Dawna Janda

Below are different things I’ve done in the past, but what I’ve found that is necessary when working with little or no budget (regardless of the project) are patience, collect as you go, and start off small.

You will find things when you least expect it – be prepared for that whether it be storage or having a bit of extra cash on hand.  Have an idea of what you want/need and when you come across something on that list, pick it up.  If the only things you have are tomato seeds and sweet potatoes, start there and work your way forward.


FREE OR LOW COST SEEDS/PLANTS/ETC -
See if there are any Facebook groups in your area that swap plant material.  If not, then start one.  I’ve sent and received seeds by mail with the cost of a stamp and an envelope.   I’ve had folks drop off plant materials and pick them up at my home.  I’ve gotten some awesome plants and seeds that would be considered landraces.  Craigslist may be another source as well.

Department of Agriculture Extensions sometimes have free workshops with seeds or seedlings available.  Our local Extension will have giveaways or very low cost offerings throughout the year.

The grocery store is a wonderful place!  Potatoes, sweet potatoes, ginger, sugar cane, yams all grow well directly from the store.  In this thread it’s been suggested to get bags of beans – great idea!  Seeds from purchased produce such as tomatoes, bell peppers and different fruits have all worked well for me.  Some of my best tomatoes have come from ones I’ve gotten from the store.  

Look for plants that have gone to seed/fruit and grab some of the mature seeds/fruit.  I’ve done this mainly for trees or ornamental plants, but I’ve also done this for elderberries, starfruit, guava, etc.

Going to a big box store after a frost/freeze.  This may be more of a southern thing, but I’ve gotten lots of plants over the years that I’ve nursed back to health after buying them for a fraction of what I otherwise would have paid.  This may not be a direct source for your garden, but this may be good for trading.  Someone may want the crazy exotic plant you nursed back to health for some vegetable seeds you may want.

Let opportunist veges grow where they land.  Sometimes when I bury my kitchen scraps, something will sprout and I let it grow.  I’ve harvested onion tops, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, etc.

CONTAINERS –
Collecting containers that would otherwise go in the trash or be recycled.  Ask your friends, family and neighbors to collect them for you.

Saving toilet paper or paper towel cardboard tubes work great as well.  I cut tabs at one end and fold them to create a bottom.  I had a problem with them unravelling after a while when I watered my seedlings.  Then I found that if I dipped the tubes in beeswax then they stayed together.  This is also a good way to share seedlings.

Looking at big box stores/nurseries for any unwanted containers.  Every once in a while there will be a rack stacked up with containers free for the taking.

Looking at Craigslist and Facebook groups are good for collecting containers too.

SOIL and  AMENDMENTS  – this one can be a toughie…..
Using local soil can work a lot of times.  In the case it doesn’t work or doesn’t work very well, then keep an eye out for low cost amendments or soil.  
I’ve purchased broken bags at big box stores for a fraction of the cost.   I’ve also purchased bags of very inexpensive compost or soil to amend my local soil.  

Composting is fantastic, although I don’t produce enough plant waste material to make a bin/pile.  I normally direct compost a la Ruth Stout-ish.  I will take my kitchen scraps and bury them in my gardens.  It’s worked fantastically.  Ask your family, friends and neighbors to collect their scraps too.

Using woodchips has been a godsend for me.  When I prune my plants I put them through a wood chipper.  No, the wood chipper is not really cheap, but chop and drop works just as well in my food forest.  (FYI, my wood chipper was around $160 and takes branches up to 2 inches….may be something to save up for eventually.)  

While we’re at it, grow things that make good compost/chips.  I grow Mexican Sunflower and sweet almond shrubs to chip up.  Both grow crazy and give a good amount of material.  The sweet almonds feed the bees/butterflies too.

Learning which soil amendments will do what you want in the soil…or what plants will do well in the soil you have.  Testing your soil is key (an inexpensive test at a big box store or one from your Ag Extension) and the rest just requires reading or asking questions.  At one of the houses I lived in the soil was off the charts alkaline.  I learned that if we just continue to use our mulching mower on our grass, nature would eventually work….and it did.  

Look in your area for manures – online groups are good for this as well.  There are always folks who need to get rid of copious amounts of manure.  

Local landfills sometimes will offer compost free of charge to residents who use their services.  I’ve had good results with this.

