How I Pinch A Penny

It is now after Mother’s Day so I KNOW it is time to get the rest of the garden in the ground.  The problem has been, it has been too cold, too wet or too hot for this huge prego lady to be out digging in the dirt!  But last week there was a break in all weather related qualifications and I was able to get int he garden and get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground.  You may remember from last years post I do more than just pop a plant in the ground.  This year will be no different.  I had such success with my ‘experiment’ last year I decided to go for it again.  Last year we did not have one tomato with blossom rot and we had a pretty high yield in my opinion.  So if it aint broke don’t fix it…unless you can improve on it.

So here is this years cast of characters.  On the left you have tomato and pepper plants.  Most of them I got at Lowes during a B1G1F promotion they were having.  (Sorry I am pretty sure the deal is no longer running)  A few of them I got at my local nursery.  Be sure to check out your local nursery for specialty items.  The big box stores don’t always carry them and your local grower will be able to tell you all about how to care for your special purchase.

I also am keeping the ‘pain reliever’  aka. Tylenol in the mix.  I read that it helps build the immune system of the plant and does all sorts of good things to ward off diseases.  It doesn’t cost me much so to me it is worth the price to take a chance on warding of diseases for my plants.

You will see eggs in the mix this year.  With having chickens in the yard it is super easy to get eggs and or egg shells.  Got to love calcium for your plants!

Yes….that is a whole salmon.  And NO I did not pay for it.  And NO I did not steal it.  And NO I did not go fishing for it.  As far as I know there are no salmon round these here parts.  I simply went to my local grocery store and asked if they had a whole fish that was about to expire or did expire that I could HAVE.  Turns out my local grocer gets one in weekly and never sells it.  I guess people are scared of a whole fish and never buy it.  She said it is more of a show piece for them.  What a waste!!  But this salmon had a purpose.  He is going to be food for my plants in my garden!  It doesn’t have to be salmon.  In fact any fish will do.  Even better just heads and guts are preferred.  If you have a local fish market or are friends with a restaurant who processes their own fish ask them for the heads and guts.  They may look at you funny but you might be able to get free fertilizer for your tomato plants!

Next step is to dig the holes.  I dig a pretty deep hole.  Deep enough to hold a piece of fish, the pain reliever, an egg or two and the tomato plant.  When you put the plant in the ground you are going to be planting the thing up to the second set of leaves.  Not just the ‘root ball’ or the dirt that came out of the package.  Stem, leave, everything, the whole shebang.  All those little hair-like fibers on the stem of the plant will spread out and become roots given the chance.  So give them the chance by putting them in the ground.

Here is how I spaced my holes.  This garden is approximately 30′ by 13 ‘.  I think I was starting the ‘nesting’ process of being pregnant this day.  I was about 33 weeks pregnant when I was digging these holes in 80 degree weather.  No baby came out so I guess all is well.

I knew you would want to see the fish head.  So here he is.  Just toss him in there.  The little blue pill is NOT viagra but the pain reliever.  I put in anywhere from 2-4 of the pills, a fish piece and an egg or two.  I had a 3 year old helping me at the time so there was only so much control I had as to what went into the holes.

Another shot of a piece of fish with an egg and the pain reliever.  You don’t have to have your pieces of fish this big.  My knives are not as sharp as I would like them to be to this was the size I was comfortable cutting them into for safety sake.

So there you have it.  Tomato plant is in the ground.  I have him  buried up to his little neck with dirt and all the goodies under ground.  Water infrequently but well.  This will encourage deep root growth.  If you water often and little the roots don’t have to go far to get the water.  By saturating the ground ( but with out drowning the plant) you are encouraging them to dig for water.  At least that is my opinion.

Now this is not the end all and be all of how to plant a tomato plant.  But this is what works for me and this is how I am working toward pinching pennies for my family.  Hopefully we will yield enough tomatoes to get us through the summer, give (or force them) to our friends, and get a bunch of salsa and tomatoes canned up for the off season.  Doesn’t get much fresher or organic to me folks.  Hope this works for you.

Please check your local flyer to be sure they are running the same deals as my paper. Need help with the abbreviations? Click HERE to see what the HECK I am talking about!!

Here is my coupon match up list for Giant Food stores. I am using an ad from South Central Pa. As always check your local flyer for participation. Also There are a lot of match ups for Martins. There are some great printable coupons! We also are earning those gas rewards points again! We all love those!

**ok I figured out a small ‘glitch’ in the coupon policy. I am sure I am the only one who didn’t realize the next bit of info but here goes just incase.:

They will not double multiple coupons! ex.  You have $.75 off juice. It will double to $1.50 but if you had a second or third of the SAME coupon they will not double it in the same transaction.  So be aware and do multiple transactions to maximize you savings!

