Gardening Tips For Saving Money
Gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby, but it can end up being quite costly. You could easily be wasting hundreds of dollars every year. There are, however, ways in which you can keep your costs to a minimum.
Following the seven money-saving gardening tips listed below will not only save you money but enhance the enjoyment and satisfaction you get out of your gardening.
1. Mulch
Mulching is a great way to save money in the garden. It will save you money in various ways: It reduces evaporation, thereby saving water; it helps control weeds, cutting down on the need for weed killers; it breaks down and returns nutrients to the soil, saving on costly fertilizers.
You can mulch for free, using lawn clippings and leaves. If your primary concern is weed control, you can even use layers of newspaper. If you are concerned with aesthetics, you will need to buy commercially produced mulch, but the benefits and long-term savings will still be there.
2. Compost
First, many may not know what composting is. It is a natural way to recycle organic matter such as food scraps, leaves and other animal products.
Composting is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your soil. If you don’t want to buy a compost bin, you can make your own out of recycled materials. There are no ongoing costs as the ingredients would all go to waste anyway. Compost is an excellent, free method to improve the quality of your soil organically.
There are a few different techniques when it comes to composting. Basically, it involves using a mixture of green, nitrogen-rich garden waste and brown, carbon-rich material. Add heat from the sun and a little moisture, and over time it will break down into a lovely, nutrient-rich hummus. If your compost bin is open to the ground, an additional benefit will be that your compost will be full of worms and other fauna, which help take the nutrients from your compost down into the soil where it is needed.
3. Recycle
Try always to be on the lookout for things you can recycle in your garden. If you use a bit of imagination you will be amazed at the items that can be given a second purpose:
• Toilet rolls can be made into seedling pots.
• Branches can be used as stakes.
• Twigs and sticks can be used for pea and bean seedlings to climb.
• Egg cartons make great seedling trays.
• Popsicle sticks make great markers to identify your plants.
• Old stockings are perfect for tying up your plants.
• You can make cloches to protect your seedlings from used plastic bottles.
If you put your mind to it you should be able to come up with a multitude of great ways to recycle and save money.
4. Share
Get to know your neighbors and make friends with other gardeners. Share your gardening tips with them. You will then have a pool of knowledge you can call on. You can save money by buying in bulk. You can also swap plants, seeds and cuttings, further reducing your gardening costs.
5. Propagate
It is much cheaper to grow your plant from seed. Even better is to save your own seeds every year and plant them over and over. You can also learn to propagate your plants from cuttings. If you have a network of gardening friends you can swap seeds and cuttings, even potted plants, thus increasing the variety of plants in your garden.
6. Learn
You should always be learning as much as you can about gardening. The more knowledge you have, the better you will be able to plan and take care of your garden, saving you money in the long run. In addition to our gardening tips listed above, here are some of the subjects you’ll want to learn about:
• Soil conditions and how to improve them.
• Your local climate.
• Suitable plants for your local conditions.
• Special requirements of different varieties of plants.
• Vegetable growing techniques.
• How to propagate.
• When to plant.
• What fertilizers to use.
• Pests and how to deal with them. And if you have a pest problem that you cannot get rid of making sure you contact your local Pest Control Company quickly so as not to cause significant damage to the garden plants is vital.
This is just a small list of topics a gardener will need to research. Good learning resources are your gardening friends, books, gardening clubs, your local garden nursery and of course, the internet.
7. Plan
Once you’ve learned as much as you can, you will be in a better position to properly plan your garden. Having a plan will save you money. You will know what to plant when to plant it and the best position for planting. This will give you a much greater chance of success. Having a well-thought-out plan will also save you money by reducing waste.
By following the seven gardening tips listed above you will save yourself a lot of money. Not only will you save money, but you will also have a healthier, more environmentally friendly garden. You will also have the pleasure of sharing your passion with fellow gardeners.
Landscaping Design, Installation and Maintenance
If you need additional services such as landscaping design, installation and maintenance Fernandez & Sons will be happy to provide you with these services with excellence. Contact us today for a free no-obligation quote. We can assure you that you will be happy with our services.
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