With spring upon us and the sunshine finally peeking through winter’s sky, our minds are turning to planting and gardening. Yesterday, we had an enjoyable #FrugalCrew chat with blogger and gardening enthusiast Nadia. Nadia is the sole writer at Love Live Garden, where she shares “Garden Inspired Living.” She not only motivated to start planting, but shared some valuable frugal gardening tips. Here is a rundown of our conversation with some great information.
Nadia makes a point of gardening for all aspects in her life, not just for food or decor. She even uses what she grows for beauty treatments. I absolutely adore natural beauty treatments, so this was so great to see. She tweeted “Your garden is a place that can meet so many needs: like recipes, decor, therapy, medicine, and beauty.” And it’s a great frugal alternative to everything she listed. She also listed gardening as cheap therapy because of it’s peacefulness and tranquility. I can get behind that as well!
I asked Nadia what are some of her favorite plants to grow that were easy. She listed succulents as one of her favorites, since they don’t require a heavy hand to watch after you plant them. She also has a great post of 6 Easy To Grow Plants for a beginning gardener. When we talked about frugal gardening tips in terms of cheap fertilizer, we really got down and dirty. Nadia suggested that we use well rotted manure, chicken poop and worm poop as a frugal alternative to high priced fertilizer. I don’t know if I’ll go that route. Ha! She also said that epsom salts were a great fertilizer alternative as well.
I did some research and found out that coffee grounds and egg shells work wonders as well. Just put them in a large tupperware, toss around once a day for a few weeks, and viola! Cheap and nutritious fertilizer.
When planting your frugal garden, Nadia says “pick plants that work double duty. Herbs, for example, are beautiful and functional. I want my garden to work in a variety of ways.” Isn’t this the usual mindset of someone in the frugal crew? We love to re-purpose for pull double-duty for anything that we encounter. It’s refreshing to know that this works in gardening as well.
When it comes to having a “black thumb” instead of a green one, Nadia says to read the labels. Following the directions that are given to us can easily yield some great results in your garden. Need more tips? Google them! Use expert bloggers like Nadia to help you get the best out of your plants and use their social media outlets to contact them.
Want to start small? Try bamboo. Nadia says that bamboo is one of easiest plants to grow, even inside your home. Other great plants to grow inside are mushrooms, scallions, bean sprouts, basil and Jade.
What are you planning to put in your garden this year? Do you have any frugal gardening tips you can share with us?