ADN Budget Gardening Part II

Budget Gardening Part II

By Bev Eckman-Onyskow
For the Daily News
     Last Sunday I starting talking about the fact that everyone is trying to save money. That column discussed making your own compost, keeping good records, scavenging for racks, getting gardening books from the library instead of buying them and propagating plants, all ways to save dollars.
     What else can a gardener do?
     Looking for answers, I checked with garden aficionados from Michigan to Albuquerque to Otero County. While the climate zones are different for all three, the basic concepts are the same, regardless of zone.
     My sister-in-law, Lou Ann Eckman, started me on this odyssey looking for less expensive ways to get good results. When I visited her in Michigan over the holidays, she said that due to job losses, she had to go budget or give up gardening.
     Spurred by our discussion, I found “Gardening on a Budget,” by Kathy Cranage, in the December 2008 Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardener News.
     I also queried the members of the Otero County Master Gardener Association for ideas on budget gardening. Obviously, there’s a lot of overlap. So I’ve gone through these sources and sorted them out by category.

POTS, TOOLS AND MORE
     Lou said she “rejuvenates old pots with crackle paints, or stonework paint sprays, which gives it texture. Paint plastic pots with whatever will stick, and make it look like a new pot. Terra cotta pots have character and don’t need paint. If terra cotta pots get broken, recycle the chips in the bottoms of other pots for drainage.
     “I buy pots at garage sales. Use your imagination, like granite on metal. Take a hammer and nails and punch holes in the bottoms for drainage. I use old window boxes I find at sales for planters. There are a lot of things you can do with things you find in your garage or basement.
     “For example, I had a crystal punch bowl my mother gave me, but it had some chips in the top so I didn’t want to use it for entertaining. So I took it outside where I didn’t have flowers and wanted to fill in, and used it for a birdbath. I watch the birds play in it. When people come over, I float a couple of flowers on the water and it really looks nice. I use pine needles around hostas; it really works to keep slugs from eating little holes in the leaves, instead of buying chemicals.
     “Repair tools, or put new handles on them instead of buying new.”
     Lou is not the only one who haunts sales.
      “Look for decorative pots, used pots and gardening tools at garage sales, flea markets, estate sales and moving sales,” suggested Master Gardener Gail Goossen and husband Stu, of Mayhill. “You find stuff you don’t find at stores. People come from everywhere and the things are unique.”

START SEEDS OR SWAP
     The consensus was that’s it’s less expensive to do it yourself than to buy plants, so start your own from seed or by propagation. Note that if starting seed, there must be a reliable light source or the result will be spindly seedlings that will not thrive. I know; I’ve done it.
     Several people mentioned buddy systems--buying seed in the larger, cheaper quantities, and then divvying them up.
     “If you want to plant herbs, for example, and have five people you can share with, you each buy a different packet of seeds and share them,“ from Master Gardener Lois Glahn of Alamogordo.
     Dividing plants and holding a perennial swap was also suggested by several gardeners.
      Another idea: “Use tubes from toilet paper and paper towels. Cut them in pieces about 2 inches long, fill with seed starter mix, and get your seeds planted for spring,” from Master Gardener Marty Mills of Cloudcroft.

USE MULCH
     “One of the easiest practices for lowering your gardening labor time and cost is mulch,” suggested Beth Gordon, Otero Cooperative Extension Service agriculture agent.
     “Clean grass cuttings, gently packed around your seedlings and over the entire garden to a depth of 2-4 inches keep weeds out because they cannot get sun to photosynthesize and grow, and will save water since they shade the soil and slow down evaporation. Using more than 4 inches can result in mold.
     “Other organic matter can be used, shredded wood, straw, etc. But keep in mind the larger the mulching pieces, the easier it is for sunlight to get in and grow up the weed seeds.”
     That saves buying mulch.

USE COLOR / FILLERS
     "Use masses of one plant for color, it can be cheaper than buying different colors. Put brighter colors farther away, yellow, white, orange. Blues, purples, any rich colors plant closer to the house," Lou suggested. "It draws the eye. It's like painting a picture, filling the eye with color, and you need less plants that way."
     Lou said she doesn't have "to plant something in every spot," because she uses plants that will fill in, like petunias that run and groundcovers. Logs and driftwood can also be fillers. "It's OK to put vegetables in with flowers and herbs, like basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme, in with flowers, if you don't have a lot of space, that helps.
     "Put rocks in one area to fill. Ask local farmers for rocks, they may give them away. (Note: big rocks grow wild in Michigan.) But you don't need every space filled, and it's cheaper than hiring a landscape company."

