A Good Week to be Thrifty!

My friend Betty over at http://mrsyappydog.blogspot.com/ came up with the brilliant idea of a week of sharing tips on how to be (or stay!) thrifty, followed by a swap.Genius! So some of us have got together to share those hints and tips which will hopefully save you some time and money and from which I hope you will glean some usefulness. So here are mine....starting off in the garden....(apologies in advance for poor quality of pics, I dropped my good camera and broke the zoom lens so out came the old-faithful-but-rubbish-at-taking-pics model!If anyone has any tips on how to thriftily buy a new camera, I`d be ever-so-grateful!)....

....So, you know those plastic containers that most of our food comes in these days, well they`re ideal for planting seeds in - a lot cheaper than buying proper seed trays and they serve exactly the same purpose, even better when they have pre-cut holes in the bottom for drainage - you can clean them up when you`ve finished potting on and shove them in your recycling box later.....

(there is life in them trays, honestly.....the beans are just starting to sprout!)....

.......yoghurt pots work too!....I buy my seeds from Lidl because they`re exceptionally great value at 29p per packet for bog standard stuff like carrots,lettuce,runner beans,sweet peas and pansies which were all my seeds of choice this year. They also do really cheap fruit trees. My £4.99 apple tree produced 3 lovely cookers in it`s first year!

Making your own compost is easy.....just chuck everything i.e. veg peelings that would otherwise go to waste in the kitchen,  into your compost bin (I use an old plastic bucket, nothing fancy pants!)and let the worms do the rest. Remember to keep turning it though to ensure a good mix (it will smell putrid but once you mulch it into your soil, the `eau de merd` should disappear)!

Wooden lolly sticks look much nicer as plant labels and are much cheaper than the plastic options.....so start licking, saving and storing your ice-lolly sticks now!

Beg,borrow or.....well, no perhaps not steal!....plants and shrubs for your garden.....there`s always someone willing to divide clumps or give away bulbs, of whatever it is they have too much of in their garden and maybe you could return the favour if you have something they`d like in yours. Lots of plant sales starting soon as well - always a good source of plants and shrubs at reasonable prices. Do try and resist the temptation to `acquire` cuttings when visiting `open gardens`....you`ll only end up tending the veg plot of your nearest clink!

Gather seeds from your own plants or when you`re out and about in the hedgerows and save them in envelopes to dry out ready for planting. I`ve had a lot of luck with taking cuttings (roses,climbers) and just pushing them into the ground. Not always successful but 9 times out of 10 it works!

Try `Freecycle` for all things gardening......tools, lawnmowers,plant pots, etc. It`s amazing at what folks are willing to throw away! In turn, use Freecycle to get rid of some of your own stuff - it`s a great way to keep it out of landfill.

I could go on and on but you`d only get bored so I hope that`s enough to be getting along with......hopefully household and cookery suggestions to follow.......watch this space!

Happy Thrifty Gardening Everyone!