Cheap gardening tips you should know

Here are a few creative ways to grow a perfect garden without breaking the bank.

1. Slip plastic grocery bags over your shoes and tie them before going into a wet, muddy garden.
2. Get a better grip on your best garden tools by wrapping them with some baseball-bat tape.
3. Forks and spoons are great for digging weeds.
4. Use twist-ties from bread bags to mark your favourite flowers. They'll indicate which seeds you want to harvest at the end of the season.
5. Start seeds in plastic ice-cube trays.
6. If raking makes your wrist sore, here's an upgrade that lets you rake with a straight wrist: Take a PVC plumbing tee, glue in a 12.5 centimetre (five inch) section of pipe and add a cap (about five dollars altogether). A 2.5 centimetre (one inch) tee fits most rake handles. Slip the tee onto the handle, find a comfortable position, and screw the tee to the handle.
7. Save money on annuals by taking cuttings in fall, overwintering them and then moving them outside in spring.
8. Old wheelbarrows make eye-catching planters.
9. Use a tin can to raise up a ripening watermelon or squash so that part of the fruit won't rot on moist ground.
10. Line large pots with layers of newspaper before adding soil and plants. This helps keep the pots from drying out so fast. It uses less water, and the roots don't "cook" on hot days. Use this method with potted tomato plants and they last well into the fall.
11. Grass clippings that are free of weed killers make great, inexpensive mulch.
12. The holes in cement blocks are perfect for planting flowers and creating a pretty display.
13. Place crushed milk containers or soft-drink cans in the bottom of a large planter to conserve soil and make it lighter to carry.
14. Don't toss out old bird feeders. Instead, fill them with soil and flowers.
15. Keep soil from falling out of flowerpots by lining the bottoms with dryer sheets.
16. Set out tin barrels in your yard to collect rainwater for plants.
17. Fill disposable aluminum pie plates with beer and set in slug- or snail-infested areas to trap the pests.
18. Use inexpensive latex gloves for gardening. They are thin enough that you can feel what you're doing as you garden.
19. Rinse and re-label household spray bottles to store weed killer or fertilizer mixes.
20. Organize a seed swap with your friends.
21. Tie back tomatoes and other plants you need to stake with pipe cleaners, available in craft stores.
22. Use tree prunings as plant stakes.
23. Drag a chopstick through soil to create a perfect trench for planting seeds.
24. Use an old bed frame as a trellis or flower bed.
25. Set a dry, clumped ball of newspaper in your garden to trap pesky earwigs.
26. Form holes for planting spring seeds with the end of a ski pole.
27. Old plastic film canisters are perfect for storing dried flower seeds.
28. An old bathtub makes a great raised bed.