Marjorie Harris - Thrifty Gardening

ALSO BY MARJORIE HARRIS

Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life with Style

How to Make a Garden

Botanica North America

The Canadian Gardener

Seasons of My Garden

Marjorie Harris Favorite Garden Tips

Pocket Gardening

Ecological Gardening

In the Garden

Favorite Annuals

Favorite Flowering Shrubs

Favorite Perennials

Favorite Shade Plants

The Canadian Gardeners Year

In the Garden: Thoughts on the Changing Seasons

Better House and Planet: Ecological Household Hints

Copyright 2012 Marjorie Harris

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This edition published in 2012 by
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LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Harris, MarjorieThrifty gardening : from the ground up / Marjorie Harris.

eISBN978-1-77089-054-1

1. Gardening. I. Title.
SB453.H38 2012 635 C2011-904018-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011929950

Cover design: Alysia Shewchuk
Cover images: Top: kalimf/iStockphoto; Bottom: fotolinchen/iStockphoto
Interior illustrations: introduction, chapters 1-3, 9, 10, appleuzr/iStockphoto; chapters 4, 5, 7, bubaone/iStockphoto;
chapter 6, jameslee1/iStockphoto; chapter 8, browndogstudies/iStockphoto

We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishingprogram the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and theGovernment of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

INTRODUCTION

THE THRIFTY

GARDENER

W hen I first set out to make a garden there was no disparity between my being a gardener and being thrifty. I was as frugal in the garden as anywhere else in my life, so it was a habit right from the beginning. Little did I know that I would become an obsessed gardener with profound needs for rare or unusual ( ergo expensive) plants. It didnt take very many years to get there.

At first, I made a vegetable garden, not to be thrifty but because I wanted my kids to taste vegetables straight from the garden. I was under the illusion that this would encourage them to actually eat a vegetable, a notion they disabused me of pretty quickly. But we all had fun planting every year until we were swamped by the brooding shade of a neighbouring weeping willow. I became a perennial shade gardener by default and by then the kids had weaned themselves away from home.

There is something about making a garden that goes way beyond the intense pleasure of the act itself. And when you start to get compliments, you are doomed. You long to become more accomplished, to discover better ways of growing plants, or to make your surroundings even more delicious. Then, the minute you realize you couldnt care less if anyone else likes what you are doing and that you do it for yourself alone, a seismic shift takes place. Youve become a crazed gardener and for that there is no cure.

This breed of gardener is a curious mix: A person who will travel miles to get a free plant and then turn around and spend what seems like a fortune on one that is not guaranteed to survive, even with lots of attention. There is no logic here but its one of those endearing qualities about gardeners.

There are two extremes of the species: Those who say, Ill spend anything I have to on my garden, damn the expense. And the others who say, Ill spend as little on the garden as I possibly can and get the most bang for the buck. The thrifty gardener stands right smack in the middle of those two extremes. The thrifty gardener will think of ingenious ways to save money on the garden and then blow the budget buying a plant that is more than likely to die in a year because it is so rare, or is not hardy, or its so new nobody knows what it will do. The thrifty gardener dreams very large dreams.

Neither extreme, however, precludes making a great garden. Just like oodles of space or deep pockets cant necessarily produce the perfect garden. Ive seen plenty of gardens that have had buckets of money thrown at them, and they still look as miserable as their unhappy owners. Gardening has become more expensive and no wonder. The price of fuel has skyrocketed, plants come from greater distances, and the demands we place on nurseries have gone from get me the new and unusual to give me a deal.

Over the decades, we have become much more adventurous gardeners and its reflected in how many glorious new plants we can find in nurseries each year and such are the huge temptations flung at the thrifty gardener. I know all this because Ive talked to gardeners of all stripes for the past thirty-odd years. Ive prowled around their gardens, interviewed them, photographed their favourite plants, written about them, and designed some of their gardens. And Ive learned a lot from all three aspects of my life: doing my own gardening; researching and writing about gardens; looking at what other people start with and what they do, and the attitudes they have toward the space they are confronted with.

The big issue is always budget. Most people cant even bear to think about a budget when it comes to the garden. Its the last thing on the list in a renovation, usually long after the moneys been gobbled up by expensive doodads in the bathroom.

You may think you have a budget because youve saved up a few hundred or even several thousand dollars. But it isnt a real budget until youve figured out what that money is supposed to buy. If it includes new fences, paths, pergolas, and lighting, you are looking at big bucks. And notice theres no mention of plants there. Rather than have a costly, time-consuming gavotte when you hire a designer or landscaper, its best to know what you need and then what you want to spend. And its critical to be realistic about it.

Two principles are a must to create a thrifty garden with style:

1. Know what you want the garden to do for you.
2. Know what you can realistically spend on the garden.

These two principles demand a fair amount of self-examination. Though the garden is often at the bottom of the list of what you feel you can afford to spend on your whole property, there is a false economy here. Gardens are too often treated as a bit of frippery rather than the life-saving aesthetic they really are. There is no longer any argument about the fact that gardening will improve your health. It is a creative outlet open to anyone with a trowel. Stick a depressed person in a garden and within a few hours those deep blues will lighten up. A lovingly tended garden can make you a healthier and probably happier person. Apart from anything else, it is a good investment since it will enhance your propertys value.