Skip to content

The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Growing vegetables using grow boxes, LEDs, computers, and great soil

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • In the Press
The Cheap Vegetable Gardener
Growing vegetables using grow boxes, LEDs, computers, and great soil
  • cheap | greenhouse | recycle

    Make a greenhouse out of plastic bottles

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    Not sure how long it would take to accumulate 1500 2-liter plastic bottles but if you happen to have that many piled up in your garage you have some makings for your own greenhouse. Basic idea is you take the labels off the bottles, cut the tops off slide a pole through a hole in the bottom of the bottle, and repeat.  After over a thousand iterations you have…

    Read More Make a greenhouse out of plastic bottlesContinue

  • butterfly | butterfly garden | caterpillar | cheap

    Caring for your pet caterpillar – UPDATE

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, named by the kids as “Emily” Now normally these are some critters you want to keep out of your garden but with my kids asking for the “Live Butterfly Garden,” bringing in a caterpillar from inside and putting it into a jar seemed like a much more cost effective option. Growing up I have caught caterpillars…

    Read More Caring for your pet caterpillar – UPDATEContinue

  • peas

    Pea Blossom

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    Read More Pea BlossomContinue

  • cheap | peas | trellis

    How to make a cheap pea trellis

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    This is really two trellises in one.  I started by taking a couple bamboo stakes (reused from a couple of one season too long Halloween scarecrows) and bound them together at the top using some twine.  I then put the ends in the corners of my garden leaning against the cinder blocks surrounding my raised garden.  I following this by adding some twine up the trellis to allow the…

    Read More How to make a cheap pea trellisContinue

  • contest | free | Home Depot

    Winner of $100 Gift Certificate from Home Depot

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    There were so many great entries I couldn’t just pick one and with no budget to select multiple I settled using random.org.  And the winner is lucky number commenter 33…Chandra.  Please send us a email using the “Contact” link at the top of the page within 72 hours otherwise I will select another random commenter. We have partnered with The Home Depot Garden Club to offer a $100 Home…

    Read More Winner of $100 Gift Certificate from Home DepotContinue

  • Uncategorized

    Mulch your garden with human hair

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    Need a renewable mulching source that is completely renewable?  Check your shower drain. After spending 18 years as a hair stylist, Phil McCrory got an idea. He developed “SmartGrow” – mats woven from human hair. The product is becoming a popular organic alternative to chemical herbicides If you don’t have the time to collect and weave your own human hair mats you can always purchase one from SmartGrow from…

    Read More Mulch your garden with human hairContinue

  • guest post | strawberries

    Guest post: Huge strawberry

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    I have been pretty busy lately and was happy and honored that Megan from Megan’s Garden would do a guest post about a strawberry she found. It was a crazy day I found a strawberry, a double strawberry . I am not kidding. A strawberry is not like this. I ate it. It was yummy. Find one in your strawberry box. I want one again.Their hard to find.

    Read More Guest post: Huge strawberryContinue

  • aphids | kids | ladybugs

    3rd Annual Ladybug release

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    In case you missed the first and second annual lady bug release, you can follow those posts.  We have never had a serious aphid or spider mite problem and I like to feel our annual release of lady bugs is the reason why.  Either way, great entertainment for the girls for a couple hours for a $6.00 bag of lady bugs. Lady bugs sometimes naturally choose to wander from…

    Read More 3rd Annual Ladybug releaseContinue

  • cheap | peppers | tomato

    Make your own upside down tomato planter

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    Every time my daughter sees the upside down tomato planter (Topsy Turvy) commercial on TV she asks when we can grow tomatoes upside down.  I am definitely not one to pay $15 to $20 to buy one of these things in the store when I could have the fun of making my own for much less money. Though this has been commercialized recently, the concept growing plants upside down is…

    Read More Make your own upside down tomato planterContinue

  • hydroponics | indoor growbox | peppers

    Growing peppers at high latitudes

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    Here in the Seattle area we are, as you say, latitudelly challenged. We are fortunately to have the Pacific Ocean to give us mild winters and summers though our distance from the equator provides our plants with less intense light and a relatively short growing season for summer crops. One in particular difficult summer crop are peppers. This is important because one of the major exports of my garden…

    Read More Growing peppers at high latitudesContinue

  • garden planning | indoor seed starting

    Always have a Plan B in gardening

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    In college I had a business class, it definitely wasn’t the most memorable since all I remember it had something to do with working with small businesses.  There was an important takeaway, which was always have a “Plan B”.  The teacher used this term in particular when we were preparing to give presentations to the class, it was fine to use a PowerPoint presentation, though better have some overhead…

    Read More Always have a Plan B in gardeningContinue

  • aeroponics | cheap | hydroponics | peppers | tomato

    Cheap fogger hydroponics final results

    ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

    In case you missed them here is the original post on the creation of this fogger hydroponic system, and the latest update (before this one). The plants still are still looking pretty healthy with the exception of a little phosphorus deficiency, but the blame goes on me for that one.  Been a little busy at work and have been neglecting the plants. I decided to end this experiment since…

    Read More Cheap fogger hydroponics final resultsContinue

Page navigation

Previous PagePrevious 1 … 31 32 33 34 35 … 46 Next PageNext

© 2026 The Cheap Vegetable Gardener - WordPress Theme by Kadence WP

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • In the Press
Search