Things You'll Need:
- containers
- soil
- compost
- a water source
- seeds
- creativity
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Step 1
Start all of your plants indoors from seed. Online seed merchants and auction sites like eBay offer great deals early in the year. Peat pots or pellets for starting seeds are available at inexpensive rates from bulk bins at many garden centers. If you can't find these at a price that works for you, start your seeds with compost and soil or planting mix in cardboard egg cartons or old socks. Poke holes in your egg cartons or cut slits in your old socks, and when it's time to transplant you can simply plant the whole seedling in your container, sock or egg carton and all. For a mini-greenhouse, cut the bottom four inches off of a plastic milk jug, put your seedlings inside, and replace the top, with the cap removed to allow your plants to breath.
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Step 2
When your budget is a major concern, commercial containers from the garden center may be prohibitively expensive. Save your money by developing a scavanger's eye for free containers. A container, of course, does not have to be designed with plants in mind. Anything that can hold some soil and allow drainage can be pressed into use in the garden. Garden plants grow well and look fabulous in old tires, children's toys, sinks, toilets, or plain plastic buckets. Small plants are happy and stylish in an assortment of old shoes or hats. If your container provides no drainage, remember to poke or drill a few holes in it before planting. If it provides too much drainage, line it with black plastic from a garbage bag in which you've cut a few slits.
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Step 3
Compost like crazy. Compost is a cheap fertilizer, and a free addition to or replacement for expensive planting mix or fertile soil. For both ecological and economic reasons, many communities have implemented various composting programs to encourage local residents to compost their kitchen scraps. Check your city and county government websites for information about such programs. In many areas, compost bins and equipment for composting with worms are provided free to residents who request them and/or attend a brief, free composting class.
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Step 4
Horde coffee grounds. Unless you drink an awful lot of coffee, you'll want to add more coffee grounds to your compost than your kitchen can produce. Coffee grounds break down quickly in the compost pile, and encourage other food items to do the same. Their pleasant smell, soil-like appearance, and high nitrogen levels also make them an ideal side-dressing supplement for plants that like a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Coffee grounds are also among the easiest gardening aids to find for free, as almost any coffeeshop will cheerfully allow you to take home as large a bag as you would like. Starbucks has a program in place for passing coffee grounds along to home gardeners, which is described on their website, so start there if you feel awkward about approaching the staff of an independent coffeeshop with your request.
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Step 5
Cover the exposed soil in your containers with mulch. Mulching saves time and money by conserving water in the garden, and is often overlooked in the container garden. Shredded or partially composted leaves make an excellent free mulch. Hay also makes great mulch, but bear in mind that a bale of hay, once untied, is a lot more hay than it looks like.
Comments
momtchr said
on 6/9/2009 Great tips for starting a container garden without spending a great deal of money! 5*
stjohnswood said
on 4/2/2009 Thanks for the great advice.
CaseyCarlton said
on 2/16/2009 I have always wanted a container garden. This might work for me this time! 5 stars and a recommend
WaterSprite said
on 2/15/2009 Wow! Really informative - extremely helpful - written like an expert. Thank you! And five stars.
wordstock said
on 2/14/2009 Thanks for the great tip on using egg containers to start seeds. I was out this morning looking at anything I could use for containers so this is very timely.