The average Brit spends £345 per year on their garden, however you don’t have to spend a small fortune to add colour and vibrancy to your garden this summer! Here’s how…
PLAN AHEAD
Try to think ahead of the seasons and plan out which plants you’re going to want to grow when and when they will flower. This means that rather than shelling out for new bulbs every year you can encourage any spent bulbs already in your garden to flower again. This can be done by removing their seed heads, feeding and watering them and leaving their foliage undisturbed.
TAKE CUTTINGS
Just like encouraging older bulbs to re-flower, you can use already flowered plants to propagate new ones. Cuttings from tender plants like fuchsias or pelargoniums tend to work best.
GET FREE ADVICE
If you’re not sure how to take cuttings, for example, there’s simply no need to splash out on expensive gardening manuals. There are a multitude of websites where you can get great advice for nothing! From the basics for the true novices to the more advanced gardening techniques for those who are that bit more experienced. You can also try your local library for gardening books.
GROW FROM SEED
Instead of buying plants it’s often a lot cheaper to grow plants from seed. Try sowing biennial seeds which will flower twice in their lives. This involves some forward-planning, as you’ll need to sow during the months recommended on the packet, but if you start now your plants will be ready to add a splash of colour to your garden at the end of summer and autumn. The same goes for fruit and veggies – plant now to enjoy fresh produce later in the year.
MAKE YOUR OWN COMPOST
If you have the space, making your own compost is a great way to save on money. The perfect ‘recipe’ for compost is a mix of 50/50 greens (tea bags, veg and fruit peelings, old flowers etc) and browns (cardboard, egg boxes, sawdust, twigs etc) added together at regular intervals. If you’re considering making your own compost, invest in a compost bin, it will be worthwhile in the long run!
DON’T MISS DISCOUNT STORES
From discounted garden machinery to terracotta pots and great value gardening tools and accessories, it’s likely that your local supermarket or discount retailer has all the products and tools you need at considerably cheaper prices to your standard garden centre. Shop around out-of-town discount stores before heading to a nursery – you can sometimes even get plants from supermarkets too!
You too can make a planter from pallets – read my blog post here…
There you have it, gardening on a budget made simple (and easy!). Let me know your tips for getting your garden looking lovely without spending a fortune in the comments below.
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