I have been cleaning up my yard and spent $8.88 to replace the dearly departed Mr. Lincoln rose. I've decided to try to keep my gardening budget to $20-$25 for this house this year. I AM NOT GOING TO JUDY'S GREENHOUSE THIS YEAR!!

While I've been grubbing out weeds and pruning things, I've been making note of what I can do with what I've already got:

(1) I have billions and billions (literally) of petunia seedlings that reseeded themselves from last year--I didn't cut them down in the fall and we had a mild winter. Actually, this happened last year, too. Except that this year, I'm going to transplant petunias EVERYWHERE. Less is not more--when it comes to flowers, more are more! Hey, they're free. What do you have that you can use?

(2) I want to divide one of my candytufts for more plants. But, they're blooming now. When they are done, there's one that's got a lot of grass and weeds growing up in it. So I will shear it off, cut it up, replant one of them, and get some free candytuft. I am keeping my eyes open for other perennials that I can divide, but I've already done quite a bit of that in the last 2-3 years.

(3) I'm going to buy a package of seeds this week and plant cosmos. They come back every year.

(4) I've got oddball pink hyacinths here and there in the yard. I'm going to mark them with a stake and dig them up in the fall and plant them all together.

(5) I'm not going to be shy about asking my pinochle pals for freebies. I plan to dig up some hollyhocks for Myra, who gave me a bunch of vinca last week.

Care to join me to see how nice you can make your yard look while spending nothing...or next to nothing? What do you have to spread around?

I'm digging up all my front garden; the one directly in front of the house,, I'm relocating the flagstone patio so that it is right up to the house. Then the rest of the gardens are getting dug up, made smaller. So everything is in motion in my garden. All the bulbs are dug up right now (I hope they survive), the globe cedars are now in the back yard, the peonies are going to be unhappy but ...they have to move. I'm splitting up the patch of Solomon's Seal and giving a bunch to a neighbour. A bunch of iris are already sitting waiting to find a new home. Waiting with them are hosta's galore. I fear I will need a back-hoe to dig up all the hydrangea but it really is overgrown. I'm hoping the front garden becomes a bit more tidy rather than looking like I simply 'plunked' flowers whereever there was a spot but in reality, that's really what I've done over the past few years.

They'll probably sulk for awhile...but they'll get over it. I've got some in pots that I divided to plant at the cabin, and I don't expect them to bloom this year. I'm waiting to plant until the house gets painted in the next 3-4 weeks.

Are you planning to re-landscape using only (or mainly) the plants you have on hand (or can beg, borrow or steal?). Wish you lived closer so we could trade back and forth!

I've got lots of geraniums in the basement that I need to drag outside and water soon. And I'm sure I've got packets of cosmos that may or may not bloom. I won't know until I throw them into the ground.
I sure wish you lived closer too so I could pass on some plants. One of my kids has bought a new house....in Alberta. And I'm seriously thinking of loading up the car and taking a road trip! hahahahaha. not frugal for me...but could be for them.

I'm close to Alberta. Wonder if I could get plants across the border??

Once you have everything dug up and get to rearrange it, it's going to be as much fun as a foray to Judy's Greenhouse...and a heckuva lot cheaper.

I found an unopened package of cosmos seeds packed for 2009 and wondered if the seeds would still be viable. I Googled it and found this chart, which some of you tightwads might find useful. Veggies are listed first; there's a second list below it for flowers. The cosmos should be good for 3-4 years. Yayhttp://hillgardens.com/seed_longevity.htm

tons of Hosta- both varigated and green, many that need to be divided
Peonies that need to be moved out of my veggie garden area
a bag of lawn patch
a bag of Miracle grow seed starting mix
lots and lots of seeds (poppy, Hollyhock, some kind of wildflower mix, 2 kinds of marigolds,sunflowers, forget me nots and something else....)
Lots and lots of empty planters.
a blueberry bush that survived the winter in it's planter and needs to get planted

I need to buy some bagged dirt for my yard to fill in some holes (going to look at Big Lots) and I would like to buy some Zinnia seeds. I would love a bleeding heart plant and a rhubarb plant.

Ask on Freecycle! Someone else is digging up what you want. I, for example, actually have an extra bleeding heart that I divided, but it would never survive the trip to CT. But if I knew someone wanted it, and they would come get it, I would give it to them. I saw one yesterday at Home Depot for $7.99.

A week ago, after mowing, I decided that a few clumps of daffodils were just in the way, so I dug them up, divided them, and moved them to no-mow areas. I had been propagating a rosemary by layering and finally decided it was ready to move too. I've been deadheading coreopsis and throwing the seed in bare areas, and a garden friend sent me some hyacinth bean vine seeds though none have come up so far. I think they were too old. I'm really surprised none of my marigolds came up. I usually plant them in the garden and collect seeds, but always have volunteers. None this year.

I also transplanted some oak and ash trees that popped up in my yard.

I thought this was going to be an easier summer but I've already got inch deep cracks in my yard. I cobbled together a pvc bubbler sprinkler out of old parts that will just water the new stuff, so maybe I can keep it alive through the summer. My usual cut off for planting is June 1, but I'm afraid it should have been May 1 this year.

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The road to success is always under construction.

I have a new flower bed I started last year. This area was nasty and weedy but it is slowly coming along. Saturday I split some black eyed susans and added them to the area. I also have hostas that need to be split to fill in some sparse areas and a lupine and a few daylillies that need to be moved.

and a lot of other perrenials; if you plan to leave part of the plant in the original spot you do not have to dig up the entire plant. As long as you have a Japanese Pruning Saw you can cut the plant into bits and only remove the chunks you want to.