• Mrs.Paul Frozen Fish B1G1F
• $1.25/1 printable found HERE  Use zip code 30013
• Savings vary

• Curly’s Pulled Pork or Chicken BBQ B1G1F  save $2.98/2
• $1 Printable found HERE  signup required (print 2)
• 2/$.98

• Juicy Juice  2/$4
• $1/1 printable found HERE.Print2
• 2/$2

• Progresso Soup  4/$5
• $1/4  10-25-09 SS
• 4/$4

• Ragu Pasta Sauce  4/$5
• $1/2  09-13-09 RP  use 2
• 4/$3

• College Inn Broth  $1.99
• $1/1 printable found HERE  use zip code 45125 or $1/1 09-27-09 RP
• $.99 each

• McCormick Spices – select B1G1F 
• $1/1 10-18-09 RP use 2
• $2 off your purchase of 2

• Quaker Simple Harvest,True Delight or Fiber Omega 2/$5
• $1/2  printable found HERE
• 2/$4

• Lean Cuisine  5/$10
• $1/2  09-13-09 RP (use 2)
• 4/$3

• Aunt Jemima Frozen Pancakes  B1G1F
• $1/1  10-04-09 SS  use 2
• $2 off your pancakes

• Super Pretzels  $1.99
• $.50/1  09-27-09 RP
• $.99 each

• Birds Eye Fresh Select Vegetables 10/$10
• $.35/1 10-18-09 SS
• $.30 each

• International Delight Creamer B1G1F save $1.85/2
• $.55/1 printable found HERE print 2
• free?

• Halls Cough Drops 10/$10
• $1/2 09-27-09 SS  (use 2)
• 2/$1

• Tony’s Pizza for One. $5/5
• $1/2  10-04-09 SS
• 2/$1

Well, I thought we had a ground hive of bees.  They looked like bees. They sounded like bees.  They scared me like a bee.  I even ran away from them like they were bees.  But turns out they are a hive of ground wasps.

Let me back up a minute.  About 45 minutes ago I was outside pulling some overgrown grasses.  It is one of those things I have been meaning to do forever.  It just got away from me. You have things like this in your life, right? It is not just me, right?   I was pulling, shaking excess dirt, pulling, shaking excess dirt.  Going merrily along, patting myself on the back for finally getting to this task when I hear a bee buzz my head.  I shook it off and went to grab more grasses.  Just then several bees were swarming around my head.

I dropped the grasses in my hand and ran to grab my 2 year old who was playing bubbles about 3 feet away.  We ran inside and shut the door.  We can see from our family room window about 40 or so bees swarming around a hole 2 inches in diameter in the ground.

I know bees are wonderful pollinators of all plants.  They are becoming more far and few between.  Have you seen the movie Bee Movie ?  Watch it.  It will explain it so much better than I can!  So I am thinking I am going to save these bees!  I was looking up bee keepers in my area to come and get them and then it dawned on me….These may not be bees.

So I called the wonderful people at my local Cooperative Extension Office.  Being a 4-Her as a youth I knew the mass amounts of agriculture knowledge these people possess and are willing to share with you for FREE!  So I placed a call and the lovely secretary connected me with a Master Gardner who informed me that my bees,were in fact, not bees but biting wasps.  And his wife had been bitten by one earlier in the summer and had some funky infection on her leg.”They are dirty things you know” I was told by Bill, the Master Gardner.

So what does this do with Pinching Pennies!?

It comes down to this: Know your resources.  Instead of calling an exterminator to come and take care of my ground wasps, I called the extension office and spoke with a real live person and got a real live answer for FREE!!  What is the solution you may ask? Solution: A can of Wasp & Hornet Killer  sprayed in the hole after the sun has set.  And that my friends, is how I pinched pennies today.

I have a patch of chives in my herb garden.  They come back each year and come back two fold each time.  I love watching for the first pecks of green in the late winter.  This means that spring is right around the corner and I can PLANT THE GARDEN!! But now that the spring chives have sprung and before they wither in the summer heat it is time to cut and dry them.

Here is my modest chive patch.  I was able to divide them this spring and share with 6 of my friends.  I love to share herbs with people!  Spread the chive love.

See how the little purple flowers are starting dry and whither.  This means the tender green part is next.  Time to save what we can!

Here is my example plant.

I used pruning shears to cut all but about 2 inches of the chives.  Just grasp and clip away.  If you don’t have pruners you can use a good pair of kitchen scissors. Do NOT use your good sewing scissors.  My sister would have to  box your ears.

See? This is how many chives I got from my little patch.

All cleared out.  Now if I am lucky I will have a second crop.  We will see.

Isn’t she the cutest little helper?  She is all sweaty and covered in sunscreen but too cute for words.

