Financial Tips for the Gardeners to Save Money with the Greenery

by Ben Stokes Freelance Blogger

You can use the space outside your house to grow vegetables and fruits as a hobby. The harvest is one of the most satisfying moments for the gardeners regardless of its amount. Even the herbs in the small balcony of your urban apartment can help you manage stress and anxiety.

Apart from its various benefits, gardening can be an expensive hobby with many expenses. You need to plan everything to ensure the overall budget remains bare minimum without compromising the quality. Here, we have mentioned some financial tips to keep the spending low while planting in your garden.

Buy the Essential Gadgets

The market is flooded with gadgets and gardening equipment with the promise to ease the workload. You should always buy the necessary stuff to avoid needless stress on the finances. Smart devices will require high installation, maintenance, and repair cost.

You don’t need a moisture alarm to remind you it's time to water the plants. In addition, the expensive sprinklers are a bad investment considering the manual watering process takes a few minutes. If you already have high credit card bills after purchasing the equipment, take a debt consolidation loan to reduce the financial stress.

Keep the Vegetables in the Eyesight

It is easy to forget the watering process amid the chaos of daily life. The plants similar to all other living organisms need water to stay alive. Keep plants at a place where you see them often to remember the watering process.

The ideal place is near your front or back door, where the garden is located. Some people use the expensive alarms in the garden that reminds the gardeners based on the moisture level. However, a simple alarm on the smartphone is enough for the frequent buzzer.

Homemade Fertilisers

Fertilizers are your best bet to increase the yields and improve soil quality in a limited budget. However, you can provide nutrition to the plants with some home hacks to further reduce the cost. Waste items such as tea bags and coffee grounds can be used to nourish the plants.

You can search the internet for DIY fertilizers that don’t require much expertise. The majority of them will use leftovers from your houses, such as egg and vegetable water after boiling and cooking. Also, you can use some homemade items for other purposes and cardboard to suppress weed growth.

Quick Return Crops

Herbs, peas and green beans are some examples of quick yield crops. You can use them to get returns in no time compared to the other crops. It is helpful when you have very little span for results because of budget constraints.

Many gardeners lose the motivation to get yields if the cycle takes months. Lettuce can reach full harvest size in 6 to 8 weeks. The quick return strategy will help you during the initial months of gardening to create interest.

Long-Term Planting

Many gardeners chose long-term planting options to get more returns in the longer run. It also saves a lot of effort apart from the money. You don’t have to start everything from scratch every time after harvesting.

The perfect example is a fruit tree that gives 10 times the investment in its prime. Berries, rhubarb, and asparagus are some more examples to consider for long-term planting. The term used for long-term planting in the gardening world is “Permaculture”.

Grow the Plants Everyone Like

Majority of the times the backyard gardening involves growing plants for household use. It makes no sense to develop something no one in your family eats. You are saving no money over them as they will be gifted to neighbors or friends.

Take advice from the nearby gardeners about the right crops for your neighborhood. Also, limit the amount for a crop in a year to avoid wastage if you don’t want to sell them.

Install a Drip Irrigation System

Excess use of water is considerable concern with the use of modern sprinklers. They might damage the soil and crops as well if left unattended. And most importantly, you need to save water for environmental and financial reasons.

Drip irrigation is a method that uses hoses to water the crops in a precise amount. The additional benefits include fewer weeds and equal distribution throughout the garden. All you need is a water container attached to hoses that run through is spread in the garden.

Save Seeds

The non-hybrid varieties produce seeds that can be used for the following year. The seeds from hybrid crops will yield disappointing results in terms of quality. Moreover, you can share the seeds with your neighbors or friends to save more money.

To sum up, gardening is a great hobby to reduce stress and save some money. You can even create a small garden in the limited space of your apartment’s balcony. Whatever area you decide for the purpose, you should plan before planting the first seed in it.