How I Cut My Gardening Budget in Half

Gardening- especially vegetable gardening- has been my passion since I was old enough to pick my first tomato in my grandfather's garden patch. My garden grows larger every year as I try new vegetable varieties and preserve larger amounts. What I didn't want to increase was my garden budget as it was important to me that my gardening efforts saved money in our budget over buying fruit and vegetables at the store.

Over the years, I have developed my methods for low-cost gardening. I rarely enter a garden store anymore unless it is to sell them seedlings I have raised myself. Our current garden budget is $50 a year and I often have money left over. Here's how I do it:

Compost, compost, compost

To build a healthy garden, you need to build the fertility of the soil. One way is to haul bags of compost and manure from the local garden store but that becomes expensive quickly. We have our own compost bins that we feed all of our kitchen scraps. A large garden, however, needs more compost than vegetable peelings can provide. We grow some of our compost. In corners of our lot and in empty garden beds, I sow seeds for quick-growing plants such as comfrey, alfalfa and clover. I pull up the plants when they reach a good size and add them to the compost. In the fall, I rake in all the leaves and mix them with grass clippings to build up the bulk of our compost.

Make use of recycled materials

Most of my gardening happens in raised beds. If I had to buy lumber or other materials for those beds, it would quickly break my budget. I can often find everything I need at our recycling depot. My raised beds are made from cement construction blocks and there are always piles of them at our local center from construction sites. I also pick up kiddie pools, buckets and other interesting planting vessels.

Save seeds

Saving seed from one year to the next is a time-honored gardening tradition that also saves you a substantial amount of money every year. To save your seeds, be sure to plant only open-polinated vegetables rather than hybrids as the latter will not set seed that will turn into plants that look like the parent. Keep your seeds in a cool dry place. Seeds will last for several years but their viability will diminish over time.

Make your own insecticide

Every gardener has to deal with insects that damage plants and vegetables. Making your own plant spray not only saves money but also is more environmentally-friendly. Mix a teaspoon of dish soap in a spray bottle of water and spray the leaves of your plants thoroughly when aphids or other pests appear. It costs a few pennies rather than the $10 a commercial insecticide costs and can be used more often without damage to plants.

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