5 Frugal Gardening Tips for Beginners — Gardening has been an integral part of the UK culture for a long time and till date, a whopping 27 million people partake in gardening, which is about 42% of the UK population, according to a finding.
The same finding suggests that the UK gardening market is worth £5 billion and that a shift is seen in the attitude of the youngsters as they are reportedly enrolling for horticulture Courses at College.
One of the major reasons for this can be that it is an alternative to exercising as it involves physical hard work and is seen as a way to stay fit.
It also implies that you can grow your own food which will be much healthier and nourishing since you can grow it organically. But, if you are a beginner, the initial costs may hamper your interest and de-motivate you.
5 Frugal Gardening Tips for Beginners
Here, we bring to you a few tips on how you can pursue gardening within your limited resources.
Space Constraints
Not everyone has a big backyard or a garden so the question is how do you overcome this space barrier? As a beginner, an entire backyard is not necessarily the thing you need.
Start small and you can later look at buying a small land if the available space doesn’t fulfil your needs. You will find that many different plants can be grown within pots that can be kept on your windowsill or in your balcony.
Try growing microgreens and pulses in pots. You can use old tin containers or plastic containers to plant your seeds. Although these will have to be changed after a while, you will at least be able to use them for a year.
You can also look at renting garden space from people who have big gardens, but do not use it regularly.
Use Organic Compost
Plants grow well when they are nourished well. Spending time and resources on plants ensures that you will get healthier produce.
What you must spend resource wise is that you can use organic compost to nourish your soul. And more over, you can make your own compost which is both organic and inexpensive.
You can use leftover peels, dried stems and any other organic waste that you have in your kitchen to make compost.
All you need is a small container and a little time. You can read more on how to make your own compost in this post.
Mulch Always
Mulching is a process by which a layer is spread on the surface of the soil with the intention of moisture retention, improving the aesthetic appeal of the garden, improving soil health and reducing weed growth.
The mulch can be both organic and inorganic. Inorganic mulches are generally used to improve the visual appeal and they are also inexpensive.
Things like newspapers, plastic sheets and straws can be used to mulch your soil. Even when you grow your plants in a pot, make it a point to mulch the soil, even if it is with a few newspapers.
Spare a Few Minutes Daily
A good garden needs someone to dedicate time to it, to nourish it. We are not saying that you must spend all your time gardening, but a few minutes every day will be good.
This way you can keep a track of unwanted weeds that grow and remove it from time to time. You can use a hedge trimmer to remove weeds if they are above the ground, but use it with proper caution.
Hedge trimmer is a great option as you can use it to do both, remove the weeds and cut extra long grass which can be used as mulch.
As a beginner, you may not want to invest much in equipment, hence you can use Gtech discount codes to buy gardening equipment at reasonable rates.
You can also pluck out a few weeds with your hands daily so that you have to use trimmer only sometimes. Investing time on a daily basis will ensure that you understand the watering needs of your plants and thus, water them effectively.
Befriend People with Similar Interests
When you befriend people with similar interests, you learn new techniques on how you can garden better. Sharing tips and tricks becomes a part of daily conversation and you can even do some gardening together. If one of your friends has a big garden, maybe you can use their garden space or, you can both rent it out together.
This also gives an advantage in the way that you can harvest multiple food items. You can grow tomatoes and chilies while someone else can grow lettuce and mushrooms, which can then be exchanged. This way, you get a variety of home grown food.
Gardening ensures that you have access to fresh fruits and vegetables as and when you need them. Giving home grown produce to friends as a gift is considered as a great gifting option, since a lot of time and effort is invested in gardening.
Grow your own food, pursue your interest, keep yourself occupied, eat healthy, share with your friends, exercise, enjoy your work, do all this and much more within your resources by gardening. Wishing you a healthy and nourishing produce this season.
Happy gardening.