Next you need to pull out all the purple flowers with stems attached.  The stems are kind of woody and not nearly as edible as the lovely green chives. Also pull out any and all of the brownish chives that have started to whither.  Also pull out any grasses or clover that was pretending to be a chive.  They do not make for good eats.

This is my pile of “junk”.  It is headed straight for the compost pile.  Got to give back to the earth what it gave us.

Now it is time to put the chives to bed. Yes, I said ‘to bed’. Take a clean set of sheets and cover your picnic table with the fitted sheet.  Line up the chives and work towards getting them into a single layer…the best you can. Then cover them with the flat sheet.  The flat sheet will keep them from blowing away as they dry in the sun.  It will also keep them clean from any droppings that my fall from the sky. I am going to leave my chives in the sun for 2 days or till dried through.  I could use my dehydrator but this would mean I would be making a second cut (or third) in the chives.  This would make another exit for the moisture and the flavor.  By keeping them whole you are going to have a better change of the flavors concentrating.  Stay tuned for another post on how I chop them for storage!

It has finally stopped raining for a few hours here and I have had a chance to put the rest of the plants in the in the garden.  If you missed how I am doing my garden this year check out THIS post.

Through the blogosphere I have stumbled upon GrowBetterVeggies.com.  This is my take on how she plants her tomatoes.  Please refer to THIS post to see how it is supposed to be done!  The is my interpretation on how to plant a tomato plant.

First gather your goodies.  When I mean goodies I don’t just mean a shovel and your plant.  I mean fish heads, tail, guts or in my case an entire fish my grocery store was going to throw out!  I called to see if they had any heads and tails and the girl on the phone said I could HAVE the entire fish she was going to throw out anyway!!!  It never hurts to ask.  

Fish are FULL of nutrients that tomatoes like.  As I think about it, I remember that I learned in fourth grade that the Native Americans would put fish in with their seeds and plants when they did their gardens.  Worked for them.  Works for me.  Get over the “EW” factor and it will work for you.

Also on my gather list are eggshells.

The aspirin is to help jump start the plant’s immune system.  You can read more about that science here.

Next is the plants.  After a failure of growing them from seeds I sucked it up and bought them at my local nursery.  See all the lower leaves?  They get snipped off.

Next dig the hole.  I dig the hole big enough to accommodate the  ”root ball” off the plant, the fish head and the entire stalk of the plant up to the big leaves. 

You can’t see them but there are 4 aspirin in here along with 4 egg shells and a piece of fish.  I did NOT touch the fish.  I just sort of let it fall out of the bag and into the hole.  The grocery store was getting rid of the fish for a reason.  It was BAD…but GOOD for my plants!  

Here is my gardening helper showing the size of the plant.  The leaves below her hand were snipped off. And the stalk of the plant below her hand was buried in the hole.

See? This is the plant in the ground.

And a closer shot with our fish bag in the background.

Now keep in mind I did NOT grow these plants from seed.  Each year I try to grow them but each year I fail.  You would think I would learn!  But each year those lovely little packets of seeds call out to me, I buckle and I buy them.  What a waste of pennies!  It is good in theory.  I just can’t make them grow and flourish!

I can’t wait for them to grow and the yummy tomatoes to come in.  Now to keep the bunnies away…..

Photo: Sbocaj

I was surfing my blog roll and found THIS awesome article over at Wisebread.

Here is a teaser:

Vegetable gardening has always been popular with a certain crowd. With this economy however, even more folks are considering the home grown option. Here are four cheap tricks to keep your start up costs under control. Whether you are growing food in yourapartment, attempting a small plot group project, getting into a full blown urban greenroof garden, or going European by using the small spots outside of your brownstone, there is still a fair amount of preliminary work to be done. And if you are new to the vegetable gardening game table, you are probably finding that even the most frugal approach requires a few start up costs. Looking to keep those to a minimum? These four tips will help you pinch pennies, get organized and even keep it green. Bonus? It’s a greatfrugal fitness workout!

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.  

HERE is my post on how I started my garden this year.

I am so excited that spring is here!!  For my family it means putting our garden in.  This year I have decided to try the square foot garden technique.  When I first put the garden in, 8 years ago,  a farmer friend had suggested this technique and I never go around to researching it.  Boy I wish I had.  It is so organized and easy!  In the past I have just randomly planted things as I felt they would grow with little thought as to how big they were going to grow. I am sure I have cut down on my yield because of this but I just get so excited to get plants into the ground!!  I encourage you to check it out and find a few feet to plant a few veggies or herbs.  The rewards will be greater than your effort.  If you have kids it is a wonderful learning opportunity for them.  Another fun thing we are trying is growing potatoes in trash cans.  Check out the post HERE.

