One Stop at Home Depot Yielded ThisI'm wondering if all this money being handed out by Capitol Hill for infrastructure could maybe trickle down to the backyard on Jersey Dr.? Heck, most of the republican governors around the country have been turning down their stimulus package funds. Why I can't I take a little from Sarah Palin's rejected handout to help build my fiefdom's infrastructure?
In all seriousness, I've quickly discovered that the hardware of a garden can quickly add up in price. Just this weekend, I dropped a pretty penny on more pots, potting mix, and supplies to build support trellises for a couple of our new crops. I'm beginning to wonder if growing a home garden is actually a cost-cutting move for our food budget. I'm guessing over a long period of time it does, but it certainly doesn't feel that way after you sign the dotted line at the garden center.
I have found one good tip in building your garden's infrastructure: DO NOT buy pots, planters, trellises, etc. from garden centers. The prices at these centers are typically very high. I make it a point to buy these things at Home Depot. They're usually a third of the price of comparable pots at garden centers. You also can save money by purchasing pots made out of plastic rather than clay or ceramic. My experience says the cheaper pots work just as well as their earthy counterparts. Plus, they're much lighter, making them easier to move around.
In all seriousness, I've quickly discovered that the hardware of a garden can quickly add up in price. Just this weekend, I dropped a pretty penny on more pots, potting mix, and supplies to build support trellises for a couple of our new crops. I'm beginning to wonder if growing a home garden is actually a cost-cutting move for our food budget. I'm guessing over a long period of time it does, but it certainly doesn't feel that way after you sign the dotted line at the garden center.
I have found one good tip in building your garden's infrastructure: DO NOT buy pots, planters, trellises, etc. from garden centers. The prices at these centers are typically very high. I make it a point to buy these things at Home Depot. They're usually a third of the price of comparable pots at garden centers. You also can save money by purchasing pots made out of plastic rather than clay or ceramic. My experience says the cheaper pots work just as well as their earthy counterparts. Plus, they're much lighter, making them easier to move around.
One of my new crops will be snap peas. Peas are vine plants that need something to cling onto and grow. This required me to build something for them to do this. So in my visit to the HD, I picked up some lumber and constructed an "A" frame trellis. I'm not the master craftsman, but I was able to saw, hammer, and staple my way through it. I used some leftover plastic mesh from last year's strawberry cage to give the plants something to grasp onto. I planted the peas in long pots and positioned them underneath the A-frame.
I wish I could say I'm done with the '09 building plans. But I know myself too well.
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