I love to garden, but have so little money I have to do a "frugal 
garden". The best way I have found to get "cheap dirt" is to 
compost. You can compost anywhere and the piles are not stinky or 
gross. Some ideas:

1. Right on the ground- just start your pile on some branches, 
straw, boards, pallets...something that will allow good drainage.

2. Use four discarded tires as a bin. Fill them then to turn the 
compost, take the top tire off and rebuild the stack.

3. A double garbage bag- the tough lawn bags. I just roll the bag 
around to turn the compost.

4. Four pallets wired together. Make two of this type of bin and to 
turn it shovel from one bin to the other.

Use "greens", your nitrogen, and "browns" your carbon in a mix of 
about 25:75. I can get a really hot pile going and have great 
compost in less than 2 months. I mix it with my local soil (blow-
sand) and it makes a great gardening medium.

If you can't compost call your city park service. They almost always 
have a HUGE pile and you can buy truckloads of the stuff for 
pennies. They also have pine mulch...from all those Christmas trees.

To add filler in the bottom of something...like the 
barrels....consider something biodegradable but that is high in 
carbon and takes years to break down. Torn cardboard, newspapers, 
pieces of wood, broken branches, highly compacted straw, etc. 

You can make seed starter pots from newspaper. Just fold them into a 
box shape and they are roomy and can be planted directly in the 
garden. Much easier than collecting cups, cans, bowls, etc. for free 
pots. The local newspaper office has stacks of free newsprint. Don't 
use the colored sections. For a seed starter medium I use compost 
and sphagnum peat moss 50/50. My piles are hot enough to kill 
pathogens but to be safe I put the compost in shallow pans in the 
sun for a few days.

Seeds are probably what I spend most of my budget on. This year 
Gurney's had a $20 gift certificate on their catalog. I got $20 
worth of seeds and just paid the shipping. I order 5-8 catalogs each 
year and almost always find a great free or discount offer.

I make most of my own fertilizer, but will buy a box if it is really 
cheap. I use it in the compost pile when I need a nitrogen boost.

I plant in everything! HA! You better hide your wagon and toys or 
I'll make a planter out of them. I use tires, feedsacks, bushel 
baskets, five gallon buckets, large tin cans. My favorite is kiddy 
wading pools. They have 27 sq. ft. of planting space and can grow 35-
40# of produce. I get them free, but you can buy one for under $10. 
I'm playing around with hypertufa this year to make pots. Haven't 
got a finished product yet, but think it will be a cheap source for 
pots. With any container just remember to poke drain holes.

Gardening can be expensive. To save...everytime I see something or 
read about something I just have to have...I try to figure out a way 
to either make it, do without it, or trade for it.

Hope this helps.

Ladena