How to Garden on A Budget
Ten Tips You Need to Know
Most of us know the benefits of having a garden of our own where we can plant flowers, herbs, and vegetables that satisfy our creativity. It is a dream of many to own a patch of greenery in the urban jungle where we can spend hours tending away to our precious plants and breathing in the fresh smell of earth. But the fear of exorbitant cost can make you backtrack on your dreams of owning one.
Although gardening can be an expensive hobby even when you plan to do it sporadically, without having a long-term plan of maintaining one, also, it can stretch your budget if you plan to purchase everything new from premium shops.
A little planning and research can help you get an affordable garden that you can easily maintain on a long-term basis.
For starters, if you are dilly dallying on having a full-fledged garden but want to practice your gardening skills, I recommend you to start your journey by planning a small herbs garden on your kitchen sill or maybe on your balcony.
Get some pots and plant some easy-to-maintain herbs. Water them as directed, and you can have a fairly satisfactory green patch in no time.
But if you are a little more ambitious and crave a proper garden in your yard, there is some planning you need to do.
Set up a budget and prepare a plan:
Planning and budgeting are obvious advice that enthusiastic gardeners often ignore. Those of you passionate about growing plants and already dreaming about sitting in among those lovely flowers often overlook the practical plans that go into the process.
Before you start your gardening endeavor, it makes sense to lay out a budget and plan your garden accordingly. Budgeting earlier on will allow you to understand how much money you can invest in your passion and then plan your garden accordingly to ensure that you are not spending more than you can afford.
After getting a tentative idea of how much you want to spend, make a plan on the basic things you need to start your gardening project.
So, what are the things you will need to plan your dream garden on a budget?
1. Plan Location.
Narrow down on the space where you want to create the garden. It makes sense not to be too ambitious and take up a large area around your house. It is wiser to get a corner of your yard and start your garden and later extend it as you go.
2. Plan your garden type.
When planning for your garden, it is better to be realistic about it. Sometimes we want to plant some flowers, some vegetables, and some herbs all at the same time. At first, it is not workable to grow all the above at the same time. Each category of plants will require individual attention, making sense to create a single type of garden.
Plan whether to plant a flower garden, a vegetable patch, or a herbs garden before going forward with it.
3. Plan your plants.
After deciding on the type of garden you want, choose where to get the seeds. You can purchase seeds or get seedlings or grow plants from cuttings.
Budgeting tips:
It will cost you more to create a garden purchasing seedlings. It is more inexpensive to get seeds and sow them to get the plants you need. Some plants can be grown from cuttings, in which case you can get cuttings from your friends and neighbors for free.
You can organize a seed sharing event where neighbors can pull together seeds they have bought or saved and exchange them. That way, you can get a variety of seeds for planting at cheaper rates or even free of cost. You can also save seeds from plants during fall time to have them ready to be sowed during summer.
4. Consider other components.
Even though you have land where you want to plant your garden, you might wish to put some pots and other structures to grow plants to create more variety in your garden space. Purchasing planters, arbors, and other hardscape material will add to your budget and keep you back from investing in the things that are most important for your garden- the plants.
Budgeting tips:
Instead of spending your money buying hardscape materials, use your imagination to reuse and repurpose things from your junk that will make your garden look attractive and help you do your bit in reducing wastage and benefiting the environment. Some of the DIY ideas you can consider are using old bathtubs, drums, or buckets for holding the plants, damaged wheels, and lampshades to grow planters and broken concretes instead of expensive flagstones. Use your creativity and borrow some ideas from Pinterest and Instagram, and you can have the most original garden in your neighborhood.
5. Design your garden yourself.
To have an attractive garden with the best features, you need to design it before planting it.
Hiring professional designers will cost you a fortune, and the result will also not look like the one you have visualized because, hey, it is someone else’s idea. Design your garden. Look at the space and plan where to plant what plants and where you want to put your garden ornaments to have precisely the garden of your dreams.
You can always fall back on old magazines and gardening sites to get some inspiration further to polish your ideas about your perfect patch of greenery.
Some points to consider while designing your garden:
Prepare a map of the amount of land you want to convert into your garden. Plan to create a boundary around the area, whether with plants, or make a path along the border to access your garden. You can decorate the outline with cornerstones or pebbles to make it well defined and attractive. Consider the already present trees or any other structures in the area while planning your garden.
Plan a path to access your garden bed. Make the path at least 2 feet wide. Plan the track in such a manner that it can access all the areas of your garden.
Finally, arrange some components to make your garden look attractive. It can be a small water feature or a birdbath, or a small bench to sit on in the middle of all that greenery.
6. Make your soil composition.
You can get ready-made soil from the store, but that can set you back by a few dollars. Instead, you can research the main ingredients present in the soil composition and prepare some of your own. Some of the common ingredients used to prepare garden soil are organic matters, like shredded barks or manure from live stocks. You can get some from the local farmers and use it in your soil to make it fertile for your garden. You can also add some extra nutrients like eggshells for an added dose of calcium and phosphorus.
7. Rent the tools or buy them a second hand.
To get on with your garden, you will need some essential gardening tools like a shovel, trowel, a garden hose, rake, pruning shears, and a spade or two, not to forget a pair of sturdy rubber gloves. You can get them in reasonably decent order from free stuff available at Craigslist or buy second-hand to avoid unnecessary expense. You can also scour free markets and garage sales to get amazing deals on gently used tools without straining your budget.
8. Look out for the sales and discounts.
We all like to buy shiny new stuff while shopping, but getting new tools or hardware stuff can make a hole in your budget. Look out for seasonal discounts and year-end sales in stores, the clearance racks in stores to get the best deals on the stuff you need to maintain your garden.
9. Some other ways you can save money while planting your garden are:
-Get small plants as it is easier to maintain them;
-Invest in drought-tolerant plants as that can reduce your irrigation needs;
-Buy from local farmers instead of state-level nurseries as you would get better deals and more suitable plants for your environment. You can also do your bit at supporting your local farmers.
-Get plants from gardening plant sales organized by your city or state co-operatives to get great deals and good quality seedlings and plants.
10. Use natural pesticides.
Use natural and organic herbicides and pesticides that are not toxic and are beneficial to your garden. Nature-based composting can save you money and attract helpful insects to your garden. Besides compost, plant some cover crops that add nutrients to your garden naturally without adding toxic components to the soil.
Final Words.
Planting a garden of your dreams need not be expensive. Plan it well, use natural ingredients and reuse, repurpose and upcycle hardware components to have a brag-worthy garden in your neighborhood.
Resources:
https://modernfarmer.com/2016/02/gardening-ideas-on-a-budget/