Spring Has Sprung

The first day of Spring brings to mind many ways to save money and have lots of fun at the same time.  It is also the beginning of working in the yard and creating the garden.  One great way to save money is to plant your vegetables and flowers from seed.  At first this can seem overwhelming; however, it really is easy.  Because it is so cost effective, even if you do make a mistake your investment of actual dollars is not much.  One way to save money on the planting is to recycle old pots and think of creative uses for other materials.  Also, this time of year, you can find great sales at many of the home improvement stores.  You should also be able to find sales on seeds and soil.  This year, we are starting tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, herbs and flowers inside.  There are many other seeds you can sow directly in the earth.  As soon as we get a few warm days and the ground has thawed enough to run the tiller, we will be planting our early garden outside.  We plant onions, lettuce and radishes near the end of March or early April, depending on how much the ground has warmed.  This year has been particularly bitter cold in the mid-west and it looks like we are going to get a late start to Spring.  Last year was my first real year wanting to garden.  I found it is fun and has a great deal of satisfaction. Nothing tastes better than a tomato from your own garden.

A Frugal Princess’s Dream Day

We are on vacation in Florida (more on this later) and we hit the jackpot. On our way from Daytona to Tampa, we decided to stop in Plant City. Ohhhh myyyyyy. It is strawberry festival time. Fresh veggie vendors everywhere. We dined on a delicious lunch of fresh fruit with plenty left over for less than 6. Local grown, freshly picked strawberries were about $1 a quart. So sweet and delicious. If you have never been, I would highly recommend. It was a little bit of paradise at the end of winter.

It’s Almost Garden Time!!!

With the particularly harsh winter we have had, it is great to know Spring is just a few weeks away.  Last year was the first year I was really involved in gardening and I found I loved it.  I have started planning our garden for this year, taking us from early Spring to late Fall.  Last year, we purchased our plants from local greenhouses. This year, we are getting ambitious and are going to try to start the majority of our plants ourselves.  Larry has always had a garden, but herbs and flowers were new to him.  Being a sport, he made my first herb garden.  We wanted to keep it as inexpensive as possible, because we were not sure if we would like the results.  For our first try, it did not turn out too bad.  We built the sides from untreated fence board (total cost approx. $5).  We filled it with potting soil ($2).  We then purchased the plants ($8).  I planted two basil plants, two cilantro plants, one Rosemary plant, two lavender plants, and one oregano plant.  So for about $15 we had an herb garden we used all summer.  This year, the cost should be under $5 to get started for the summer.

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