5 Dollar Garden - Starting Out.

I'm starting a new tag on the blog, 5 Dollar Garden.  It's something I ran by some people on a few social networking sites, and people seem to like the idea.  Anything tagged with this will either be a stand alone post, or have some relevant information on the 5 Dollar Garden project.

So.. what is it?

It's about something that's been bugging me lately - a prevailing 'can't do' attitude I see popping up in comments and discussions around the internet, and not even by people who want to try any of this - I don't think they have any intention. It's just naysaying for the sake of naysaying:

'It's easy for you - you have land' 'you have a yard' 'you have money to thow into it' 'you live in the country'- the list goes on and on. Basically anything you can say or suggestion will be met with 'can't do - it's easy for you'.

I guess it bugs more nowadays because I've steered my life in a direction to do this. It's had a direct impact on many of my decisions and so now I'm one of the 'easy for you's'.  Doesn't matter that I started in an apartment in the middle of the desert. Only where I am now.  Doesn't matter that when I started $10 was a HUGE budget to spend on 'dirt', only what I spend now.
 The other thing that bugs me is that people that genuinely want to try this, but have doubts, will be put off taking that first step thinking that it's just not possible for them... and that's bullshit.

So rather than discussing it with a brick wall of negativity for the audiences benefit, I'm just going to return to my roots and DO.

You can do this. It doesn't matter where you live or how much money you have to spend. You can start, and you can probably start today.

You don't need a lot of money, you don't need a lot of space, you don't even need a lot of knowledge.  Every project for this mini garden will be done on a hard budget of 5 dollars.  I'm going to use what I can lay my hands on - and further limit myself in that regard to things that a majority of people CAN lay their hands on.   It's ambitious, and I think some things will work, and others will fail.  But I think everyone who genuinely wants to grow at least some of their own food will be able to get something from this.  Maybe not every project will be one you can do - but hopefully it will get you thinking on ways to get around the limitations set by your individual circumstance.

So... how the heck am I going to start with just $5?

Well... if those folks with Aquaponic Greenhouses are the 'ferrari of gardening' - we're gonna be the Yugo.  It aint fast, it aint pretty, but it's gonna get us from point A to point B.   And lets be honest - any car beats walking.

We're going to start out on the assumption that you have nothing - this is your start point, that your space is probably limited. You might be in a town house or apartment.   So what do you buy?

The $5 Budget

$4.86 - tax included

The basics.  We can get by with many things, but the 2 things we need most are soil and seeds.  Now you can even get these for nothing, and if you can - go for it. But they are the top priority items.  I'd even suggest that folks buy potting soil first time around - what brand? Whatever you find that's cheapest.  Dollar stores will have it on special all the time for $2.50 a bag - My usual was sold out, but the supermarket I go to had a '3 for 10 dollars' special going, and only one bag left on the palette - so I asked how much.
You don't need special pre-fertilized Miracle-Gro potting soil.  In fact you'll probably be happier without it as you'll learn more about plant nutrition and how to keep your soil rather than in a few months say 'this doesn't work no more' and buy another 10 dollar bag.  The soil we bought here we're gonna keep. We're gonna work it and improve it over time and it will probably never need to be replaced.  My $3.34 bought me a cubic foot of soil - and we're not even gonna use all of it today.
We need seeds.  Looking around you'll see special hybrid seeds, organic seeds, starter pack seeds, what seeds did I buy? Same as when I first started:  cheap seeds.  Go to your dollar store, or to the back aisles in the gardening sections of big stores like WalMart, Lowes, and you'll find seeds by companies like 'American Seeds' and others - they'll have 20c to 50c prices on them. Some brands I call 'mystery seeds' - they don't even have proper art on them - but a drawing of the plant , and no labeling of the variety... just 'TOMATOES' - I wouldn't be one bit surprised if you planted some and got Lettuce.. but they're cheap and they'll grow. I bought tomatoes, beans, and I had 20c so I bought carrots as well... for reasons I'll explain.

No - it's not much.. but then again I didn't really have that much money did I?

Where Are The Pots?

Well I'm not about to turn around and say 'now go to the pots you have..' or 'borrow some from a friend'.. I don't have pots (well I do.. but),  But I do have milk.. Lots of milk. I have twins that turn 4 tomorrow. I go through a gallon and a bit of milk a day... at least.
If  you have a family, you probably buy milk - and if you don't have kids you probably do but drink it slower. If you're a vegan or lactose intolerant you probably buy juice - same jug. Don't buy juice? Water, Vinegar, lots of things come in these jugs. And every gallon you buy, it comes with a free pot.
First - WASH THEM or they'll smell like hell itself when you get around to using them.  I fill mine with hot water, put the lid on and shake them as soon as they're empty - now the hot water can deform them, so I let it cool then repeat the process.

I'm gonna make 6 - three for Toms and three for Beans.  To grow in pots I prefer to grow Bush beans - it will be marked on the pack, they won't vine up and climb like a pole bean, they produce a goodly amount, and you can plant them real close to each other (I do 9 per square foot) - also for a bonus they will add nitrogen to your new soil so by the time we're done, these pots will probably have better dirt in them than when we started - ideal to use again.
The making is simple - halfway down the jug draw a line, then cut along it with whatever you have. Personally I use a knife to start the cut, and regular old scissors to cut around.

