Kitchen Garden Forum

I laughed at myself the other day when uprooting a few finished tomato plants to find myself carefully untying the string which bound them to their stakes, to use again next year. I couldnt make up my mind whether I was being tight wad or economical and just saving myself the time having to cut new lengths next year as the string was still in perfectly good shape.

Mean or just helping to save the planet? Mr Primrose has deemed me beyond redemption!

So come on, confess your mean/economical gardening habits or don't any of you have any?

I do the same thing - untie string and unravel bits of green plastic ties. After all - those little savings all mount up. However, the time it takes sometimes outweighs the benefit of having a jamjar full of stringy bits which are either too long or too short to be used next year, just when you are battling with wayward stems and the string just doesn't go round far enough. Won't stop us saving the bits and pieces though - so I'm with you Primrose.

I use old engine oil mixed 50/50 with fence paint I use it on the shed and any timber that needs preserving not really to save money just to make fence paint better

We demolished the old bungalow we're building our new house on and all the old roof rafters have been kept and set aside for my raised beds. Strict instructions were issued that if anyone touched my timber, they would be feeding my new fruit trees from below the soil after I planted the trees on top of them. It seems to have worked!

That should be a worthwhile saving given the cost of timber these days!

Indeed, Primrose. I've already sussed out the nearest local supermarket where I can scrounge loads of old cardboard boxes from to put down onto the earth as the base for my no dig beds.

I've got a bag in the greenhouse that I keep all the bits of twine and the flexible plastic twine. The pieces of bendy plastic last for years so it's a good saving.

I use Jute string which starts to deteriorate after one season, so all of mine goes on the compost heap.

That's the problem with saved string, isn' t it, as well as plastic labels? They are too good to throw away but by the second or certainly third year they are so fragile/brittle/worn out that they have to be replaced during the season in any case. I must admit I am not a good saver but tend to use new stuff.

Been known to collect card board off skips or put out for collecting always ask first though.

Have neighbours that give/save me their card board, tea bags, food scrapes, grass trimmings & hedge/tree cuttings.

I open freeze all my soft fruit, then bag up in large IKEA grip seal bags. When they are empty, I wash them out, hang them up to dry and put them in the drawer to use again!

Retro pants. I do exactly the same. Most my plastic freezer bags are washed, dried on the washing line and reused apart from the really mucky ones which have contained sauces like spag Bol. I find that sometimes there are still minute specs of moisture in the corners so 24 hours in a warm airing cupboard dries them off before they,re stored away.

And loo rolls are used for germinating my climbing beans.

neighbours must think I am very odd, hanging out food bags to dry!!

I re-use any take out containers when we have one, or buy some in the £1 shop but the take out ones are stronger, and sometimes when Mr Westi's is particularly piggy you get a deep container at the Chinese. These are for my soups in the freezer as they stack perfectly in the freezer drawer and thaw overnight to heat in the microwave at work. I also use them to bring home soft fruit and cherry tomatoes so they don't get squashed on the bus on the way home. They are also great for stacking in the shed filled with the little clips, nails, screws & things as you can see the contents - & any spiders!

Ah yes, the fabulous take away tubs. I use them for the prefect pie sized portion of cooked apple amongst other things!