PESTICIDES –
I normally don’t use chemicals.  I’ve learned about pest cycles, companion planting, trap plants, planting techniques, hand picking pests, etc.  It’s worked well for me.  I’ve learned to appreciate my passion fruit vines will be just fine after the butterfly larvae have eaten the leaves.  And that the ladybugs will show up in force if I just let the aphids run wild on my night blooming jasmine…and the jasmine will keep on growing.  For the EXTREMELY rare times I need to use a pesticide I will use something that is the least harmful depending on the situation.  I’ve used neem oil, Organicide, teas made with tobacco or tomato leaves, etc.

From my experience, it's going to depend on what you want to do with your oranges.  A lot of a varieties cross functions, which is a great plus.

If you are looking for juicing them, there are many great varieties that produce tons of juice.  

If you want to make pies or quick breads then Mandarin varieties are great - wonderful flavor and they have enough structure to hold together in the baked goods.

If you are looking to make orangeade beverages (like lemonade) then you will want to grow sour oranges.

Eating out of hand, my personal favorites are the Mandarin varieties and blood oranges.

Marmalade making?  I like Mandarin varieties as well.  A lot of these guys don't have a lot of pith.  Pith does have it's benefits, but I find it too bitter for everyday eating.

Making candied citrus slices?  Kumquats are wonderful for that....also whole candied fruit.  Kumquat pies are very yummy.  (If you live in Florida, Dade City has a Kumquat Festival in January).  .....kumquats are not oranges, but I thought I would add them in just for fun.

A tip for you ..... look to see if your orange tree variety will have thorns if you are buying a grafted tree.  A lot of folks don't realize that citrus trees naturally have thorns.  The thornless varieties are great, but depending on where you live, your variety choices may be limited.

OOOH!  .....added information you never asked for but is something to consider........if you live in an area that can and does freeze and your tree is grafted on rootstock......aaand your tree freezes, it will usually will grow back from/with the rootstock variety.  Different rootstocks are used and it's difficult to know what you will wind up with.  Every tree I've seen grow back from the rootstock after a freeze has big thorns (I've seen them over 2 inches).  About half the trees wound up having sweet fruits and the other half wound up with sour fruits.  Usually the fruit is still useful, but it's going to depend how you use your citrus.

.....more information you never asked for.....Citrus greening (among other citrus diseases) is a problem in Florida and lots of studies are underway on how to manage the disease and what varieties of citrus are immune to it.  To find out if greening or other diseases are a problem in your area, you can contact your county's agriculture extension.  One of the things I've seen reported on a few times is that citrus trees that are found in the middle of nowhere (a.k.a. grown from seed from some passing animal or from natural fruit fall) seem to be immune to  greening, and other citrus diseases as well.  If you know someone who has some of these wild trees growing on their property (and you have the room) it may be a good long term experiment to grow out seeds from some of the fruit to see how they withstand disease.  The action may help citrus trees in the long run and just like other fruit trees grown from seed, you may wind up with a yummy new variety.

J.B. Iler wrote:Thank you to everyone.

I think a huge benefit of the challenge of going plastic free is seeing the ubiquity of plastic so we can start dealing with it. I agree that using plastic that's here is necessary and ideal.

If problem solving is our focus, identifying the problems first will help. These are my thoughts:

1. Making more new plastic is a problem.
2. Plastic disposal is a problem.
3. Plastic recycling and reuse is not done well yet.

If we further break the problems down into more manageable issues, then we can identify how we can improve. Many approaches with varying impacts! Personal changes are great but big problems call for bigger solutions.

What would you say are the problems?

I think you have outlined the problems well!  I also think that like everything else out there, solving the problems starts with individual consumers.  If we stop using/purchasing products with plastic, the manufacturers will get the hint and we'll see less virgin plastics and/or more comprehensive recycle programs.  Unfortunately, there's not the ground swell of people demanding less plastic as of yet.  We all know the problem....but on top of the non-availability for alternatives, it's inconvenient to do anything about it for most people.

