Gradual garden freebies

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.