Dirt-cheap solutions to costly Western Washington gardening problems
The second week of September is a great week to dig and divide iris tubers, make piles of compost and leaf mold to rot over the winter and consider overseeding bare spots in the lawn.
You can also buy and plant bulbs for spring blooms and search for landscape plants with great fall color. Plants in pots still need water this week even if the nights are growing cooler.
Here are money-saving garden tips:
Q. What is the most expensive plant in any home landscape?
A. Your lawn. A traditional lawn requires water and fertilizer along with a mowing machine, edging tools and more money to control weeds.
Dirt Cheap Solution: Lawn substitutes such as moss and ferns in a shaded site, gravel with thyme and shrubs in tubs in level areas, and widening pathways and removing turf to make way for more trees and shrubs that need little water once established.
Q. What is the number one pest in local gardens with expensive bait?
A. Slugs. Pet Safe slug baits like “Worry Free” work, but they are expensive.
The slugs that do the most damage are not natives and not a part of our local ecosystem. Brown and black slugs are invaders from Europe. Our native slug is the much larger and pale yellow banana slug that does little damage to ornamental plants as it prefers to eat native plants already in a decomposed state.
Dirt Cheap Solution: Pick a slug-free zone in your garden where you grow the tender plants that slugs love. Control slugs in the slug-free zone by luring them to hide under damp wood, clay flowerpots or even a rolled up wet newspaper. Once you find the slugs you can slice them up and add them to the soil as a source of free nitrogen.
You can also make a cheap slug-killing spray to use on tiny baby slugs by diluting ammonia. Put one-third ammonia and two thirds water in an old Windex bottle with a trigger spray. Go out during a rainy period and spray the ammonia mix right onto the slugs as they feed on the leaves of your hosta, dahlias and veggies. The ammonia will convert to nitrogen and fertilize your plants while it kills the slugs.
Why a Windex bottle? You can use this same ammonia and water mix as a dirt cheap window cleaner.
Tip: I store my Windex bottle of diluted ammonia behind the huge leaves of hosta. Then it is always ready to spray if I notice any slug damage. But remember you must spray it directly onto the bodies of the slugs.
Q. What is the best way to get free plants?
Dirt Cheap Solution: Join a garden club or become a Master Gardener. Plant exchanges and fellow gardeners are very generous at sharing plants and showing you how to propagate plants for a continuous source of new plants to try.
Meet Marianne
Sign up for a webinar with Marianne Binetti at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. This is a fundraiser for Thurston County Master Gardeners so you just go online, pay a fee of $35 then are given the invite via email to log in for a live webinar on “Dirt Cheap Garden Magic.” You will earn back your sign up fee by using all the money-saving garden tips you’ll learn in the webinar. Door prizes are given to lucky winners that log in to the event. You might win a visit and plants from Marianne Binetti’s garden. Visit https://www.mgftc.org/events/fall-fundraiser/ to sign up.
Meet Marianne Binetti for a free class at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Walrath Landscape Supply, 4521 56th St, Gig Harbor. Learn tips for fall color and fall planting ideas. Get more information at www.walrathslandscapesupply.com
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.
