Garden Ideas On a Budget
Garden Ideas on a budget – One of the easiest ways of adding value to your house and making it more beautiful is by creating a super looking garden.
Not only does it add value but also can look fantastic and garner you wonderful compliments from your neighbors and friends.
Just imagine how gorgeous your street would look if everyone was able to create their own wonderful looking garden.
Imagine a home garden with flowers blooming in all seasons. However, maintaining a garden takes effort, time and money.
So, is it possible to have a budget garden? Yes, it is very much possible and you can actually cut your gardening costs by making wise choices.
You need to remember that back before the big nurseries or garden centers became popular our grandparents had to find ways on their own to create this great looking garden.
They did not spend a lot of money, they just found ways to get it done.
Landscaping the entire garden can turn out be quite expensive. Most of the gardening enthusiasts face this issue and they are on a continuous lookout for better options.
There are many inexpensive ways of landscaping a garden or yard to make it more appealing. If you choose the right kind of features and elements then you can certainly get a beautiful garden.
Let’s look at some of the ways to help you keep to a budget:
Start with a Plan
[/caption]Considered one of the Top 10 mistakes (I will list them below), not having a plan can end up being very costly to you.
Imagine driving off to the local Garden center, going in and seeing all these beautiful plants, shrubs and trees and all of a sudden you want to buy them all.
Problem is, you have no idea how big your garden will be, what your soil conditions are, how well will different plants grow together, if your garden area is mainly shaded or gets a lot of sun, what your drainage is like and I could go on and on.
It is very important you take the time to draw up a plan. Get yourself some graph paper first and sketch out what your garden will look like. Take time to discover how much sun the space will actually have.
This will be a question asked of you at the garden center. Check out the soil, you may find you will have to dig out what you have and replace it with good planting soil.
Creating a plan will save you a whole lot of grief and more importantly will save you a lot of money.
I said I would list the Top ten Gardening mistakes. Here they are
- Not Planning
- Not investing in good Quality Tools
- Overlooking Poor soil conditions
- Planting in the wrong spot
- Overcrowding shrubs and trees
- Not planting in groups
- Purchasing poor quality plants
- Planting too deep
- Over or under watering
- Not keeping up with weeding
I found this list at 50plus.com and if you would like to see an explanation for each here is the link Top 10 Gardening Mistakes
We will be covering the above mistakes in a lot of detail in upcoming articles.
Get Free Advice
There are a lot of place out there where you can get free advice. Look around the neighborhood and see who has the real nice gardens. With a few flattering words about their wonderful looking gardens and they will be willing to answer all your questions.
Just make sure you ask as many neighbors as possible as each will have very different and varying opinions. Make sure you only take what suits you.
Take a trip to your local garden center and ask questions. That is what these people are there for and they are supposed to be the expert on the subject.
Make sure you write down the answers to your questions because if you are like me, you won’t remember a third of what you were told once you get home.
Google is a great place to find everything you want, but like asking your neighbors, make sure you check out many different answers to your questions.
And of course you can always keep coming back here to Garden Ideas on a Budget. 
Here is a great example of getting free advice from YouTube
Know Your Budget Limits
Before you go out and start buying all the neat things for your garden, and after you have put your plan together and gotten all that free advice, you have to know how much you are willing to spend.
And there is a lot more to think about than just going out and buying your plants. Depending where you live, gardening could be a yearlong or seasonal project so you must prepare.
You will need plants, soil, gardening tools, watering equipment, pest control ingredients, maybe screening. If you are seasonal, you may need coverings for some plants during the cold periods.
You have to take all this into consideration when you put your budget together for your gardens.
Oh yeah, you now have this beautiful garden and back or front yard; so have thought about maybe having to now buy outdoor furniture or decor, or even think about building a deck?
As you can see there are a lot of things to think about and plan for. A quick tip here – sometime during the year, usually in the fall garden furniture and decor will go on sale, wait if you can and save yourself a good chunk of change.
You may also want to check out Craigslist in your area. You may be surprised at what you can find.
Here at Garden Ideas on a Budget, we will try and find you the best way to keep the costs down.
Make that List
Every 2 weeks my wife takes her list and goes grocery shopping and spends approx. $200 and the odd time I go with her and the bill jumps to over $300. 
Obviously she hates me going with her because, in her words, “I don’t stick to the list”. Get my drift here?
You have sketched out your garden, you have gathered all the advice you think you need, you have picked out all your plants, shrubs and trees (vegetables if you are heading in that direction).
You know the approx amount of soil you will need, have an idea of your starting garden tool collection. Now put this down in a list and stick to it and the most important thing – Don’t take me with you!!!
Swap with Thy neighbor
I am talking plants here people!! You should know it is very much cheaper growing your plants from seeds than buying them already grown.
And a pack of seeds will more than likely contain more seeds than you need, so you end up putting the unused packages on the shelf.
Why not swap them with your neighbors? A great way of saving money and not wasting what you buy.
