And Then There Were Geraniums

I've always loved geraniums but I never could grow them as big and beautiful as I wanted. I could keep them alive through the winter but the seed geraniums I bought at the garden center every year just didn't thrive like the pretty ones I've seen in magazines.

It took me all this time to figure out what makes them happy. I always put them in full sun like the tags and all the books say. But every year they would get scorched and just most of them dried up and withered up and died every year.

But I made a real effort to study them this year. I got some seeds and decided to grow my own. Nobody can afford these prices. They are crazy prices for young seedlings and plants at all the stores. I'm not going to pay 3.50 for one seed geranium or $5 for one in a five inch pot. It's time for some DIY!.

my helper Olivia

I got 30 seeds of different colored geraniums online from Etsy and every one of them germinated. I grew 30 geraniums in my sun windows last winter and they all were healthy and outgrew their little seedling pots. So I put them into four inch pots this spring and kept them going until it was time to set them out.

They didn't bloom until I planted them outside. I only put three of them in the side yard, seven of them in the back planters and the rest I planted on my front porch. They get morning sun and a little bit of sun in the day that makes it's way through the trees.

And to my surprise, they all lived and bloomed. A few of them are going crazy with massive blooms. They only get rain water from the rain barrel and I give them plant food every third watering. They love plant food and they love to be watered when the top inch of soil gets dry. 

my other helper Elliott

One mistake I made when I tried to grow them in full sun was to keep them too dry. They can take dry soil better than most plants because they can take the heat but that doesn't mean you don't have to water them. And I never gave them plant food but this year I learned that they actually like the nutrients in plant food - and it shows.

If I'd only known how well they would do on the front porch I would have planted them there years ago. I usually only plant impatiens and coleus there because it doesn't get a lot of sun.

The secret to big blooming geraniums is to take them in for the winter and when you bring them back out the next year, they get huge. You also have to pinch the seedlings to make them bushy. And you have to take cuttings so they will branch and spread. Last years geraniums that lived are just blooming their heads off. I'm glad I only put one plant in each of these containers. Come fall before the first frost I will be pulling all of these up and bringing them in. I'll also be taking cuttings for new plants to keep all winter for next year. This could get massive. I have never had geraniums grow this big and beautiful for me.

I'm calling this the year of the geraniums!

 

Second, This Orchid Thing

There is a lot of misinformation about how to grow orchids successfully. But the biggest misinformation pool I've found is how to care for orchids, and one of my pet peeves is misinformation about watering with ice. 

It does not make sense to tell people that the ice tag hanging from some orchids is a gimmick to get you to kill your orchid so you have to buy another one. When I killed the first orchid I bought, I didn't buy another one for several years. The ice tag is meant to keep you from overwatering and there have been studies done proving that ice watering orchids is not harmful to them. So it's not a gimmick, it is a selling point because overwatering is the number one reason people kill their orchids. 

my growing method

No orchid grower in their right mind would want you to kill an orchid. Success in growing them practically guarantees you will buy more. Failure with growing your first orchid says you won't. So the argument against ice is not logical and it just doesn't make sense. Don't put ice directly on the roots or let it touch the underside of the leaves or the stalk. When the ice melts it will not damage the roots when placed on top of the moss to melt. Studies show the temperature of the roots after watering with ice stays in the 40f degree range and does not freeze or otherwise damage them. Don't polly parrot what you've heard other people say. Do your research. Type into google "ice cube orchids study results" or "orchid ice cube research" and see what you find. Here's a few links to get you started.

The Plant Propagator interview on ice watering

Ohio State Phalaenopsis Ice Study

Study Results PDF

I don't work for these people but they really know their orchids and you can print off little booklets on orchid care and use them as cheat sheets no matter how you water your orchids. You'll be a step ahead of everyone else when someone asks you a question about orchids.

Orchid Care Booklets

I know of two studies that were done on this subject. One was done at Ohio State University and the other at University of Georgia. Look those up too.

new flower spikes

INEXPENSIVE vs. EXPENSIVE ORCHID GROWING (my experience)

You can easily pay $15 - $20 for one Phalaenopsis orchid in bloom. And a whole lot more for other lesser known varieties. Here is the cheap way in a nutshell. 

