Saving Vegetable Seeds
From: Lora
If you grow green beans in your garden, leave some of the green beans pods on the plants toward the end of the growing season and just keep them there until they dry up. The seeds in these green bean pods will now be next year’s seeds to plant.
You may not get the exact same variety of green beans to grow but my dad and I have always had a wonderful new crop of fresh green beans from the previous years free seeds.
Just pick the dried up pods before the frost comes, continue to dry the pods indoors, separate the seeds from the pods and plant as usual for the following growing season.
Wintering Over Plants
From: Janet
My Mother always took pieces of her geraniums and planted them in pots in August, only bringing the pots in before we had our first frost. She over wintered these clippings in the basement, then transplanted them out into the garden the following spring, after the last frosts.
My Dad, trained Fuchsias into trees. He would take a Fuchsia and train it up and keep it trimmed so only the top part had leaves. He’d gently tie it to a stick that was as long as he wanted the trunk to be, and this was done in a movable pot.
Then, in the fall, it would come in the house and be kept in the basement until spring. It didn’t get a lot of light in the basement and it only received enough water to keep it alive. The following year, it went back outside.
From: Kootenay
Use mesh onion bags to store bulbs for the winter. The circulation will keep them from rotting.
Leaf Shredders
From: Donna
The best gardening investment I have ever made was to purchase and electric leaf shredder. The initial investment was a bit over a hundred dollars, but I live in a heavily wooded area and I have made mountains of leaf mulch to use everywhere. I usually have enough mulch just from cleaning out the leaves in flower bed areas, but if I need more I have a limitless supply from the woods.
The shredded leaves are also put to work in my compost bin. Because they are already chopped up, they compost very quickly. I have had to buy replacement filaments, but now realize that I can make my own from the much less expensive rolls. I consider my shredded a wonderful investment.
If you often wonder where all of your money goes or if you need a more frugal mindset, check out Dig out Of Debt and learn more about how to keep more of your money.
Photo By: Chris Radcliff
Storing Green Tomatoes
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