For Mother's Day this year, My mom in law gave me a book she found at a garage sale or something to that effect, called "Tips for the Lazy Gardener" by one Linda Tilgner. Thus far the book has been pretty good, and an easy read--it's more or less a collection of tips and tricks for those who want to work smarter and not just harder.

In the process of reading this handy little book, I laughed at the fact that most of the stuff in this book I already practice at least in part (does this mean I'm a lazy gardener? LOL)...I guess that

1. great minds think alike and
2. mother's tend to come up with ideas that get the job done easiest with the best or acceptable results.

I did especially enjoy the information she had on composting. As i posted earlier, I have a problem coming up with enough compost in just my wee little spinning composter (which seemed bigger when I bought it!!!). I can't add more compostable materials to it while it is "cooking" and it seems to me whenever I have built framed compost pile, the compost seeps into the ground below the composter itself....at least the best compost, and then the grass and other weeds grow taller and faster than anywhere esle in the yard...sigh...and then I break my weed whacker when I go around the composter and it gets tangled in the chicken wire, but it is just too noxious to bend over and hand trim near that area, even with aerobic composting going on.

Well...enter Linda Tilgner's idea...or one that she quoted actually from a gardening friend. Use some old tomato cages or (in my case) some old wire fencing, and build some cylinders, and plant them in different parts of the garden, and use those as recepticals for compostable materials. As they decompose, the compost forms on the bottom IN THE GARDEN BED (HURRAY), fertilizing as it goes. When it rains, you get some compost tea in the garden. your compost collectors are right there where you need them too. And when my spinning composter compost is done, I can just pitchfork some more compsot into the spinner from one of the recepticals I have around. For the record I put two of them in the garden...they are about 3 ft in diameter and about 4 ft high, and contain grass clippings, pulled weeds, spent plants, and kitchen scraps. I have vining plants growing over them so as to cover it up a little bit. In the winter, I plan to spread as much of the decomosed matter around the tops of the beds as possible.

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One of the best ways to save extra money on the grocery bill is to grow your own groceries, but getting started with a garden can be challenging and intimidating. If it's not done properly, a garden can potentially cost you more than you actually save. Many gardening books on the market today contain costly suggestions. Most of the time, gardening books aren't directed towards busy mothers with young children either, and it shows! That's where my new ebook, Momma's Guide to Growing Your Groceries comes in!