I'm a BIG believer in leading by example.  Whether they say it or not, people notice things.  I get comments/compliments all the time on my grocery bags (I sewed them myself out of scrap fabrics I had) and I tell folks how awesome they are.  My neighbors have wondered why we don't set out our trash cans or recycle bins but once every couple of weeks.   This isn't part of the discussion, but the way we maintain our yard/gardens (which are pretty darn lush) gets a lot of inquiries from our neighbors and I tell them that we don't use chemicals...hmmm...i guess that COULD  be part of this discussion as a lot of the chemicals come in plastic...okay, cool...back on track.  8 )

We are planting seeds all the time.....but sometimes the germination isn't as high as we want it to be.  However, I believe the seeds that do flourish will grow and spread.

For all of us trying to make a difference, we will keep at it.  When someone notices how wonderful something we've done is, we quietly explain.  I always add in my cost savings and how much better things are (i.e. nice to know I'm helping the environment, I have more energy to get through my day, my skin feels better, we get more flowers/birds/butterflies, etc).  People want to know what's in it for them here, right now....just like the manufacturers and recycling programs.

LOVE this conversation!  Thank you for starting it!  8 )

I'm of the same mindset of Brody Ekberg.  I don't know how folks can be plastic free...even with normal every day groceries/house supplies/etc unless they live in an area with very specific stores and/or resources.  Even if I go to a butcher to buy meat as opposed to a grocery store, they are still going to wrap plastic over something....I've tried it several times.

I've been on the path of reducing what goes in our trash cans and recycle bins for years.  Doing decently, but I'm still filling up our recycle bins every couple of weeks with plastics and metals.   Oh......not plastic related, but our area doesn't recycle glass.  If our communities can't figure out how to recycle glass, our chances of recycling the other stuff is low.

Now.....we re-use as much as we can for as long as we can.  Even that has it's limits....storage space, number of uses for different containers, things just wearing out, etc.  I have stashes of jars and buckets with covers and spray bottles and....you get the picture.  There are times I have to cull the collections.  I put items online for free, but no one wants them.  I even make a point in giving suggestions for the items.  ....sigh...

Sorry for this downer post, but I'm glad that others have the same issues.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one that is having these challenges.

Marijke Katsburg wrote:Thanks for your answer. So you're saying we are just lucky with some females who are growing and producing over 7 years... The shitty thing is, that the new papayas we put over the years, don't seem to be as enthusiastic as the first ones. But maybe that's because of the draughts we have been suffering here, the last 4 years?

From my experience.....yup...lucky.  Your shorter lifespans may be due to less water (papayas LOOOOOOVE them some water) or if you are growing out seeds from your older plants, then there may be some cross pollination that is giving shorter lifespans....or a combination of those things.

We're in our dry season here and walking in my food forest today, I found that I lost 2 papaya plants that were doing well a couple of weeks ago.  I also don't have the fruit production I did this time last year.  However, this time last year we had more rain.  Papayas are like bananas....the want water and food and warmth with a side of water and food and warmth.  ...speaking of bananas, those aren't growing and producing like they should either with the dry weather.

Hello there!  I am in central Florida and know what you are referring to. The good news is you are not dealing with disease.  Papayas are semi-herbaceous plants, not trees, and their life span is not that long.  My female and hermaphrodite trees last about 3 years.  I have males that are working on their 6th year.  When the plants' lives are nearing the end, they will begin to get smaller at the top and the leaves smaller.  Usually within a few months of noticing the top of the plant getting smaller, the plant will die.  .....which is another nice thing about papayas producing so many seeds....plenty to plant.....8 )

Hello - Welcome - Thank you for hanging out with us for a while!

I have a variation to add to this.  I strung jute in between some of my papayas to form a trellis.  So far, so good!

We let the small plants grow in our lawn like wood sorrel and other small wild flowers that pop up here.  The resident gopher tortoises like to munch on them.  

What we've planted on purpose in our yard are rain lilies (fairy lilies).  We mostly have pink, but yellow and white ones come up too every once in a while.  My mother-in-law had the pink ones all over her back yard and they were lovely intermixed with the grass.  When we moved in our current house, I started planting them and I still spread the seeds all over the place.  

They do well being mowed with everything else and do well when we have dry times.  St. Augustine grass is what we have in our yard.  The lily leaves and the grass blades are very similar in shape and size, so you don't notice the lilies until they bloom, which is pretty cool.  One day, green grass.  Next day BOOM!....green grass and pink flowers everywhere.

Welcome Owen!  I'm excited to learn more!  8 )