How to Save Money When Starting a Vegetable Garden

It’s easy for expenses to skyrocket when starting a new vegetable garden, but there are frugal strategies for growing vegetables and plants. Sharon Tregaskis shared her cheap garden experience of spending no more than $75 to get her vegetable garden started in ‚”Less is More,” an article featured in the April/May 2010 issue of Organic Gardening magazine. Her suggestions and some additional cheap garden tips can help those who are just starting a vegetable garden as well as seasoned gardeners who want to save money.

Find Cheap Plants, Cheap Seeds and Free Items Online

The Internet is one of the best places to find free gardening supplies, gardening tools or cheap plants. Tregaskis recommends Craigslist and FreeCycle. Craigslist not only has a farm and garden category to find second-hand garden tools, but also a free section where free plants are often listed. There is a barter section for those with an item, a skill or labor to trade. One recent listing on the Richmond Craigslist included an offer of 100 free strawberry plants for anyone willing to come and get them. Inexpensive items on Craigslist can be a boon for new gardeners.

Nothing is cheaper than free, and those who are looking for free gardening items will want to join a FreeCycle network. FreeCycle is broken down by geographic area and members join the Yahoo! Group that best fits their location. Members of the group can post free items they are giving away or can request items that they need. Some groups have requirements about the number of wanted requests that can be posted without reciprocal offers. New gardeners who are clearing yard space for a backyard garden can offer free plants and shrubs on the FreeCycle network and post the items they need.

Gardening Seeds and Seed Saving for Kitchen Gardens

Planting from gardening seeds offers many advantages for the budget-conscious gardener. In many cases, seeds are less expensive than plants. Gardeners can come together for seed exchanges and some Cooperative Extension offices offer free seed, according to Tregaskis. Neighbors and friends can choose items from a seed catalog and share a seed order, dividing the cost and ensuring that none of the seed is wasted.

When there are seeds left over from an order, oftentimes seed saving is an option. Seeds should be placed in a mason jar and stored in the refrigerator or freezer where there is a steady temperature, according to the collection curator at Seed Saver Exchange, Shanyn Siegel. Siegel’s procedure was included as the answer to a question in the ‚”Ask Organic Gardening” column edited by Willi Evans Galloway in the February/March 2010 Organic Gardening.

Even when this procedure isn’t followed, the seed may still be usable. Siegel recommends placing some gardening seeds inside a damp paper towel placed inside a plastic bag that has been zipped halfway closed. Keep the towel moist and check after 14 days to see if the seeds have germinated. Using leftover seeds is a great way to reduce gardening costs from year to year.

Another option that reduces cost over time is to choose heirloom varieties of plants and vegetables that produce their own seeds through open pollination. These seeds can be collected and stored, unlike seeds from hybrid plants. Heirloom seeds can then be planted the following year at no additional cost.

Save Money on Kitchen Gardens with Bartering and Sharing

In Tregaskis’ experience, she relied heavily on friends and bartering to keep gardening costs low. For example, one weekend she borrowed a truck and trailer from friends to load composted horse manure (which she received for free) and she later helped her friends to plant trees in exchange.

Bartering is especially useful when a neighbor has an expensive garden tool like a tractor, garden tiller or wood chipper. Offer a service like babysitting or helping to plant a tree in exchange for the use of the tool or the neighbor’s time.

Bartering and sharing are great ways to lower gardening costs and save money. Look to friends, neighbors and fellow gardeners to split flats of plants or share a tool rental. Provide labor for tree removal or plant thinning in exchange for extra perennials and straight limbs to line garden beds.

Tregaskis’ success proves the possibilities are endless when gardeners are willing to look for alternative options instead of putting down more cash to establish or expand their kitchen garden. Those who are starting a new vegetable garden and seasoned gardeners alike can have a successful garden with little cost by utilizing online resources, cost-saving seeds and heirloom varieties, as well as bartering and sharing.