12 Aug

Top 10 Tips for How to Grow a Frugal Garden

Gardening is an art. It is a hobby that many people enjoy because it offers a variety of different benefits for the gardener. Those benefits include exercise, peace of mind, the opportunity to slow down and enjoy life and the chance to eat something natural that the gardener grew himself. In some cases, the garden may even save the gardener some money on store-bought groceries. However, in most cases, the garden is going to cost money (at least initially). People who are interested in obtaining the benefits of gardening without spending too much money frequently ask how to grow a frugal garden. There are a lot of great ideas about that topic but here are the top ten tips for getting started growing a frugal garden.

1. Start small. The biggest mistake that new gardeners make is that they want to start right away with a huge garden. They fence off a portion of the yard, buy a bunch of soil and plant a variety of different seeds. This requires a large start-up cost for the garden. It also tends to make for a bad start with gardening because it overwhelms the new gardener. Instead, start small. Consider planting just one type of plant in your yard. Perhaps you may even want to start with simple container gardening in the house. By starting small, you reduce your initial start-up cost and create a garden that you can afford.

2. Create a budget for your garden. Before you even start creating your garden, you should sit down with a calculator and do some research into the cost of gardening. This is the time to figure out what you’re going to grow and what it’s going to cost you to do so. Factor in the cost of seeds or plants, gardening tools, soil, watering the garden, etc. Learn how much it’s going to cost you and create a budget to keep your garden a frugal garden. Incorporate your garden budget into the budget for the rest of your home.

3. Grow fruits and vegetables that you will eat. When choosing what you’re going to plant in your new garden, you should think about planting herbs, fruits and vegetables that you will actually consume. This allows you to save money on grocery shopping since you’re growing some of your own food. It’s certainly nice to have flower gardens but a good frugal garden usually has food instead. Of course, there are edible flowers out there that you could plant as well (although these often are cheap for a gardener).

4. Choose plants that are native to your area. As you start to narrow down the variety of plants that you’re considering for your garden, think carefully about choosing plants that are native to your area. Alternatively, you can choose plants that are native to an area that has a similar climate to yours. This increases the likelihood that your garden will survive. At the same time, it reduces the amount of water that you need to use. It also reduces the likelihood that you’ll need extras for your garden (such as tarps to create unnatural shade areas). This all helps to keep the garden a frugal garden.

5. Landscape your garden using the principles of xeriscaping. This term simply refers to landscaping the garden in a way that reduces or eliminates the need to water the garden. This is a particularly smart move if you’re trying to create a frugal garden in a dry climate that typically requires a lot of watering for gardens. Reducing your use of water will save on your monthly water bill and will also prevent you from spending on items like timed sprinkler systems. A low-water garden is a frugal garden.

6. Use rainwater to water your garden. Of course, there will still be times throughout the year when you do need to water your garden. Consider investing some money into a rainwater collection system. In the end this will allow you to save money on your garden. You’d be surprised how much a rainy day can save you in cash!

7. Buy durable gardening tools and care for them well. Another smart investment for the gardener is to buy good, durable gardening tools. These tools will last over time which means that you won’t have to pay to replace them. Make sure to take care of them properly and store them out of the elements so that they last as long as possible. Preventing new purchases for your garden is a smart way to keep it a frugal garden over time.

8. Find ways to reduce your ongoing gardening costs. As you begin to get further into gardening, you will start to notice that there are some ongoing gardening costs which you can minimize in order to keep your garden a frugal garden. A very common ongoing cost is the cost of soil. Instead of buying soil and fertilizer, you can start your own compost pile and use that.

9. Use your garden to barter. One smart thing that a lot of gardeners do is that they will barter. A common practice is to barter your seeds with the seeds of other gardeners in the area. This allows you to start growing a more diverse garden without investing in new seeds or plants. You can also use the food from your garden to barter for unrelated products and services.

10. Consider ways that you can make a profit off of your garden. Finally, you can make your garden a frugal garden by using it to offset the cost of having it. This is done by finding a way to make money off of the garden. The most common way of doing this is to take the extras that you grow from your garden and to sell them. Alternatively, you may give them as gifts which will allow you to stop spending money on gifts for others. Or you may choose to rent out a portion of your garden to a friend who wants to try gardening. All of these things help to offset the cost of gardening and to keep your garden frugal.

Hey, seems you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, so you will be the first to get our free money saving tips. Thanks for visiting!