Gardening Without Breaking the Bank

Gardening is a fun hobby for everyone but it can become an expensive hobby. Thankfully you can find cost effective options everywhere!

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Gardening is one of my most-loved hobbies. There is a great satisfaction to dropping a seed into soil, spending the time to water and care for it and then be rewarded with incredible fresh produce. If you love spending time outdoors, getting your fingers dirty and eating the freshest food you will ever encounter, then gardening might be for you.

Gardening is a fun hobby for everyone! In fact, almost all experts agree that gardening is beneficial to your health. However, gardening can get expensive. Thankfully, you can find cost effective options everywhere.

Some of my favorite garden tools are found in the most unexpected places.

Make Your Own Raised Beds

Raised beds are beautiful but not necessary to garden. People have been planting crops for centuries without raised beds and you can too!

But there are some benefits to having raised beds. So if you are set on having raised beds, consider some of these cost-effective options before throwing your hard earned money on expensive lumber.

Raised Beds from Old Logs

Last year, I borrowed a handful of logs from our woodpile and used those to create our own raised beds. This cost me nothing and worked beautifully. Simply measure out where you would like the beds to be and then lay down the logs.

Secondhand Materials

Another cost-effective option is to look for secondhand materials to create your raised beds. Finding old pallets and scrap wood on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist is fairly easy. Chances are that there is someone in your neighborhood looking to give away some old pallets. Making a raised bed from pallets is easy but will require some elbow grease.

Take the pallets apart and put them back together the way you’d like your raised beds to be.

Pots and Grow Towers

The biggest expense when it comes to any form of container gardening is the containers. Why are plastic tubs so pricey? Who knows! Thankfully there are cost effective options. The local dollar store has plenty of options for medium to large pots and even grow towers, which have become very popular within the last few years. For $1.00 per tier, you cannot count out that option.

I also always suggest to scroll through your local online marketplaces. You never know who is ready to pass on some of their older gardening supplies.

Seed Starting With Your Pennies

Starting your own seeds is by far the least expensive way to get started. You can purchase already started plants from nurseries and even Walmart, but a packet of seeds costs much less and if cared for, you will end up with more plants in the end.

Purchasing seeds from local stores isn’t very expensive. The average seed packets from Walmart cost anywhere from $1.99 to $2.99 and in those seed packets are enough seeds to really give you a great chance at starting your garden. Even the Dollar Tree sells seed packets for 4 for $1.25. They may not have a large variety, but you can gather all your kitchen staples. I’ve had great luck with their pea varieties.

But there are other ways to collect seeds without spending money. Check local Facebook groups and seed exchanges. Chances are there is someone who can spare some extra seeds or seedlings. The majority of home gardeners are a friendly bunch who love to share what they have growing.

Germination Stations

We’ve all seen the pretty hexagonal squares with the clear plastic lids, perfect for germinating seeds.

But there are easier and less expensive ways the garner the same results.

You can purchase small germination pots from Dollar Tree and even larger sizes for transplanting. Place smaller pots in inexpensive foil lasagna trays in order to bottom water the plants and you have a great set up!

Other options for germinating seeds are reusing plastic lettuce containers to create a small greenhouse effect for your seeds and seedlings.

What I enjoy doing is buying the large, hexagonal trays in bulk from Amazon, cutting them to size and placing them inside the lettuce containers.

Inexpensive Mulch

Mulch is one of those gardening things that isn’t completely necessary but it definitely helps the soil retain moisture and keeps the energy spent on weeding to a minimum.

The large bags of dyed mulch can be beautiful but there are better ways to mulch your garden without the expense.

Our first year garden was overrun with weeds. Cardboard and heavy grass clippings saved the day.

I love to use cardboard to mulch my garden. It stops the weeds and keeps the soil covered, which is essential in nature. Grass clippings and leaves are also some of the best mulch you can find and luckily, you can find them for free!