I love nothing more than a trip to the garden centre. There are so many beautiful plants and pots that I could spend a lot of money on if I could only afford it! When I feel the urge for a splurge, I need to pull back and remind myself of all the ways there are to save money in the garden.
The weather is on the up and there is a lot to be done. I was lucky enough to receive some garden vouchers for my birthday, and they will certainly get spent pretty easily. However, here are some things I do to save money in the garden that will hopefully make my vouchers go further.
Five ways to save money in the garden
1# Check out the discounted section
There is usually a shelf full of slightly sad looking plants in the garden centre, maybe a little pot bound, over grown or just past their best. This shelf is always worth checking out – our nearest garden centre sells theirs at half price. I would avoid annuals or vegetable plants, but shrubs and hardy perennials can usually be coaxed back to health once planted out, fed and watered.
Other great places to find discounted plants are Lidl, Aldi, Home Bargains and B&M. However, you do need to get them within the first few days of their arrival. Unlike garden centres, the staff at these outlets have no horticulture training and they are lucky if they get watered.
Healthy and cheap plants can also be picked up at car boot sales and outside the homes of keen amateur gardeners.
2# Buy perennials
To save money in the garden (and time too), it is a good idea to fill as much space as possible with trees, shrubs and hardy perennials that come back year after year.
Bulbs can be good in this way too, giving you a fabulous seasonal display every spring with minimal effort. Self seeding perennials like foxgloves and hollyhocks are my favourite.
3# Use anything as a planter
Fancy ceramic planters and wooden trugs look stunning, but they can be really expensive. If you are on a budget and want to save money in the garden, it pays to be a bit more creative about what you use as a planter.
If you can do basic carpentry, you can knock up a wooden trug with pallets and waste wood (often found for free in skips). This one was made by an old guy who sold them on Facebook for a tenner. I painted it and planted it up for my sister’s birthday and think it looks great.
Old welly boots make a quirky plant pot, or how about repurposing a stack of tyres painted the colour of your choice, tin cans, buckets, toilets and sinks? I saw some beautiful olive oil drums used recently, that had clearly been blagged from a restaurant.
You can also paint plastic pots using the multitude of paint samples we all have in our sheds (come on, admit it!).
4# Make your own compost
We make our own compost from our garden waste, such as prunings and lawn clippings, as well as kitchen scraps like vegetable peelings, tea leaves, loo roll tubes, tissues and so on.
It can be as easy as having a plastic composter by the back door and just throwing it in. When it is full, leave it for a year to rot down. You can also make a compost pile from old pallets, as we did.
If you want more detail on composting, see this post.
5# Buy second hand/find freebies
As well as getting creative with your planters, you can often pick them up second hand on Facebook or at boot sales. Garden furniture is another thing you never have to buy new. Our bench was rescued from outside a neighbour’s house, repaired and repainted. We also picked up some white plastic chairs and a bench from a different neighbour, which are great for extra seating if we have guests.
If you aren’t fortunate enough to have neighbours who are having a clear out, then Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, etc can be good places to find things fairly cheaply. We bought our greenhouse second hand.
Freegle and Freecycle also frequently come up trumps, with tools, plants and garden furniture being offered if you can collect.
For more ideas on how to save money in the garden, see this post.
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
Leave a Reply