Square Pennies

Live Better For Less!

Older Kids: Beat Boredom over the Summer

I'm reposting this from last year because it's still timely. The linked article has about 50 suggestions for older kids to have fun this summer without a lot of money. Don't forget you can earn money babysitting, mowing lawns, doing chores for people, etc. Work on a project that will help others. Take a Red Cross Lifeguard class so you could be a … [Read more...]

DIY Barrel Compost Tumbler

This gardener made a cool compost tumbler from a barrel, but he designed it to be easy to shovel the compost out. There are a lot of comments that are helpful too. One person said the door was the perfect size for him to put in the grass clippings from the grass catcher on his lawn mower.Click title for link at Instructables. … [Read more...]

A Master Gardener’s Zero Cost Composting Method with Almost Zero Work

My dad's passion was gardening. He was a certified Master Gardener and a winner of hundreds of first prizes for his roses. He was also a child of the Great Depression, so he knew how to save a buck. For his beloved roses he used a system that included using "manure tea" (google it) and made his own mulch with a chipper and fallen/pruned tree … [Read more...]

Grow Potatoes in a Trash Can!

So how easy is it to grow potatoes? This method looks pretty easy. All you need is a trash can that you drill holes in the bottom of for drainage. Add soil, seed potato pieces & more soil. You keep adding soil as the potato plants grow, forcing them to make more roots (potatoes). When the whole concoction reaches the top of the can you just … [Read more...]

Is Gardening Worth It?

It depends. If you are new to gardening it's probably best to start small, growing just a few things. It's a good way to learn and you can keep learning more each year. The learning curve for gardening depends a lot on how big of a garden you are trying to have. Your chances for success are higher if you don't try to learn too many new things … [Read more...]

Gardening: Interbay Mulch vs. Lasagna Gardening

These two methods use layers of compost ingredients spread out directly on the garden. The layers are things like leaves, grass clippings, newspapers, cardboard, etc. that are layered brown/green/brown/green, etc. Eventually the layers will break down into rich compost and soil. In the meantime they keep down weeds and bad organisms while … [Read more...]