The Japanese Pruning Saw is quite cheap to buy at most gardening sections in places like Walmart etc. And they are useful for a number of other gardening projects.

...that I bought from a mail-order nursery. It has a curved, serrated blade, and does it ever do the job!

some of them fold and some don't. It's a wonderful tool.

An old kitchen knife - a big 10 inch thing, that Dad would resharpen several times a year because we hacked up rocks with it, dividing things in her garden.

Grandma's Motto was that if the transplant didn't live, it didn't matter - the reality was the mother plant wasn't going to survive if it wasn't divided, because it was usually near root bound by the time she would divide them. dividing them gave them new life.

on the Hosta... worked fine.... and I even still have all my fingers... : )

We planted our vegetable garden this weekend. Veggies include lettuce, tomato, spinach, jalapeno, watermelon, cabbage, beets, onions,cucumbers and squash. We started everything from seed. I spent 4 hours Saturday splitting perennials and filling in bare spots. I still have more to do but it is coming along nicely.

I've only bought some annuals to put in the planters (very few of them this year) and re-used my geraniums that I have over wintered for 2 or 3 years now. I'm still digging the front garden space and getting rid of a bunch of plants that have over grown. This past weekend I've filled two garbage cans with weeds and I'm not done yet. I've shifted a couple of globe cedars and another smallish multi coloured bush to the back yard. I need to get back outside soon while the sun is still shining.

I'm hoping to grow tomatoes on my deck again this year in my Earth Box, but it's still snowing at our house, so I just have to be patient. I'll have to buy some fairly mature plants when the time comes, but it worked out last year when we planted them in them middle of June.

I'd like to also grow more plants in homemade Earth Box type containers, but I really need to stay focused on other goals right now.

I checked prices at Lowe's and they are almost $4 a bag, and I need about 20 bags.

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The road to success is always under construction.

Call the local nurseries that sell landscape products, such as mulch, gravel and compost, and price it out by the yard. If you have a truck and can haul it yourself, it's likely to be cheaper. Back when we had a mini-pickup, we could haul a yard at a time. There are 27 cubic feet in a yard. How does that compare to how much you need? Having it delivered might get you more for the money, but it's likely that it would cost as much (or more) than buying bags and hauling it.

Go to the post office and ask for a change of address kit. It will have a 10% off coupon inside for Lowe's. It's not a big saving on those 20 bags, but $72 is better than $80. Also, if you can wait until Memorial Day, it might go on sale. You could still use the 10% coupon.

There is a place where I can buy by the pickup load, and I thought about that but don't know if I have the time to unload it all before we need the pickup again.

Oh & cypress may grow in east Texas, but not around here.

I wish we were going to be here Memorial Day but since dd is getting married the day before, I'll probably be cleaning her house and waiting for all the guests to leave. Can you believe she is having 10 people stay at her house?

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The road to success is always under construction.

I knew I wouldn't get it all spread right away. So, I spread a big tarp out, back the truck up to it, and raked it all out at one time onto the tarp. Yes, it was more work overall, but I did save money! Tip - I laid a big tarp out in the truck bed before they guy dumped it in (big enough that the ends hung out all around), so when I had raked a big chunk of it out, I was able to pull the tarp out w/ the rest to save a little raking.

I especially like lining the truck bed with a tarp.

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The road to success is always under construction.

Are cypress trees local to Texas??? I have no idea. Anyway, our local landfill does mulch from yard waste.

If not, check for places that sell in bulk. The bags are way more expensive. If you can go get it, you save on the big delivery fee. Plus, delivery has a minimum purchase around here. If you only need a little, then bags are the way to go.

The last two years Home Depot had a deal on mulch bags Memorial Day weekend, can't remember the price but it was pretty good and we got some both years. This year we needed a ton of mulch for all the front flower beds and side flower beds. I prefer the nuggets of the shredded mulch as the nueggets seems to last longer. I can't remember how many yards we had delivered but we paid 102.00 and got a TON of mulch. Well worth it. But call alot of places because prices seem to vary alot between nurseries that delivered.
Jaime

around here they all pay a dumping fee when they take chipped material to a dump. I've always managed to get all the mulch for free as they are happy to dump a load in my drive rather than have to pay for dumping fees.

http://www.asplundh.com/

I've seen signs on their trucks about calling them for trimmings. But it will just be the stuff where they trim/cut trees, not specifically cypress.

Call the electric company and see what they do with the stuff they take out from under the power lines. I've heard some companies, like the tree surgeons, give it away to avoid dumping fees. However, ground-up tree waste isn't going to be anywhere as nice as cypress mulch and you may have to add nitrogen to the soil to make up for the depletion. The price is right, though.

I'm afraid to use anything except cypress. Maybe cedar if it's real cedar.

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The road to success is always under construction.

...another package of cosmos seed for .79, or 50% off. Trina and others that have Fred Meyer: there is a 50% off seed coupon in this week's Fred Meyer Founder's Sale ad. Although Freddy's often has seeds for 50% off during the spring and winter, I didn't notice that this year. So this might be THE week to buy any seeds that you will need this year.

a Mendevilla... I love them and need something vineing for this planter I have with attatched trellis.... I have other low flowers for it, but nothing that will grow up the trellis...

I did plant my petunias I bought at Wal-mart for $1.58 a pack... and I planted a bunch of flower and veggie seeds in containers today. I know I am late getting started.... but it's done. I have 2 packs of some kind of wildflower seeds I want to plant in the woods- they do get some light so I hope they will grow....

I still have radish/carrot and green beans to plant directly int he garden after I hand-turn it over... Our last frost date here is not till Memorial day weekend tho, so I have some time. My grandma said she will give me some walking onions and rhubarb....