Frugal (patient) Gardening
Last updated June 2021
I'm not a big gardener, partially because I really hate getting dirt on my fingers, and partially because my parents, who live close by, have an enormous garden which I get to mooch off of each summer.
However, I do plant a few things here and there, and I've decided that really frugal gardening requires a lot of patience.
If I had loads of money, I would probably go buy nice bushes and flowers to plant in my yard, and I'd buy vegetable and herb plants.
However, I don't have loads of money, so I have to take the slow route.
For instance, about six weeks ago Aldi had some plants for sale. I bought a hydrangea plant for $2.99, which is a great deal for a bush that will be around for years.
However, for $2.99 all you get is a stick with roots and a little bit of dirt. I planted it in a pot, watered it, and for a long time, all I had was a pot with a stick in it.
Finally, though, there are signs of life!
I don't know how much this plant will grow this year, but at the rate we're going, I think it's going to be a long time before I have an impressive bush. For $2.99, though, I can be patient.
Update! My former stick hydrangea now looks like this:
As another example, last year, I bought a $.10 package of basil seeds from Walgreens.
(What's that you say? Real gardeners don't buy their seeds at a drugstore??)
I planted half of them last year and ended up with something like 10 enormous basil plants (I even gave some away on Freecycle!).
I wasn't sure the seeds would still be good this year, but I figured I should at least give them a shot.
So I planted them, watered them, and now, weeks later, I have a little pot of healthy basil seedlings.
While it wouldn't break the bank for me to buy a basil plant each year, by exercising some patience, I get more basil than I can possibly use for $.05.
This kind of reminds me of our backyard.
It would have been far more instantly gratifying to plunk down a thousand dollars for sod.
But by combining seed, water, and some sweat, we have a yard that looks almost as good as sod for a fraction of the price.
Really, when you think about it, a lot of frugal living depends upon your ability to deal with delayed gratification.
People who are patient enough to wait for seeds to sprout will probably also be
- patient enough to save up before they buy something
- patient enough to wait to buy a new electronics item until the price falls
- patient enough to wait for something to go on sale or clearance
- patient enough to wait for laundry to dry in the sun
- patient enough to wait until they can find a desired item in a thrift store or on Craig's List (or even better, on Freecycle!)
We received a hydrangea when my mother-in-law passed away. It was very early spring and it was beautiful in full bloom. It did not take but a week to wilt and die. I have planted it hoping it just became dormant and will grow again.
Beautiful post. Patience. Yes, I have learned that I like waiting for my laundry to dry. It feels good to be patient.
I think this is my favorite post of yours. Seriously.
Our garden center reduces everything @ the end of July( I live in Canada so we have a short growing season). Two years ago I got some thyme and sage for 49 cents each( down from 3.99). Those herbs are perennials so they come up year after year. Now I'm spoiled and I only like to buy Perennials. Annuals dont seem worth it to me. I urge you to plant an herb garden though, it will be bigger and better each year!!
Oh and if you have a Big Lots near you, they have gorgeous bare root roses for $3.00!!
I have never thought of myself as patient before (long suffering seems more appropriate for gardeners), but I am going to try that adjective on for a day or two and see if it fits.
A wonderful observation. Patience is key and it's so wonderful to reap the rewards of that patience and perserverance. I like your basil.
I think that patience is a virtue not only because it is difficult, but because it causes you to really notice the little things. Slowing down to see what is going on in the herb garden. It makes you appreciate the little growths, the accomplishment you feel when you waited and got a great deal or were able to save up for a vacation rather than putting it on a card when you couldn't really afford it. Fantastic post.
I really liked this post. Really a lot 🙂 So many problems result from impatience and the need for instant gratification, from the way we treat one another, our world, our bodies, all the way down to the way we live our lives and use our money. This post kind of reminds me of the tone of the book "Your Money or Your Life".
Hmmm, I don't know about the delayed gratification thing, but I was strangely comforted to see that you aren't crazy about gardening! I hate the dirt underneath my fingernails thing. It drives me crazy. I guess I should just wear gloves. 🙂
tobye: I hear you. Before heading out to the garden, I scrape a bar of soap across my fingernails to keep the dirt out. Afterward, I do a quick clean up with a nail brush. This year I purchased garden gloves with rubber fingertips and they also keep my fingers clean.
