Get Gardening For Free

Learn how to garden with virtually no money

Use these steps to garden for free (well almost). While unfortunately you wont get away with not spending some money - depending on your design, you may require some hard landscaping, you can save a whole lot by following these simple steps.

1. Grow Your Own From Seed and Cuttings

One packet of seed has the potential to produce 100s of little plants. For example, this $4 packet of seed produced literally 100 little beauties. If you pot just 50 up that is $0.04 per plant. If you collected the seed and made your own compost it would cost zero $. What it will cost you is your time and effort. But if you have a large garden as I have, if I had to buy all my plants and you are looking at around $15 per plant, that is thousands of dollars saved! Cuttings are also a great way of getting free plants. Weather from your own existing plants or those of friends and neighbors, every six cuttings I take, usually four go on to survive if not all. That's four free plants for just a little time and effort. Its really not hard to grow using these two methods. See this blog for tips and tricks.

2. Make Your Own Soil

I go through about four bags of soil a month. I could easily use more, but that is all my budget allows. I buy Daltons 40L Big Value potting mix for $5.75 a bag from Bunnings. Over a year that's $276 I could be using for other greenie goodies. Because my garden is young, I use up all the compost I make to build beds leaving nothing for seed and cutting propagation. Once my composting process is up to full speed I wont need to buy any. But that will be a while away. Be wary of buying really cheap no name brand soil, its cheap for a reason. Good soil takes time to develop and often the cheaper stuff has not matured for long enough and will not give you good performance. Making it is so easy, there are a number of ways to make it depending on your situation so you really don't have an excuse not to!

3. Set budgets

And stick to them! My monthly gardening budget is $50. When going to your local plant nurseries do not get lured by the flashy new varieties on sale. I know its hard, but just walk away my friends. Pre-kids I spend ALL my money on plants. I just could not help myself. Get smart, and only buy plants on sale. If you have self control issues, skip the seduction isles entirely. Go straight to the sale isle. Get in, get what you need and leave! (I do this for chocolates and sweets too, works wonders!) A sneaky tip is to include your veggie plant purchases on the grocery budget, they are food after all. Now there are exceptions. For instance, I will spend money on a good mature fruit tree. Fruit trees take years before producing fruit, so buying them big and healthy is better in the long run.

4. Invest in Perennials

Nursery's are sneaky. They will sell you short lived annuals that are only good for two months. Research perennials and evergreens that once planted will come back and give you colour year after year. Nurserys are also fond of selling you potted colour without labling them. You could be buying a perennial but they dont want you to know this, instead they want you to yank them out and buy more. It pays to do a little research and know what you buying. Make your dollars count!

5. Get free Landscaping Material

There are loads of freebies out there! I get free landscaping stuff all the time. I belong to a few recycle groups, Trademe and Facebook are also good sources. There are people out there who are more than happy to give you their unwanted goodies away. Be vigilant, set up search criteria and get them emailed to you daily. Be quick if something comes up, grab it before someone else does! I kicked myself when I lost out on 18x fabulously free ponga logs. Let your neighbors know what you looking for. I have never had to pay for mulch. All my neighbours know that when their hedges and trees are been trimmed the waste comes to me.

I am not ashamed to admit that I have partaken in some covert dumpster diving to acquire a second hand gem!

6. Reuse and Re-purpose

From seed trays, pots, finds from under the house, unwanted gifts, side of the road finds. Anything can be given a new lease on life. I am not ashamed to admit that I have partaken in some covert dumpster diving to acquire a second hand gem! Be creative, but be critical! Just because its free does not mean you should take it home just to be dumped in the corner to pile up with the rest of the forgotten junk. If it does not have an immediate use, then leave it alone. Be discerning on what you bring home, use it or throw it out.

7. Spread the Word

Everyone I know, friends, family even randoms in lifts are aware of my obsessive need to garden. They all know what to get me for Christmas and birthdays. You must admit, a pair of garden gloves is way more exciting to folk of our ilk than another boring bottle of fragrance. I have received so many wonderful garden gifts, from gumboots, nursery vouchers, magazine subscriptions, books to a beasty tree shredder! Let people know about your dirty little secret and receive want you actually want for Christmas!

8. DIY Baby

Yes, get your tool belt on, charge up those drill batteries, slap the sunblock on and DO IT YOUR SELF. Kiwis are a nation of doers. No job too big too tackle, no problem that we can't solve ourselves. You can save bags of cash by doing it yourself. Skilled labour costs a lot. Add that to the cost of materials and a simple job racks dollars and destroys your budget. Just with a little planning and research, amazing results can be achieved. Shop around for your materials and get some buddies around to help with the bigger jobs (pay them in beer and food).

8. Use Professionals

Okay, I know you have just read this and gone 'what'? That's not what you just said above. There are some jobs that you should not attempt by yourself. Certain projects may be way above your skill level. Dodgy builds could end up costing you later along the line. A retaining wall collapses, or you unable to sell your property because it does not have the required council paperwork for decks, pergolas, drainage or electrical works. There are instances where hiring a qualified, architect, landscape designer, engineer and builder will end up saving you money and a lot of hassle down the road. These professionals are experienced and trained in their respective fields. They will guide you and prevent costly mistakes been made. Their fees may seem expensive initially but any good professional worth their salt will save you money in the long run. Choose wisely, I am a big fan of word of mouth referrals and I like to see examples of their work before committing. Also check to see if they have public liability insurance and have the relevant institution accreditation for their respective fields.