My family is trying hard to stay on budget this year – it’s our one and only new years resolution. As part of that resolution, we’re restarting our vegetable garden this summer. Growing your own vegetables can save you a lot of money in the groceries category – but only if you plan well and are resourceful! Here are ideas on how to start a budget vegetable garden this summer.
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Step 1 in Budget Vegetable gardens: Use what you have
Several years ago we started a 4 foot by 4 foot square garden. It was pretty successful in supplying fresh lettuce and other salad fixings. Unfortunately the stray cats in our area started using it as a litter box when the season was over, and so I let it sit unused, thinking that I would dig it out and start over again the next summer. In the time it’s been sitting however, the wood has broken down and it’s no longer usable.
Our former 4×4 square foot garden
My husband made the first box out of untreated wood we had in the basement. This summer, I had my eye on this to restart our vegetable garden:
Can you see our old 4×4 square foot garden above in the overgrown grass/weeds?
My youngest son hasn’t really played in our sandbox for awhile now, so I wanted to repurpose it for our summer garden. I asked him if he would be okay with that and he was – as long as we kept the sand in another container for him to play with in case he had the urge.
You may be able to prep the ground directly in a sunny patch by your house, or you may have a few unused or neglected pots around that you can use for a small vegetable garden. Look around carefully and use what you have for a space to start your garden.
Step 2: Prep the soil
Our soil is all clay, so we’ve had to use a raised bed for our garden. We used Mel’s Mix in our square foot garden the first year with great results. We planned on using that again for our vegetable garden this year. Mel’s Mix is made up of 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat moss.
We’re fortunate to have access to free compost at our city recycling center. We can go here weekly for compost and wood mulch. Check with your local resources if you don’t have your own compost to use in your budget vegetable garden. I would try searching for “free compost + insert your location”.
We use our recycling bins to transport the “black gold” back to our house
There’s also wood mulch for free which we use in our flower beds
We dumped a large amount of the compost into the emptied sandbox, and bought a big bag of vermiculite and peat moss at our local gardening center.
Getting ready to make our Mel’s Mix
I hand mixed the Mel’s Mix directly in the sandbox and tried to get 1/3 of each into the sandbox.
What are the plastic forks for, you ask? To try and deter cats from entering the box. I’m also using a netting over the box and may also use chicken wire around the box as well.
My husband used nails to mark off 1 foot segments and I tied string that we had to mark off our 1 foot squares for planting. To learn more about how many seeds to plant of each vegetable, you can learn more in Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening:
Step 3: Use old Seeds, borrow Seeds, or have a seed exchange
I happen to have a lot of seed packets from previous years. I’m not an expert on how to keep these seeds, but I’ve been keeping them in my refrigerator. I’m willing to take the risk and plant them directly in the soil and see if they grow. If they don’t grow, I’ll use them to start more lettuce so our supply will be constant through the summer.
If I didn’t have seeds, I would ask on my local neighborhood listserv whether anyone had starters they wanted to share or extra packets of vegetable seeds. I’ve found my neighbors to be a generous group, and a great resource for saving money and keeping things from the landfill.
My garden plan so far is shown below. I’ve kept some squares open because I plan on buying (or acquiring from neighbors!) a few tomato and pepper starter plants.
Steps for a Budget Vegetable Garden:
To summarize,
- Look around and see what you already own to start your garden. You might not have an old sandbox to use, but I bet you have something! This could be pots, or untreated wood that is lying around unused for a raised bed, or simply a patch of your side yard that just needs to be prepped and mixed with some rich compost.
- Use your own compost if you have some, or search for free compost in your area.
- Use your neighbors, friends, and family for seeds, starter plants, and extra tomato cages.
Have you started a garden? Are you planning to? I’d love to hear any of your budget friendly ideas for gardening!
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We just have a balcony garden, in flower pots, and mostly grow herbs. Seems like this gets a bigger bang for my gardening bucks and time than veggies. Those teeny packets of fresh rosemary, thyme, etc. at the store are awfully expensive.
Plus, we’re lucky enough to have a summer farmers’ market only about a half mile away, so it’s easy and inexpensive to buy fresh and tasty veggies/fruits.
A balcony garden of herbs sounds perfect Christy. The little lettuce and radishes are peeking out in my garden and I’m getting excited! If all else fails, I’m really hoping for fresh lettuce and tomatoes all summer for big salads. We also have a farmers market a few blocks away so it’s easy, but not inexpensive, unfortunately. It’s a great way to supplement what I’m growing though.
I just a have a few pots of herbs and tomatoes going right now, but I’d love to do some more planting. You’re right about a gardening saving quite a bit of money on fresh veggies!
Herbs and tomatoes are high on my priority list as well Suzanna. There is nothing better than a homegrown tomato. I planted two different types of basil in a separate window box that I hope will flourish. The seeds are a little older so we’ll see if they come up!
I’d love to have a garden! I’ve come so close to starting one the last few summers, but we’re always gone for several weeks at a time. I wouldn’t have anyone to tend to it while we’re away. I definitely need to at least get a few pots going, though.
I’ve missed having one the last few years so I’m excited to have one going this summer. Traveling would be a nice reason not to garden though!
Love your raised gardens. I can’t wait to get our garden in.
Thanks Charlene!
Now I want my own vegetable garden! Love your tutorial! Homegrown veggies are the best! Pinning and stumbling!
They really are aren’t they Ilka? Thank you for sharing!
I won my seeds on Listia but don’t know if I’m going to be able to use them with the uncooperative weather.
Great ideas! I hope you have a wonderful vegetable garden this year. Thank you for stopping by the #HomeMattersParty
This is a great bit of garden tips to use. My mother-in-law is creative with her gardens every year. It’s never the same because she does use a lot of things we already have in our yard.
This is my second year with a square foot garden and I love it. Unfortunately, the thai basil that I had grown in containers 5 years ago is taking over so I need to get those out so what I planted can grow! I look forward to seeing your harvest! Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday Linkup. Pinning to our linkup board and hope you found some great posts to visit this week!
Ooh Thai basil sounds awesome. It’s probably not great for a sole harvest though! We can share pics of our harvest through the summer. ?
These are really great tips! I only recently heard about seed exchanges. But, they sound like such a smart idea! I think that I’m going to have to look into what my area has to offer.
I have been thinking about trying my hand at gardening for awhile and need to work up my nerve. Thanks for sharing this tutorial at Over the Moon.
You definitely should Shelley! Even if you only have a pot of tomatoes. I haven’t had much luck with tomatoes, but it never stops me from trying each summer, because you really can’t beat a homegrown tomato.
These are great tips! I love to garden but am overwhelmed by the idea of starting my garden. I’ll keep these in mind when I do.
I hope you do Alison. I never get huge yields from my little raised garden, but enough to be amazed at the whole process. You plant a seed, water, and fresh vegetables come up!
I would LOVE a garden, but we live surrounded by a ton of trees with no consistent sun. it’s such a bummer!