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But the options for saving money narrow each time I set out on one of these cost-cutting missions. And the garden remains mysteriously immune to attack. "How much do you reckon it costs us to run?" asked my husband this month. And I could say, quite truthfully, that I hadn’t the faintest idea. But I did feel a little guilty and thought I ought to do a few sums.
Despite this, I’m still convinced that seeds and plants remain one of the best bargains that money can buy: a tray of gorgeous violas (?2.95 for six plants), a potful of sweet pea seedlings (?1.50). It’s a miracle.
The best way to save money in the garden is to make a list of what you want and stick to it. That is true of all shopping, of course. It is one of the reasons that supermarkets are so dangerous. You go in thinking of nothing but a bag of self-raising flour and come out with a jar of lemon-stuffed olives, a carton of apple juice with mango and an oven cleaner which promises (but never delivers) miracles.
But though I may resent my own weak-mindedness when I am wandering the supermarket’s aisles, I positively encourage it when I’m among plants in a nursery. Different standards apply. I want to be led astray. I’d be unlikely to scoop up something huge and important, such as a tree, on a whim, but that leaves plenty of room for impulsive manoeuvre among herbaceous perennials and bulbs.
Only this week, I went into the garden centre for compost and came out with a delicious little Cyclamen coum (?3.49). Who could resist its rounded leaves, symmetrically marked with silver and its beautiful magenta flowers? These cyclamen look frail, being only three or four inches high, but they are survivors, and undemanding. They will motor all season on a handful of bonemeal. I did not need that cyclamen, but it has certainly given me more pleasure than the necessary compost (Groves Multipurpose, ?6.75 for a 100 litre sack).
A list can deal with the things I know I need. But at this minute, plantsmen are bringing into being plants I don’t yet even know I need.
I doubt that I will be able to go through April without acquiring a primrose or seven. I’ve always loved the Barnhaven primroses and they grow well in our dampish climate. I’ve started underplanting the hippery with them and since, after only a year, one plant splits easily into several, you can persuade yourself you are being extremely thrifty. A garden needs treats and surprises to keep it fresh. And a gardener needs constantly to try out new ideas.
I am supposed here to be making a tally of what the garden has cost over the last year. Instead I find I’m arguing that, whatever it cost, it was worth it. Yes,cheap jordan 11, I admit to extravagance in plants. In April 2011,jordan retro 4, I bought two Euphorbia schillingii (?3.15 each), a bronze fennel (?1.40) and two cowslips (?3.90 each). I saved the seed of the cowslip, sowed it last summer and now have more than two dozen plants to set out on the grass bank by my hut. In May, I scooped up the variegated thyme ‘Silver Posie’ (?2.34) and a pot of French tarragon (?2.34). I already had the Russian tarragon but cooking friends said the French was the only one that mattered. I believed them. More fool me.
In July I chose two plants of a geranium called ‘Pink Capitatum’ (?4.15 each) to fill a gap in the flower garden. We took cuttings of those last autumn and I’ve now got seven plants standing by in the greenhouse, ready to go out later this season. In September, I added three plants (?2.75 each) to our collection of autumn flowering cyclamen. I also bought 14 prepared hyacinth bulbs (75p each) and 14 bulbs of ‘Paperwhite’ narcissi (65p each) to force into flower for the house.
Seeds generally last more than one season, so last year I only bought the climbing bean ‘Blauhilde’ (?2.06) and some ‘Cilantro’ coriander (?1.50). I’m cheap on machinery, too. We have a good lawnmower (a Honda �C the equivalent now is around ?1,119), but no other gadgets. I can’t stand the noise they make. My tools are mostly the ones my great uncle used before they came to me. But in June last year, I did buy a new hand fork (my most heavily-used tool) for ?7.64.
In terms of expenditure on herbicides and pesticides, I use as little as possible of either,jordan 2 sale, but am unwilling to do without entirely. Last April I bought a pack of the weedkiller Pathclear (?27.71). Weeds had taken over the paths on the bank so enthusiastically, I could scarcely push my way through. I also bought Provado Bug Killer (?7.46) to deal with vine weevil, which it did very successfully. That is the total poison bill.
Having good soil, which we plaster liberally with muck and compost every winter and spring, I spend as little as possible on plant foods or medicines. We needed some of the iron tonic called Sequestrene (five sachets for ?5.99) to dose our sickly looking trachelospermum and I also bought Osmocote slow release fertiliser (?6.29) to sprinkle on the pots round the garden. That one dose will provide all the food the plants in the pots need for a season. They can’t be expected to survive without help. I used several bottles of Tomorite (?9.89 for 2.5 litres) mostly on the plants in the greenhouse and two bottles of Vitax Organic Seaweed (?4.94 for 1 litre) to perk up the box hedges which looked as though they were suffering from box blight.
The quaint term ’sundries’ covers the rest of the things I got from our local garden centre last year. First, a new tote bag (Gardman Giant Gardbag Green, ?8.99) in which I cart weeds and other rubbish up to the compost heap and two balls of soft brown twine (?2.19 each). We needed more bamboo canes (10 7ft canes for the tomato plants at 31p each, 10 5ft canes at 25p each and 10 3ft canes at 15p each) and a sack of John Innes No 3 loam compost (?3.99) to make my bulb-planting mix. I bought a wildly extravagant pack of 100mm plant labels for ?1.70 (life is too short to cut up old yogurt pots) and four Rainbow Tree Ties at ?1.50 each. Compared with the price of the tree that is to be tied,jordan shoes retro, the cost of a tree tie is negligible.
So, is this the final bill for expenditure on the garden last year? No,jordan 11 sale, of course it is not. It covers what I spent at our local garden centre and it is all I’m admitting to. The invoice from Thornhayes for trees, from Parkers for monumental amounts of tulips, from Elizabeth MacGregor for herbaceous plants remains a secret between me and my bank statement.
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