Thus begins my first post in hopefully many helpful gardening posts. We’ve recently moved from an apartment to a house, and are ready to begin gardening. I’ll take you all on my journey in gardening this year, and I will be keeping track of all expenses so that you all can see what it costs me to garden this year.
After a lot of researching and some helpful advice from some of you, I will be container gardening for this season. Here are my reasons for this:
1. I don’t have a till to prepare the ground.
2. I can truly take this time to find out if in fact I do have a green thumb.
3. It’s less overwhelming than having a garden in the ground (for a beginner that is).
4. Even people in apartments can container garden, and I hope everyone can join me in the gardening fun!
If all goes well, in the fall I will be lasagne layering a garden area to prepare it for next spring. This will help me avoid the cost of tilling, or the backbreaking labor of hand-tilling the ground.
So far my gardening hasn’t cost me anything, and here is what I have gotten:
Soil that is broken down manure from a local horse farm – FREE, and I can have as much as I want! I already have a 5 gallon bucket full, and I will be getting a 1/4 of a truck load as soon as the ground dries from all this crazy rain we have been having.
1 Spade that my husband found in the middle of the road somewhere.
2 buckets that were given to me, and containers I have on hand. (Tip: When looking for buckets, check Freecycle.org, Craigslist and local bakeries/delis. Icing and other foods that bakeries use come in buckets, and a lot of times they will just give them to you. Just be sure that your containers have never had any sort of toxic chemicals in them).
Beans – I have planted six beans in a container I had on hand. I had the beans on hand as well, so this in essence didn’t cost me anything to start. Here are my beans planted:
I have also started a compost area. I have yet to block it off, though. I will be getting some sort of wiring to surround it and create a cover out of something to keep it from staying wet all the time.
It is full of kitchen scraps and Starbucks coffee grounds. Did you know that Starbucks prepares bags full of their coffee grounds to give out to gardeners specifically for composting purposes? It even has a nice little label on it that says “Free Grounds for Your Garden.”
So there you have it. This is my start in gardening. Will you be joining in the gardening fun this year? I would love to hear how it is going, and any tips you might have. Please feel free to leave links in the comment section to your gardening posts!
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this info..We are starting a garden this year also. I can’t wait to read more of your post. I’m going to post about mine also. We are doing small raised beds for some of our plants. Thank you so much for sharing helpful info.
So,can you just walk into starbucks and ask for the grounds and they will hand them over free?
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TheThriftyMama Here: Yes, that’s it! Just remember that it is used grounds. Only good for composting.
I used to work at Starbucks a few years back. People loved the coffee grounds, my mother especially. I brought some home for her every night.
Love the grounds from Starbucks…the plants love them! I lasagna my beds and use the grounds alone as a layer.
If you’re interested in free seeds…check out an old book called “The after dinner gardener” – It is fantastic!
Thanks for sharing this! It is inspiring to get my gardening going. I may not do the big garden this year, but I will take the info for next year. Keep up the posts about your progress, please!
a great composting tip: you can use a round, plastic garbage container with a locking lid as a great composter. all you have to do is drill holes (about an inch in diameter) all over it. then, instead of stirring the compost, you just lock the lid on the container, turn it on its side, and roll it around.
Check out Mel Bartholomew’s web site and books, “The Square Foot Gardener” He is awesome and after checking out every book at the library last summer about gardening (not all at once – one per week). I found his tips the best and he promotes gardening with what you already have on hand! I have composted for 2 years now and find it the most amazing process!
Kristi’s last blog post..$5 off $20 online coupon for Walgreens
Do all Starbucks do this? Wow, I’d love to add some to my composter.
Mother Earth News has a gardening magazine out this month and one of the articles talks about no-till gardens and how to do them. When you get to the point of wanting to start moving from containers to ground, you might find it helpful.
I’m looking forward to following these posts since we are packing up our apartment getting ready to move into our new home with 3.5 acres!
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Looks like you are off to a great start. Try this for composting. It is much easier to keep the weeds out and it doesn’t have the tendency to spread out like a pile does. I have tried both and I like this way much better. http://simplemom.net/how-to-make-a-compost-bin/
Sarah Kate’s last blog post..How does your garden grow?
looks like you are off to a great start! I planted cilantro, rosemary, thyme, and lavender the other day and my dd did sunflowers so we could talk about how seeds grow (they sprout FAST and she is impatient!) Last year I tried to do some veggies but failed and we are moving cross country this fall so I stuck to easy to transplant/move herbs! I’m going to have to talk to our local starbucks!
I wanted to start a veggie container garden as well, but we have critters in my neighborhood. Next year I’ll need to put up chicken wire.
Have a great time gardening!
Thanks for the tip on the “free” coffee grounds.
I posted a seed giveaway today as well for a “healthy salad.”
Believer’s last blog post..Vegetables For Less
great start on your garden. I just wanted to point out a few things for your readers…
1. Just like you only want to use food grade containers to plant your garden in don’t use a garbage can for a composter, only use food grade containers. Toxins from the garbage can will leach into the compost and that is what you are putting directly onto your garden, so it will get into your food. I picked up 55 gallon drums from our local Coca-cola company for $5 each and they are non-toxic food grade.
All stand alone Starbucks locations “should” be giving out the used grounds, which sometimes contain used filters too. The ones in the grocery stores don’t participate in this program.
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I agree with what Jane has just mention. Avoid using garbage can for composter to prevent degrading the compost. Other than that, you are on a great start.
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Thanks for the Starbucks tip, I have about 3 compost piles going simultaneously but more nitrogen rich stuff is always appreciated in a Texas Summer.