Organic Vegetable Gardening on a Budget - 15 Money Saving Tips

In this video I will give you 15 money saving tips for growing a organic vegetable garden.

MENTIONED VIDEOS

[bclarkquilts]

Several comments mentioned being worried about mosquito larvae in collected rain water. I put 2 goldfish in my rain barrel over a year ago. It works great! No mosquito larvae and the goldfish have grown like crazy.

[dn]

Enjoying a big give away. A neighbour has set a community gardening programme. As my strawberries had multiplied so much, I passes 700 plants. She passed them all out, plus some in a land plot donated by housing group. Now, I pass masses of stuff. I have huge gardens and orchard, greenhouse and tunnels. 24 lettuce each day, over 100 tomato plants, same for cucumbers, beets, celery and more. Forced to retire 3 years ago as medical problems after surgery. Now this is way more fun. Getting head around it finally.

[lauramaillie]

Last year we repurposed my kid's wooden captain's bed as a raised garden bed and had a bumper crop of tomatoes! I also found sickly tomato and cucumbers in the corner of the store, that were priced very low, and some pots had more than 1 plant in them. Brought them home with some plant food, and TLC and let's just say we fed our neighbourhood last year of cucs and tomatoes. We will be finishing up our frozen crushed tomatoes for soup this week. Our condo landscaper was glad to give me the dead leaves for mulch for free! You don't need to be a member of Costco to get free boxes. Love learning about saving money!

[rowenakotelniski]

I would add for those people who missed the time for starting seeds and decide to look for seedlings - check with other gardeners in your area and see if they have some that they are willing to give away or sell cheaply. Then plan on saving seeds if possible. I usually start too many and give away extras.

[ZenobiaRice]

My local library has seeds that people bring in from the community. You can get 7 packs a month per family and it saved me so much money this year.

[PriscillaWong]

Some more ideas - - I try to upcycle as much as I can - so much that my husband keeps asking if my pile of plastic containers from takeout, tofu, strawberries, milk/juice jugs, etc. are for recycle LOL. Those are great for starting seeds/propagation, or as temporary seedling holders for giving seedlings to family and friends... Plastic bottles are great for storing extra rain water - I try to fill them up from the rain barrels before it rains. Sometimes the city has programs to give out free rain barrels - people should take a look. I also wanted to try making soil blocks this year - so instead of buying the expensive soil block makers, I made one out of a tomato paste can and screwed on a handle to the lid. It works great! I'm growing lavender in my old rain boots :-). I try to grow extra seedlings to give to family and friends - my wallet hurts when I see people spending $4-5 for a seedling. I save long straight branches/scrap wood to make trellises with them. I'm also planning to pot up extra volunteers and put them in a FREE box in front of my house this year. Thanks for your videos!

[songstress]

I live surrounded by Amish. There are 2 huge nurseries down the road from me. The seedlings are inexpensive and the selection is enormous! If you enjoy a road trip and have Amish in your state, it’s definitely worth traveling to these Amish greenhouses! I just happen to be blessed to live close. 💕

[talapeanutbutter]

One neighbor had 20x 20 pieces of tiles set out for the trash, I took them. Another neighbor got rid of the metal closet shelves, I took them. So I used a grinder and cut some shelving into two L shapes and zip tide them together. That was last year and it’s still working great! Yes, #15… I need to do!

[cbak]

I used a old plastic wheel barrel for my Dahlia this year. I stacked up fallen limbs from my lawn to make a flower raised bed.

[donpadawan]

Fabric grow pots/fabric beds can be had for cheap compared to raised beds. I got the name brand Smart Pots for cheap in many sizes (you can get 100 gallon fabric bed for $20) that can hold a ton of plants! A tip is to use a more water retentive soil mix in grow bags with mulch on top, so that they stay moist in hot weather. Making your own soil mix is also cost saving 🌾

[kat]

We are blessed in that my husband hauls construction components & has been getting leftover wood. We bought wood for our 1st raised bed. Got the leftovers for the other 5 beds. Also got leftover chicken wire from his work to use for the fruit cages. Our compost comes from the landfill & it's free.

[myrnaedmisten]

I am SO excited about companion planting. Not only is it beneficial but it expands my planting area by a ton! You are a gardening treasure!

[SPshaun]

I mulch my raised beds with mowed up, chopped leaves in the fall after cleaning the beds out. Add lawn clippings if you have them but if you don’t you can add blood meal which is straight nitrogen for over the winter and breaks down the leaf mulch. There’s your compost for next year and bonus: very little weeds which are easier to pull. Plant, grow and repeat. Free if you have leaves and grass.

[monicamayer]

Love the picture
I started seeds in egg cartons, first time trying it

[billchesnut]

I just gave away 12 tomatoes plants I started from seeds. Sun gold and Kellogg. I love this video great production and great content. Keep it up Brian...😍😲

[bonniefillmore]

I love garage sales and dumpster diving for containers, trellis material, Tin decorations to make my eclectic garden. I also look around my house. I found some chain link fence which works for a trellis. My husband is debating if I can use an old 1950's mint green toilet for a garden container. I think it would go great as a herb garden. lol

[ALightAngel]

Not sure if someone already mentioned this but Dollar Tree seeds are priced at 4 packets for $1. For bonus points, I've had super high germination rates with their seeds. They’re packaged by the American Seed company. DT also carries bulbs at 4 for $1.25. You can get them for that price elsewhere, so they're not quite as good a deal as the seeds. But like the seeds, the germination rate is great for their bulbs.

[DyesubDave]

Another tip which goes along with one you mentioned is seedling containers. Used deli / food containers work great and sometimes also come with a clear lid. I re-purpose the plastic containers that mushrooms come in where I am. I use a soldering iron to melt a few holes in the bottom, fill them halfway up with soil, plant seeds and water. If I want to keep in humidity I can cover several with a clear tote lid and since they are only about half full of soil there is plenty of room for the seeds to sprout. Also grease pencils are great for marking on plastic containers as they will withstand heat and water and can be scrubbed off fairly easily.

And yes I noticed local hardware stores pre-selling brand name tomato and pepper plants at 4 per $20 CAD. When a pack of 25 to 50 seeds costs 2 - 4 dollars that's just crazy. This may be a good year to sell all my extra plants! ;oP

[mctpsdz]

$10 for a six pk of strawberries! Good organic potting mix and compost via landscaping co are 1/2 off garden ctr prices and much better quality than big box stores. Grow transplants, sell to fund other items -for me that’s compost. Local master gardener, park dept, farmers mkt, or school plant sales. Do look for free compost, every surrounding city near me (except mine) has this. Reuse (sterilize first) transplant containers, some garden ctrs take them back to recycle and you can get those free. I use buried ollas to water on the side of my driveway with no hose bib. Ask neighbors for cuttings to root. Regrow green onions etc trimmings from grocery store. For me now we have never ending drought, remember to water in winter - I never had to do that and have killed so many plants this way now because I keep forgetting.

[antonianovoa]

When I had to start a new yard, I visited the clearance racks at the local big box store for plants at a huge discount. Some are a bit ratty but the blooms came in like fire the following season...