Starting A Garden – Super Cheap!

Gardening doesn’t need to be expensive and can be done very frugally.

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Frugal Homestead Garden

You don’t need fancy raised beds, tons of soil, or anything more than a garden fork and a willingness to get stuck in and start your garden!  I didn’t as I started converting old horse pasture into our homestead garden!  

You can see how I started an in-ground garden in the video below:

Use What You Have

Homesteaders very much live by this motto of using what you already have, barter, and swapping for things you don’t.  Even if you are starting a garden in an urban setting, you can pick up garden tools cheaply through local classifieds, yard sales, Facebook Marketplace, Freecycle, and there are even libraries that loan tools!  You could ask a neighbor, friends, or family to borrow a garden tool for a task whilst you save up to buy one.

It is very rare that I buy anything brand new, the older tools I have thrifted have held up incredibly well.  There are 4 garden tools that I use all the time:

• Garden Fork
• Hoe
• Hand Pruners
• Trowel or hand shovel

Garden Fork

Used to break new ground as I did in the video, plant potatoes, and harvest root vegetables like carrots or leeks.

Hoe

I use this the most for weeding, leveling the ground, making rows or little furrows for seeds, covering seeds, and tamping (firming) the ground.  I use a garden hoe just like this.

Hand Pruners

It’s helpful to have a pair of hand pruning shears or secateurs for pruning diseased plant parts or harvesting tough stems.  Always handy for squashes that have tough stalks, or harvesting trusses of tomatoes on the vine!

Hand Shovel

The trusty gardener’s trowel is used for transplanting as well as light weeding in small gardens, and raised beds.  I use this most in spring when transplanting seedlings on the homestead.

None of these gardening tools are particularly expensive and can be easily picked up from a hardware store very reasonably priced.

Build Your Garden Up Over Time

Sure it’s nice to be able to add in compost right as you are starting a garden but it isn’t completely necessary.  If you don’t have compost on hand to get your garden started, don’t worry!  You can totally build on your garden by adding mulch.  If you don’t use pesticides or fertilizer on your lawn then grass clippings are a great mulch!  If you have a lawn mower with a bag that makes it easy to collect them.  No lawn mower with a bag?  I hear you there!  You could rake up the grass clippings into a bucket and then spread them around your garden or use something else as a mulch.

If weeds come up in your garden, pull them out and lay them on the soil to decompose.  They will return nutrients back to the soil as they break down on the soil surface,

Leaves in fall make an excellent mulch for gardens.  Cover your garden beds with them in fall to protect the soil over winter.

You can also ask community groups about local suppliers of woodchips.  That’s what I did and I was able to connect with a local company that delivered them to me for free!  Sometimes it takes a bit of leg work but you can absolutely find things at little to no cost that will help your garden grow!

Start Composting ASAP

As soon as you can, start composting kitchen scraps so you will have something to add to your soil later in the season.  There are so many things you can compost from the kitchen and around the home, you might surprise yourself with how much there actually is!  Compost is the best thing you can give your garden to help it grow better each year.  It helps to retain moisture in the soil, provides a home for beneficial soil life, and helps feed your plants.

Replenish The Soil

Every time you are harvesting something from your garden you are removing nutrients from the soil.  That’s how plants grow and provide you with the nutrients your body needs.  You have to replace those lost nutrients.  Adding compost and mulch is one of the easiest and cheapest ways you can do that in your garden!

Seeds

You’re obviously going to need something to plant in your garden.  There are a couple of things you can do to start your garden.

1. See if your local library has seeds.  Believe it or not, there are actual seed libraries in many communities where you can get seeds for free.
2. Join a seed swap or seed exchange.  See if there are local seed swaps and what is needed to go and get started.
3. Ask a friend or family member that gardens.  Many gardeners have more seeds than they can grow!  
4. Ask in a gardening group.  Check with the group rules or group admin if on social media that sort of post is allowed.  You might be lucky enough for generous gardeners to help you get started with seeds.
5. Some seed companies offer seeds at a discount depending on circumstances.  Have a look at their website or contact them directly to find out, especially if you are working to create a community or school garden.
6. If you have a local garden center, nursery, or ranch supply store, you could try putting an ad on the board.  Many of these places in rural areas have a free ad board, my local city office has one too!  You can try posting a notice on there that you are looking for seeds.  I’ve seen ads from spaniels to looking for seeds and gardening tools

Pay It Forward

If you have lots of seeds or ones that you don’t like to grow, consider offering them up to other gardeners who might be struggling to get started.

Learn To Save Seeds

Grow a sustainable garden by saving your own seeds!  It’s easy to do, your garden will grow better and your saved seeds are likely to germinate faster too!  Plus it saves the expense of having to buy new seeds all the time.

Dig In and Learn More

If this post has started ideas for your garden, be sure to check out these related posts and helpful books:

• Money Saving Ideas For Homesteaders
• Landrace Gardening: How To Adapt Your Garden Plants To Local Conditions
• Grow More Food In The Space You Have With Intensive Gardening
• Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination by Joseph Lofthouse
• Composting Is A Super-Frugal Goldmine How To Get Started
• Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening: Innovative Techniques for Growing Vegetables, Grains, and Perennial Food Crops with Minimal Fossil Fuel and Animal Inputs 
• Cheap and Easy Seed Saving Supplies

What is your favorite variety to grow for taste? Let me know over in the Facebook group 

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