Until now, I’ve never really considered how much of what you need to start and maintain a garden can be acquired for free or nearly free. But in my quest for the twenty-five dollar organic victory garden, I’m discovering just how far you can stretch that almighty dollar when you put your mind to it.
Take starting seeds for example. Rather than buying expensive commercial products, I’ve learned to improvise using common household items. Through this blog and online with Twitter, many readers have responded with clever ideas of their own when it comes to frugal gardening.
Here are 10 easy ways to equip your garden for free or nearly free:
- Repurpose or recycle: When you look around any house and yard, you’ll be amazed at the amount of things you discover that can be used in place of the ‘store bought’ model. For example, I just returned from two local groceries stores. They both donated large clear plastic cake domes with base. These make perfect mini greenhouses and they’ll last for years. If I purchased the real thing, I’d spend about five dollars each. My total investment in the cake domes; about a minute with the store manager.
- Social Media: Twitter has been a gold mine for me in the quest of my Twenty-Five Dollar Organic Victory Garden. In addition to making great new friends I’ve tapped into a vast network of talented, giving people that want to help you succeed, (or seed in my case). I’ve had an outpouring of offers for seeds and supplies. One twitter friend I met today is even making hand-painted markers for my garden! Facebook is another great option. For my twenty-five dollar victory garden, we’ve set up a group page and invite people to share ideas, seed swap or barter for plants, tools, etc. Come join us here.
- Garage Sales: Many people have written me to say how much success they’ve had finding just about everything they need here. As much as you need that grow light or nice shovel, someone in your neighborhood is ready to make a deal.
- Freecycle.org: This is the coolest online way to give away things you don’t need and find things you do need. And it’s all free. There are groups all over the country. Check out their website, sign up for a group in your area, and get ready. I have friends that have equipped their entire garden on Freecycle, from hoses and soil to bricks, seeds and plants.
- Master Gardeners / Cooperative Extension offices: As a Master Gardener myself, I can attest to our passion for gardening, helping others and sharing the bounty. Master Gardener volunteers work under the guidance of local cooperative extension offices–an outreach of the state university system. They are there to help and do they ever. You can find the office closest to you by clicking here.
- Local government: Many city, county or municipalities offer free compost for the taking. Some offer rain barrels and helpful seminars on gardening and environmentally responsible practices. These services are almost always free.
- Organize Your Own Swap: Local events provide the ideal opportunity to swap seeds, tools, plants and supplies. Schools, churches, and civic groups are great places to organize these events. Not only are you able to trade for free, you’ll meet some wonderful people and recycle many of those items you’re ready to part with.
- Online Seed Swaps: There are many organizations and groups across the country that facilitates seed swapping. The National Gardening Association has a free online service for this. Emilycompost has a free seed swap page. And The Great Let's Get Growing Seed Share at hyperlocavore.com is just about to get underway.
- Local Market Bulletins and classified ads: Many regions or states have an online and/or printed version of their agricultural news. It includes a classified section that lists many people willing to mail you seeds, merely for the price of a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE). The offerings are amazing. Georgia’s State Department of Agriculture has an outstanding example of this.
- Think Outside the Pot: Think of places that have what you need, but they use it for a different reason. My cake dome is one example. The rain barrel in this picture is another. It was free. Well almost anyway. It’s a food grade barrel that is readily available when you start looking around. For the cost of a paddle bit, brass spigot, a couple of rubber washers, and a mesh screen on top, this barrel was ready to harvest and dispense water for a grand total of about ten bucks!
How about some other ideas? It’s going to be a long growing season.
JL
Tomorrow, I’ll have guest blogger, Vanessa Richins, (@treesandshrubs on Twitter), founder of a Freecycle chapter in her area, which now has 6286 members. She’ll tell more about Freecycle and how she furnished her own garden this way. (By the way, she uses five-gallon buckets with a hole cut out of the bottom to grow her upside down tomatoes…now that's my kinda girl!)
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
Hi Nala. Thanks so much for all the time you took to share your story on starting and maintaining a garden for very little cash. This is exactly what I am attempting to do so it is so great to hear from people like you that have already done it. Your experience is invaluable and a great learning experience for all of us! Thanks for taking the time to give us such valuable information.
