What is your Garden Costing You?
It can be a scary exercise to sit down and work out exactly what is spent every year, on the average home gardens and lawns.
Try adding up the costs of plants, weedicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers, petrol, mower and trimmer maintenance, weed eater cord, garden mulch and even water costs. Even the time and effort we go to in order to maintain a good-looking environment for our families and ourselves can amount to a substantial price.
So it is no wonder that many people are looking at ways to save money for more important causes.
One of the first things that you can do to save money, is to make use of as much of that organic matter that many people throw in the bin or wash down the sink.
For instance do you throw out your lawn clippings? Do you dutifully wrap up and throw out those old veggie scraps?
Are you one of those people who regularly get the trailer out and make trips down to the landfill with a pile of branch prunings?
What about those pile of leaves you threw in the bin last autumn?
Do you realise that all of those things can be turned into a wonderful form of plant food, as well as being used as a barrier to prevent the soil from loosing moisture and therefore increasing the amount of time between watering your garden. An organic mulch will also improve the soil structure, increase the good animals like worms while assisting in decreasing the nasty pests living in the soil.
By keeping these sorts of things within your own garden you are also assisting in reducing the effects that city living is having on the environment in landfill problems and costs.
There are a number of different ways that you can recycle these piles of organic matter within your own yard. One is to apply the bulk organic matter directly to your garden beds, ensuring that you don’t pile the material directly up against the trunks or main stems of the plants. A second idea to get a worm farm and recycle your kitchen waste that way; the worms provide you with a very strong and nutritious fertilising liquid for the garden as a bonus. This liquid is so strong it has to be diluted 10-1.
Don’t, by the way, put meat products, citrus peels or onion and garlic in with the worms. A third way is to purchase or construct your own compost pile/bin/tumbler and recycle the material that way.
So just by composting your old leaves, soft cuttings, veggie and fruit scraps, chipped branches, lawn clippings etc., you can do a lot to reduce your costs that you would have spent on such things as garden mulch and fertilisers as well as assisting your plants to last much longer between watering periods. So as you can see there are a number of reasons for not throwing away all that organic material.
Watch the video related to gardening plants
A lot of yards are quite shady, and this can become a problem for gardeners. In our next episode, Mark Viette shows us how we can work with the shade to keep our gardens lasting for several years. More at www.vafb.com.
Help answer the question about gardening plants
Tags: care, flowering, flowers, gardening, gardens, growing, horticulture, Plant, planting, plants, pruning, tips
April 14th, 2006 at 1:29 am
Very informative video. Thanks.
Bill
April 14th, 2006 at 2:22 am
i have a small patch in my garden that is shadded from the sun due to my fence,have you any idears what will grow in this patch
April 14th, 2006 at 12:45 am
I love Mediterranean type gardens. Lots of aromatic plants and herbs like Rosemary and Sage. It always reminds me of being on holiday and having people over for alfresco dining (and drinking!). You could try looking at gardening magazines or landscaping books from the library.
Try making a list of all the flowers/plants you like, look them up on the internet and see which ones like the same type of soil and environment then you will get a sense of the type of garden you can make. For instance, if you like flowers like honeysuckles, climbing roses and clematis you'll probably like to design a cottage type garden but if you find yourself liking grasses, poppies, daisies etc you might like to try a wildflower garden.
For prices visit local nurseries to price the plants up.
I don't know what shows they have where you are but in UK I love watching Gardeners World! They have a website if you want lots of ideas for your garden!
It sounds like a fun project, good luck!
It sounds like a fun project
April 14th, 2006 at 12:57 am
Depends. Range between $ 1000.00 to $ 50 000.00
April 14th, 2006 at 3:14 am
well i have seen many texts that actually say you do not need a liner if you have clay soil. but it is the liner that is the main cost and it can vary a lot depending what kind u get and where u get it.
these guys brought up the idea of getting low cost end pieces;
http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=44107&start=10
i say that since it sounds like yours is a little small and idk how small end pieces are. Also they say you want carpet or such under your liner. plus those dudes recommend two options this gov text does not:
" There are several ways to create a water garden pool. The most popular way is by using a plastic liner which comes in PVC (polyvinyl chloride), Butl Rubber, or Polyethelene materials. These liners are chemically inert and safe for fish and plants. They come in various thicknesses anywhere from 20 – 45 mils and generally last anywhere from 10-20 years. Most liners will be the largest material expense with the price based on the size of your water garden and liner selection.
When shopping for liners, avoid pool prototypes that have been treated with an algicide inhibitor. These materials can be harmful to the plant and animal balance that naturally occurs in the pool. Furthermore, regular 2-6 mil black plastic sheeting is not well adapted for pool use. "
more sites about how to make ponds:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=how+to+make+pond&ei=utf-8&fr=b1ie7
so, answer is, between .20 for the goldfish in a clay pond with plants you get for free OR up to maybe five hundred usD for a pond with liner and waterfall and plants from online shops.
about water plants:
http://www.garden-pond-plants.com/
what plants cost idk but you can maybe find some for cost of postage here:
http://www.geocities.com/missbanji/seedswapping.html
^dont bother with daves or seedswappers and check level/type of activity b4 you bother to join.
April 14th, 2006 at 6:39 am
Call them and they will give you an exact price.
April 14th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I would take $40….about $11-14 per person for meal, $2-3 per person for beverage (soda, ice tea, etc.), and then money for the tip. If you plan on getting wine or an alcoholic beverage, plan on spending more money.
April 14th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Avoid chain restaurants, find interesting local ones, it will cost as much or slightly more, (but worth it).
April 15th, 2006 at 11:36 am
$8 for adults, free for children uner 12.
http://www.bbg.org/vis2/hours.html
April 16th, 2006 at 2:06 am
Hi Mrs Ktresaw
Its great that you are thinking of installing a pond, it is well worth the effort.
From that picture it is hard to put a cost on the pond as different people use different things with their ponds. One person might buy a cheap pump and filter where as another person might buy an expensive pump and filter with a skimmer as well.
So my suggestion to you is to first decide the size of pond you would like, the easy way to do this is to lay some rope or something similar out on the ground to the size, and position that you want your pond then measure it. Then you can price up for the pond liner or preformed pond to the size you require, also you can work out the size of the pump and filter you will need etc..
Other things to consider for pricing are plants, waterfall (if you want one), fountain (if you want one) and of course the fish. There are many options you may want to add to your pond that will cost extra.
Check out your local garden center and resources online for inspiration and advice.
I hope this helps.
April 16th, 2006 at 11:32 am
That's about right – I own a landscaping business… last season I did a job for a client who had several small beds that probably added up to about that area. They wanted lots of perennial bulbs. The bulbs ranged from $2 to $13 each, and since different plants bloom at different times, it's almost like you have to fill the space 3 times… so it can really add up fast in a large space. But you can really make it look nice and your expenses will not be as much in following years.
Good luck, have fun and enjoy it!!!!!!!!!
April 17th, 2006 at 1:19 am
Love your videos, thank you!