With seed being so inexpensive, you may want to consider getting together with a few neighbors deciding what each want and then place an order all together and divide up the packs between you. Remember this is Gardening Ideas on a budget
Another consideration, many of your plants will grow easily from cuttings and since you and your neighbors may possibly be growing different plants, you may want to consider sharing your cuttings.
Again since you are looking for Garden Ideas on a budget this is a lot cheaper than buying grown plants. There is a list of things you will need though if you decide to go this route – no pun intended You will need:
- A Mother Plant
- Soilless Potting Mix
- Rooting Hormone
- Water
- Containers or Pots for planting
- Containers for holding water and rooting hormone
- Razor Blade or Scissor
- Alcohol
- Pencil or Stick
- Plastic Bag
We will cover how to grow from cuttings in another article and video soon here at Garden Ideas on a Budget.
Share with Thy neighbor
A year or so ago, we had decided to pour a concrete walkway. The problem was we live outside the city and the job was considered too small for the cement company to do it.
The only way they would if we agreed to pay for a complete truck at the cost of over $1500.
So ended up finding 4 other couples that wanted to do basically the same thing, ordered the cement together and the total for all 5 of us was $1500, so it ended up being $300 a piece.
You can do the same thing with your garden. If you need to bring in top soil, or you decide to have someone do your excavation, try and team up with other neighbors and get a discount for the larger orders.
Garden equipment can end up being very expensive for items you may not user all the time. So if there is a chance you can borrow instead of buying everything you need then this becomes a way of saving more money.
Share your wheel barrel with your neighbors; borrow a tiller from one of your neighbors and maybe an extension ladder from another.
Some communities may even have a tool library program that will loan you the tools that you need.
Make Your Own …
Compost
Compost is defined as organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment.
The method of composting is taking specified organic material and placing it either inside a container or in pile (location is important) and adding water.
This combination will allow beneficial bacteria to grow and if you were to turn the compost once in a while it will allow the bacteria to thrive.
If you have not done a lot of composting you may be surprised at what can be added into your compost and what cannot. Check out this article – Click Here
Weedkiller
Instead of spending big bucks on weed killers and the Weedman, why not try a very simple method and create your own weed killer. Simply take full strength distilled white vinegar and spray it on your weeds. You may have to do it a few times until the weeds are dead. Give it a try and lets us know how it works. Definitely cheaper than those expensive products. Remember, Gardening Ideas on a Budget
Edible Plants
Imagine building this beautiful garden, getting to admire then all year and then eating them. Not only does it start to save you in your grocery bill, it also allows you to grow your own food organically giving you control what goes into them. I think you will be very surprised at the number of plants that can be grown that are edible and this does not include the staple vegetables like tomatoes, squash, cucumber, etc.
Here is a list of edible plants
- Ground Covers
- Chamomile
- Vining cranberries
- Creeping thyme
- Alpine strawberries
- Lowbush blueberries
- Trees
- Almond
- Apple
- Apricot
- Avocado
- Chestnut
- Cherry
- Crabapple
- English Walnut
- Fig
- Filbert (also known as hazelnut)
- Gingko
- Lemon
- Lime
- Mulberry
- Nectarine
- Olive
- Orange
- Pawpaw
- Peach
- Pear
- Pecan
- Persimmon
- Pine
- Plum
- Quince
- Flowers
- Borage
- Calendula
- Chives
- Day lilies
- Hibiscus
- Lavender
- Nasturtium
- Pansy
- Roses (the hips)
- Sunflowers (the seeds)
- Violas
- Ornamental Shrubs/Plants
- Artichoke
- Eggplant
- Huckleberries
- Lettuce
- Lignonberries
- Okra
- Passion fruit
- Peanuts
- Peppers
- Prickly Pear cactus
- Privacy Plantings
- Blackberries
- Bush apricots
- Bush cherries
- Chokecherries
- Elderberries
- Goji berries
- Gooseberries
- Highbush blueberries
- Honeyberries
- Jostaberries
- Mulberries
- Pomegranates
- Raspberries
- Roses (the hips)
- SaskatoonsVining Plants
- Beans
- Grapes
- Kiwi
- Acorn Squash
- Peas
The above list was found at Landscaping with Edibles
See you next year
Keep track of your progress throughout the summer to help you save next year. Use a chart to help you note which perennials come up and when, and get out your digital camera to snap some shots.
Rather than shelling out on new bulbs for next year, encourage any spent bulbs in your garden to produce decent flowers in future years by removing their seed heads, leaving their foliage undisturbed and feeding and watering them now.
Conclusion
Wow! A lot of things to think about and hopefully many ways to save money. The Garden Ideas on Budget site was built to try and make your gardening life easier, cheaper, knowledgeable and fun. Please consider joining our mailing list and our discussion forum.
Have a wonderful day and
Happy Gardening
Simon Lang
Gardening Ideas on a Budget
I hope you have found this article interesting and informative. I take great pride in this website and will try my hardest to give you the best possible content. Some of the links on the article may be affiliate links pointing to products for sale. If you do click on the link and buy the product, I will make a small commission.