Orchids - Wait until June to buy them in the big box stores. By June the orchid blooming season is winding down and they are starting to drop flowers. A lot of the stores will mark them down to $2 - $7 or more while they are still in really good shape. Do not buy an orchid with black rotted stinky roots. It will die. OR you can buy them on the half dead plant racks really cheap. You will get them for as cheap as $1 to maybe half price this way but they won't be in really good shape. You will learn a lot bringing them back from the brink of death. Be aware that they may not flower for up to two years going this route even if you are successful. I can tell you from experience that it is very rewarding when a rescue finally blooms. And a big surprise!

Medium - This is what you plant them in. Water culture is the cheapest way to go but you may or may not want to mess with water. Most people go for bark or moss. I would go for professional bark mix when you repot if you don't have a lot of orchid growing experience or any good sphagnum moss lying around. Don't skimp on quality here.

Pots - You can spend a lot of money on ceramic pots with holes in them or use the pots the orchid came in which has a liner inside the outer pot so you can see the roots before you water. Or you can reuse glass or clear plastic containers which cost nothing. If you live in a tropical climate you can tie them to a tree, then you don't even need a pot. I grow my larger ones in recycled 2 liter pop bottles with gravel in the bottom for drainage. I grow all my minis and petites in moss. They have very different watering requirements.

Care - When to water. Only water when the roots get silvery light green and then watering methods differ. I recommend rain water. It's free, all you have to do is collect it. And you don't have to worry about chlorine or chloramine. There is no reason why you can't water with ice cubes if you have good water to begin with. Get professional orchid food and follow the instructions on the package for feeding. Preventative bug spray. Insecticidal soap will work if you see or suspect a bug issue. Sunny filtered window, no direct sun.

stem experiment

ORCHID MYTHS

Don't listen to people who tell you that you cannot water with ice. It's been proven by studies that you can and many people do successfully grow orchids watered this way. It's a slow drip method and research proves that it does not damage the roots. 

Don't listen to people who tell you to immediately repot every orchid you buy. They do not need repotted if they look good and are not in distress. If you repot an orchid in bloom it might drop its flowers so it's not recommended.

You need holes in the liner or the pot so the roots can breathe. No you actually don't unless you are afraid of overwatering it and want it to dry out faster. Many successful growers grow them in glass or see through containers with no holes in the bottom or sides.

You need to get it out of moss and repot it into bark. No you don't. Nothing wrong with growing them in moss. Moss has different watering requirements than bark, that's all.

GROUP MISINFORMATION

You should join online orchid groups so you can learn how other people do it and maybe pick up some tips and tricks you haven't tried yet. Just be aware that everyone has an opinion and there are no hard and fast rules for everyone where growing is concerned.

Environment is different in different parts of the country and growing conditions are very different in other countries too so take that into consideration before you decide to follow one person's advice. Tying orchids to trees may work in Florida just fine but if I tie an orchid to a tree here in Indiana the squirrels would have a nice meal if it didn't freeze first. I'm just sayin'.

Please, please, please, don't be a polly parrot just repeating what someone else has said and you've taken it as gospel. If you've never watered an orchid with ice or done any research on the subject please don't come into a group and start telling people not to water with ice. Your experience and your opinion is welcome but keep in mind there is more than one way to grow an orchid and your way is not the only way and it's not a rule that everyone else has to follow. That's all.

 

First, The Roses!

This might be the year of the roses for me who knows! I don't think my roses have ever bloomed as good as this or maybe I'm just noticing them more because I missed them so much over the winter. I call these my magic roses because they change color. They bud and open yellow and get pinker as they age. They never disappoint me with their bloom each year.

Music Box

I used to dream about having a rose garden in my side yard. When we moved in 38 years ago the only thing in that space was a bunch of weeds and a trash barrel, I kid you not. It wasn't long after that I started to plan my rose garden and high hopes began to spring up. 

Music Box

But every tea rose I planted over the first five years or so did not make it past the following winter. I just didn't know what kind of roses to plant. So I planted other things. Rose of Sharon grew great, lilies, various flowers, annuals and perennials came and went and then one day I discovered a barely blooming rose on the fence under one tree in the front yard. It wasn't getting enough light so I dug it up, divided it into 4 smaller plants and planted them in the side yard.

