More than 2 million American families have a garden at home. If you’ve always wanted a garden but thought that it would be a considerable investment, we have good news for you.
You don’t have to spend a fortune to have an amazing garden and backyard. Keep reading for some DIY garden ideas on a budget that will prove you too can have a home garden no matter how small your budget.
Build Your Own Raised Garden Beds
Adding garden beds to your backyard is an easy way to add some style and panache to your backyard. Plus it gives you complete control over your garden. You can control the soil, drainage, and everything. You can even have proper ant control so that your plants don’t get taken over by pests.
Adding a garden box or two will also save you time, effort, and equipment in making your backyard suitable for growing. All you need is a box to get started. You can then add boxes as you want your garden to grow.
To save even more money, build your own boxes. Make sure you only use wood that has not been treated. You don’t want your boxes to leach chemicals into the soil and contaminate your food.
You can build your boxes as big or s small as you want. Just make sure you build them deep enough. Your soil needs to be at a minimum of six inches deep inside the box.
When filling your boxes with soil, look for an organic matter, such as compost. This will give you plants the maximum amount of nutrients.
Plant at the Right Time
Save yourself money by planting the right plants at the right time. Otherwise, you’ll spend money on plants only to watch them die a few weeks later.
Fall Planting
Fall is the perfect time to plants some hardier flowers and vegetables. Consider planting some squash or green onions.
If flowers are what you are after then Mums, Salvia, Tulips, and daffodils will all look beautiful.
Spring Planting
When the weather starts to warm up in spring, it is the perfect time to plant your leafy greens. This would be varieties of lettuce, kale, or spinach.
You can also plant some vegetables such as broccoli, beets, tomatoes, or bell peppers. If you take care of them, you can eat from your plants all summer long. Think of the savings you’ll see on your grocery bill!
If you’d rather have flowers, pansies and snapdragons are both good options. If you have the room, sunflowers are beautiful in the summer. Just be prepared for them to grow taller than you are!
DIY Your Mulch
Sure you could go to the hardware store and buy multiple bags of mulch, but this can get expensive. You can’t skip the mulch since it is essential for a successful garden.
A quality mulch will block the weeds and help the soil retain moisture. Plus it will make your garden look beautiful.
Instead of spending hundreds or even thousands on mulch, try this method for making your own. You could make your own compost from kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and almost any other organic matter.
If this doesn’t sound appealing, you could make mulch from shredded leaves. This is a great option if you live somewhere that has a decent fall with lots of foliage drop.
You can shred the leaves with a mulching lawnmower or a high-quality leaf blower on the vacuum setting.
Create a Herb Garden
If having a full-blown garden still sounds like too much of an investment, you can scale back and have an herb garden. This will give you all of the pleasure and satisfaction of a garden, plus the added benefit of fresh herbs to cook with! If you have limited space at home then consider the option for an indoor garden. You can get all you need from Growace.
You don’t need a lot of space for your herb garden either, just one large pot can handle two or three different herbs. Try your hand at basil, thyme, cilantro, or lavender. These all grow quite well in containers.
Make sure to pay attention to how much sun your herbs need. Then pair similar herbs together. You will also find that some herbs grow better in winter, while others prefer warmer climates.
Also, keep in mind your family’s cooking habits. There is no point growing an herb that your family isn’t crazy about eating.
Create Your Own Decor
Every good garden has a few accessories to spruce it up. One way you can add some style to yours is by creating your own plant markers.
Instead of buying those overly fancy garden markers, get creative, and make your own out of wooden spoons. All you need are some cheap wooden spoons and a little paint.
While you have the paint out, create some cute decorative rocks. Get some large stones from the home improvement store and paint them. You could turn this into a family event and let each family member paint their own stone.
Get creative with them and make each stone show off a bit of personality. Then sporadically place them around your garden.
Put These DIY Garden Ideas on a Budget to Work
So now that we’ve proved that you can garden with these DIY garden ideas on a budget, it’s time to get planting! The first step is to build some DIY garden boxes.
Then, depending on the season, choose your plants. If you can’t commit to a whole garden, you can dip your toes in by creating a small herb garden.
Once you have your plants in place, it’s time to label and decorate. Express your personal style by creating your own DIY garden accessories.
For more home renovation ideas on a budget, be sure to check out our blog.
