Saving money while gardening

After spending most of the spring and summer clearing the bushes, roots, trash trees and other overgrowth around my house, I'm left with a pile of yard debris about eight feet long, four feet wide and five feet high. It includes branches up to six feet long or as much as three inches thick, and some roots/stumps that weigh as much as 20 pounds. I checked a national junk hauler's Web site, and estimated it would cost more than $500 to haul the debris away.

But my neighbors cut down a tree in their side yard this month. Besides removing some of the dense shade, which will allow me to plant a wider variety of plants, they are also left with a pile of big, heavy yard debris. They plan to hire their son and son-in-law to haul the stuff away in their truck. So I'm going to pay for half and have the young men haul my debris off at the same time.

That's way better than my plan to cut the big stuff into smaller pieces and put them in bags to be hauled by the city.

I've finished clearing the patch that will be my fern and heuchera and astilbe garden that I will be able to see from my sunroom. I need to add some soil (digging up the roots left holes) and till the soil. I had first thought I'd need to add soil amendments, but the towering oak trees and layers of leaves have left the soil soft and dark and rich. So a little digging, a little raking, and after putting down mulch made from oak leaves I will shred, the plot will be ready for its winter slumber.