Don't Expect Having a Garden to Save You Money

Even though my husband and I did all the work ourselves and bought the least expensive versions of high-quality materials, we still spent more than $2,500 on our first raised-bed kitchen garden.

I felt more than a little guilt over the cost of the whole setup, so I’d proudly report to Jason every time I skipped buying organic lettuce, kale, and parsley. “I saved $19 today!” He’d just laugh. How many grocery store trips would it take to make up our $2,500 investment? I’ll tell you the answer: too many.

There are times when harvests will save you at the grocery store. But don't expect to save money by having a kitchen garden, at least not in the beginning.

That being said, there are certainly ways you can cut down costs once you have a garden installed. Here are five things you can do in your garden to save money.

5 Easy Ways to Save Money in Your Garden

• Skip expensive fertilizers
• Plant from seed
• Conserve water
• Propagate plants from friends' gardens
• Make your own garden trellises

Skip the Expensive Fertilizers

We think gas is expensive, but then we go pay the equivalent of $36.98 per gallon for Miracle-Gro!

Here's the thing: none of those synthetic fertilizers in brightly colored packages are necessary. They're just something the plant stores tell us we need so they can sell us more products. Plants grow perfectly well in nature without sprays and weird turquoise pellets.

I rarely use any fertilizer in my garden at all, except for mushroom compost and some earthworm castings (which isn't cheap, but a little bit of this stuff goes a long way). You could even make your own compost and provide all the nutrients your garden needs for free!

Plant from Seed

You can typically buy an entire packet of seeds for the same price as a little plant start from a nursery or big box store. That's anywhere from 25 to 100 potential plants for the cost of one existing one.

I recently saw four bush beans planted in a gallon container at Home Depot... for $19.98! That's extortion. You're mostly just paying for the pot and the soil because bush beans are so easy and quick to grow from seed.

Lettuce is also easy to grow from seed. You can buy a pack of lettuce seeds for $4 and will probably harvest a salad box worth of lettuce at least 50 times from that one little packet.

For larger plants that need a longer time in the garden to mature, I recommend starting them by seed indoors. You'll need to spend some money at first, but then once you have all your seed starting supplies, it's a very economical way to source plants for your garden.

Here are some helpful tips to save money on seeds for your garden.

Conserve Water

It's possible to have a vegetable garden and still not spend a fortune on your watering bill. Here's how.

The first thing you have to do is make sure you're growing the right plants for your current temperatures. The main reason we have to use lots of water on plants in our garden in the first place is because we're trying to grow them outside of their preferred temperature range. Plants like tomatoes and cucumbers are just too thirsty once the temps are over 85°F.

The second way to conserve water is to plant so densely that the plants touch their neighbors and there's no bare soil. Soil that's shaded by plants holds moisture much longer than bare soil.

Lastly, make sure to monitor your rainfall and check the weather forecast so that you're not watering when your garden is already saturated or when it's about to rain.

Propagate Plants from Friends' Gardens

When I first started gardening, our finances were really tight. I wanted to add more plants to our landscape, but our monthly budget was going to diapers and food. That's when my mom taught me about plant math. Have you heard of it? One plant cut into 2 is 2 plants.

Basically, you take a cutting from a mature plant, stick it in water or some kind of growing medium, and then monitor it while it forms roots.

I started taking some cuttings from the plants I did have in my landscape, rooting them, and then spreading them all over my yard.

You can propagate anything from houseplants to perennial herbs and flowers this way. My favorite plants to propagate are rosemary, basil, and mint. Next time you're at a friend's house and see a healthy-looking plant, ask if you can take a couple cuttings. Most gardeners are more than happy to share.

Make Your Own Garden Trellises

My first trellises were made of bamboo I scavenged from my parents' house. We formed the sticks into a sort of teepee and used nails and twine to hold them together.

The plants overwhelmed these little structures by the end of the season, and we had to replace them each year. But they were a great (and most importantly, free!) way to increase our growing space before we had the money for metal trellises.

Look around your yard for items you could use to make your own DIY trellises.

Share These Ideas to Save Money with Other Gardeners

You know another way to save money? Go to the plant store less. I know all those plants are tempting (I can't seem to leave without wanting to hand over all my money), but those stores also try to sell us a bunch of products we don't need.

Visit a community garden instead. Surround yourself with other gardeners. Create a little group where you can share tips and ideas and even seeds with each other.

Get creative with the items you bring into your garden. Repurpose things you already have. Start a ton of plants from seed or propagate new plants from existing plants and spread the plant joy around. That's where the real magic happens.