Music Box

I later found out because it wasn't getting enough sun, it didn't want to bloom. But in the side yard, it took off. And I mean it climbed over the garage next door. It took it 2 or 3 years to get established and then it went crazy - all four bushes grew crazy. So I looked it up and it turned out to be an old fashioned English cottage rose named "Constance Spry". It said it was a huge invasive rose to be grown not for the faint of heart. The flowers are cup shaped and very fragrant. It said it will cover your cottage if you don't keep it cut back every year. And they were right. These monster roses I planted turned out to be ten to twelve foot tall and the did go over the gutters of my neighbors garage and onto their roof so I had to cut them back after a few years. This is the kind of rose you see in fairy tales where you can't get through the thickets of thorns to get into the castle to save the princess. They were too hard to manage back then so they had to go, and they only bloomed for about two weeks out of the year and you had to wait another whole year to see the show again. Digging them up was a war with the thorns!

Constance Spry

I eventually cut them down, dug them up and got rid of them, all except for one I moved to a different sunny spot in the front yard and I keep it cut back to a shrub. I have two deep roots of it that still spring up in the side yard and they just will not die! A cottage rose never again! Be careful what you wish for.

Snowdrift

Then I eventually a few years ago discovered shrub roses named Easy Elegance and boy are they. They said they were so easy to grow that anyone could do it. Guaranteed to grow! Hard to kill! That's for me. I remember they were expensive but I managed to get two of them. One is called "Music Box" and the other one "Snowdrift". They are the most gorgeous things I've ever seen in my life and they smell good. 

I have a knockout rose that grows like a shrub too but doesn't get very tall and it is covered with pink roses like a rose fountain every year at the first bloom. It blooms all summer but not like the first flush. This picture was taken right after a rain. It looked better the day before.

Pink Knockout Rose

And I have one yellow rose that got planted over - I forgot it was there when I planted a Chinese Lilac almost on top of it. It blooms one yellow rose on a four foot stem every year and that's it. I think I'll have to move it because of the lilac taking all the nutrients out of the soil and it can't get what it needs.

Music Box is my favorite and the roses are the first to bloom this year because the Iris didn't. I'll have to dig them up and divide them if I want Iris blooms next year on those. A few of last year's geraniums are starting to bloom and then I think the hydrangeas will be next since they have buds coming on right now. 

I'm busy planting my fancy geraniums in boxes and hanging baskets. My orchids and African violets are busy blooming indoors and I can't wait for the new geraniums to bloom since I started them last fall from seeds. They are not just regular geraniums, they are fancy bi-colors. I think they will be gorgeous.

And of course you know I tucked a few tomato plants, bell pepper and my favorite herbs in there too.

Making Black Gold!

So I have a non-traditional compost bin. I made it myself out of a large plastic storage tub and I keep it out in the garden year round. It's taken me a few years to really get it going and figure it all out so that I will have enough compost for all my flowers and few veggies that I grow.

A couple of years ago I took a plastic bin with a lid and burned holes in the sides with an old soldering iron. It's gotta have air and it lets the bugs in. If you sink it into the ground and put holes in the bottom, it can benefit from worms too but I wasn't sure where I wanted to put mine so I left it mobile.

I start it up in the spring when I plant stuff after the last frost warning. This year it's early because we usually get the OK in mid May. We now have an all clear in April. I'm just late in getting it done until now. So last year and the year before, I loaded it up with a bucket of garden soil dirt. You can put dirt in to get it started. Then I layered it with vegetable scraps and alternate brown material like leaves, paper, cardboard box strips, hay, grass clippings, etc. until it was over half full. I wetted everything down and then just added kitchen scraps as they accumulated. Every week I would take the lid off and churn it up with my shovel and then just keep it in the sun for at least six hours a day and let mother nature do her stuff.

I didn't have a lot last year but I learned the more you add, the more black gold you get back. So this year I got two five gallon buckets full of black gold for my little garden. I moved the big pieces over and dug out all the rich earthy smelling goodness and kept the big stuff that hadn't broken down yet in the bin. I then started over for next year with the layering. I add water almost every time I churn the mix but I do let it break down for a few weeks before I start churning in the spring.

I don't feel like a waster any more since I started my composting bin. I don't throw rotten veg and scraps in the trash. Nothing goes to waste. Every scrap of veggie, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, potato peelings, any rotten or mushy veg goes into the box I have in the kitchen for the compost bin. You can add dirt, hay, mulch, weeds, plant trimmings, etc. to the bin. The finer you cut up paper and cardboard, the quicker it will compost. Just don't ever add any meat, oil, fats or dairy to your compost.

