How to Start a Garden on a Budget
In 2009, the Asian Development Bank released a report on a survey of the expenditures of Filipinos receiving remittances from family abroad. The report showed that a good portion of the money they receive (about 93%) goes to food and other household items while 63% goes to medical expenses and 72% to education. This is also true for most English homes. So how do you reduce your spending on food without reducing the quality of the food you eat? One way is to start up home gardening.
5 Tips to Get You Started on Affordable Gardening
Let’s look at five useful tips that’ll help you with affordable gardening:
1. Get a high-quality nursery
All nurseries aren’t created equally. Just because you can find something at a cheap price doesn’t mean you’ll be getting quality for your money. Always check out multiple nurseries because you never know what you might find. You may see a very affordable low-blooming plant and buy it thinking it’s a steal until to visit another nursery and see a healthier version of the same plant for just five more pounds. You always want to start off your garden with the best-looking plant.
2. Don’t Experiment
If you’re not sure which plants will work on your property, then don’t be afraid to ask an expert or a friend with a green thumb. Adequate sunlight, water retention, the position of your home, and your availability to give you garden the proper care factors that go into plant selections. Some plants wilt under the sun and thrive with a little bit of shade. Others prefer small sips while some will gulp down water. You can plant something in your backyard and it may not grow in the front. Once you find what you can manage reasonably, you can simply purchase the same plants yearly and your garden will be a success. Take notes of what works best for next planting season.
3. Only plant what you’ll eat.
This may sound silly, but when you visit the store you will be tempted to plant every vegetable you’ve wanted to try. Avoid that temptation. Your garden will take up good time and money so you want to maximize your gardening. So only plant what you’ll eat. You can always experiment later when you’ve gotten the hang of things. Choose vegetables that are more expensive when deciding the seeds to buy. Peppers are tomatoes are some of the more expensive vegetables to buy in the grocery store so they’re a good place to start. They’re also easy to grow on your own.
4. Start from seeds
If you walked through the greenhouse of your local market, you’ll see a lot of plants that have been growing for weeks. If you’re planting late in the season, these are good options to buy. Otherwise, you can save more money by planting with seeds.
5. Make your own compost
Compost provides valuable nutrients that your plants need to grow healthy and strong but they can be expensive. Why not take advantage of your food and yard waste and make your own compost? A lot of municipalities offer free or affordable cost compost bins that you can use to make your own garden compost. To get finance for gardening visit www.personalloansnow.co.uk.