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8 Garden Materials to Stock Up on When Stores Clear Summer Shelves

Summer garden displays have a funny way of disappearing just when gardeners start thinking about next season. As stores make room for fall and holiday merchandise, garden centers often mark down supplies that still have plenty of useful life left in them.

Frugal Gardening · Aug 18

5 Cheap Materials for Screening Finished Compost

Finished compost can look wonderfully dark and crumbly right up until a half-rotted twig, avocado pit, or mystery chunk of bark lands in the middle of it. Screening finished compost removes those stubborn bits and gives the material a more consistent texture, and the good news is that a fancy…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 18

Can Crushed Oyster Shells Help Garden Soil?

Crushed oyster shells can help garden soil, but they work more like a slow-moving soil amendment than a magical garden cure-all. Because oyster shells contain calcium carbonate, they can add calcium while gradually raising the pH of acidic soil, much like agricultural limestone.

Frugal Gardening · Aug 18

Why Are Your Grapes Splitting Just as They Begin to Ripen?

A grapevine can spend months producing a beautiful crop, only to turn into a tiny fruit-cracking factory right when those grapes start looking delicious. Grapes often split near ripening because the berries suddenly take on water faster than their skins can stretch, especially after a dry spell followed by heavy…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 17

6 Crops That Benefit From Cooler Nights More Than Cooler Days

Some garden crops do not need the daytime temperature to drop much to appreciate relief. They simply want the sun to clock out, the air to cool down, and the garden to get a little breathing room. For certain warm-season vegetables and fruits, cooler nights can support flowering, fruit development,…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 17

Can You Train Cucumbers Across a Fence Late in the Season?

Cucumbers can learn a new direction late in the growing season, and a fence can make a surprisingly useful trellis. The trick involves guiding the vines gently rather than treating them like unruly garden spaghetti that needs immediate discipline. If the plants still look healthy and continue producing new growth,…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 16

5 Plants That Can Fill Gaps Left by Tired Annuals

By late summer, some annuals look less like garden stars and more like they need a vacation. Petunias stretch, marigolds lose their swagger, and once-lush containers can develop suspicious-looking bare spots that seem to appear overnight. Instead of automatically buying another flat of annuals, gardeners can tuck in plants that…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 16

Why Are Gardeners Pairing Roses With Drought-Tolerant Grasses?

Roses bring the drama, and drought-tolerant grasses bring the cool confidence. Put them together, and a garden bed suddenly looks less like a collection of individual plants and more like a thoughtfully designed landscape, with lush flowers rising above ribbons of foliage that move when the breeze wanders through.

Frugal Gardening · Aug 16

Should You Allow Volunteer Tomatoes to Keep Growing This Late?

Volunteer tomatoes have a funny habit of showing up without an invitation, planting themselves in the garden and then acting as though they own the place. By late summer, that once-cute surprise can turn into a serious question: should the plant keep growing, or should it get pulled before it…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 16

6 Ways to Reuse Bamboo Stakes Before Putting Them Away

Bamboo stakes rarely deserve a one-season retirement. Before tossing a bundle into the shed until next spring, gardeners can put those slender poles to work supporting plants, protecting seedlings, organizing garden spaces, and even helping with small outdoor projects.

Frugal Gardening · Aug 16