How on earth do people afford gardening?!

[Hallo12345]

We have recently (May) moved into our first house so our first time having a proper garden. Garden needs a lot of work but I have no idea how people afford this! I went to the garden centre last week and bought a few bags of soil and some bulbs and it cost me nearly £80 🤯
So my question is, how can I make the garden reasonably nice on an extremely small/non existent budget ?!

Congrtulatoons on your garden!

Seed sowing is cheap, and start a compost bin ASAP.

Order bulbs online, avoid the garden centre!

Do friends garden ? Sharing/swapping is good.
Alys fowlers book 'the thrifty gardener' is very practical with good tips.

Our council sells compost cheaply (the results of the green waste people have taken away) so while I have been setting up my own compost I started there. Bulbs and seeds from Wilko were good, now I look in Poundland, Home Bargains and supermarkets.

Make you own compost and learn how to take cuttings and grow from seeds.
Lots of perennial (flowering) plants can be divided in autumn so if you know anyone with a nice garden they would often be diving clumps and happy to share.

Join your local FB gardening group, there are always cuttings, plants and seedling going spare.

You add to it year on year. Spread the cost, gardening is a long game.

@napody Thank you! We actually have a compost bin here from the previous owners but not enough in it at the moment. But will keep adding to that

My DM made a garden without spending much money at all. She always says “stolen cuttings grow the best” 😳 and has been known to snip off tiny bits of plants overhanging the street which then turn into gorgeous healthy plants, though I am not recommending this!

Lots of people have well stocked gardens and are more than happy to divide perennials or share cuttings and seeds. Just get to know the neighbours and make friends with the locals and make it know you are starting out. If you admire something people often offer a cutting which you can put in a flower pot and grow on ready to plant out in spring. Shrubs, fruit bushes, herbs etc are all easy to grow this way. Ask for seeds or plug plants for Christmas too.

I do agree that paying for bags of compost soon adds up so definitely make a compost heap and use lawn clippings, pet bedding, non-animal food waste and annual weeds piled up to make lovely compost of your own. Also rake up your leaves and surround with wire netting. In 1-2 years you get leaf mould which is great for the soil.

Enjoy making a beautiful garden.

@DoYouSmellCarrots thank you so much for the tips. I will definitely look into using cuttings. I don’t have any friends that do gardening but my mum does a bit and I’m sure there are some people in my church that do so I will ask them

@OddBoots thank you for this! I have looked up council compost and the council don’t sell it but I’ve found a local charity that sell mushroom compost and it’s very cheap so that’s great!

@MissMarplesGoddaughter thank you! I have done this

I subscribe to Gardeners World magazine - as well as getting lots of tips, the spring issues come with free seeds.

If you need a lot of bulbs it can be cheaper to look for deals online.

Do it gradually over time , plants are expensive ! Grown your own from seed or buy bulbs online and plant them ready for next spring

@Flibbertygibbetty thank you for these great tips. I’m definitely going to look into how to use cuttings as that sounds like the way forward! We have a lot of friendly neighbours here and people with beautiful gardens on the walk we do to my kids nursery so I might get my little 4yo boy to ask the neighbours if mummy can have some of their plants 😂😂

Garden centres are lethal!

Most of my plants are from my mum, gran, mum's neighbours... honestly once you start talking about gardening they just appear on your doorstep! It's usually the older generation that are most generous: they're used to sharing and diving and propagating between friends I think.

Bulbs, I just bought a load from Farmer Gracy in the sale. I never pay full price: there are always sales if you are prepared to be disorganised and buy things a bit later than ideal.

Garden centres are lethal!

Most of my plants are from my mum, gran, mum's neighbours... honestly once you start talking about gardening they just appear on your doorstep! It's usually the older generation that are most generous: they're used to sharing and diving and propagating between friends I think.

Bulbs, I just bought a load from Farmer Gracy in the sale. I never pay full price: there are always sales if you are prepared to be disorganised and buy things a bit later than ideal.