Part 2 as the blog was not letting me post all as one comment.
3 years later I have learned a lot but had great success. I did soil testing for the first time this year and did amend my soil but the readings (using straight compost) weren’t too bad anyway. So, technically, I’m now over the $25 project goal.
For 2009, we are now starting our own compost as a way to recycle the organic matter coming out of our house.
I’m using the plastic coated wire grid for my beans/peas to climb (and plant lettuce underneath so it can avoid the blazing beating sun)- so glad I finally found a use for it!
We have also started our sprouts, kept a few extra seeds and then shared the rest with some family members starting gardens for the first time.
I am using the little peat things ONLY because I got them on super clearance at the end of last season. However, I will probably use newspaper shaped into pots next year as one more way to repurpose “stuff” already coming into our house.
And we’re going to be adding a rain barrel as soon as I can locate one- have already posted on Freecycle and will be scouring the classifieds. (p.s. everything I’ve found indicates that the barrel should be “food grade” and not have contained any sort of petroleum products)
In the fall I’m hoping to create a portable cold frame of sorts to extend my growing season.
My congrats on your project, and I am living testimony that it CAN be done! Cost= definitely less than $25 for year 1 and 2 (other than the landscape brick- see note below).
I started our garden 3 years ago using FREE compost from our municipality, FREE mulch from municipality for moisture retention, and cheap seeds.
When seeds would be on end-of-season clearance, I would stock up and keep them over to the next year by storing them in a ziplock in the fridge.
I used cans and containers from my recycle bin to start sprouts in the spring.
I frequented Starbucks, not for coffee as I don’t drink the stuff, but for the Grounds for Gardens- recycling of the coffee grounds to enhance my soil.
Cooperative extension had great info about weed and insect control without chemicals such as removing dead matter, planting certain plants near or away from each other, etc. Last year I did buy a bottle of organic insect control for my squash plants because I had not kept the dead matter cleaned up enough.
I received strawberry plants from Freecycle along with some plastic coated wire mesh which went in storage because I got lucky and didn’t need it to keep out critters.
Also received tomato cages from Freecycle that I used for tomatoes, peppers, and even my watermelon and squash!
We did spend $$ on landscaping brick long before we decided to garden as we were working on the curb appeal of a yard that had been totally neglected for 10 years. But anyone could certainly find something for free or practically nothing versus fancier landscape bricks.
Hi Amy. Better late than never as they say and I’m really glad you found me and that you are enjoying the posts.
You mention some great ideas hear like sharing the cost on seeds. I agree, so packs have way more than you need.
I really like you’re bridal cloth idea! I’ve worried about that in my garden and now you’ve given me an affordable way to manage pests organically. Great!
Thanks for commenting and I should have my first video on the 25$VG up later today???
Hi Joe,
Sorry to chime in so late, but I just found your blog today! One way that I have saved money is to split the costs of some items with friends. When we buy seeds, we share the packets of seeds like lettuce that come a-million-seeds-per-packet but that don’t germinate so well after a couple or three years. This cost-sharing strategy also works for such useful garden products as lime that come in 50-pound bags.
For cabbage family plants, instead of covering with the expensive row-covers to keep out cabbage moths, I use that bridal netting (tulle?) from a fabric store. It keeps the moths out just fine and costs $1.50 or less per yard (watch for coupons for the store, or for sales).
I also keep seeds from year to year in an airtight box in the fridge, but that won’t help people who are just starting out this year.
I really am enjoying your series of posts on the $25 garden. Hoping for a grand success!
-amygwh
Love that whimsical rain barrel!
So, how much of the $25 have you spent?
Hi Maya. Regarding rain barrel size, yes, I’d say the bigger the better. Most are between 45 and 60 gallons.
Regarding Craigs List, that’s a good question. Hopefully you can ask the provider. I don’t know any other way.
By the way, one tenth of an inch of rain off a roof area of 1000 square feet will fill a 65 gallon rain barrel!
hi joe!
i’m wondering how to know what size rain barrel i need – just “as big as possible”?
also if i find one on craigslist or similar, how do i know it’s made with a safe material?