Next spring you can have some black gold for your garden too! It's super easy!

Uh-oh... You Know What That Means

It's almost Spring and my attention turns to the garden. So I've always done some gardening each year. Nothing too massive, just a few veggies and lots of flowers. I like to grow my own tomatoes, peppers and lettuce. It's an Italian garden with lots of basil and other herbs. And I have an orchid garden in one of my south windows that I just cleaned up. Most of these orchids I got from Lowes for $1 each on the half dead and dying rack about 2 years ago. I've gotten some more this year for $1, $3 and $4 at different stores and in different conditions. You have to talk to a manager to get them that cheap though because of their crazy markdown pricing structure. They actually want half price for a dead looking plant. It is just way too high. You can talk them down. And if you've got a green thumb, you can bring them back to life like me! Aren't these beauties?

my orchid window

Walmart is the worst place to buy an orchid. They leave them to rot in water and they usually just pitch them in their compactor. They don't trash them, they compact them so nobody else can have them. But I did go to one Walmart where they were marking them down from $14.95 to $7 for the ones that are still in bloom! That was lucky so I bought a yellow one. It's gorgeous!

new orchid

Last year I planted hydrangeas in several places in my yard. I even took cuttings off a few of my favorites and grew some new ones. I also made room for a few new hostas. I've bought and planted White Feather hostas before but that's not what came up so I tried again last fall. We'll see if these are labelled right and I actually get some White Feathers to come up.

my growing system for orchids

Friends don't let friends plant annuals... unless you can keep them going every year. But my favorite annuals have always been geraniums. In warmer climates geraniums are perennial. I buy them every year. I even love the scented varieties. I used to be able to buy the seeds at the stores years ago but for some reason they just quit selling them. And now I won't pay the high prices in the stores for seed geranium plants. But that's O.K. cause I found an online seed supply for fancy geraniums so last year I ordered several varieties of seeds from Valley Seed Supply on Etsy. Gonna grow my own. 

LA Lights hydrangea

I planted all the seeds last Fall and they all germinated, every single one of them! I got 100% germination rate. So I put them in a sunny window and they grew all winter. I just potted them up into bigger 4" pots and as soon as the weather warms a little more I will start setting them outside in the day to harden off. So I've got over thirty geranium plants this year! That's all I had room for in my windows. I hate to see the price of them this year. Last year they were going for over five dollars a plant. I figure I saved at least $150 seeding my own.

awnings for last year's geraniums

And now I can collect my own seeds from them if I want. Most likely I will keep them going from cuttings and bring them in when winter comes. I know some people pull them up and brown bag them in a cool dry place all winter but I have not had good luck doing it that way. Only about half of them survive like that for me.

african violets 'Rose Bouquet'

What I do is get a big container and fill it with potting soil and plant them right into it as crowded as can be. My goal is just to keep them alive, not keep them show quality.. A sunny window and barely watering them all winter. They not only thrive for me but they bloom too. Only lost one or two like that all winter. I've had geraniums blooming at Christmas time. And then come nice weather they are all ready to set outside in their own pots and containers. Not too many bugs will bother geraniums but I do spray them off before bringing them in every year. 

second bract of new orchid

I had the worst year last year for growing geraniums and I don't know why so now I go to YouTube and watch Mr. Pelargonium to get some good tips on how to care for them. Did you know that geraniums don't like the full sun in the summer? That might have been part of my problem since I had them in full sun... duh. They can scorch and burn. They also like plant food and don't like to be kept bone dry just because they can take a lot of heat. They really like dappled sun or morning sun best.

the pond

I don't plan on buying any plants this year. I have sown some herbs and tomato plants from seed already. I had volunteer Dill come up last year! So my garden looks pretty raggedy right now waiting for all the seedlings to come up and then picking the weeds from the plants is never easy when they're young. But I'll eventually get it sorted out. Expecting some happy gardening in 2024 and lots of geraniums!

 

My Spring/Summer Garden 2023

I've been lost in the garden and cleaning out cluttered places for the past couple of months. My compost bin was nearly emptied for all my tomato plants and flowers so I started this years batch and I planted some stuff. Look at this hydrangea I planted last year. It's called L A Lights.

