Having a healthy organic garden doesn't have to cost a fortune. These frugal tips will help your garden be healthier and more productive.
If your love for gardening is bigger than your budget, you are not alone. A quick trip to your local nursery or garden center for plants and other supplies can add up to hundreds of dollars before you know it.
Fortunately, you don’t need to sacrifice this month’s grocery budget in exchange for a bountiful harvest later. There are plenty of ways you can plant an amazing garden without breaking the bank.
Here are some money-saving organic gardening tips to help you get started:
Make Your Own Compost
Healthy soil is right up there with sunshine and water for organic gardening essentials, unless you go hydroponic (which can be expensive to start). Composting reduces kitchen and yard waste and enriches your soil for FREE!
Simply add your organic kitchen scraps, grass clippings, fall leaves, and other suitable material to your compost heap and turn it every two or three weeks to keep it aerated. Keep it moist while it “cooks” and let nature do the rest. Before you know it, you’ll have plenty of rich, dark organic compost to use in your garden.
For more details on creating your own high-quality compost at home, check out my step by step guide to composting (it's easy I promise!)
Grow New Plants from Cuttings
Buying new plants can get expensive quickly. Fortunately, some garden favorites, such as tomatoes and peppers, can be propagated by taking cuttings from the mature plants and rooting them in loose potting medium. Then, once the cuttings establish roots, you can plant the rooted cutting in your garden just as you would any other plant.
Most of my house plants were grow from cuttings: spider plants, pothos, jade, begonias and more.
Split Your Plants
You can also get new plants from overcrowded pots and gardening beds. When potted plants outgrow their pot, they can no longer get the nutrients they need from the potting soil. And overcrowded gardening beds can look overgrown and be harder to tend.
90% of the plants in my front yard are transplanted from another part of my yard. I dug up some yarrow from the back yard and planted it in the front. This gave the existing yarrow room to expand again and I had new FREE plants in the front.
Collect and Grow from Seeds
Be sure to save seeds from your favorite organic heirloom vegetables from year to year. It’s easy to harvest seeds from many popular veggies, including cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. Do some online research on each type of seed you collect to learn how to properly store and prepare them for planting the following year.
I accidentally did this with a potted oregano plant on my front porch. Unbeknownst to me, the seeds blew around in our Santa Ana winds and ended up landing in a nearby gardening bed and growing there. I decided to let it stay there, but I also could have moved it to another pot or area.
Swap seeds and plants with friends.
Another fun and easy way to save money on your organic garden is to host a seed swap with your garden-loving friends and family members.
Everyone brings their extra seeds and plant cuttings then trades them for something else they want. I have received some of my favorite plants this way.
With a little creativity you can have a lush organic gardening for little to no cost. It is better for the plants and for you and your family.
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