You might be surprised, Joe! In 2007, in our area we had the worse drought in 100 years. Rain barrels were flying off the shelves. Then in 2008 we had as much rain OVER than we had UNDER in 2007. As such, most folks thought there was no need for the barrels anymore and were giving them away. That’s how I got some of mine. Craig’s List was a good resource. So fee should work nicely in your budget. Also, for an example of using what you readers might already have, I commissioned an old yard waste can that held water and use it to store water. I have another can with a leak in it. I just added yard waste bags as a liner. Works for me.
Jeff, great question and yes there are concerns about using bath or dishwater on a food garden. The term is “gray water” and some states don’t allow it so check with yours to see if any gray water harvesting is legal. The biggest concern is the harmful pathogens, especially from dishwater so it is never advisable to use this in a food garden. However, many people I know use the discharge water from the washing machine along with earth-friendly detergents. As to the legality, I cannot speak.
Bottom line is err on the side of caution when irrigating a food garden.
Thanks for the great question.
JL
WOW!!! Helen, if I’m not mistaken you’re a retired engineer of some sort. If not, you should be (an engineer AND retired) no matter how old you are, from that brilliant water management plan. You clearly are a living example of a water-wise gardener. Now as much as I’d love to emulate your system, I don’t think it’s in the $25 budget this year!
But hey, a guy can always dream, right?
Thanks for sharing your incredible, “lead by example” story with us!
JL
Are there safety issues with using bath or dishwater on a vegetable garden?
Go Joe! I water my gardens with harvested rainwater. I also practice water-wise design. My gardens are grouped into Xeric, Transitional and Oasis gardening zones. My veggie garden is in an Oasis zone.
I collect and store water in different ways. My main collection is from the house into a 250 gallon container. With my roof size, the rain fills this container with an inch and a quarter of rain. I also have another 250 gallon container behind some shrubs in the back of my property in xeric zone. That zone dosen’t get the water, but it is a good place to hide it as I use it elsewhere. I devised a pump to transfer the water from my main harvester to this large storage unit. Rain barrels were just too small for my needs. I took the 55 and 80 gallon rain barrels that I had and others from clients that didn’t want them anymore and placed them discretely around my gardens. These rain barrels became satellite storage units. I can transfer harvested rain water to these units as well as store my warmed up shower water. It takes some getting use to and to manage, but I’m committed. One of the overflows from the harvester goes to a rain garden, the other to fill the fountain.
Well, of course I’m ahead of you, Joe. It’s mid-Spring here in Central Texas. I’ve got shoots and leaves!! Well, a few of them. Pesky birds!
I like your idea. If you use the right soap, you could also save bath water in a pinch.
Obviously, water saved through shorter shower times (hello, cold water!) could be used in the garden, where it’s put to better use anyway.
Whoa RedWhite&Grew…you’re one step ahead of me here. But it’s a point I was going to raise soon, so here’s the skinny…the secret to watering, no matter what the restriction on outdoor harvesting is “warm up water”. That’s the water the runs down the drain from your kitchen sink or tub as you wait for it to get hot. What a waste! Instead, place a bucket under that water to catch it. In a minute, you’ll have two harvested gallons from your sink and even more from the tub. Now, that’s money (and water) down the drain that can be used so perfectly in the garden.
Thanks for asking.
JL
These are awesome! I love the process of this whole project, Joe. It’s exciting to see people’s ideas coming together collaboratively. Very instructive…and yet not “preachy.”
Can I throw out something? I don’t really have an answer, but that rain barrel kinda made me think of it.
What about water? How do we keep down costs on that aspect of gardening?
I live in a drought-stricken area for which it’s feasible that water could become pricey. (For some people it already is expensive.) The more I think about it, the more I think that water is the great overlooked “cost” to Victory Gardening, especially in Southwestern states.
Yes, rain harvesting is an option…and there are cool ways to do it on the cheap. But some communities are outlawing (!) rain barrels now. And we can use soaker hoses, practice “green” watering techniques, and yet water can still be a $$ component.