A beautiful garden does not have to be expensive. Even with little money, you can create flowering beds and bring in bountiful harvests.
Anyone who buys a garden knows that it involves a lot of work. As a rule, there are also sometimes enormous costs for the design. Because it's not just the garden tools that cause costs, but also the plants and their care.
With the right garden planning, however, it is possible to create a great garden without breaking the bank. We'll show you eleven easy-to-implement ways to design your garden on a small budget.
Tip 1: Buy robust garden tools
Sturdy and durable garden tools are indispensable for maintaining the garden regularly. The purchase of good garden tools is a bit more expensive at first, but it pays off in the long run. "Who buys cheap, buy twice" is an old merchant's rule. This way you avoid having to buy a new device after a year or two. In addition, the care results are often a little better if you rely on quality tools.
Therefore please buy quality right from the start and especially important: care afterwards (clean, store in a dry place, oil…)!
Tip 2: Grow your own vegetables
Growing vegetables is not directly related to cheap gardening. Rather, it is about the fact that you can go easy on the household budget by growing vegetables. Because many types of vegetables or fruit are relatively expensive on the open market. If you grow them in your own garden instead, you can save money on the market.
Vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes or mini peppers are particularly easy to grow. They even grow in a bucket on the balcony or terrace.
Sensible garden planning saves money
Tip 3: Avoid buying the wrong plants
If you plan in advance which plants you want to put where, you can determine exactly whether the chosen plants are suitable. Because if you have a more precise plan of the garden, you don't buy unnecessary plants that die in the course of the year because, for example, the conditions are not right.
Prove likewiseAnnual plants do not turn out to be optimal when only a small budget is available. In this case, you should rather rely on perennial plants that also bloom over a longer period of time or several years.
For example, hardy perennials or flower bulbs are particularly well suited for this purpose. The latter can be left to run wild without any problems. If you regularly supplement them with other flower bulbs, a rich flower meadow will result over time.
Tip 4: Get new plants cheaply
Perennial plants sprout and form offshoots. These should not be picked and thrown away. Instead, they're perfect for spreading them around the garden. In the long run, dividing plants like this is of course always cheaper than buying them new in flower pots every year.
Another option is to just take your time with the plants. This means getting them at a smaller stage and growing them in the garden yourself. Many plants are also available as seeds, which are ultimately cheaper than an adult plant.
Tip 5: Calculate when to buy the plant
For some plants it makes sense to wait for the end of the season. Because then they are usually cheaper available. This is the case, for example, with roses. They are best purchased bare root from the breeder, who often offers them cheaper.
Another option below is the rest ramp in the hardware store or garden center. This is where the plants are brought that no longer look so beautiful or that have already faded. You can often find real gems or special specimens that otherwise have a proud price. Incidentally, you can also find one or the other flower bulbs here. The retailer does not usually keep these after the end of the season.
Use free opportunities
Tip 6: Recycling & Upcycling
In the garden you can use many things that were originally intended for something else. For example, you can plant a disused wooden wheelbarrow. In this way, completely different things can also be reused:
| Material | recycle as |
|---|---|
| Yogurt Cup | Transitional flower pots when attracting plants |
| Newspapers | Self-made growing pots |
| Long Branches | Bed delimitation or support for various plants |
| Old crockery (e.g. old pots, pots orsimilar containers) | decorative flowerpot |
Tip 7: Get free plants
In addition to the options mentioned, there are also those that are free. For example, it happens that neighbors like to exchange plants with each other. This way everyone has something new in the garden and didn't even pay for it.
There are also exchange markets for plants and flowers in the neighborhood.
An alternative for the neighbors are classified ads in the local newspaper or on the internet. Sometimes not only flowers or perennials are offered here, but whole trees or shrubs with which you can plant your own garden.
Tip 8: Get free soil
Similar to plants, it is also possible to obtain soil through classified ads or the neighborhood. Because it always happens that someone redesigns their entire garden and topsoil or garden soil is left over.
In many cases, the earth is even given away if you pick it up yourself.
Tip 9: Avoid composting and expensive fertilizer
The compost becomes an ideal fertilizer in the garden and annually upgrades the old planted soil with nutrients. Although you can buy it expensively, you can also make it yourself with your own kitchen waste.
At the same time, it repels some pests, such as snails or ants. Depending on what goes on the compost heap, it provides the appropriate nutrients for the soil.
A good example is eggshells. They contain calcium, which the soil can always use. Banana peels contain potassium, which is essential for roses. Dried coffee grounds give orchids good growth. Vegetable water from cooking also belongs in the compost. It usually contains many minerals and nutrients.
Tip 10: Use alternative irrigation methods
The use of a garden hose is not necessary to water the plants. A simple alternative comes from above: rainwater! It can be easily collected in rain barrels and used daily in the garden. As a rule, it is even he althier for the plants than the treated water from the tap.
Ideal for catching are rain barrels on which there is a stable coverlocated. Not only are they childproof, but they also keep mosquitoes away.
Tip 11: Use natural pest control
To drive pests out of the garden, it makes sense to offer other animals a home. A few examples:
- Ladybugs, lacewings and earwigs rid the garden of aphids
- Hedgehogs love to eat snails.
- Various songbirds also drive insects away from the garden.
To promote the existence of these creatures in the garden, you should, for example, set up insect hotels, hang up nesting boxes or provide water bowls. Corresponding flowers are also suitable, which provide the nectar as a food source for various animal species.
Thanks to these facilities, you create a natural balance in the garden and are generally spared from a plague of pests.