When there isn't money for nursery plants, where do you get your plants from instead?

[Marmalade25]

I am on year 2 of working on gardens in new (well, new to us) house. But...there isn't a plant budget. So it has been time to get creative with resources available to me. Instead of a dream plan, I have been planning with what's at my finger tips.
Step 1, moving things around the yard that I already have.
Step 2, dig up transplants and garden border rocks from willing relatives.
Step 3, disctreetly snag a couple seedlings from a wild, not-mine environment.
Step 4, a couple bucks on perrennial seed packets and the occasional bargain reject plant at big box stores.

Btw, anyone had luck with tossing in flower seeds and seeing what happens?
How about you? Where do you get your plants when you can't splurge at the nursery?

 

[Ahavati]

I try to find people that have some to spare. Dividing plants, ones they don't want anymore, clipping trees, etc. We have a lot of property and sometimes you can find good stuff back in the woods, babye trees, bushes etc. My son was trimming a friend's fig tree recently and brought a ton of cuttings home for me!

 

[Ahavati]

Oh and I hit up the big box clearance sections too. A LOT of my plants are from there. They usually just need a little TLC.

I have tossed some flower seeds and it's been meh. I've gotten some to come up and others didn't. I am going to try to start some indoors and move transplant when they get a bit bigger.

 

[bluejeans]

I grow mostly from seed . I make a wooden box large enough to fit a large seedling heat mat in it the sides 6x 8 inches and the top ply wood with a couple bare ceramic light fixtures i can put mercury bulbs in and wire them up. Some flower seeds take light any way when they start to grow they will have good light. I use peat pots placed in square plastic pots and seedling mix .to put seeds .And place in box after I wet them well and place in zip lock clear bag . Tomorrow I will take a picturr

 

[bluejeans]

Correction my seed box has 14 inch sides picture with lite's on and top lifted up

 

[bluejeans]

Here a small seed ling box using a incubator heater and ceramic light fixture.

 

[Marmalade25]

Here a small seed ling box using a incubator heater and ceramic light fixture.View attachment 1345783 View attachment 1345783 View attachment 1345783

Wow, cool. What wavelength light do you need? So because these are heated, can you have them in unheated garage or more like basement?

 

[bluejeans]

Tomorrow if I remember to i can show some of those seedlings there tomatoes now in earth boxes in the green house. I got a late start this year so there not very big

 

[lazy gardener]

I grow a lot of plants from seeds. I'm finding that herbs are especially easy to start from seed. I never dared try seeding herbs until the last few years.

Every fall, I bring in some of my geraniums. As the winter progresses, they put on an abundant display of blossoms. When I start my veggie seedlings, I cut the geraniums back severely. The cuttings get potted up for new plants for the summer garden. I've found that when I cut them back, they put out a lot of little side shoots. Those shoots can then be pulled off, and they take root almost instantaneously.

Share cuttings and plants with your friends. buy bulbs and perennials which can then be divided. Never pay full price for a plant unless it's something you absolutely MUST have. When I buy a "must have" perennial, I shop carefully and can usually find one that can easily be divided into 2 - 3 separate plants.

Get more mileage in a bed by planting annuals while waiting for the perennials to get established.

Limited space for veggies? Plant some of the more decorative ones in your flower beds. Some of them make stunning "stand alone" accent plants while giving you a few free meals. Bright Lights Swiss Chard. Zucchini. Bush cucumber. Kale comes in lots of wonderful colors and leaf textures. Lettuce also makes a wonderful border planting.

 

[Zinjifrah]

You can try taking cuttings, too. If you do, I recommend finding a willow tree and snipping a bunch of new tips, dumping them in a five gallon bucket of water, and letting them soak to make willow tea - water with that. If you want your own willow tree, I've grown them before just by lopping off a branch from an existing tree, sticking it into good dirt, and keeping it moist. Willows are frequently vigorously willing volunteers, but they don't generally live more than twenty years or so, depending on species. I have a penchant for saving the seeds that I find in... almost anything... and planting them to see if they'll grow. I did manage to keep myself from saving the seeds from my pineapple the other day, though!