No spend gardening….

[JustJam4Tea]

I spent a fortune on plants last year. New garden which was completely blank. Impatient to start I bought trees, reasonably big shrubs, hundreds of bulbs, grasses and 9 cm plants that are taking forever to grow.

I need to slow down, get some patience and watch to see what is working.

I have an embarrassing number of seed packets so can grow annuals to fill in the gaps. I’m good at taking cuttings.

So no spend this year apart from compost!

Anyone else?

Our garden centre was selling off compost at £2 a bag I stocked up.

Seeds are such a bargain. We also moved house last year. Most of the garden is overplayed but there is a strip at the end that needed sorting out. I've planted some stuff, and the rest seeds and a few bulbs (lots of advice from here!). I'm impatient too, but hopefully it will be transformed in spring.

I look at the likes of foxgloves and think "£2.50 for 1,000 seeds? Let's fling that around a shady area and see what happens."

Overplanted, not overplayed.

@Namechangeforthis88

Seeds are such a bargain. We also moved house last year. Most of the garden is overplayed but there is a strip at the end that needed sorting out. I've planted some stuff, and the rest seeds and a few bulbs (lots of advice from here!). I'm impatient too, but hopefully it will be transformed in spring.

I look at the likes of foxgloves and think "£2.50 for 1,000 seeds? Let's fling that around a shady area and see what happens."

They should be quite happy there. They won’t flower until next year then they’ll seed again which will take 2 years again so sow half the packet this year and half next.

Damn. Should have saved half the seeds. Hmm. I have a feeling one of the two packets threatened to flower in the first year, but I won't hold my breath.

This is me! We moved to our current house in 2019, and last year I decided to finally tackle our long, overgrown, depressing garden. It was a bit daunting, as I'm a complete beginner when it comes to gardening. But I've cleared lots of it now, and planted loads of things. Many of them were very young plants, and I did most of the planting in the autumn, so at the moment much of it still looks quite bare, and I've no idea which of the plants will thrive and which won't. So like you, I've decided that this year I won't buy anything and will just tend to what I've planted and give it all a chance to grow. With two exceptions - in spring I will buy a few vegetable seeds to sow in half of a raised bed I've set aside, and in early summer I will fill any obvious holes left by plants that have completely failed to take. But I'm really excited to see what happens this year - there are already some shoots coming up from the spring bulbs I planted, and I am thrilled! I had no idea gardening could be so exciting

Yep! Massive budgeting this year so following with interest. My garden is enormous and half wood which doesn’t help as some things are just not compatible.

Wilko seeds are very cheap.

I’m wondering about trying things from seed which I just wouldn’t. Coreopsis is one.

I did also take many cuttings of my curry plant, rosemary and penstemon last year. I will do the same this year. I’d really like to find a local likeminded gardener to swap a few with.

I also had a perennial bargain batch from Thompson and Morgan - something like 70 perennials. Lots of those I hope come back this year. Patience is not my strong point!

@Mykittensmittens I'm on a local FB group with is gardeners swapping cuttings, plants and seeds. Some also sell for a nominal amount or for a charity donation. I picked up some nice things and also got rid of a few things too!

I grew cosmos, cornflower and nigella very succesfully last year from seed.

Also some perennials as well, grasses in particular did well.

That reminds me, I populated a lot of border in the communal garden at my last place by collecting the seeds from the foxgloves and aquilegia.

I have found my local equivalent of @JustJam4Tea's Facebook group now and joined. There's a staggering amount of tradescantia going begging.

I do love a random seed packet throw, I have some particularly lovely lookin calendula seeds to throw around this year, the packet promises a bronze pink colour.

I’ve had great success 2 years running with packets of wildflower seeds on a border, they flowered for months.

You do not need to spend anything on gardening from now on. Just make sure you do the proper hoeing and mix fertilizer in the soil. That is it.

Focus on starting perennials, not annuals, from seeds.

I have grown a lot of perennials from seed, but they do take a while to get going….It’s not that same instant (almost) rush from an annual

You won't get foxgloves from seed in one year, but the odd plant will take 3 years to flower so it will even out eventually.

If you have space you can make your own compost and leafmould - again it requires patience but is free.

Raid the recycling bin for small containers to sow and prick out seeds into.

Also raid the recycling bin for stiff transparent plastic trays to use as propagator lids.

Large yogurt tubs are useful intermediate size pots if you make a hole in the base.

we had our garden done last year - part lawn and part block paved ( before it was a mud bath)

I bought plants online which seemed ok in the greenhouse but didn't thrive when planted . Some got waterlogged . some got eaten.

I'm going to dew some seeds in a couple of weeks , I have a tiny greenhouse in a sunny spot and some plastic containers ( the sort you get croissants from Costco in) so they;ll be covered and undercover

Need to get a bag of compost to start them off , we have a compost bin but that won't be ready for a good while .

Sweet peas and nastursium seeds first .Sweetpeas for their scent , Nastursiums for the Cabbage Whites
Last year I cut the Boston Creeper right back and it did really well growing back brilliantly
Some roses (climbers) which need cut back .
I have a Passionflower that did pretty well last year (need to check on it )

And I bought a shredder as we really need to cut some shrubs back .

I was similar to yourself and wasted a fortune. Then I calmed down and let things grow. I was able to divide some existing plants, move things about - basically plants that already flourished there, used those. I’ve moved some things from the front to the back garden and vice versa.
It feels more satisfying than my previously haphazard approach.

My next step is to ask people for cuttings of things!

I do a lot of dividing of perennial clumps. And relocating stuff that's crowded, or getting lost under a shrub etc.

Fetes and fairs are excellent as a cheap source of plants - I do love a charity/WI stall with lots of random cuttings and seedlings. Although I had to laugh at the bloke selling Ash seedlings for £2 each, when I had just pulled about 50 of the blighters out of my own borders. You have to be careful that you know what you're buying.

My dad never visits without a potted something or other that he's liberated from his own garden.

As for seeds, I shoved a few nasturtium seeds in a border last spring, and oh my goodness did I get a lot of bang for my buck - huge great runners across the bed, and masses of flowers. Great for a temporary space fill.

I had this thread in mind yesterday and relocated some shrubs to give some structure rather than head to the garden centre.

Today I’m going to sort through seeds before I buy any more. Also pot up some verbena bonaseiris for a friend who needs a cheer up,

If you’ve bought a lot of plants, learn how to do cuttings. Soft wood, semi hard wood, hardwood. I know it takes a long time for them to establish, but half the fun is nurturing them. You’ll be surprised how easy they are. Having a greenhouse helps or just a windowsill in a cold room.

I bought some Alcea plants (Hollyhocks) they look a bit fuller and frillier than ones I've seen before . They're perennials and about £10 for 12 plants so worth an investment

There were so many gorgeous lilies .....but I have cats and lilies are toxic to them.

The random seed packet throw is great. Did kale in one veg bed and it's been doing nicely through the winter.

Another bed had a leek seed throw. Not a huge success but the leeks bolted in the dry weather and the flowers were amazing. I let them stay.

I also plant 'ends' - the root bit of spring onions, pak choi, spring greens etc

Agree reuse and recycle as much as possible. I plant seeds or prick out into egg box segments. ( cardboard ones) then plant the whole thing out. Toilet roll inners are good for sweet peas.

Yes, they are and it means the cardboard is naturally recycled, as opposed to going through a mechanised way. I recycle as much as I can through my compost bin

I find that weet peas do better in deep hanging baskets.