Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Low Cost Gardening Supplies

Have you been buying your bags of mulch and compost from your local garden center? The cost of those bags is unbelievable especially if you have a large garden or flower bed that will take many bags.

Instead of purchasing those bags, try calling your local landfill or county road department. Most of them shred tree limbs and other yard debris and process it to make mulch or compost and it may be purchased in bulk. Our local landfill charges $10 per pickup truck load...that is a lot of mulch! Even if you cannot use that much, you can share the cost with a friend or neighbor and still come out far ahead of the game. They usually have mulch in brown or red and many times those bags you are buying were processed at that same landfill... a local company purchased it in bulk and packaged it for sale.

Be sure to call early for compost as it usually disappears fast in the spring. Mulch is usually available year round, especially if you have recently had storms in your area.

Have a great day and happy gardening!

Mavis D.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great composting lead-in, Mavis! My Aunt Marian had the greenest thumb I'd ever met after her mother (my granny). She put raked leaves into black 55-gallon garbage bags every year and simply place them in the sun next to the shed. By spring it was serious compost, she'd just pour it on the beds.

I keep a two-chamber compost pile made with shipping pallets, in the garden. We switch putting kitchen, yard and garden waste in one side or the other. Simply shovel it out from bottom first as necessary to mulch the heck out of crops. Overwinter the terraces in raked leaves too, by spring just rake it back and plant (no-till!).

Thanks again!