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Money saving Gardening (Part 1)

Monday, August 10th, 2009

With all this glorious weather in Devon this year, I have had a great summer so far in the garden and it struck me that gardening on a budget IS actually possible with a little effort. While I would love to just throw money at my garden – and it would be easy to do so as garden centres are so addictive, the knack is in buying the offers and shopping judiciously.

For instance – the garden section in DIY stores and supermarkets are not looked after by gardeners and often get either neglected or over watered by the staff, so do not be afraid of buying the plants they are selling off cheaply when they are looking a little worse for wear. What you will often find is that with regular watering and some TLC these plants revive and grow as normal.

Many garden centres (In my area – Otter Nurseries, Trago Mills etc) send out leaflets with their special offers on and ideas for the garden. I think personally it’s a great idea, as I have often made a detour on a day out to visit a garden centre if I know they have a good price on compost or pots or something. Checking online if they have a website can also be a good idea if you have something specific in mind and of course checking bView for discount vouchers is a good place to start. I have managed to get a collection of very expensive ceramic pots due to BOGOF deals and I haven’t paid full price for compost or plant food in years as one garden centre or another usually has a discount price at one time or another.

I have also given spare plants away on Freecycle and picked up other excess plants on there from others too. From seeds up to actual garden sheds, all kinds of things can be picked up free if you are lucky.

Thinking ahead can also save you a lot of money. Taking cuttings and collecting seeds from plants you already have, for the following year, can save a fortune and buying seeds early in the year rather than waiting and paying more for plug plants is incredibly money saving. When a packet of 50 seeds is around £2 and 6 plug plants a matter of 2 or 3 months later is the same, getting into growing your own seems like the only way to go. However, even for people who don’t have space to grow things from seed, clever shopping and discount vouchers can still make a lovely garden without breaking the bank.

Find great deals at garden centres with BView:
GardenCentre.co.uk
Gardens & Homes Direct
Homebase
B & Q

Contributed by Elizabeth C

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am and is filed under Savings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Money saving Gardening (Part 1)”

  1. On December 29th, 2009 HargateHall wrote

    Re your comment on compost, I am the same - haven't paid fulll price for years. But to me that raises the issue that if you can always buy it as a BOGOF or 3 for 2 type deal, then really that means that should be the normal price. I now haggle on the offers or ask for something else to be thrown in as well.