seeds. Check out your local discount stores for
inexpensive seed. I've gotten some in early spring sales for ten cents
a
pack. For those crops in which you only want a few plants (broccoli or
cauliflower for example) these little packs are just fine.  You can
plant
in almost any discarded container. I use egg cartons, egg shell halves,
and milk containers cut to size, but anything water proof will do. 
Soil
can be plain garden dirt sterilized by baking in the oven, or a cheap
bag
of potting mix from the discount store. It depends on the time you have
to
fiddle about.

To sterilize soil, break up the clods and remove worms and put them
back
into the garden. Then place the dirt in a heat proof container and bake
at
200 degrees Fahrenheit for around an hour. This will kill the damping
off
fungus and nematodes which might be present to eat your plants! In
nature
bright sunlight  does this, but most seed starting takes places indoors
where the light is not strong enough to kill damping off in the soil.

Fill your seed starters with the soil mixture and plant as directed on
the
seed packs. Keep moist and warm and soon you'll see the little plants.
This late in the season once they have two sets of true leaves start
leaving them out in dappled sunlight for a few days before moving them
to
the garden. This called hardening-off and prepares the plants for the
sunny, windy world of the garden. If you don't have room for a separate
vegetable garden tuck veggies in with your flowers. The best peppers I
ever grew were in my flower bed last year!!!

The cheapest way to get perennials and larger permanent plantings is as
discards and gifts from other gardeners. You can swap many plants and
get
some free by this sharing. Try joining your local garden club to find
other gardeners.  If you don't have the time or resources to network
with
other gardeners, you can by plants cheap at season end sales or early
season specials. I'll list several online sales below.

Check out the permaculture sites online for ideas for plants and trees
which bear fruit, so they are more than just decorative.

 

Fertilizer for your garden can be gotten by composting yard waste and
kitchen scraps. City and apartment gardeners can compost too, by using
worm composting. In this method worms can unobtrusively compost your
kitchen garbage into food for your plants -without freaking the
neighbors with a compost pile.

Poisonous and expensive sprays can be replaced by a whole series of
recipes for sprays which use kitchen ingredients. Here are some cheap
sprays  for various garden problems culled from all sorts of newsgroups
and garden hint lists:

WEED KILLERS
Mix 1 gallon white vinegar, 1 cup table salt, and 1 tablespoon
dishwashing liquid together and spray on weeds. To do so, remove approximately 2
cups of vinegar from the jug, pour in the salt and dishwashing liquid, then
return the 2 cups of vinegar to the jug. Close the lid and shake to  mix.
Transfer to a spray bottle (after shaking to mix the ingredients) as
needed. It works as well, if not better, than Chemicals, but is much
cheaper. Be careful, it will kill whatever you spray it on!
If you go purchase vinegar, 10% acidity, 20% acid would be better, and
spray it on the weeds in the heat of the full sun, you will have an
effective weed killer.

FOLIAGE FERTILIZER SPRAY
GARRETT JUICE (Basic foliar feeding spray) NOW AVAILABLE COMMERCIALLY
To make a home brew, use the following per gallon of water 1-2 cups
manure
compost tea 1 tablespoon liquid seaweed 1 tablespoon blackstrap
molasses 1
tablespoon natural apple cider vinegar. For more serious disease
infestations: 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts 1/4 cup garlic tea 1 rounded
tablespoon baking soda or potassium bicarbonate.
To turn this mixture into
GARDEN-VILLE FIRE ANT CONTROL, add two oz. of concentrated orange or 1
cup
of homemade citrus oil.
HOMEMADE CITRUS OIL - Fill a container half full of citrus peelings or
old
fruit, the rest with water, let soak for a week or two, use about a cup
of
your new concentrate per gallon of spray.
# # # # #

FRUIT FLY TRAP RECIPE
Here is a recipe to use in your fruit fly traps, the recipe is not my
invention.

1 litre of water
2 cups of urine
3 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 teaspoon vegemite
1 cup sugar

Mix ingredients together pour about 1 or 2 cupful of ingredient into
each
trap, place traps in and around fruit trees etc.,. Renew the solution
each
10 days.

All feed back positive or otherwise most welcome.
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MISCELLANEOUS REMEDIES
SKUNK and OTHER FOUL SMELLS - 1 Quart Hydrogen Peroxide, 1/2 cup Baking
Soda, 1 teaspoon Liquid Soap.
Rub into fur and rinse with tap water. DO NOT STORE THIS MIX!
# # # # #
COMFREY TEA FOR DOG SKIN ALLERGIES - Cook a mess Comfry Greens, dilute
the
cool pot liquid down to iced tea color, and pour into the dog's fur.
It's VERY POWERFUL so don't use more than ONCE A MONTH and ONLY when
needed.
# # # # #
REPELL PEST ANIMALS
Mix in one 20-gallon hose end sprayer (can buy a sprayer at any plant
nursery):
8 oz. Murphy's oil soap 4 oz. Castor oil 1 oz. human urine 1 teaspoon
alum
dissolved in hot water 3 oz. Tabasco hot sauce
Spray the desired area until the sprayer is empty. Will not harm
plants,
grasses, shrubs or trees.
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INSECTICIDES, INSECTICIDAL SOAPS AND MOSQUITO REPELLANTS
Olive oil insecticide soap
4 tbsp lye 3 tbsp cold water (should be soft water or rain water) 1 cup
olive oil
DO THIS IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA (i.e. outside!) USE A GLASS, ENAMEL,
WOOD, or STAINLESS STEEL BOWL.
1. put cold water in bowl.
2. add lye and stir until dissolved (this is the part where you need to
be
careful -- the lye can bubble around, so don't get burned and keep your
face back).
3. once the lye is dissolved, slowly add the oil while stirring.
4. stir for 5 minutes.
5. pour into a plastic tub, and let it set.
The setting process can take a day or two, so be patient. To use it, I
grate the block of soap into powder with a cheese grater (the fine
side),
and add 1 tsp of powder to 1 cup of soft water. If using a sprayer it's
wise to sieve the soap mixture before putting it in the bottle to get
out
any soap chunks.
# # # # #
Here is a formula for making your own "WHITE OIL":-
1 Cup Vegetable oil
1.5 Cups of water
1 Teaspoon of dish washing detergent
Mix in a blender, then use in place of commercial product.
# # # # #
MOSQUITO REPELANT
Start out by roasting garlic in the microwave, squeezing the pulp out
and
spinning it in the blender with a little oil.
Then add water and some blue food coloring, and put the concoction in
the
fertilizer dispenser that hooks to the hose.(the color was so you know
when it was done dispensing)
Mixing garlic powder with water works just as well and is less trouble.
Just spray it all over the grass, vegetation and everything.
It will be effective immediately and the smell does go away quickly.
It lasts for me about 2 weeks or until we have a hard rain.
The stuff is pure magic. It also keeps the gnats and "no see 'ems"
away,
and even deters the yellowflies.
# # # # #
NEMATODES
Use sugar water (1 lb. to 5 gallons) to drench soil
1 lb. sugar to 50 feet of row
1 tsp. sugar in planting hole (unclear, but this may be the rate when
planting large-seeded plants like melons or squash)
3/4 cup sugar in hole when transplanting tomatoes.
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To Give your plants a mineral boost use Epsom salts:
Like your body, your plants will suffer from a lack of nutrients. Just
a
spoonful of Epsom Salt is like a multivitamin, and can prevent weak
stalks
and yellow leaves. And for big, healthy vegetables, sprinkle Epsom Salt
around the base of each plant.