How To Be A Frugal Gardener

It's no secret that I love flowers. Put me in a garden center, and I can spend an hour dreaming. Annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, I want them all.

But here's the thing. I am tired of spending money on this house, tired of investing in something that will probably not pay off in the end. Everything I do to this house is for the sole purpose of selling it one day in the not too distant future. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not my home.

For this reason, I am not going to spend a lot of money on any more landscaping projects. Instead, I'm going to work hard at being a frugal gardener.

I have a lot of holes to fill in the back yard garden, and if I do not get them filled with plants, then the weeds are likely to take over. I've decided to plant a lot of easy growing flowers by seed. For a dollar and some change, I can buy a packet of seeds that will grow to the equivalent of one or two flats of flowers at the garden center.

Here are a few varieties that are easy to grow by seed:

Bachelor's Buttons
Cleome
Cosmos
Marigolds
Hollyhocks
Delphinium
Morning Glory
Sweet Peas
Sunflower
Zinnias

Another way that I am saving money is by cannibalizing my own garden. I'm taking mature plants, splitting them, and moving them around the garden beds to fill holes. This is a great project for the fall, but our weather has been cool enough to transplant this spring too.

Some perennials that can easily be split:

Hostas
Daylilies
Tiger Lilies
Lamb's Ear
Daisies
Purple Coneflower
Black-Eyed Susans
Iris

Gardening will be a little tricky this year with the addition of my new garden helper. Jemma loves to play in the yard, but for some reason she gets overly excited whenever she sees me weeding. I think she just wants to play, and weeding looks like a fun game of grab and chase.

And did I mention that she's a bit of a digger?

Look at those paws! They're huge! They're like big shovels. She's such a sweet girl, though. That face. Who could get angry with that face? I do love having her around the house and garden with me.

The weather is supposed to improve this week, so I'm getting my beds ready for planting. Lots of weeding, lots of seed sowing, and a prayer that it will all grow.