Here is my Dad tilling under the garden.  In the fall we had spread rye grass ( that is the green) and when you till it under in the spring it is a wonderful nutrient adder to the soil.

My garden is approximately 13×33 feet. This is the grid I mad so I know what plant is going where. The green is our walking paths.  I am finding I work better with a plan.

Here is the garden with its strings laid out. I ended up doing 5×5 squares with  foot walk ways.  This configuration was the best use of space for the size of my garden.  As you can tell I do not have wooden boxes as the square foot garden plan suggests.  The Penny pincher in me told me to use what I had… it was not worth my pennies to get the boxes this year.  We will see if I need them next year.

Another shot of the string.  I used left over/old slats and pieces of wood I found in our burn pile to drive into the ground to tie the strings too.  I did wrap the vertical strings around the horizontal strings when I was setting up the sections.  I am hoping this will keep them in place better.  Once again I don’t have the wooden slats that the web site suggests. I have trouble following instructions!

My friend Grace recently got a membership to BJ’s whole sale club. I think it was the fact that BJ’s will let you use a BJ’s coupon PLUS a manufacture coupon. AND they will let you use multiple MFC’s on the multi packs.  Check out how I pinched pennies on this shopping trip to BJs’s.

• BRITA 10 Pack  $ 39.99
• BJ’s $7 coupon
• MFC Coupon $5 found HERE  Take the pledge and get a $5 coupon off a brita system (check the first 5 digits on the bar code and they will match a multi pack of filters)
• Final price: $27.99

• Pringles 6 pack $6.99
• use 3 $1/2 coupons 
• final price : $3.99 (.66 a piece)

• Garnier Fruitics Conditioner (40 oz.) $6.99
• BJ’s $2 coupon
• MFC coupon $1
• Final price :$3.99

Buy 3 General Mills Products listed ( It was a flyer that came in the mail) and Get $5 off.  We choose:

• Basic 4 {2 pack} ( not listed but the clerk overrode the coupon for us) $6.69
• Honey Nut Cheerios {2 pack} $6.49
• Yoplait Lite $7.49
• total : $20.67
• $5 BJ’s coupon
• 4  $.75 MFG coupon.  (use 4 b/c there are 4 bags of cereal in 2 boxes!)
• 4 $1 off coupons for the Yogurt
• Final cost: $8.67

• Activia yogurt  $ 9.99
• BJ’s coupon $2
• 2 MFG $1 coupons
• Final cost $5.99

the total before coupons was 85.45

with tax and after BJ’s coupons and MFG coupons: $50.70

a savings of $35.75

Photo from 1916 home

I have had a garden my whole life.  As a child I can remember sitting on the bottom of my sliding board and watching my parents and sister toiling away in the garden. ( I said I have always HAD a garden… not always WORKED a garden!)  But now that I am a home owner and a parent I want to get my hands dirty in the soil and see what I can grow.  We do the ‘normal things’.  Tomatoes, Peppers, Peas, herbs and the occasional egg plant. I tried onions in the past and I got nothing.  I think they rotted.  But this year I found a way to grow potatoes in a garbage can!!!  I am just super excited!

HERE is a link to an e-how article on how to do it.

The long and short of it is:

• Use a clean garbage can with holes in the bottom and part way up the sides (for drainage…you old beat up one is fine as long as you bleach it out first)
• Use ’seed’ potatoes.  You can’t use a grocery store bought potato because you can’t tell if they are carrying a funk of any sort.
• Put 6 inches of potting soil and a handful of holly tone (high acid).
• Plant 2-3 of the ’seed’ potatoes and cover with a few inches of soil.
• As they sprout keep covering with more soil.  Add leaves and mulch to increase the acid in the soil.  The potatoes will grow as your sprouts grow up.
• Once the leaves die back you let them sit in the soil for about 3 weeks and then flip the can over and harvest.

Now there are longer explanations of these steps on various websites, and I encourage you to go find them, but this should give you an idea of how you can grow your own potatoes even if you don’t have a spot for a garden!

I think this would be an excellent project for kids who live in a city and don’t have much space for a garden.

The above picture is from 1916 blog spot and I think it is an excellent representation of how the potatoes grow in the can.  What I think is the most beautiful about growing them in a garbage can is that you don’t have to dig them up!!  Just flip the can over when it is time to harvest.  The above picture looks very fancy and makes it super easy to see your potatoes as they grow.

We are going to try 2 different varieties of potatoes this year.  I have high hopes!  My youngest and I bought yukon gold potato and a red variety.  We got 5 seeds for $5.  I am hoping out $10 investment will turn out about 2 bushels of potatoes!  I will let you know as we progress. 

Are you going to give this a try? Let me know what you think and how you make out with this little penny pinching project.