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When you say you want to grow your own produce to save money, your friends might joke about how it takes more cash to grow a tomato than it does to buy one. It’s true that starting a vegetable garden is a lesson in patience: You not only have to wait to harvest your homegrown gems, but often have to invest a bit of money in setting up a space, buying seeds, and nurturing the crops. However, harvesting bountiful yields of veggies will eventually pay for itself — especially if you use some tips to start your garden on a smaller budget.
Over-planting crops and purchasing expensive equipment from the get-go are common vegetable gardening mistakes that are especially hard on the penny-pinching farmer. We have advice on avoiding these pitfalls and more. Even if you’re not quite sure veggie farming is for you, avoiding that initial splurge will show you just how accessible it can be. Once your kitchen is full of enough gorgeous greens, herbs, and other earthly delights to cover several grocery trips, you’ll be the one laughing all the way to the bank (and backyard).
Choose your vegetables wisely before you start shopping
Singling out the veggies you use the most is the first thing to consider before planting a vegetable garden. Fruit and veg catalogs can be overwhelming with temptations on every page, so to avoid going over budget, plan a list of must-haves. Do you buy onions, carrots, and celery to make mirepoix or soffritto every Sunday? Grow those over fancy watermelon radishes or rainbow chard.
To save even more dough, consider which veggies cost the most at the store. Potatoes are easy to grow, but sell for dirt cheap and last a long time in storage. Salad greens, fresh herbs, and the heirloom tomatoes you usually find at farmer’s markets are more expensive, go bad faster, and taste better when fresh. Growing these will save you more in the long run. It’s also a great idea to plant perennial vegetables that regrow all by themselves every spring, such as spinach, asparagus, and rhubarb.
You should also choose crops based on your skill level, which plants will thrive in your local climate, and how much yield your household needs. If you’re growing for one or two people, to prevent your harvest (and money!) from literally rotting away, choose veggies that freeze or preserve well. Broccoli, cauliflower, and other low-moisture veggies maintain their quality in the freezer, while bell peppers, cucumbers, and onions make for delicious pickles and condiments.
To get more bang for your buck, buy seeds instead of nursery plants
Buying young vegetable plants from a nursery is a tempting shortcut — after all, time is money, right? In truth, growing from seed always saves you cash, since you can potentially plant hundreds of crops from a single bag. Popular veggies such as cucumbers, tomatoes (like this 75-pack of organic beefsteak tomatoes on Amazon), and greens usually cost under 10 dollars for a pack of about 30 seeds, while live plants cost about the same or much more per unit.
You’re paying for the seedling, the soil and container, and the time taken to grow it, which really adds up. Even better, some veggie seeds remain viable for years, helping you populate your garden season after season. The lifespan of seeds depends on the veggie itself; for example, radishes, endives, and cucumbers can last a whopping five years, while onion seeds remain useable for a year or so. Either way, store them in a cool, dry place with low humidity and no direct sunlight.
Compared to fresh seeds, older ones might produce plants that grow more slowly and don’t resist diseases and stressors as well. But take care to preserve seeds properly and pay extra attention to the resulting crops, and you’ll save serious cash. If you’re an impatient gardener, buy seeds for the fastest-growing vegetables such as kale and zucchini. They’ll sprout before you know it, and you’ll feel wise for skipping those expensive seedlings.
Use items you already have as pots, trellises, and more
Do the prices of planters and seed starting kits make you want to give up on your garden dreams? Try making use of household items you already have. So many everyday kitchen items can be repurposed in your garden, from using eggshells or egg cartons as seed starters to upcycling old coffee mugs to make fresh herbs the star of your kitchen windowsill.
Any container that can hold soil, stay upright, and won’t decay in outdoor conditions can be used as a foundation for plants. For example, one of the most creative ways to repurpose a colander is using it to grow your veggies. Other DIY planters include metal cans, washed-out paint buckets, or even broken bowls that you wouldn’t want to eat out of, but can still hold plenty of dirt. Just make sure to poke or drill holes in the bottom of containers that don’t have any drainage, or your veggies could get root rot.
If you plan to grow vining plants, you might be eyeing up a trellis, a barred support structure that helps crops climb well and stay strong. Instead of buying a ton at the greenhouse, try using a broken ladder instead, or make trellises out of bamboo stakes or disposable takeout chopsticks that have been languishing in your drawers. Use hot glue or twine to attach them together in a grid shape, and voila!
Use compost to nourish plants before reaching for expensive fertilizer
Fertilizers are handy for helping plants grow healthy and strong, but the best stuff can cost you a pretty penny. To nourish your plants for pretty much zero bucks, start composting. Fill a bin with dirt and throw in organic waste, from dead leaves to food scraps and even empty egg cartons, and you’ll soon have a thriving community of fungi, bacteria, and bugs to break down that waste and turn it into nutrient-rich composted matter.
Compost is full of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which are all essential for plant growth. Apply it around your vegetable crops, and they’ll suck up that extra nutrition, helping them to resist disease and grow successfully. This is one of the best ways you can repurpose kitchen scraps to reduce food waste. To name just a few free byproducts you can use, coffee grounds can upgrade your compost pile, grass trimmings (or trimmings from your veggie plants!) are fair game, and corn husks and silks should be put to use in your garden.
All that being said, chemical fertilizers and compost are fundamentally different products. Commercial fertilizers are a lot more concentrated in nutrients, so compost can’t always stand in as an equally powerful tool. Try supplementing your compost with specialized fertilizer if your veggie plants need a boost — you’ll still save money.
DIY pest and weed killers are cheaper and safer for your garden
Just like with fertilizer, buying commercial pest control sprays and weed killers is more expensive than DIY solutions. Additionally, chemical pesticides and herbicides can severely harm all plants, insects, and other animals indiscriminately — that includes your veggie crops, if some spray drops hit them on a windy day. In contrast, home remedies can be both gentle and effective.
If you’re willing to sacrifice some vodka, it could help your garden as an all-natural weed killer. Mix it with water and dish soap and spray it on unwanted plants, and they’ll die before they spread. You can use vinegar in place of the alcohol for a similar effect. If you have weeds growing between the cracks in your garden pavement, a free solution is to pour boiling water over them. They’ll die instantly, and the hot water will seep down to the roots to make them easy to pluck out.
As for pest control, try mixing a cup of vegetable oil with a bit of mild soap, add a few spoonfuls of this to a quart of water, and spray on your plants to eliminate insects. Replace the oil with chili powder or chopped hot peppers for a solution that is particularly effective on caterpillars, ants, and aphids. And if you’re growing tomatoes, try carefully trimming some leaves off the plants and soaking them in water overnight to create a natural insecticide.
