Top 10 tips to starting to grow your own vegetables on a budget

Gardening and growing your own vegetables does not have to be an expensive hobby, there are ways and means to be able to grow your own, even on a very tight budget, all you need is a little time and effort.
Gardening can be a family activity, it can be something you start and then develop over the year, something you are all involved in.

So here are our 10 tips to help you on your way to growing your own on budget.
- Organic is the best way to go and believe it or not, it is cheaper to go organic than it is to use various chemicals and fertilizers. Use organic methods of pest control such as broken egg shells to deter slugs. Use organic compost which these days (as said in our previous post) is no more expensive than ordinary compost.
- Container and tub gardens are not only a great way for children to start experimenting with gardening but also for space saving and for gardening on a budget. Large tubs can be bought for as little as £2 in various cheapy shops.
- When planting seeds to grown on to seedlings, don’t fork out (excuse the pun!) loads of money for plant pots, use yoghurt pots, toilet rolls and cut up kitchen rolls. You can also use butter tubs, yoghurt pots, mousse pots, old roasting tins and more. Just make sure they are all thoroughly clean.
- Don’t be fooled that cheap tools are a bargain, some times these can be a false economy as they are not strong enough and can break easily. Why not try borrowing some or even purchasing some good strong second hand tools.
- If you cannot find any second hand or borrowed tools, why not check out your local Freecycle group for them?
- If you are still running a blank, use empty butter tubs as a hand held shovel and spade. Use a rolling pin as a dibber, the possibilities are endless
- Use old fencing or wooden palettes to make garden furniture or even make a new fence.
- When buying plants, try to look at various outlets before buying them. Plants can very expensive in some garden centres, however there are other places you can buy them, the supermarket, DIY stores or even go to your local plant sale that many village halls have during the summer.
- Growing from seed is much cheaper than buying in seedlings or plants.
- If you have the room, sow more seeds than you need, then when you start sorting through your seedlings you can sell the ones you don’t have room for and make a couple of pounds!
A little disclosure: There maybe affiliate links on this page. That just means if you click on a link, find something you like and buy it, we’ll make a teeny bit of cash which helps to keep this blog running! Don’t worry, you won’t pay any extra AND sometimes you might even get a tasty discount. It’s a win for us and a win for you too!