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| Garden pot, frogs and flowers, all free |
Here in my gradual garden, I make use
of all kinds of recycles, re-purposed items and just general free
stuff. It all helps the garden of my dreams come along less
gradually. Hey, I'm in no hurry, but why not use freebies to speed
things up a bit? Since I'm in forced retirement, with virtually zero
personal income, I'm certainly in no position to buy everything I
need.
You all know about my kitty litter
bucket garden, right? I think it's just awesome that my daughter's 3
cats keep me well supplied with empty buckets for planting. I just
drill holes in the bottom, fill them with soil, group them together
and voila! Instant raised beds. Now, some people don't like the way
they look, so I'm gradually building beds to house them with scrap
wood, another freebie. But that's far from all the freebies in my
garden.
I have a ton of volunteer plants in the
gradually awesome garden. The pretty little violas in the picture
floated into that pot all by themselves. Plus, they're scattered all
over the yard. Anytime I want some, I just dig them up and move them
into a pot. And for sure, they're not expensive to buy, since they're
considered annuals. But hey, free is better, right?
I have my hubby's Mom to thank for some
of my perennials. Every year, she divides hers and gives me the
surplus. This year, I'm going to ask her for some strawberry plants.
She has a huge bed of them and I'm pretty sure she'll be weeding them
out. Fingers crossed. I don't have any idea why, but my whole crop
expired over the winter. They usually come back every year but all my
strawberry pots are sad and empty this spring. Strange, right?
Here in the gradual garden, I also take
in a lot of sick perennials and nurse them back to health. Those
garden center discards are sweeet! Since I spend a lot of time
cruising home improvement stores and greenhouses, I often come across
carts of plants headed for the trash. So, I'll ask if I can take them
off their hands. The answer is usually yes since it saves the
employee a trip to the dumpster. They're not usually allowed to give
them away but some are glad to turn their back for a second. LOL
I could go on all day about all the
free stuff in my garden. Some materials were here when we moved into
our house. We just re-purposed them. Some was picked up for free on
Craigslist. I even have some plants that were gleaned from
landscapers, thinning public parks. All of it takes my gradual garden
one step closer to being where I want it to be. But once again, I'm
in no hurry. It'll all come together eventually. It's about enjoying
the journey for me.
