Even for those with the greenest of fingers, maintaining a garden in tip-top condition can seem like a financial luxury. Yet creating a beautiful garden needn’t be an expensive pastime if you take a frugal approach.
Where possible, grow plants from seed. It is much cheaper to grow them from scratch than to purchase transplants from your local plant nursery or garden centre. It may take a little advance research into the right time to plant, but savings can be considerable.
As always, shop around for bargains. Many online seed retailers have regular sales or special offers. That said, the cheapest seed aren’t always the best purchase. Check out online forums such as gardenweb.com, where people exchange information about both prices and the quality of seeds.
Garden tools and other supplies are often overpriced. Consider all the options available when buying tools and equipment, including second-hand items from auction sites like eBay, or classified ad listings for some excellent deals. For more expensive purchases, explore clubbing together and sharing the costs and item with a handful of like-minded friends or neighbours.
Think creatively. Rather than buying pricey cloches and bell jars to protect your plants, use an empty plastic drinks bottle, cut in half, for the same end result. You can easily grow seeds in egg cartons or yogurt containers, rather than buying new plant pots, and turn a plastic cup into a makeshift beer trap for slugs. Gardening websites and discussion forums are full of similar hints and tips.
Take an organic approach. Chemical-based fertilisers are often an unnecessary expense when you can feed your soil with natural compost or mulch – and your soil will be healthier, too. If you do choose to go organic, you may want to invest a bit of extra time in considering your seed purchases – selecting varieties that are bred to be disease- and-pest-resistant, for example, will save money further down the line by not having to resort to expensive insecticides or fungicides.