Scratching in the dirt: cheapskate gardening

About Carol Bell
Carol is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Her passion is journalism and it shows. Carol is our unpaid, but very efficient, administrative secretary.
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Gardening is one of those “puttering” activities that can be very relaxing or extremely aggravating, depending on your approach. Many people think they have a “black thumb” and couldn’t succeed at growing anything that didn’t end up a dessicated stick within a few weeks.

Others think you can buy success, going to the most expensive nursery and paying top dollar for the same cultivar they could have gotten at Wal Mart or Lowe’s for less than half the cost.

Granted you are supporting a “big box” store, but think of it this way.

Is that rootbound, under-watered, neglected plant at Wal Mart which is still alive despite baking on the asphalt and neglected by employees any less deserving of a chance to succeed  than the same thing in the corner of the garden center? Uncle Darwin has already shown that this plant is a survivor. With a little attention it will likely do just as well as one costing much more.

Often those expensive “nursery” plants are so addicted to fertilizer and water, that under normal conditions they wither and die. (“Normal conditions” mean not watering every day, and fertilizing every 2 weeks)

(above) about $25 worth of roses from the sale rack two years after planting

If you lose a $35 rose it hurts a lot worse than losing one that cost $7.50. Assuming the pocketbook is the only place you feel pain.

I feel guilty when anything in my care dies, like I didn’t do enough.  But sometimes the deck is stacked against me. Even the best gardeners (and I am by no means the best) will lose some of the things they plant each year.

I have had years with weather so hideous that fully half of what I put out didn’t come back. Kinder weather means I keep 90% or so- unless it is in the back yard with the chickens digging it up or the rabbits chewing on it.

If you are battling odds like these, it pays to keep your bets low.

(above) That hosta in the foreground doesn’t stand a chance!

There is a zen to the act of gardening. It is a peaceful quiet time where you can get back to nature and enjoy being outdoors with an excuse to avoid housework.

Certain gardening chores are more pleasant than others to be sure. Bringing in a harvest of peppers and tomatoes in a basket nested with basil and oregano for the evenings meal is very satisfying.

Trundling the fifth wheelbarrow of chicken litter out of the coop to the mulch pile is just work.

In the end, whether you have chosen to go with plants or flowers, patience is rewarded.

(above) Jackson and Perkins rose, “New Dawn” cost me 6 bucks

So where do you begin?

It is too hot to get out and start planting now. Who wants to go till up a bunch of dirt or spend every day babying a transplant in the blistering heat?

But there is no doubt the specials at most garden centers are going on right this minute.

Most will be at least half off, so that gorgeous Jackson and Perkins rose might be only 8 bucks now.

Roses are a good bet at the sale table, as they are very hardy.

(above) Knockout roses and one climbing Aloha rose

I can’t recommend the “Knockout” variety of rose highly enough. It has excellent pest and disease resistance, continuously blooms, tolerates shade, grows rapidly and looks gorgeous.

Not long ago I picked up 2 tables worth of Knockout carpet roses for 90% off, making them $1.20 each.

(above) Rainbow knockout rose in bloom

I’ve planted more than half, and am watering the others every day so they don’t dry out and I can plant them when the heat wave breaks.

Any time an animal dies, they get a rose planted on them. Although not all the roses I put out have dead pets underneath. I have so many that I am going to be able to tuck them into every spot vacated by a less hardy perennial that has died this horrid summer.

Should you risk it? Answer this: If you aren’t willing or able to plant it now and water it every other day, can you at least water it in the pot every day until fall? If not, your “bargain” might die and a dead plant at half price is no bargain.

(above) Despite the appearance of innocence, this peaceful dove-like hen has killed plants before

An aspiring gardener needs to be aware of his or her personal limits, and the challenges of the environment. Working with these limits, rather than against can be the difference between frustration and success.  I have a bad back that precludes me from lifting weights that shift (like bags of sand, or flailing children for instance).

(above) Krell’s cat Grendel weighs too much to hold comfortably if he decides to squirm about

I have a husband who can’t be released within the borders of the garden or he will kill things. I have chickens and rabbits that make gardening in the back yard especially challenging.

(above) Three of my gardening challenges

Sure there is all that free poop- but they are destructive little buggers.  If the rabbits won’t eat it, that is great, but the chickens might uncover the roots with their scratching.  Once they get going after some delightful insect they imagine to be there, they’ll have a hole several inches deep. One kick is enough to uproot small plants. Best if the plant is large to begin with, deeply rooted, a bulb or tuber, or too spiky for the chickens to get close to.

(above) The rainbow Knockout rose that cost me $3.50 and the chickens who plot its demise

Perhaps my greatest limitation at the moment is money and aesthetics.

I may be able to afford a bunch of roses at the same price as a six pack of cucumber plants, but that doesn’t mean I can afford the many bags of mulch to top dress them.

In this heat it is necessary to have mulch of some kind to hold moisture in, or you’ll be watering every day.

I have plenty of chicken coop litter, compost pile accumulation, and usually boxes and newspaper to build up around the new plants, but this solution is butt-ugly unless finished out with some pretty colored mulch.

(above) A chicken hides her butt which isn’t ugly in some pretty colored mulch

All photos by Morgan Williams