Just about every gardener loves a splurge at the local nursery.
It is the place to purchase all of those wonderful plants.
But the truth is that a lot of the fuel that you need to grow a garden
can be found for free.
Things like materials to build structures out of.
The nutrients that will absolutely fill those luscious leaves,
and even mulch.
If you know where to look and you invest some time instead of money,
well, you can get great results.
Leaves are, of course,
one of the easiest fuels you can find for free for your garden.
And in autumn time, they fall from the sky in abundance,
but they are available all year round.
Evergreen trees like eucalypts, they will drop continuously.
And of course, lawn clippings are leaves too.
Now, in their simplest form, leaves can be used just as a mulch.
Just sprinkle them over that soil surface.
Now, I only use them lightly because as they're flat, they can pack down,
and you want to make sure that
the moisture can still get into that soil.
But over time, they'll just rot down
and add organic matter to that garden bed.
But I like to get the very best value I can from my free garden fuel,
and in this case, it's making leaf mould.
Leaf mould is just as the name suggests - it's rotted leaves.
You simply pile up a large amount in a bin or a bag
or even a wire cage.
As opposed to compost, which is turned and tended,
this is set and forget.
After about 12 months, this is what you get -
these incredible chocolatey broken-down leaves.
Now, they're not very high in nutrients
because they are just leaves,
but they are fantastic at holding them
and also holding moisture,
which makes them a great additive for making your own potting mix.
Just gonna sieve some of the smaller parts of the leaf mould there.
And I'll add a similar amount of washed sand
and then a little bit of composted manure,
just a small amount, for some nutrients.
And that makes a fantastic little mix
for potting up some little seedlings.
Of course, nutrients are something that you will always need
to feed the garden, particularly in the vegie patch,
and animal manures are a really fantastic source.
I've got my chickens, of course,
which means I can collect their manure
from under the perches every couple of days,
and it is incredibly rich, it's full of nutrients.
Different animals will produce different qualities of manures,
and they do need to be used differently.
But, really, the simplest thing you can do
is incorporate them into your compost.
That means that'll take care of any weed seeds
that might be contained in the manures,
and it also means that all of that nutrients
is spread throughout the compost, and it's safe to put on the garden.
And I'm sure I don't have to tell you
how much of a fan of tree sources I am -
that is all of those things that come from trees.
I love timber, and it is available everywhere.
Environmental weeds, you can pick up sticks
for stakes and other sculptures in the garden.
They're really easy to find.
And then here I've got some oak logs.
These were fresh-cut from a tree that fell down around the corner.
Drilled them and inoculated them
with shiitake mushroom spawn,
which makes its way through the logs,
and then it produces the fruit -
the mushrooms.
So, for these logs that were on their way to the chipper,
well, I think it's a fantastic use.
Woodchips are another incredible tree source
in that they're really readily available.
Trees are being pruned or removed all the time
in cities and in the regions,
so you can get your hands on it all over the place.
It is really worth chatting to some local arborists
to see if they will supply this material.
Of course, that means you'll get something local,
but you'll also know what's in that wheelbarrow.
When you're getting random things, it could be full of weed seeds.
It also could be made of a diseased tree.
But I know where this came from. I know the exact tree.
It was a healthy ash tree which could have stayed
but it had seeded in the wrong spot.
It was lifting a path and so it had to come out.
And that means it's perfect for my garden.
Today I'm gonna do two jobs with one barrowful of woodchips.
So I use them as paths in the garden,
which means I can walk in between the vegetable beds.
But whilst that path is sitting there,
getting moisture and nutrients from the surrounding soil,
I'm also gonna use it to make compost.
The first step is to excavate the old path
which was woodchips laid down about 12 months ago.
These have now decomposed
so they can be dug out and used as compost on the garden.
Once they're removed, I'm gonna replace them with fresh woodchips.
I'll mix in a little bit of poultry manure to add some nutrients,
and then firm them down.
I reckon that path will last a good 12 months,
and then after that, I can dig it out and start the cycle again.
But, really, there are resources
to fuel your garden growth for free all around you.
You just have to find them.
Take your rake and go for a walk. Make some friends.
It might cost a little bit of time and effort instead of money,
but it is well worth it.