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Garden

What's green without the green?

It's a home landscape built on a budget. Cultivate a few thrifty tips to keep it from costing a bundle.

By YVONNE SWANSON
Published January 14, 2006

[Times photo: James Borchuck]

Marsha Colin transplants a Crown of Thorns that started as a cutting off of a plant at the Science Center.

	[Times photo: James Borchuck]
	Neil Colin pours water from his rain barrel that he got from the county extension service for a minimal cost.

You can have a garden that looks like a million bucks without spending a fortune. It's easy if you make the most of what you've already got and if you know where to shop for the best deals. Having the right friends and neighbors doesn't hurt, either.

That's the advice of St. Petersburg resident Marsha Colin, whose garden is lush with plants she didn't spend a dime on. "The secret to being a thrifty gardener is to network," says the retired schoolteacher, who exchanges plants and cuttings with just about everyone she knows - even her hairdresser. "Once the word is out that you are a gardener, you will find people giving you plants because they want them to go to a good home."

Don't be shy about asking for a cutting of a plant you like; just be ready to reciprocate. Once you get a network exchange going, you can build your garden for free with shared plants, says Colin, who has amassed hundreds of dollars' worth of perennials, shrubbery and trees from her generous network. If you need help getting started, join a garden club or plant society that regularly host plant exchanges for members.

The only plant purchase Colin will make this year is $50 for colorful annuals. But she also knows how to make annuals perform year after year: Keep pinching off the spent blooms so the plants stay bushy. She has a 30-year-old red geranium, adopted from her grandmother's Tampa garden, to prove the point.

Unlike Colin, the typical U.S. gardener spends more than $450 each year on plants, gardening supplies and equipment, according to the National Gardening Association. Add the costs of landscape maintenance, such as lawn mowing and tree trimming, and that figure can easily add up to $1,000 or more.

But homeowners shouldn't spend more than 40 percent of their net income on home maintenance, which includes mortgage and insurance payments, utilities, repairs, furnishings and all outdoor expenses: That's the recommendation of Josephine Turner, a certified financial planner and professor of family and consumer economics at the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service in Gainesville.

Start saving money on gardening this year with these cost-saving tips:

- Reduce the amount of lawn in your yard. Turf grass is the highest maintenance plant in the home garden, requiring watering and feeding for vigorous green growth. If you do all the work yourself, you'll save a bundle. Better yet, replace areas of turf with low-maintenance groundcover or garden beds filled with native plants that require minimal care.

- Put the right plant in the right place. It's a waste of money to stick a sun-loving hibiscus in a heavily shaded area or a tender anthurium in the hot afternoon sun. The more you know about Florida gardening, the fewer mistakes you'll make. County extension services provide free advice from horticulturists or volunteer master gardeners and offer classes at nominal costs.

- Be a smart shopper. Don't go to the nursery without a list of plants - and stick to it. You'll be less likely to make an impulse purchase. Avoid the super-discount plants that need lots of TLC. They're usually not a good bargain, no matter the price. An exception: Some garden centers mark down orchids simply because they aren't in bloom.

- Buy smaller plants. They'll catch up to their larger counterparts, so be patient. You can save even more by starting your plants from seed. A package usually costs less than $1 and contains from 40 to 100 seeds.

- Propagate by dividing large clumps of plants and transplanting them in your yard or exchanging them with others. Daylilies, cannas and other tuberous perennials are easy to divide, as are tropical bromeliads.

- Buy mulch, compost and soil in bulk (usually by the yard). Split the order (and expense) with a neighbor or gardening friend if it's more than you need.

- Cut back on expensive chemical fertilizer. If your plants are addicted to chemical fertilizer, get to the root of the problem. By amending the soil with organic matter - such as compost, manure, leaves and mulch - your plants won't need the quick fix from nitrogen-rich fertilizers. Don't buy cheap fertilizers; they typically are high in salt and can burn or leach moisture from your plants.

- Start a compost pile. Stop paying to have your grass clippings and leaves hauled away. Dump them into a homemade compost pile, along with kitchen scraps (everything but meat - it attracts critters). You can build one with chicken wire, recycled wood scraps or even an old plastic trash can or thick plastic bag. Turn it now and then; in a few months you'll have free "black gold" to nourish the soil.

- Consult garden catalogs for ideas, then shop for similar products at discount stores. Garden accessories in catalogs from Smith & Hawken, Horchow, Frontgate and Plow & Hearth are generally pricey and include hefty shipping charges. You can find similar pots and other accessories at local stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Marshall's, Big Lots and Tuesday Morning.

- Find bargains on pots, outdoor decor, tools and other supplies at yard and estate sales. Colin bought five 20-gallon terra cotta pots with trays for just $30 - and they were filled with soil. Shop early for the best finds and think creatively.

- Reduce your water bills by collecting rainwater. All you need is one or more rain barrels connected to downspouts. Colin's 50-gallon barrel has a run-off pipe at the top that automatically waters a nearby flower bed rather than overflowing when full. You can get rain barrels free or for a minimal cost.

- Recycle indoor items outside. An old chair can become a plant stand, glass jars make terrific votives for candles and any item that can hold soil and plants will work as an outdoor container. Margarine, yogurt and cottage cheese containers are ideal for starting seeds or holding cuttings for exchange. Poke a hole or two in the bottom of the container for water drainage.

- Invest in quality tools and pamper them. Don't buy cheap tools; they won't last and could cause an injury. Colin cleans hers after each use and sprays them with WD-40 oil before storing them. "Tools are going to be expensive, but they'll last you the rest of your life," she says.

Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.

[Last modified January 13, 2006, 08:17:05]