The Frugal Five: #46
With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money. The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.
This week I focused on garden frugal ideas and savings. Gardens take a lot of work and can take a chunk of cash. Let's see how we can keep the price down and get the same results.
1- Free Seeds
How can we get free seeds and when do we start planting for the spring? Previously, I was able to pick up seeds from my local library through a seed-sharing program. However, since we moved, my local library doesn’t participate in this type of program.
Therefore, I looked for other opportunities to secure free seeds. I found the Free Seed Project. Through this project, Rob Green encourages people to deepen their connection to the Earth and become good stewards of the Earth. In addition, it is an alternative to the global, industrial food system. I was able to obtain 12 packets of seeds for free.
In addition, last year, I participated in saving the seeds from the produce I grew last season. Previously I created a post that provides directions for how to save seeds. If you are interested in learning how the link is attached to the picture above.
I started my seeds indoors at the end of February/ beginning of March. My seedlings are growing and are now ready to transplant into a slightly larger container. I will plant the seedling stem deeper into the ground which will produce additional roots to create a healthier plant.
2- Free Coffee Grounds
My husband was at our local Starbucks and noticed that they had coffee grounds available for your garden for FREE. He picked up 1 bag. Now with the garden not being ready yet for planting, we must be careful, so the ground does not mold. I spread out the grounds to dry. Once dry, they can be stored in a container for use when creating our tomato beds.
3- Regrowing Groceries
Several produce items that are readily available at your local grocery store can be regrown on your window sill. I tend to regrow green onions, romaine lettuce, celery, potatoes, garlic, and ginger. Although these items are not extremely expensive, it is nice to be able to get a second use out of the products you have already purchased.
4- Rooting Clipping
We love house plants and gardens, but each time we move, we need to give our plants away because they would not travel well. We start looking in our new locality for plants that we can secure clippings from and propagate plants. My husband found some beautiful plants at his work and secured clippings which we were able to root. Now we have lovely houseplants to enjoy.
5- Re-using Planting Containers
Each year, I take care of the containers I use to grow my seeds into seedlings for my garden. I carefully transplant each seedling into the larger container and clean/dry the container for storage. By placing them carefully in a plastic bin until the following year, I save a lot of money because I don’t have to repurchase containers each year.
Do you want to see what we did last week?
Just click on the picture for the link.
Please leave a comment below with your ways of saving money this week.
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