Free Potting Soil For Katy!
by Katy on April 12, 2025 · 28 comments
Our Fred Meyers (Kroger) do an annual event called “Fuchsia Saturday” where they supply free Premium Black Gold potting soil with purchased plants and you know I know to get my tuchus over there bright and early, as it’s “while supplies last.” You’re allowed to bring “Up to six 12-inch containers, so that’s what I bring. Yes, you need to buy plants for each pot, so I bought a six-pack of beans plus a single tomato plant.
I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I’m very cheap! I’m guessing I got at least $20 of free potting soil, which makes it worth leaving the house at 7:15 A.M.!
Happy gardening, my fellow nonconsumers!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
F R U G A L Katy, not cheap.
potato, potahto.
I missed the perfect opportunity to make a “dirt cheap” pun!!!!!!
Shoot, I was just going to say that you’re not just cheap, you’re dirt cheap. Meanwhile, I’m waiting to hear if we can pick up a huge load of free river rock via FB Marketplace. Hopefully the first person won’t show up and then it’s ours, all ours, baby!
I’m happy to report that we got a truck load of free river rock and, better yet, the first people took what they needed, too. They’re from Ukraine so that makes it even sweeter.
That’s the kind of cheap I can get behind.
Nobody bats an eye.
Man I wish my Kroger did this! Fantastic!
I dream of free potting soil!
I had quite a haul at the recycling center this morning. In addition to the usual bins for cans, bottles, paper, etc, we have a swap shop and book shed–both stocked with giveaways people drop off. (Our village’s version of Buy Nothing I suppose.
For starters I picked up a large box stuffed with clean bubble wrap that I will give to a friend who is packing for a move. (Not that I wouldn’t have taken the bubble wrap anyway.) The swap shop also yielded a small, nearly new cutting board, a small bottle perfect for my homemade tonics, and a glass jar that I think is a vase, but I’ll use it to store spatulas etc.
Then a good deed turned profitable. The book shed is overflowing to the point where it’s impossible to sort through the offerings, which is counter-productive to circulation. The more it builds up the more it builds up. I volunteered to start clearing out old inventory, along with moldy books, and books no one is likely to want in any case. Thirty year old textbooks anyone? Local histories for towns 500 miles away? Back home, sorting through books to be trashed, offered to other venues, etc. I found an old book that is selling on ebay for over $200. (I’m not sure my copy is worth that much but I’ll surely get something for it.) Encouraged, I pulled out another half dozen books that look promising and will see if they are worth anything.
With used books, it’s always the most unlikely titles and editions that bring in money. Just because a book is old doesn’t mean it’s valuable. This particular book sat on the shelf for most of a year.
I was feeling discouraged because after carting off four boxes, which was all I had strength for, I knew I had barely made a dent. Now I’m itching to go back!
Frugal Fail? More of a nonstarter I guess. I discovered that the nearest bottle/can redemption center has closed permanently and the next closest one is a 2 hour drive away, in a place I never go. So I dropped off the bag of bottles and cans I had picked up and washed, at the town recycling center. Partial payback (the town gets the $$) for all that the place gives me I suppose!
If I make it to town this afternoon (there’s an Indivisible meeting I want to go to if my energy holds out) I will make a quick stop at CVS. I got a coupon yesterday for a clearance item, something I need (don’t ask) that will bring a $5 item to less than a dollar. Not worth the 30 mile roundtrip if I’m not going to the meeting though.
Cynthia, I envy you your recycling center. And that’s a great story about the books in particular. Wouldn’t I love to help you haul out more of those!
A. Marie, I bet you’d find some I’d miss!
Cynthia,
Wonder if you could get on the Craigslist of the town 500 miles away and sell the history book(s) of that town.
Fru-gal Lisa, what a smart idea. However, that example was cherry-picked from a tour of the book shed some time ago. Ebay is actually good for such special items though–you can find the one person out there who is looking for just what you have.
I used to sell regularly on ebay. I never made much money, but it was amusing to see what I could place. I once sold an owner’s manual for a 30 year old car model to someone who was refurbishing one.
Happy Fuchsia Saturday!! What a great holiday.
Does this qualify as a Green Thumb, or a Gold Thumb? Or maybe just a Green Thumb in every sense of the word “green”?
My potting soil was not free but it was bought with a $5 off 25 coupon at Dollar General.
One year, my Christmas adopt-a-family was a single mom with three kids. Her list just had things for the kids. When I encouraged her to list some things for herself, she hesitated and said quietly: “I could really use potting soil, I can’t afford to buy it myself.” Oof, that hit me hard. Still does. And yes, she received a bag of dirt for Christmas along with everything else on the list.
Makes my heart hurt.
I am currently coordinating Easter dinner for 17 people at our local women’s shelter. I think I’m providing ham. I loathe ham but lots of other people seem to like it for Easter, so there we are. If need be I can make a bunny shaped cake. (Lurch sigh.) Oh well, if it makes the ladies and their kids happy, we’re good.
You can make a bunny face fairly easily if you bake a circle and rectangle then cut the rectangle into ears and a bow tie: https://kathrynskitchenblog.com/coconut-easter-bunny-cake/
Oops, it’s actually 2 circles.
Rose,
Your 《lurch sigh》 gets me every time. Bwahahaha!
But truly, thank you for coordinating that meal. I know it will be much appreciated by the attendees.
I meant.《Lurch sigh》, of course….
So nice to find another ham loathers. Prosciutto however is okay. Pancetta is okay but that is technically not ham.
Yea for free potting soil! My trick is that always stop and pick up dead house plants people put out on the curb so I can reuse the soil. The other thing I do is at the end of fall I post on Nextdoor that I will take any dead potted mums folks want to get rid of. One year I got 16! I was able to fill a new raised bed with all the donations!
You must be doing a brisk trade in dead mums. My experience here in Central NY is that there is no such thing as a “hardy mum.” (Plant-wise, anyway. I’m sure we have numerous hardy mothers.)
We are not lucky enough to get free soil, but purchase it at our local hardware store that sends us $5 off coupons every few weeks.
We have sunken areas in our yard where long-dead tree roots are slowly rotting, so every year I recycle soil from garden pots to fill in the low spots. I think after this weekend I can safely plant the garden.
TIL that fuchsia Saturday is a thing. I had no idea that there was a component other than fuchsias!
Next year.
Yay for free potting soil. That is a real deal!
I pruned my rather large thyme plant and harvested 4 produce bags full of fresh new growth to dry. I used the rest of the clippings as mulch around some plants. I got part of a bale of rice straw for free on BN this week so my tomato beds are actually ready ahead of time. There are flowers on my blackberry canes, new leaves on the rescue lemon tree, the teeniest grapes on the grapevines and my rhubarb is looking lovely. A good time of year.