Oh, does the soap keep the dirt from sticking to the skin? I have never heard that tip before!
Oops, I should have said I scrape the bar of soap UNDER my fingernails! After gardening, I wash my hands to get the first layer of dirt off and then I use the nail brush to scrape away the soap that kept the dirt from getting under the nails.
What a great tip; I will try that next time!
One tip for the basil: make pesto and freeze it! We always have an abundance of basil, too. I learned this trick last year!
The first thing I wanted to do when I moved into my house almost two years ago was sod the yard. The grass was very scrubby and weedy. I'm glad I didn't though. Fertlizer, grass seed, and time have turned it into a pretty good lawn. It's still a work in progress with a couple of patchy parts but I'm working on those again this year. There's so much more satisfaction in doing it "the hard way".
I loved this post too. For me frugal and patience comes under the guise of fast food; grabbing a takeaway instead of slicing the onions and making the dish yourself. Making an item of clothing instead of buying it new. Making homemade presents instead of rushing to the shops. Baking bread instead of buying it off the shelf. Packing a picnic instead of buying from the garage on the way.
I can think of loads, but it's way past my bedtime. Great way to end my day though; thank you!
Your basil is gorgeous, and so are my 32 linear feet of bush beans, from the dollar store seed rack, that cost a total of 50-cents. Works for me!
Great post! Gardening is an exercise in patience. It's such a rewarding task IMO. Just a little FYI-your hydrangea plant should be pretty big next year as they are fast growing plants after established. Ours only took two seasons. I cut mine back to about 12" tall every year. It's currently about 3' wide/tall now. The flowers took about 3 seasons before they really had a nice color. Looking forward to seeing the process on your plants.
Gardening is definitely about patience!
A friend of mine has been living in her house for almost 15 years, and she feels like her garden is just now finally starting to get to where she wants it - all of her plants were either raised from seed or donated by fellow gardeners as cuttings or divided plants. She only has grass in her small backyard. It's a beautiful place to visit in the summer!
Great post. So interesting because during my No Buy Year I have naturally started some simple gardening and it does indeed take patience. Since I consider myself a very impatient person and think that learning patience is one of my life lessons, I guess I'm on the right track! Your basil looks so pretty.
Also, before I joined the Compact, when I would look through catalogs I'd mark the page when I saw something I liked. That way I'd have to go back to it if I wanted to order it, and I usually forgot about it instead. It was a small exercise in patience not to call in the order right away.
Tobye - I'm sorry to have to tell you that gardening gloves don't keep your nails clean. Maybe dishwashing or latex gloves?
I love to garden and dig in the dirt, but I work in a dental office so ground-in dirt hands just won’t cut it- I wear a pair of waterproof nitrile gloves (from the dental office, so they are comfortable for me to wear as I wear them all day long usually) under my regular garden gloves and this works really well. Also helpful when painting or staining wood.
I love how I can plant just a few plants in my garden every year around autumn and then see my garden improve every summer. It gets better and more beautiful every year!
I think of it as a summer-to-summer thing, rather than 'what will I see happening this summer?'
You mentioned not having a garden and not much in the way of flower beds, so what are you going to do with your compost?
Use it on your lawn. (A job for your husband, I guess.) Spread it thinly over your grass and it will thank you mightily.
What a great post. This how I always garden. I collect seeds for next year. I take clippings and start them. So many people ask me why I dont just buy the plants!
Well- it would be fun, I suppose to have a perfect garden all at once- but there is something exciting about watching your garden grow...literally!
Year after year it gets better and I feel such satisfaction!
I have friends that do the same thing and its so much fun for us to get together and share seeds and clippings!
I wouldn't have it any other way !
I grow tons of basil each year, and have found that it is easy to grow new plants from the previous year's seeds. After the basil plant has flowered, let the blooms become dry and brown. Then, pinch the blooms off and keep them in a cool, dry place (out of the sun) until late winter. Roll the dried blooms (what's left of them) between your fingers, and the tiny basil seeds will pop right out. I start the seedlings indoors and then transplant them into the soil when the weather is warm enough (I wait until just after Easter). Voila-lots of new FREE basil plants!
