If you are one of the many who have turned to gardening as a method of cutting your grocery bill, you don’t want to end up spending even more money at the home improvement store. You do want to make sure that you are prepared for the task of gardening, but it is also true that your garden does not have to break the bank.
Planning makes a huge difference when it comes to saving money in your garden. If you figure out what you want to do ahead of time, then your garden is much more likely to do well. Figure out where you want your garden, and then figure out the sunlight exposure that part of your yard will have. This will help you choose plants that grow in that amount of light. Then, talk to your family and make sure they know they will be eating what you grow. Choose plants that they will all agree to eat and will enjoy and do well in that amount of light. This will keep you from wasting money on vegetables that will not grow so well or that no one will eat.
Once you have your first round of crops, you will end up with more seeds than you know what to do with. You can throw them away, or you can dry them and save them for an exchange with other gardeners. This will help you save money when it comes to buy the next year’s seeds, because you already have a different sort of currency in your garden: seeds that other people will want. Barter is one of the oldest forms of economic trade in the world; turn it to your advantage and use your seeds to buy your next year’s crops.
Don’t swap all of your seeds, of course. Keep a few of them so that you can grow them yourself. If your family loved your red bell peppers, then save some seeds to replenish that part of the plot when the next planting season comes. This way you’ll have the seeds you swapped for as well as your own favorites from this year.
You can even make your own fertilizer by composting grass cuttings and food-based waste from your kitchen. It takes a long time to turn these items into compost, particularly if you don’t have a composter sitting outside to put them in, but once you have compost developing, you can just take out what you need and add more materials, making a pile that will keep your yard fertile.
If you want to garden in containers, you can find containers for free at a number of places. Some restaurants just throw out old buckets and plastic boxes; instead, stop in and tell the manager what you want to do, and explain that you want to help the environment. They are as likely as not just to give them to you.
Gardening can be a budget saver. Use these tips to get more for your dollar.