READ UP
     Kathy Cranage, editor of the Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardener newsletter, praises “The Budget Gardener,” by Maureen Gilmer. “This book covers everything I found on the Web and more,” Cranage wrote. “It gave me some more ideas to explore on the Web, like home made fertilizers and pest control mixtures. Paul James, who appears on HGTV, has some good ideas on home made fertilizers. Suite101.com has quite a few ideas for home made organic pest control.”
     She also suggested recycling cell packs, saving unused seeds, using empty ice cream containers to start transplants, and checking the HGTV Web site and its link, “Ideas for Low Cost Gardening.”
     Note that the Alamogordo and Tularosa public libraries, as well as the New Mexico State University Townsend library, offer free computer access for cardholders. Anyone in the community can get a free card at the Townsend,
* The Otero County Cooperative Extension office on the fairgrounds has a variety of pamphlets on gardening topics, free. Information is also available on the Master Gardener Hotline, (575) 437-0231. "We can e-mail them Web sites, or they can come in and get hard copies at the Extension office," Gordon said.
* Before you buy, check your library for books on gardening.
* Visit online sources. Gordon suggests “Home Vegetable Gardening in New Mexico,“ by George Dickerson, Extension Horticulturalist. It is excellent, comprehensive. Find it at:
http://cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/circ457.html
And for the kids:
http://www.kiddiegardens.com/easy_to_grow_vegetables.html
     A sample: “Cress. This must be the absolutely easiest vegetable to grow. Usually grown indoors in flat containers with just some damp kitchen towel or blotting paper, you simply cannot go wrong. Cress, like mustard, grows very quickly and is the ideal starting place for young children.”
* Catalogues. They have not only pictures and prices, but also a plethora of gardening information. Alamogordo is in U.S. Department of Agriculture Zone 7B.
     Remember that altitude is also a factor. Alamogordo is at 4,335 feet of elevation, but Cloudcroft is at 8,663. According to the Lapse Rate, temperature drops 5.4 degrees per 1,000 feet of elevation, so there is an approximate 21.6 degrees difference in temperature between the two, which needs to be taken into consideration.
     January mail brought me a pile of catalogues. If you need more, here are three classics:
--Stark Bros., (800) 325-4180, www.starkbros.com. Specializes in fruits and trees, has a one-year guarantee on its plants.
--Burpee’s: (800) 333-5808, www.burpee.com, probably the granddaddy of catalogues, going back to the late 1800s.
--Jackson & Perkins, (800) 292-4769, www.jacksonandperkins.com. The place to go for roses.
     More to consider:
--High County Gardens, (800) 925-9387, www.highcountrygardens.com, natives and plants that will do well in this area.
--Plants of the Southwest, (800) 788-7333, www.plantsofthesouthwest.com, and another catalogue with plants well suited to this area.
--Seeds of Change: (800) 957-3337, www.seedsofchange.com, organic seed for growing food capable of being certified organic.
--Gardeners Supply Company, 1-800-427-3363, www.gardens.com, tools and supplies.

PLANNING PLANTING
     “Determine which veggies are your favorites, and spend your time growing what you like to eat. Grow what you like that you cannot find in the produce section of your local grocery,” said the Goossens.
     Another thought on vegetables: “Zucchini is a wise choice, because it grows extremely well here, is highly nutritious and will produce all summer into fall, buckets full, and can be used in a plethora of recipes,” Gordon said.
     "Buy seeds local when you can. Farmers who have fruit and vegetable stands usually grow from their own seeds. I also like to buy heirloom seeds," said Lou Ann Eckman. "Plant what you know will do well. When you're on a budget is not the time to try new plants."
     “Over-winter plants that are normally annuals,” added Glahn.

NEW YEAR, NEW NAME
     The New Mexico State University College of Agriculture and Home Economics at the main campus in Las Cruces will now be known as "the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES)," according to a report from the university.
     "The new name of the college more adequately reflects the college's continuingly evolving activities, such as the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management and the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department," said Lowell Catlett, the college's dean, in making the announcement.
     Changing the name had been studied since the 1980s. The new name was selected by "stakeholders, staff and students, from a field of several choices," the report said.