Saving Money in the Garden

Congrats on the house!
I plan on moving out soon, and also want to grow my own food, plant a garden so it looks nice.
Look in local ads for equipment, gumtree is also good and don't turn your nose up at your local tip! Mine keeps aside anything that is still in good condition; there was actually a bunch of garden tools all for £5 and had pretty much everything you'd want and a pretty basket. Magazines can also be good, usually loads of articles on saving money in the garden, offers on tools and sometimes free seeds.

One idea I had was growing your own compost. Google worm farming; it's cheap, relatively easy to do and helps the environment by not throwing away all your scraps. Basic outline is get a plastic container, drill a tap in the bottom for the liquid (which can then be used as plant feed), fill it with whatever your worms need, put your scraps in there for the worms and make sure they can't escape with a lid. You don't want it air tight and you want it to be big enough for the worms to multiply, and they will multiply. You can then sell to bait shops and sell excess compost and feed if you want.

I probably focused on the worm thing too much... but you get the idea, you needn't spend much at all, just jot down some ideas and bargain hunt. Good luck!

 

The best advice I have is check with friends! I have wanted to grow tomatoes for some time now, and I asked a friend I made recently just in chatting if they would mind giving me some seeds if they thought their fruits gave some. Another thing I learned from the same friend is often you can trim a portion of a healthy plant to grow a new one. Instead of the seed from fruit, they've given me a clipping from trimming the crazy growing vine to plant myself! I'm pretty excited to get that started as it's been a goal of mines for some time. I love tomatoes so I think it could be exciting to grow my own to eat!

I've also been told by the same friend they wouldn't mind trimming others to get a plant started if I was interested in any of her shrubs or flowering plants. Another neat fact I learned is that if you keep the top of a pineapple it will grow if you're just interested in that. Maybe even talking to some of the people at a gardening shop they could give you some advice. You never know, someone could have extra soil or something and wouldn't mind helping you out. A searching/wanted add could do wonders in spots like these!

Glad to see you're reducing, reusing and recycling to get this started though! That's amazing! Best of luck! I hope we can see pictures one day later after you've gotten going well.

 

COngrats on the house purchase and your desire to garden. I have found with my first vegetable garden that it really doesn't cost a lot to grow flowers and veggies as long as you choose plants that do well in your local environment....otherwise it doesn't matter how much you spend, the plants won't grow. I simply prepared the dirt by making it loosely packed and even and then planted the seeds and watered...6 weeks later my veggie garden is almost overrun and I will be harvesting my first vrop of cucumbers very soon.

 

I presume you're going round car boot sales, to pick up cheap tools and furniture? You can get some real bargains there. Why not plant some fruit bushes? Okay, they won't fruit this year, but they'll fill a space in the garden, and you'll have fruit to harvest next year. Also, grow some salad vegetables, which provide quick returns and also save some cash. In addition, there's nothing like the taste of lettuce or radishes fresh from the garden.

Just carry on as you're doing and look out for cheap ways to do things. When you're out walking, look out for seed heads on poppies and other flowers that you can take for planting later. Another thing you can do is save seeds and stones from the fruit you buy to eat, and try growing that. My husband has grown tomatoes from seed with no problems, and he's also grown a peach tree and a lemon tree. They're too young for fruit yet, but they're thriving.

Look out for offers in the national press. The Daily Mail often has some really good offers on plants and shrubs. If you can't afford to buy them yourself and you have a birthday coming up, ask a close friend or relative who usually buys you a present to get them for you.

Some gardening magazines often give free seeds away, so collect them. If you don't want the seeds yourself, you can always swap them with friends, or sell them on at a car boot sale. When your garden is established, selling plants and produce at car boot sales is a good way to bring in some extra cash to plough back into the garden. Good luck, and congratulations on buying your house.

 

Great idea. Once you have the seeds and the planting is done the hardest part is over. You can reap the rewards a few months later with fresh tomatoes and the like at almost half the shop price! But there is also the beauty of the flowers you can grow. My garden si a bit of a wild wilderness at the moment and the weather has been really and so haven't had the chance to do much with it! Hopefully it will pick up soon and can have my own gardening party

 

Fot garden furniture you can over turn old barrels tubs etc. for a real rustic feel and appearance. You can find round boulders and parts of a log. I have them in my garden. It looks great. For grass you can ask someone with a good variety like australian buffalo to give you a few pieces of turf and transplant it in your own yard after nicely loosening the earth. It's simple. It worked for us.

 

Everyone has already posted a lot of the ideas I had thought of!
It may also help you to stretch out your garden plans over the course of a few years. One year focus on one aspect or area and then the next year something else and so on. This will break up the cost over time and in a few years it will all be completed.
Congrats on the house and good luck with your garden!

 

Congratulations on the purchase of your new home...enjoy this special time! All I can add is to use utensils like spoons to dig with, make your own compost from organic food left overs, make your own fertilizers and ask neighbors for some cuttings of plants that can easily be propagated. Also, you can borrow from nature...when out and about, get some seeds from plants that grow wild...for free. Ask them and they will be happy to share their beauty for free. Happy time.