10 Money-Saving Gardening Tips for Spring!
Are you looking to start or maintain a garden when the springtime comes around? It can be a way to save money and eat delicious fruits or vegetables that are homegrown and healthy! However, if you don’t do it properly, it can be an expensive venture.
On the other hand, if done well, starting or maintaining your own garden can save you a lot of money and get you some delicious crops to boot!
Here are some tips to make your gardening less expensive, more effective, and easier!
Read on for the secrets to a cheap garden that makes delicious veggies for you and your family!
Mulch!
At first glance, mulch might seem like an unnecessary expense when it comes to gardening. After all, people grew fruits and vegetables for thousands of years without the help of mulch and they seemed to do just fine!
Mulch also seems sort of expensive on the surface, as you’ll need a lot of it to cover a good amount of space.
However, a solid 2-3 inch layer of mulch can improve the quality of the soil, help retain water, and prevent weeds from sprouting up. It will not only improve the quality of your vegetables, but also save you money long-term by cutting down on water, herbicide, and seed costs!
Coffee Grounds or Tea
Putting some coffee grounds or tea leaves into the garden with the seeds when you originally plant a vegetable might help nourish the garden and grow fuller, more nutritious veggies!
Coffee grounds can be a helpful and cheap way to:
- Compost
- Repel Pests
Make many uses of the coffee grounds you have in your garden before they wind up in your trash can!
Tea leaves, on the other hand, can nourish your vegetables and fruits by increasing nitrogen levels of the soil and giving earthworms something to eat that’s not your plants!
Natural Pest Repelents
If you’re feeling like store-bought pest repellents are not only chemicals that don’t seem great to spray on something you’re going to eat, but also a fairly expensive thing to constantly buy, consider using some more natural means of pest repellents.
Try using the peels of citrus fruits that you’ve eaten! They are often effective in repelling pests such as stray cats, ants, and other bugs from your garden. Here’s what you do:
- Simply collect the orange, lemon, lime, and other citrus peels that you’re going to throw away, and tear them into small pieces.
- Scatter these small pieces around your garden evenly and generously, and the pests should stay away!
Use Cooking Water
When you cook vegetables or eggs, the water has a lot of great nutrients in it that can help your plants grow!
Instead of pouring this valuable water down the drain, try using it to fertilize your plants! This can cut down on waste, and also cut down on the costs of buying traditional fertilizer!
Lawn Clippings
After mowing your lawn, make sure to keep the clippings! They can be another source of cheap fertilizer.
https://journeywithjill.net/gardening/2019/02/19/how-to-save-money-gardening-21-uncommon-ideas/
Similarly to the cooking water mentioned above, lawn clippings have a lot of valuable nutrients for your plants and can be a great replacement for traditional fertilizers you would find at the store.
Buy in Bulk!
If you need to fill the beds in your garden with soil or compost, try not to buy the branded bags at your local store, as they can be extremely overpriced and not any better than what you can get your hands on elsewhere.
Try calling your local municipality or landscapers in the area and see if you can buy some soil or compost in bulk. It will work just as well as the brand name soils, and be far cheaper. It also lasts, so you can buy in bulk and store it well.
Free Supplies!
Try and figure out ways to get some of the more expensive things you need to garden for free!
Call your local tree service and see if they’re looking to get rid of tree clippings that you can use to mulch with. This will help you avoid the cost of mulch entirely, which would save a ton of money.
Making your own compost with food trash, paper debris, and old soil from your own garden is a serious pro move! Doing your own composting will cut down on a major cost!
Grow from Seed
It is far cheaper to grow your plants from seed than to use plant transplants. It may take a little longer and require a little bit more care, but it will cut down on your costs in a major way! Try to grow all your plants from seed.
Protect Your Seedlings!
Try to protect your freshly sprouting seedlings from pests, the weather, or any other freak accidents that may interrupt their growth or destroy them. There are a few easy and cheap ways to do this.
Using toothpicks, and later in their growth old toilet paper rolls, to surround your growing seedlings is a cheap and effective way to make sure you’re not wasting seedlings.
Read on for more tips below::
http://www.beingfrugal.net/frugal-gardening-tips/
https://lovelygreens.com/diy-homesteading-gardening-on-budget/
https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/15-money-saving-tips-from-a-frugal-gardener/
After all, spring only lasts so long, so you need to make sure all your plants are growing as efficiently as possible.
Hand-Pick Pests
Inspect your garden daily for pests such as caterpillars that will eat into your leaves and slow down or stop the growth of your plants! This is an easy and free way to protect your garden and make for more abundant, healthier, and higher quality plants!
Conclusion
There are a lot of ways to garden for very little money! If you’re looking to start or maintain a garden this spring, follow some of these tips to try to cut back on costs.
As long as you are creative, resourceful, and willing to experiment, then the possibilities are endless. So get gardening! It can be a fun and affordable way to get quality vegetables on your kitchen table.