Gardening on a budget

Back for some more I see.  Glad you're back I'm surprised I  even came back. I always get these grand ideas and then I quickly lose interest.  Like the time I got married. Oh I keed!

You can spend as much as you want on your garden. You can buy some fancy premixed soil from the local big box stores. Maybe put in a beautiful pond with a elegant waterfall.  Have a carpenter build some cedar raised beds. And finish it off with a fabulous cedar fence surrounding your garden.

And you know what I wish I could afford to create something like that. But I can't.  But you know what, it still doesn't stop me from enjoying my little patch.

                             (Watermelon patch)

So how do I save money but still grow healthy beautiful fruits and veggies for my family?  Networking!!! It's a great way to help you garden on a budget.   I was just talking to one of my coworkers about gardening last year. We just moved to our new house so I had to build a new garden.  I was hoping he knew of a place I could score some soil/compost. One of our coworkers over heard us talking. He just happen to have a brother in law who had a whole bunch of composted horse manure. He said I could have as much as I wanted.  He would even load it up with the bobcat! I call that WINNING!!!!   

Another way to score free or cheap compost is to check your local city compost site. I don't think I have ever lived in a town that didn't have a compost site. The use of the compost is free or is a small fee for all residents.  These sites will normally also take your yard waste as well and during Christmas they will also take your Xmas trees

For those that live in the rural areas. Just ask around. I'm 100% sure you know somebody that has a farm or has a friend or relative that has a farm. They will have plenty of compost for you.  This is actually how I filled my raised beds with the first garden I built. And it only cost me a bottle of Christian brother brandy!!

For my raised beds I would absolutely love something likes these.

               But building 12 of these would be just way too much $$$$  And I'm gardening on a budget. My first garden I just used untreated rough cut boards from homedepot.  They worked pretty well. The beds were only about 6 inches deep.  Only noticed some rot near the butt ends of the boards after about 3 years. And this was very minimal damage.  The raised beds still held dirt.      
 Last year I was able to to score some free wood for my beds. One of my coworkers was tearing down some walls in his barn and said I could have the lumber. He even delivered the lumber to my house. Only thing he ask in return was some fresh heirloom tomatoes.  And I definitely don't have a problem sharing from my patch.

I have also seen people use cinder blocks for raised beds. I see cheap or even free cinder blocks on Craigslist all the time. Cinder block raised beds would pretty much last For-EV-ER

Today I scored a great deal. I just started using an app called slickdeals they have all kinds of stuff. Electronics, jewelry, clothing, power tools et ect. Yesterday they had a deal for 50ft soaker hose at sears. Normally 11.99 on sale for 5.00! That's over 50% savings! It looks like that deal is now over :(   Fortunately I was able to get 2 of them!

It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. You can build a garden with any budget. It just takes a little time and some work in the dirt. If I can do it anyone can. The only thing I like more then working in my garden is  sharing my bounty with the people I love.

Dude & His Garden