Money-saving tips for gardeners

Guest Post by: Dan Whiteside
Thank you for your contribution Dan

According to research by HSBC, the average gardener in the UK spends £297 maintaining their outside space. They spend £73 on plants, £71 on landscaping, £70 on general maintenance and £82 on new garden furniture – but gardening doesn’t need to be this expensive.
Here are five money-saving tips:

Sow you own seeds

If you spend a fortune on flowers and plants, why not sow your own seeds? Simply choose what you want to grow and buy a packet of seeds from you nearest gardening centre. You’ll get more for your money and will be able to watch your flower bed or vegetable patch flourish and grow. If you have been gardening for a while, you could even keep back several seeds from a previous crop and plant these instead.

Make your own seed-starting pots

Want to hold onto your hard-earned cash? Then try making your own seed-starting pots. Start by folding a full sheet of newspaper in half lengthways and repeat the process. Wrap the long, narrow strip of paper around a glass jar – making sure half the length of paper overlaps the open end of the jar – and push the ends inside the jar to form a pot-like shape. Next, remove the glass jar and use it to flatten the bottom of the pot before filling it with soil – hey presto.

Create your own compost

One of the best ways to save money is to create your own compost – but make sure you use the right products. The trick is to use a mixture of green products (such as comfrey leaves, nettles, raw vegetable peelings and grass cutting) and brown products (such as cardboard tubes, waste paper, newspaper, and wood chippings). Please note that meat, fish and cooked food can attract vermin, so don’t compost these or you’ll need to find out more about garden pest control.

Know what you’re planting

If you’re new to gardening or are trying something different, it’s essential to do your research. Exotic flowers may look great in the home store, but will they thrive in your own garden? If the answer’s no, it’s better to buy something you can maintain without much fuss – otherwise you could be throwing money down the drain. Don’t forget to label all the flowers you plant (in case they all need different supplements and attention) and track their progress in a diary.

Swap plants online

Did you know that you can buy, sell and swap seeds online? That’s right; sites like www.gardenswapshop.co.uk help you to fill your garden with a wide range of flowers – for free. Everything from strawberry bulbs to geraniums and rock plants are up for grabs and you can even share your gardening tips with others online. There are many gardening communities on the net, so join in the buzz and see what you can find.

Try these cost-saving gardening tips and make your garden a site to behold – without breaking the bank.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.