We have had the mildest most beautiful weather lately, so nice, not to warm days and breezy evenings make it the best for gardening. July is usually very hot and dry. We've had plenty of rain this month so I have not set up my rain barrel this year. I've been collecting water in five gallon buckets and it is enough between rain spells so far but my rain barrel can be set up in about five minutes if needed.

My garden really was pretty simple this year. I decided not to buy a lot because plants are way too overpriced again this year. I grew my own from seeds this year and what didn't make it, then I bought a few plants but I started my own seeds for the tomatoes. My jalapenos and bell peppers died during the damping off period so I bought a plant each of those.

As did my cherry tomato plant so I bought this one. It's huge now.

I planted moss roses and geraniums. I had seeds for the moss roses and I wintered over my geraniums from last year but only four of them lived so I had to buy a few more to propagate. I've been taking cuttings and multiplying them along with the plants I already have to make my garden this year. I bought very little.

 

I got a Bloomstruck hydrangea in good shape for only $7 at Walmart They have flower buds on them already and the plant looks beautifully healthy now. And I went with coleus on the front porch boxes. The seeds are easy to gather for those and they are colorful and they do well in the shade. 

I skipped the petunias but had a few volunteer ones come up in the beds so I propagated them and now have many petunias. 

I will be taking seed for these. And my basil came up on its own in the pot where it grew last year. I have basil in the freezer already, and a ton of cuttings planted. Basil is the easiest to grow, store and propagate. You can never have too much pesto! I put wire cages on my geraniums so I could protect them from the rain if needed.

I only planted three roma tomato seedlings this year but I'm going to have a bumper crop.

A few of my cuttings took root so I moved them up to bigger pots. They will go into the ground as soon as the pots get root bound.

I got this plant for practically free. It was buy one and get the second for a dollar and I've been wanting one of these. It's a mosquito plant (scented geranium). They don't really bloom very well at all but their super power is the scent in their leaves. It repels bugs.

Well this post is getting kindof long but I have more garden goodies, I just have to take more pictures. 

Can You Believe These Prices???

I go MIA in Spring... but you can always find me in the garden. I get plant fever every year and if it's time to grow something outside then that's where you'll find me. Ever since I can remember, I've planted striped petunias, even if it's only one basket. I love red and white striped petunias and I always plant geraniums!

But it is turning out to be the year of the hydrangeas for me. I've had a few of the 'year of the roses', the 'year of the irises', the 'year of the hostas' and some years certain plants just take off and demand more attention. I planted two of the smallish hydrangeas about ten years ago when the prices were affordable, back when I occasionally paid full price for plants. One on each side of the porch steps but one of them died. 

So I moved the other one over to the side of the mini-barn and that's where it's been, uneventfully surviving but not blooming all this time. One year I thought I saw a few sparse little pink blossoms on one stem... that was all it did that year.

But this year - boom! It is really blooming lots of flowers. Well, lots means about a dozen or so to me. So I figured "success" even though all I did different this year was water everything in my yard about every other day (or every day in high heat). That's all, just more water. Who knew? So I also mulched the plants really well to help keep the roots cool and keep them blooming. My water bill is going to be crazy, right? We need some rain!

So I figured this year "I'm on a roll" with hydrangeas since I discovered their secret. It only took me ten years... So I bought three more distressed plants on the half dead plant rack at Walmart (just in case my hydrangeas skills are a fluke) so I didn't spend a lot of money on them - in case they don't make it. But they are already putting out new leaf buds!

They were $8 apiece. Also, my neighbor gave me cuttings of her huge white hydrangeas to root. So root them I did. I also took cuttings off these four that I have now. Who can afford these prices, right?

I also decided to fill my annual garden boxes with geraniums in the sun and coleus in the shade next year. I've always bought flats of wax begonias and impatiens - not next year. I can winter geraniums over in bags in the attic or on the cement floor down stairs where it's cool and bring them back in the spring. I can easily propagate geraniums and make hundreds more if I want. So I bought the clearance rack of non blooming geraniums for mostly a dollar apiece because I know they will bloom again. I can keep them going year to year forever if I want. I won't be buying annuals next year. I plan to start my petunia, moss rose, tomato and herb seeds next February for next year's garden. I've got it all planned out. 

