5 Smart Tips to Save You Time & Money In the Garden

July 3, 2018June 30, 2018

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These smart tips can help you save time and money in the garden this summer…

Gardening is fun, but it can also be time-consuming and expensive if you aren’t careful. Starting small, and sizing your garden to your needs and time constraints is important. However, there are a number of other things you can do as well to help reduce the amount of money and work that you will need to put towards your garden and yard.

Looking for used garden tools and other items at yard sales, picking up needed supplies at the end of the garden season rather than the beginning, and saving your own seeds are all great ways to save money on your garden.

You can also utilize time-saving strategies such as using plenty of mulch (which also conserves water while cutting down on time spent weeding), and using compost to enrich your soil for a long period of time, rather than quick-release fertilizers.

Below are 5 more tips for saving money and time in the garden:

1.) Cut back on your workload by converting some of your lawn to ground covers. They are a good fix for problem spots also. Just check first to make sure they aren’t invasive.
2.) One item that will ease your workload is to put down a 4-inch layer of mulch. This will reduce the soil’s need for water and helps keep weeds under control. Pine needles make a great mulch, as do grass clippings. I use all my grass clippings for mulch, and I have very few weeds when things are well-mulched.
3.) When buying perennials, look for large specimens that can be divided. They may cost more initially, but by splitting them, you get more plants.
4.) Save your seeds at the end of the season; it’s cheaper than buying more. Empty prescription bottles are great for storing seeds.
5.) Try using a kid’s pool as a holding spot for potted plants while on vacation or during a drought. (This is my secret for vacationing in the summer!) The pool collects excess water and makes water available to your plants while you are away. If you watch at the end of season, you can pick one up cheap.