Budgeting in the Garden

Before you put a shovel into the ground you have to decide what you want out of your garden. Do you just want it to look nice as you look out your back window,  or do you want it to produce food from a vegetable garden,  be  private from your neighbors, be a showplace for you to entertain or be a sanctuary for you to meditate. You need to be clear in your expectations of how you are going to use your garden.

There are hundreds of thousands of gardening sites on line and gardening books in the library. If you Google garden design images you will see countless garden ideas. You need to know if your gardening style is architectural or romantic, what inspires you and what don't you like. Visit your local library and take out books on garden design and ideas. Looking at pictures will cost you absolutely nothing and give you ideas and information, don't skip over this.
 
Grading
Your garden is part of your house and you need to make sure that any changes that you make in it is not going to affect how water drains from your property. If the land is not gently slopping away from your home you could be setting yourself up for water damage in your basement or around your foundation if there is strong rainstorm. It would be heartbreaking to spend all that time and effort on your garden just to realize that you need to change the grading to stop water damage. This is a definite SPEND category if it needs to be done. You need to research on how to grade a yard and make sure that you are not violating any city ordinances or changing your grade and flooding a neighbor's yard. Time consuming and expensive? Depends on if you are doing it yourself. You can rent sod strippers, rototillers and other garden machinery. Do your research and be sensible.


Plants You can grow almost any plant from seed and while this might not be practical if you are planning to have a lot of trees and shrubs in your backyard it is actually possible. When you go to a garden center for plants you are paying them for their time and the effort they have put in to grow the larger plants.

You need to know the difference between annuals and perennials.

• Annuals are flowering plants that start from seed and once they bloom will bloom continuously for the growing season and then die.
• Perennials are grown from seeds or divided and they will only bloom for two to four weeks (some more, others less)  and then flowers will die but the next year the plant and flowers will appear again.
  

The good thing about perennials is that they need to be divided every few years for them to continue to bloom well. This means that if you have perennials in your garden then you can divide them and fill up any empty spaces. The better news is that if your family and friends have perennials they have to divide them and maybe you could ask for any that they are not going to replant in their gardens. In some areas people sell their perennials at garage sales. Make sure that you know your prices before you buy, you shouldn't be paying garden nursery prices at a  garage sale. If you are hoping to get some more exotic perennials see if your local horticultural society has a spring sale, they might not be cheap but they will be much less expensive than a nursery.

The good news about annuals is that with some of them you can seed them directly into your garden beds and that they continue to self seed year after year so they are almost like perennials. Other annuals can be started inside and then transplanted to your garden.

Temporary garden centers that are put up beside grocery stores tend to only be open for a few months and they want all their stock sold and have great blow out sales. You have to be careful of the plants that you buy in the late season as they might need some extra loving to get them back into shape but you can get trees, shrubs and perennials for 50% off or more.

In the fall almost all garden centers have great sales as they would rather sell their stock than over winter it. If you have your heart set on a certain tree or shrub then it might be worthwhile to wait until the fall to buy it to get the best deal.

The best way to save money on plants is to grow plants that want to grow in your garden. You have soil conditions and climate conditions that some plants love and some plants will have to struggle with. You want to grow the plants that grow well your area. One of the easiest ways to find out what these plants are is just to walk around your neighborhood and see what other people have growing for them that looks lush and strong.

This does not mean that you are going to have the exact same plants that everyone else does, this means you will get to understand what kind of plants will do well in your garden effortlessly. If everyone is growing beautiful yellow daffodils then you know that daffodils will do well. If you don't particularly like yellow daffodils then you will be happy to know that daffodils come in different colors like white and pink.

Plants are something that you can wait for the sales and SAVE on.

Kijiji and Craigs List are great places to look for garden benches, furniture and cloth gazebos. For garden furniture you might have to put some effort into cleaning them and painting them but that should be reflected in the price that you pay for them.

Don't try to use indoor furniture and ornaments outside and expect them to look good after a year or two. No matter how temperate the climate is that you live in, indoor furniture was not built to withstand the outdoor elements.  You can put metal indoor furniture outside if it has been coated with a good outdoor paint but it still might start rusting in the joints after a year or so.

Sheds can be pricey if you want the newest style but they do come up on Kijiji and Craigs List. They are generally older models that you have to dismantle and move yourself but if you are willing to do it you can save up to 90% of the original cost. If your heart is set on a new shed then then look for them on sale in the fall. There are books that explain how to build sheds and gazebos or you can buy shed and gazebo kits from big box building stores.


If you are handy you can also save money buy building your own planters and garden furniture .

Retaining Walls, Concrete Paths, Interlocking Brick and Stone pathways can make a ordinary backyard look like a showplace. In some areas if you need a retaining wall you have to have a permit before you start to build. A large retaining wall should only be built by a insured professional that gives you a guarantee for workmanship. Soil conditions change through the seasons and there can be a great deal of force put on a retaining wall during a rainfall when the soil becomes saturated with moisture. You definitely don't want your retaining wall to collapse. You can install concrete paths, interlocking brick and stone pathways by yourself but you must do a great deal of research. The further north that you live in North America the greater the temperature shifts which causes the land to heave during the different seasons. These might be projects that you would BUDGET professionals to do. They would be the backbone of your garden design and you truly would want them to look as good as possible.

And what about all that stuff that makes a garden look so neat, the little decorations, pots, candles and whimsical decorations. This is where you should SCRIMP. Look for these items at garage sale and thrift stores (especially in the cold months) and on Kijiji and Craigs List. There are also books that show you how to make attractive and fun garden garden ornaments.

So how do you budget for a garden? You have to learn the prices of small annuals, mid sized perennials, shrubs and trees if you are building a garden from scratch. Annuals take up about 6 inches of space each. If you want mostly perennials in your garden then estimate approximately a perennial every 12 to 18 inches with 12 to 18inches in between.  If you have a deep garden bed you would be staggering the perennials in rows so you might have three rows of perennials. You might want more or less in your garden but this gives you a rough estimate. You can estimate 3 to 5 feet for every shrub (when it is grown) but 18 inches to 36 inches when it is small. Trees generally don't have anything growing underneath them since their root systems make it hard for other plants to flourish. If you are planting a pine or spruce then consider how much it will spread. To start you would dedicate about four feet to a small size spruce or pine.

In my area a good quality perennial plant sells for $10, a good quality bush $25 and trees start at $100. Annuals sell for about 50 cents to $1.50 each. These are all very general estimates and of course different plants have different sizes and costs but you can see why starting plants from seed and getting perennials from divisions can be a huge money saver. 

 Even if you have a good garden you should do some soil amending every year so the nutrients get put back in the ground that the plants have used. Depending on your area you might be using manure, compost or a mix of peat and other soil amending ingredients. See if your local municipality offers free compost. If you have a lawn you have to consider the cost of fertilizing it and watering it. There are other options out there now including all natural fertilizers. You could over seed your lawn with one of the new strains of grass seed that have been developed for drought area and need much less water then regular grass seed. If you live in a water restricted area  check if your city offers water barrels to residence at a reduced cost.

While there definitely will be some initial costs to get the garden of you dreams the pay off is a beautiful sanctuary for you relax, enjoy, entertain guest and it will add value to your home. Look for great sales and bargains and you could have it sooner than you thought you could.