  Now because the manufacturers have made them barely thick enough to do the job - when you put pressure on them they will bend - so I leave the lid on and only start with the stanley knife.  Save the top and put it aside, this could come in handy depending on your own setup and what space you have available to grow in.

 If you plant to grow indoors, that top can be fit inside the bottom - now you have a resevoir to hold water, as well as eliminating the need to put something under the pot to catch water that drains out the bottom. You could take it a step further and fill that bottom with sand and the top with soil, and make a 'wicking pot' that will self water.

 Is it cold where you are? loosely taping the top back on makes for a quick n dirty cold frame - or when I lived in Nevada - on those blistering hot dry days - keep the humidity and moisture inside with the plant.. didn't stop the heat but it helped.

I'm going to be going outside, so I need some drainage holes in the bottom - I put in about 12 spaced around the bottom using a screw - you could use a drill, a dremmel, a nail, even a knife.  But you want water to drain through and out. Plants need oxygen and believe it or not can drown.

I made 3 of these pots for beans - that seems a good number to start with.

Tomatoes will grow a bit taller and need support both above and below ground, so I made 3 more planters a bit taller.  This will give them more room to grow down into, but also that handy nub where the handle was is going to come in real handy to push a stake into when the plant starts growing taller.  These are cherry tomatoes and I'd though not labled it's a pretty sure bet that they are vines and not bush.  Also we'll be putting 2 carrots down with our tomatoes... so we want a little depth (but more on that later).

These are more for giggles than anything else, but I bet someone would say 'Easy for YOU - YOU have gardening tools!' So I decided to shut them up maybe get your brain ticking on what other things you could do.......

The handle off one of the offcut jugs

and a couple of dabs of hot glue........WATERING CAN

Quick line with a sharpee.. a few snips with scissors...

GARDEN SPADE.. Ok, now I'm good to go!

 In the end we have 3 Bean planters, 3 Tomato Planters, a watering can and a spade!
Ok, I don't seriously expect anyone to use those last two...But it was fun after boring a ton of little holes with a deck screw... 

LETS PLANT!

 All set out and ready to go at a small area at the back of the driveway (off to the side of the BMG).  It's a slab in my backyard, but it could be your balcony, the front step, in bigger cities the fire escape - could even be the roof of the building, or the roof of a trailer.. a well lit countertop, a planter box, that weird bit of jutting out area that messes up the view out of a window (we've all lived in THAT place).  Wherever you are all you need is a bit of the sun and you're good to go.  If it's hard to find that bit of sun, ask around - ask the building manager or neighbours - the worst they can say is no.. and you never know, you might end up with some help or encourage someone else to start - that's how you begin co-ops.
Naturally step 1 is filling the pots, these 6 I used a bit over half the bag - this is why getting the biggest bag you can for your money is a good idea. Smaller bags may seem cheaper, but when you do the math they're costing you more money. You should be able to get a good sized bag for under 3.50 - so go for it.

 On the back of the pack it tells you all the info on planting depths.. Toms and Carrots are 1/4 inch. so I make 3 little holes - a Carrot on each side and a Tom up the front... Ok.. why the Carrots?  Something I've been researching and getting into ; Companion planting. Some plants are very compatible with others and actually benefit from each other be it in growing or keeping away insects.  In this case Carrots grow well with Tomatoes, so we can get 3 things from this pot rather than just one.
Beans have a depth of 1 inch, so holes are poked for those two. Seeds are sprinkled into the holes and covered up. I take a pinch and TRY and sprinkle in 3.  Out of those 3-4 you're pretty sure of getting one to sprout.  Excess will be thinned once they start to grow.  Beans I put 2 to a pot, and put 2 seeds in each hole.  Again, extras will be thinnned.

 As you can see, even in a 50c packet of seeds we still have LOTS left over.  We'll put these aside and use them when we have more planters ready.

SEE IT WORKS!

Next we water them, just till they put water out the bottom and the soil is good and damp. As you can see, my watering can actually works.











Next all we have to do is wait and see what pops up. That can be the hard part, and you'll find yourself looking at them every couple of days... No, it's not big. But even as I type this the kids have polished off yet another jug of milk. Right now I could add 2 planters to this and it wouldn't cost me a dime.  I have the dirt, I have the seeds.  You might be surprised by how much this little thing will put out if you treat it right.
  The best part is that if you do this, you're going to find yourself drinking that glass of milk, or juice in the morning - because now you're not just creating trash when it's empty - but making another space to grow.. Gardening is already improving your health before you even saw your first seedling sprout!  You could dedicate a container just for carrots and plant 4 in there - or next time your shopping see a 20c bag of lettuce seeds... Yes, it's small - but it can grow to your space, your needs, and your tastes.

And that's it!

And of course someone is going to say, here at the end, "It's Ugly". Well, it's not pretty - but it's in my back yard on a slab of concrete, next to a pile of wood offcuts and an unfinished yard tool project. In my case 'I don't care'.  But I'm not all of you.  There's no reason to keep it plain - decorate it if you like. If you have kids get them in on it with paints and stickers.  Make it a family project and get everyone involved.  My fondest memories are watching my Mother in her tiny veg garden in Canberra.  It's what drew me back to all this in the first place.

We'll be looking at different ways to expand this base in future posts - how to look after your soil, grow different veg, even how to compost anywhere. Also in other parts of the blog if I have info that can be passed to the 5 dollar garden concept, it will share the tag.


Cheers!