Plants for Free!

Being on a leave of absence from work I have been looking forward to spending some time in the garden. Today I got it! Our poor garden has been a bit neglected over the last couple of years due to a number of factors including droughts the last couple of summers that have hardened the ground like concrete. This has made gardening most unpleasant at the time when I am most free to garden. This last spring and into summer we have have some more frequent rain and this has softened the ground and made the plants look lush and happy - including the weeds unfortunately!! I couldn't wait to get out amongst them!

I have a large garden that is slowly being developed.  It started out as a paddock of grass 17 years ago that we built a house on and we have slowly grown a garden on it too.  Slowly being the operative word as we are also raising 3 children and we both work. I try to avoid spending too much on plants as I have skills in plant propagation that prevent me from buying too many plants as I know I can divide them or take cuttings and make more plants for free. This means it takes longer as there is no instant garden doing it this way but we are getting there.

Today I dead headed perennials, which I always enjoy, as it gives me a garden that looks tidy again. I weeded among an area of native plants that had got untidy and enjoyed seeing the plants thriving that we had planted out in the last couple of years from seedlings in other places in the garden. I shifted a couple of plants that had got crowded out by others and planted them in some spaces I have been wanting to fill. I did have several plants I had bought about a month ago for a few dollars each and I finally decided where I wanted them to go. I managed to get 3 plants out of one and 2 out of another couple so my few dollars has gone a long way.

There is still so much to do but I have ended my day with a sense of satisfaction that something was achieved and hopefully value added to our garden with no money spent today. An easy thing for anyone to do. If you don't have a garden you could try starting one or if you have no space for one look at raising plants in pots on a window sill or balcony. They will give you so much pleasure and maybe even some food or flowers!

If you can't find plants in your own garden to propagate then you could visit a friend or neighbour who gardens and see if they can give you a piece from a plant.  This will be both a plant for free and a lovely reminder in your garden of that person!