Jerry has lots of dollar-stretching ideas for saving money in the garden. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
1. Free plants:
Saving seed can be a life-changing experience. You can easily save lots of seed, giving you lots of opportunity to experiment without fear of failure, as well as the option of giving some away. Store in airtight containers such as old jars; save silica gel to go with the seeds to keep the seeds dry in storage.
To collect seed, use old panty hose to slip over the ends of plants with pods that explode – as some pea plants and brassicas.
You can also propagate by cuttings. Jerry prunes plants at a good time to take cuttings – usually after they’ve finished flowering. Jerry also uses recycled pots and potting mix, making it even cheaper.
2. Free fuel:
Animal manure is great and often freely available – Jerry managed to source some camel and buffalo dung when a circus recently came to town!
Always compost manure first, to remove any weed seed or residual chemicals they may be carrying.
Jerry also recycles any dead cane toads he finds as roadkill, by burying them under his fruit trees.
Mulch is essential in any garden – Jerry uses several types – but it can be expensive. Check with your local council to see if wood chippings from pruned street trees are available, or make your own leaf mold from raked up leaves; simply pile up the leaves, keep them moist, and wait for them to decompose.
The result is low in nutrients and high in carbon so it’s perfect as a surface mulch or for growing ferns and palms.
Potting mix – Jerry makes his own, using equal parts of garden soil, horticultural sand and old potting mix.
3. Upcycling:
Repurpose material that would otherwise end up in landfill, such as polystyrene foam boxes, which are great for growing plants as they are lightweight and they insulate the plants’ roots from heat and cold.
Other uses include as part of a worm farm or as a self-watering container.
Jerry grows strawberries in these boxes – the extra height helps keep the fruit from pests on the ground.
He also uses them to store pots with cuttings in as it keeps the plants at an even temperature, plus it’s easy to cover the boxes to create a mini greenhouse or shadehouse if needed. For shade he uses old net curtains found at op shops.
4. Trading:
Some plants give you more than you’d ever need, especially citrus. Jerry makes loads of different marmalade, which he trades for eggs or avocadoes that he doesn’t have.
5. Buy once, cry once:
By this Jerry means pay more for quality equipment that will last. Cheap equipment is often not meant to be serviced or repaired, but good-quality items will be designed to take replacement parts and are worth fixing. Jerry still uses his grandfather’s hand mower and mattock, and has other equipment that is many decades old.
Filmed on Quandamooka, Turrbal & Yuggera Country in Brisbane, Qld
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13 Comments
Thank you thank you for all the lovely tips and money saving ideas.💝💝
Bulk manure tip: Many sheep farmers will be more than happy for someone to take as many bags of manure as they want from under the shearing shed. Just remember to bring your own bags!!
How do you go about finding a "repair cafe" in western Sydney?
In the kitchen we used to put a piece of paper towel in a ziploc bag with the cheese, keep it dry, works just as well as silica gels and is compostable.
I'm assuming RSPCA guidelines is code for a one wood golf club
awesome video
the best way to garden is to not have a garden at all! fahahahahaha!
Thanks for sharing! Love all the tips especially the silica gel to keep the seeds dry ❤️
Mate, if a circus comes to town with animals, you'd be calling the RSPCA, not just gathering manure.n
Thank you for thiese practical tips..ove the pantyhose and styrobox ideas…
Brilliant FREE! frugal yet abundant 🌺🌴🌻content Jerry! Your citrus is 🙌🙌🙌I appreciate all your efforts GA!
Love Gerry, down to earth, very knowledgeable, great advice and great sense of humour.
sea weed is a plant too
hello I noticed that you had purple sweet potato slips.. are those the Japanese ones that are purple in the middle? i can not find them down here in northern nsw… any ideas please.