Save $$ on Next Year's Gardens

[missmanors]

With a little planning and just a little bit of work, you can have gorgeous flower beds, and lots of vegetables at no cost!!

As you're preparing your gardens for next year.......pulling out all those old plants, just keep some of the "almost rotten" veggies. Remove the seeds, wash them if necessary, place the seeds on some paper towels and let them dry to plant for next year's vegetable garden.

As for your flower beds, we've already discussed dividing plants, and digging bulbs, but you can also "harvest" the seeds from those flowers that you love that you may want to grow again next season. You may even want to gather seeds from plants that you don't want to grow again.......this way you can trade off with someone else that may have some seeds from a plant that you'd like to have in your own flower beds. To gather the seeds, simply wait until the flower has bloomed and then dried out, then most of the time you can simply shake the flower head into a bag to get the seeds. Dry these just as you do the vegetable seeds. I usually store my dried seeds in envelopes, this way I can label them and know what I have, while keeping them sealed up and safe.

Our family loves trading divided plants, bulbs and seeds.......this allows us all to have a variety of plants at no cost to us, and giving us a little extra cash in the late winter to buy some different seeds or in the early spring to buy some different plants for our gardens. The tradition is growing in my neighborhood as several of the neighbors get together and trade seeds and plants also. What a great way to save money, and bring people together in the process!!