henna lion / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Making your own seedling pots is an easy and inexpensive way to get your garden started for spring. This weekend I’m making pots out of newspaper to start my basil plants. I’ll show you how to make your own pots below.
Soil in the making!
We picked up a huge composter for $45 this past weekend at a recycling event after outgrowing our $4 homemade composters. What excites me – other than rotting food waste in my kitchen – is the tip booklet that came with it. A complete guide to composting!
Making rich soil saves me a ton of money on dirt and shortens my grocery list – I’m growing my food! So don’t pay attention to compost rumors.
Convenience is the number one factor in locating your composter. If it’s too far away, you won’t use it, especially if you get nasty winter weather. One solution is to keep a smaller homemade composter near your kitchen door. When it fills up, make one big trip to your main composter.
A kitchen pail with lid is crucial. Fill it up with food waste during the day, then dump it into your composter as part of dinner cleanup. A lid keeps fruit flies away. We got bugs last summer so I’m dumping it after lunch, too.
Hair, dryer lint, and paper napkins
jspatchwork / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
With the weather getting warmer, gardening season has officially begun. You may already have seedlings growing in containers that are ready to be transplanted, but before you do that here are four things you need to accomplish to reap the benefits.
- Remove weeds - These little suckers will sprout anywhere, even from cement and they will suck the life out of your plans by feeding off of the soil’s nutrients. Spending a good amount of time removing weeds will pay off. Make sure to get to the root of the problem by digging them out and not just pulling them.
- Take a Soil Test – Check soil
HomeDepot.com
If you’ve ever contemplated composting at home you know that the plastic bins that hold household and yard waste are expensive, impossible to move, and rodent-prone. I know a low-cost solution!
Store-bought compost bins, like the one above, cost more than $100. (Would you believe Home Depot sells a composter that is $398?) Once the bins fill with waste, they can burst at the seams but are too heavy to relocate. The containers are open on the bottom, enticing raccoons and rats to dig a hole for easy trash access.
However, it is very easy to make your own composting bins from empty buckets. DIY power! Here’s what you need:
- 1 or more 5-gallon empty Homer buckets with lid (they are about $3 at Home Depot)
- A screwdriver
- A 1/4 or 1/2 inch drill bit
Put the lid on the bucket and drill 11 holes into it with the screwdriver and drill bit. Try making an inner circle with 5 holes and an outer circle with 6 holes on the lid. Next, turn the bucket on its side and make 15 more holes, spreading them out. Flip the bucket over and make seven final holes.
Voila! You have your very own composter. The holes let moisture out and the 5-gallon buckets are light enough, even when full, that you can easily turn and shake them to hasten the composting process. The tight lid deters vermin. If you want to collect the juice from the composter, it is smelly but great for plants.
Once you fill your bucket with a mix of food waste and green debris, the compost will be ready in about six weeks. Expect the volume to shrink to half its original heft.
hoyasmeg/Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Composting is a free source of organic fertilizer essential to properly take care of your garden. For many, composting is a daunting task because they think it is messy, pricey and time-consuming, but in my experience not one of these myths are not true.
Myth #1: Composting is difficult.
Composting can be difficult if you do not know what you are doing. Once you get the hang of it there isn’t much to it and messing up is pretty hard. Composting is simply the process of breaking down plant materials to form humus, (as opposed to hummus, which you eat). Homemade compost is the best fertilizer your plants ever had. There are different types of composting: hot composting, cold composting and vermicomposting.
I am most familiar with vermicomposting as that is the kind done at my community garden. Vermicomposting is very similar to hot composting in that you must mix wet and dry waste in a bin and turn it every now and then to create heat and accelerate decomposition. The difference is that hot composting does not require worms. In cold composting grass clippings and leaves decompose and as you may have guessed it, this process takes more time. There are specific things that are appropriate for composting and certain things you should never compost.
Myth #2: Composting attracts flies and smells.
One of the reasons many people don’t want to compost is because they think it attracts flies and is smelly — after all it’s a pile of waste decomposing, right? Wrong. I have a small compost pail in my kitchen and it hasn’t once smelled bad when I have properly taken care of it. The same goes for the flies. I did once have an infestation of fruit flies but it was because I forgot about my pail for about a week in a half. My pail has a filter so it didn’t stink up the place but it did smell pretty bad when I went to drop it off at the community garden. Haven’t had any problems since but I try to consistently take out my pail full of food scraps every two or three days.
Myth #3: Composting requires a lot of space.
Composting can be accomplished by apartment dwellers. It’s just a matter of finding the right spot in your home. I was composting at home before I decided to take my food scraps to my community garden. I decided to stop composting at home for selfish reasons. If I contribute food scraps to the community garden compost I am able to use more compost for my plants.
Do you compost?
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Two years ago I began gardening at a community garden near my home. There are many monetary benefits to community gardening, and there are some drawbacks. Here are the pros and cons I have experienced.
Land
PRO: Living in the city can be hard for a gardener because of the lack of space to plant. Getting involved in a community garden gives you a piece of land. Container gardening has limitations and with more space you can grow vegetables like zucchinis. You also have space to make your own compost.
CON: Many community gardens have waiting lists of up to a year so it is difficult to get a plot. My community garden does not charge a fee to join, but many do. Instead of a fee, I volunteer to weed the common areas and take care of the community garden’s rabbits. I used to spend 10 hours a week in the garden on weed duty but now spend I 15 hours in the garden taking care of the new bunnies.
Tools
PRO: Gardening can become very expensive if you purchase gadgets and tools. At a community garden, you can borrow tools the garden has made available, saving you a lot.
CON: With the constant use and natural wear and tear, tools don’t last long and aren’t always replaced immediately. Some gardens have more money than others to replace tools. It may also take time for you to get your hands on tools if other gardeners are using them.
Water
PRO: Some community gardens have free or significantly reduced prices for water. My community garden charges a water fee of $36 per year per plot. I have two plots in the garden and pay $72 a year, or $6 a month. Now that’s a deal!
CON: If your community garden charges for water, the fees can add up. Some charge steep fees to cover water usage while others divide up the cost evenly even if you are doing everything possible to save water.
Community
PRO: Community gardens are great at building bonds among gardeners and neighbors. At my garden, seasoned green-thumbs share tips with those who are not so good at gardening. When I first started gardening I met lots of people who shared their love of gardening with me and eventually became really good friends.
CON: Many times you want to spend alone time in your garden but community gardens don’t have much privacy. Your fruits and veggies may also disappear from time to time since everything is in the open and you are not there to watch it.
My community garden gives me space when I want to relax. It has some drawbacks but I wouldn’t be able to garden without it. If you are interested in joining a community garden check out the American Community Garden Association to find a garden near you.
Do you have a community garden? What to you like and dislike about it?