Cheers!
I'm going to try this...thanks.
Last year I planted the seeds right in the ground, and it worked. Of course, you might have basil to harvest before I do.
I'm told that you can freeze fresh basil with a bit of water in ice cube trays then bag them for future use. Never actually tried this but plan to.
if you learn what the baby plants look like you may find lots of plants near where you had basil last year.
take any kind of Willow ane cut a small branch into 3/4 inch sticks put them in a pan. cover with water. bring to a boil to sterilize then steep for 1?2 hour. and sit 24 hours. save the water and dispose of the wood. use the water to root things by putting the cutings in it for 24 hours. it works well for me on Roses, blueberries.
blueberries make a very good bush around the house as they are nice in spring ,summer[berries], fall [red]. good in pots on the patio. and free from a friends bush, via cuttings.
My sister gave me a great tip: check out ebay for seeds, I bought tomato-seeds from swedish ebay yesterday at a really cheap prize 🙂
I love your webpage.. Thanks for sharing .. I also love hanging my clothes out on the clothesline.. Worth the wait.. lol
i plant some basil seed too last week, and now i already get some seedling on my pot. i love basil and enjoying to look at it grow slowly everyday. i hope i plant it right, since the weather is changing everyday here. sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy. broke my heart when my melon and watermelon seedling is drown last week. but fortunately some is survive.. yeyyy....
Do you add any fertilizer to your basil plant? What kind of soil do you use? How often do you water? That plant just looks so healthy that I need to know exactly how you made her grow like that!
Nope, I don't. I do usually mix my dirt with some compost, and I just water it when it looks dry. And basil does need lots of sun.
I'm really not a brilliant gardener so if I can do it, you probably can too!
I have the patience just not the green thumb 🙁
I found a planters box works great becuase I can't over water!
How did I never comment on a gardening post before?!
Anyway. You know I do this. You should have seen the raspberry canes and apple "trees" we've gotten for super cheap from Burgess. They come as five-inch-long dead-looking sticks. But the apple we planted two years ago is now about three feet high, and the raspberry canes we planted this year have leafed out.
Even better is learning how to propogate your own plants. My husband has learned how to graft apple scions onto an existing tree, which means we now have three varieties of apple growing on one tree. We didn't have to start from scratch OR pay for a more mature tree. Of course, we probably won't get any fruit from those grafts for another year or so, but still . . . free! As is separating iris bulbs, or propogating strawberries, or grape vines, or . . . well, I'll stop now.
Should probably do a whole post about this so I'm not just rambling on in your space. 🙂
Well, perhaps you were not reading here in 2009. 🙂
You should most certainly blog about gardening because you are SO much more qualified than I am.
I was going to mention soap under the fingernails but someone beat me to it.
In the garden shed of my grandparents Vienna apartment there was a pile of tough canvas gloves with pointed metal fingernails sewn on. My grandfather remembered them being used when he was a child. They were absolutely wonderful for weeding and I have looked to see if any firm still makes them, but no luck. I did find a mention of them in a gardening book from the 1840s!
Your anonymous picture looks like Hyacinth Beans. One of my favorite vines but haven't grown them in a long time.
Now I know what one of my extravaganzes is; I buy well grown, flowering potted plants for our back porch each year and have just done so from a Home Depot store. However, when frosts start in November we will plant the two lavender and two Rosemary plants in the back yard in one of the narrow flower beds surrounding the house.
The soap will turn very very black (whatever color your soil is), but it will wash out much more easily than just dirt.
I've read of using wax, specifically scratching your fingernails on waxed paper, which did not sound frugal, but I have not tried that.
Growing up our garden was enormous.
I have blackberries, blueberries, grapes, raspberries and a veggie garden. I am always jealous of my neighbor who grows large heads of cabbage. I never have luck with cabbage. I only put in a small garden this year. Tomatoes, yellow beans, peppers, onions and eggplant. I grow most flowers from seed, this year it is nasturtium, zinnia & cosmos. I love digging in dirt, however my back no longer agrees with gardening.