These prices are making me feel like maybe I need to homestead because the economy feels like "the sky is falling" especially in the garden. I feel the pinch but I'm not quite ready to go off the grid just yet... but it's moved me to be a little more self-sufficient you might say. I also got the urge to make another batch of homemade laundry soap but I've been making laundry and bar soap for years anyway. I like to do that occasionally. It has nothing to do with the garden though except for helping to cut the high prices and I really love homemade goats milk soap. 

I also dragged out my bread making machine from the utility pantry. The machine does it all. You put the ingredients in, push a few buttons and an hour or so later you have homemade bread. Have you seen the prices of bread lately? The seed bread can go over $5 a loaf! I love iced raisin bread... and Italian herb and cheese bread... but who can afford that? You can with a bread machine.

So I've been very busy in the garden propagating my own plants and taking cuttings of my flowers. I will not be buying flowers next year at these prices, unless it's off a distressed plant rack. I have put down cuttings from all the roses and the weigela in my yard. I also cut everything back hard early this Spring to encourage growth and bushiness. 

I even have volunteer babies from my flowering pink almond bush now! All I can think of is that maybe some of the cutting tips were not raked up and just took root where they fell on the ground. Never had that happen before though. It's also a possibility that when I cut it back it thought it was going to die and sent out several shoots... it doesn't matter why. What matters is that I have a lot of flowering pink almond babies. YAY me!!

I've also started a compost bin out of an old Christmas storage bin from the attic. I'm going to use the compost in my garden. I didn't realize how many kitchen scraps we actually have been throwing away! Banana peels, egg shells, coffee grounds, carrot tops, junk mail, cardboard, leaves, straw... and all my vegetable scraps and peels and more is in my bin. Might as well put all that to good use making mulch for the garden. We just cleaned the gutters out and dumped all that leaf mold into the bin and gave it a churn for more composty goodness. YUM!

And I built a rain water capture and storage system for my garden out of a 32 gal trash can. You can learn how to do anything on YouTube. But... it hasn't rained in over two weeks now. The grass is getting crunchy... just waiting for the rain... still waiting... it's suppose to rain this week... it was suppose to rain last night but it didn't...  still waiting... I can add more barrels to the system later if I need to. I'm ready for the rain now... still waiting... Come on! I have a rain barrel to fill! 

I also found hanging baskets of petunias for five bucks at Meijers recently. And they were in really great shape, fully in bloom. The basket prices of flowers this year is just crazy - $16 to $29??? . So I got two baskets of pink petunias. What I like about these $5 baskets is that I can reuse them again next year. Aren't they pretty?

I've also dug up, divided and gifted my neighbor with two huge clumps of some monster three and a half foot hostas that I should have divided a few years ago. And I still have eight monster hostas just like this one scattered around the shady parts of the yard. They are all way too overgrown. They are huge. I've decided to move the hostas out to make more room for new hydrangeas. I'm so glad these biggies have shallow roots. They were pretty heavy though.

 

I kept plenty of them for my shaded areas. I have them in three sizes and varieties that I'll grow out for a year or so and then move out into other parts of the yard. There is no shortage of hostas around here. 

And I found out that you can use creeping jennys in the pond. So I planted a few pots of those up and just stuck them in the margins, pots, dirt and all. They are doing great and the plants help keep the algae away. I have not had an algae problem all summer once the first algae bloom in the Spring was done. I hit it with hydrogen peroxide and waited for the water lilies to cover the surface. 

So I've been busy pruning, propagating, planting and moving stuff in the garden. I fell in love with little moss roses this year. I never knew how easy it was to propagate them. You just pinch off a stem, remove the lower leaves and stick them in the dirt. Keep them watered and you've got more plants in no time. 

They even bloom in the bucket while they are propagating. You just can't stop them!

I'm starting to think I really have a magical green thumb this year. I feel like I can make unlimited plants from just a few. That's what I've been up to all this time. Just working in and enjoying my garden. Propagation is the best way to get more plants, not by paying these high store prices. It helps if you have neighbors that garden too so you can exchange plants and cuttings. But if not, just multiply your own plants whatever you have and plan on planting seeds early next year. 

I don't think the prices are going to get any better any ways soon. I'm not a doomsday prepper but it doesn't hurt to cut your costs anywhere you can. You gotta pay for that gallon of gas, right?