Gardening does not have to be expensive, although it can be if you are purchasing raised garden beds, or even building your own, lumber is pricey, and then filling those raised garden beds can cost a pretty penny.  Purchasing mulch, soil, seeds, or plants, all of it can add up quickly.  We have done gardening over the years, and I know it is not cheap, so I wanted to share some budget-friendly ideas, especially if you have never gardened before, start where you are at. 

Maybe you have decided to start a garden after seeing the increased prices of fuel and food at the grocery store.  Maybe you have decided to start a garden to be more proactive in eating healthy or prompt healthier choices in your house.  I know that was one of the reasons we have gardened over the years.  We have a couple of super picky eaters in our house and so I have read when you get picky eaters involved in preparing their own food, yes cooking but also in growing, it can help them be more open to trying new things. 

I know quite a few people who started gardening during the pandemic, with a lot of people spending a lot more time at home, I saw across social media quite a few people get into gardening.  I think it is great!

With April upon us, this is the time to get your gardens going, if you have not already! We decided to start small since it has been a couple of years since we have gardened.  I discussed with my hubby, that I wanted to garden, but I also wanted to be mindful of our budget.  So I thought we could upcycle our kiddo's sandbox that sits, no longer played with, in the backyard. We also had some unused pots, so I looked into container gardening and thought it would be a good start for us this year.  

Upcycling and using our old sandbox would use less soil and is a great way to save some money! Look around your yard, your garage and see how you can upcycle or garden with containers you already have, it is a great way to save money. TikTok and social media can be a great resource for ideas, I am amazed by the unique way others garden, in old milk carton jugs, 2-liters, I have seen a ton of different ways to garden without expensive pots and raised garden beds. Search locally for FREE mulch, especially if you have a larger area to prepare or a raised garden bed to fill.  I quickly found a few local options that provide FREE mulch in our area, although we did not need it for the sandbox and the containers we are using this year.  

We first washed out our sandbox, my husband drilled some holes in it for drainage.  The kids helped put in a layer of rocks on the bottom, then we filled it with soil, which is on sale right now at Costco.  We had looked at some other stores for soil, the bags at Costco were less expensive and came with much more soil!


We planted both seeds and plants, seeds are obviously less expensive than plants.  We planted both because I think technically if you wanted to start from seed, we should have started sooner, but we will see, I am curious to see which ones will do better, I will have to provide an update soon.  You can look at your local Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only Store, over the years I have seen seeds there. 

Seeds we purchased: Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Beans, Squash

Plants we purchased: Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Zucchini

Did you know you can also re-grow, replant from things you've purchased at the grocery store such as green onions, celery, and lettuce?  These are easy things to re-grow! We are going to attempt to regrow lettuce, I have done green onions plenty of times. 

We also purchased a couple of Marigold plants, I read they help keep bugs away. We used a spinning 4th of July spinner to hopefully help deter the squirrels and possums we get in our yard. 

We also made our own DIY garden labels using rocks from the backyard and paint we already had.  My sons painted and drew on the rocks so we could have labels in the garden, especially important for the seeds. If you purchase plants, they usually come with a stick label, that you can reuse as you plant. 

If you are not up to starting a garden of your own, check with family or friends, maybe you can offer to pitch in, go over and help water, etc. Another easy way to kind of "try" your hand at gardening is to start with herbs, you can easily do this in a plant container, or even on a window sill right in your kitchen. 

One year we participated in a local community garden and it was the best of both worlds.  They did all the hard work of building the raised garden beds and getting the garden started and the only requirement was to help water and pick weeds and we were free to pick locally grown garden goods.  It happened to be at a church right near the school two of our boys had soccer practice, while two of our kiddos were having soccer practice, I would take our other two younger boys to help in the garden, it was a lot of fun.

I thought I would share these photos below from 2012 when the boys were so little, working on our garden. I am grateful for these family memories which are also great hands-on learning experiences, that I hope they will look back on fondly.

I will be sure to provide an update with photos of how our garden does.  If you have any favorite social media gardeners that you follow be sure to share them with me, I welcome all the tips and tricks. Thank you for reading, and sharing, I appreciate your support on our blog. Happy Spring and happy gardening to you!

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