How to Design a Garden on a Budget
As food prices are going up in grocery stores, more people are looking into starting gardens to grow their own food. Starting a garden does not need to cost a lot and can be done for little cost. There are many programs and events where gardeners can meet up and swap seeds, plants, or even just discuss tips and talk about knowledge learned from experience. Raised beds can be built with reclaimed wood, or looking through buy and sell sites for what people may be passing on. There are lots of ways to be able to have a garden and not spend a lot to get it going. It also gives you the option to get creative and look for alternatives when you don’t have the option to spend a lot.
Education
A great way to make sure you have a productive garden is to do some research, especially if gardening is new to you. Things like knowing the proper location in your yard to place your garden, and what plants do well growing together and what plants do not do well growing together will help on designing a thriving garden. Anything from finding books at your library, looking online, or going to garden events and talking to other gardeners to get tips on things they have learned over the years will help with learning what you need to know. Things may be trial and error at first when you are just starting out, but all time spent in the garden is great time spent.
Starting a Garden
The first step would be to decide if you want to have a garden in an area of your yard, either in the ground or in a raised bed, or if you want to grow in containers. Digging up an area of your yard can be a lot of work, but you can skip any cost by digging the area yourself. If you would like to go the route of a raised bed, you can build one using wood you have on hand, or finding pallets and use the wood from the pallet to build a garden box. You can also make a border with stone or pavers you have in your yard. Even containers can be found free or cheap at garage sales or on buy-and-sell sites. Some towns and cities have an option for free dirt from their landfills from the compost section, or at a similar facility. If the soil needs amending, that can be done by adding in compost from yard waste or kitchen scraps.
Low Cost or Free Options
When it comes to keeping the cost down, starting plants from seeds rather than buying seedlings is a cheaper option. Most seeds can be sown right in the ground after the risk of frost has passed, or started indoors a few weeks before they can be planted outside. Lots of towns host seed swaps where you can trade seeds you do not need or have extra of for other options, or buy from other gardeners at a low cost. Once your garden is established and at the end of the season, you can save seeds from the plants you grew and store them in a cool dry place to use for planting next season. This may mean letting a couple of your crops go to seed instead of harvesting. Things like berry plants can be divided or a cutting taken from another plant and grown in your garden. Lots of people growing raspberries need to thin out their plants to avoid overcrowding, either giving them away or selling for a fraction of the garden center cost.