Tips for Optimal Frugal Summer Gardening
Strategies for Maximizing the Horticultural Budget
Sep 9, 2009
Purchasing plants for the garden can be expensive. Owning a sizable yard may require the purchase of hundreds of dollars of annuals or perennials each spring. There are strategies for lowering one's annual horticulture expenses. Here are a few tips for containing expenditures.
Selecting the Best Plant for the Optimal Site
According to the Iowa State University Extension’s Resource Guide for Iowa Master Gardeners’ Chapter on Herbaceous Ornamentals, gardening success is contingent on “the right plant, right place." The author’s advice is to select the plant based on its characteristics (size at maturity, maintenance, sun requirements, etc) and match those to the spot where it will be planted (amount of space available, shade, soil, etc). Failure to do so could mean the loss of the plant and attendant expense of replacing it.
Focus on Hardy Perennials
Perennials are herbaceous plants that survive three years or more. Herbaceous plants include familiar flowers such as Black-eyed Susans and Coneflowers. Each Autumn, perennials die down and then each spring, they return. These plants are able to survive the winter because of their fibrous root systems that lie protected beneath the ground. These plants offer color and interest in a garden each year without having to be replaced. This enables the gardener to save money.
Use Plants That can be Divided
Perennials such as Hostas and Coneflowers can be divided as they mature and placed in new garden sites. This enables the gardener to have new plants to use at no cost. In addition, plants that can be divided can be shared or traded with friends. Again, this gives the gardener new and different plants at no cost.
Choose Perennials That can be Over Wintered
Plants such as Canna, Dahlias and Gladiolas that grow from bulbs, tubers or corms (underground organs) can be dug up after the first frost and kept during the winter. The tubers, corms, etc can be stored inside in various mediums (e.g. vermiculite for Dahlias) and then replanted in the spring or early summer.
Use Annuals in Containers
Annuals such as Geraniums can be grown in containers during the summer and then brought inside for the winter. For this strategy to be effective as well as worth the hassle, there has to be sufficient indoor capacity and adequate light, either an indoor grow light or south facing window. Plants can be brought out when the weather gets warm. At this point these plants may need to be cut back as they may have become leggy over the winter.
There are a number of ways of reducing plant expenditures by using perennials, dividing and sharing plants as well as over wintering plants in containers or as root systems.
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