Next Spring and Summer, look in your neighbours’ gardens and see what’s growing well. If you plant the right plants for your soil, you won’t need to add compost or anything. Where I live fuchsia and salvia grow like weeds and don’t need any extra care.

Garden centres are expensive. It’s much cheaper to buy from small local nurseries or online, or join your local gardening club which may do plant swaps and giveaways.

Once you’ve got a basic garden going you can start being more experimental with plants that need more added extras.

You become adept at scrounging cuttings and finding a source of free manure. Most keen gardeners are only to happy to split a plant and share a piece. Asking them at the right time of year is vital - March and April and in the autumn.
See if there is a local gardening club - they often hold plant sales.

People who are inexperienced in gardening often resort to throwing money at the problem but it's more important to get the foundations right. Thoroughly weed flower bed (free), mow the lawn frequently and cut the edges so they are crisp and sharp (free), trim back unruly shrubs. Mulch with well rotted manure - make a heap of fresh manure if you can't get well rotted it and leave it to rot down.

Fill gaps by sprinkling hardy annuals in the well weeded borders.

I'm a member of a great local gardening group on Facebook (I don't really use it for anything else!). Lots of seed swaps, cuttings and chat about how to do stuff, really helpful, and you meet some nice people

On Instagram there’s a lady called anya the garden fairy she is all about free plants , how to collect seeds and propagate. Join the local garden group , they often give away surplus plants. Ask for seeds for Christmas. You will love the feeling of growing your own 🌻

Beg borrow steal basically.
Remember you don't really need compost. Most gardens grow very happily without it

But also, things just take time. You'll look outside in 5 years and not be able to believe it's the same garden

You can divide your bulbs ever other year and have more bulbs for free. I grew a 5 metre tall silver birch tree in 4 years from a seed I picked off a park tree.

And just buy perrenials so at least you're only buying them once

Gardening is a really thrifty hobby. Your compost bin will fill up really quickly. Grow from seed, and learn how to take cuttings and you'll only ever need to buy one plant and you can take enough cuttings from it to grow a row of them. Also now is a great time of year to buy bare root plants which are better value than container plants and will grow more strongly. Things like bare root roses and fruit trees will totally transform your garden within a couple of years.

I buy my bulbs from the local market (10 for £2) and I've been successfully making my own compost for 16 years. Bought a small book in 2007, read it from cover to cover and haven't looked back. I grow stuff from seed too. Gardening doesn't have to cost the earth and garden centres can be expensive.

As someone who has spent a lot of time on their garden... nothing was a bigger compliment than having people knock on the door and ask if they could take a cutting. It only happened a few times 😔

I'm starting a much bigger garden from scratch so I feel your pain. I've got a stash of annual seeds to plug the gap and will be slowly choosing shrubs. Sadly I also have a house to renovate so it's at the bottom of the to-do list for now.

As long as you’re not in a big rush then grow from seeds and cuttings as pp have suggested. If your area has a garden safari or similar then they are great to get an understanding of what grows well in the area (and ask for cuttings! most people would be delighted ).

I buy nearly everything online in sales. You can look at Sarah Raven etc sites for ideas and then buy exactly the same thing from eg Peter Nyssen at a fraction of the price. Homebase have an excellent sale rail usually in the spring/summer. Plants that are dying off are often good value - I’ve had plenty of perennials for £1 etc. As long as you’re happy to delay your gratification until the following year!

Take your time. It’s not going to look perfect straight away.

Second joining a FB gardening group. People give away so much including shrubs, turf, compost and equipment. I was in a similar situation. I seeded the garden myself, yes it took time but once it started to grow it was great. I dug beds, including a little herb garden. Bought loads of bedding plants very cheaply at places like Home Bargains and B&M. I've also filled pots to dot around and a couple of clematis and honey suckle. It looked lovely in the summer! Get it cleared before winter sets in. It's a good time to plant bulbs. I just got a load in Poundland. Then in the spring to you can start getting it into shape.