Gardening on a Shoestring Budget

Many of us flip through garden magazines, all the while thinking that it takes years, a professional, or tons of money to landscape the gardens featured in the glossy pictures.

This isn’t necessarily true. You can design a breathtaking garden and be the envy of the neighbourhood by following some of the following tips.

Know What You Like and What Works

Drive around your neighbourhood and see what’s out there that grows well in your area. You can jot down what you see on index cards, so they are organized and handy. Start gathering page clippings from magazines and collect some pictures of the designs that interest you. This can help you decide what garden style you like. You’ll have an easy reference for plants and placement too. Another great thing to do is to join a local garden club. There are many wonderful gardeners just brimming with knowledge of the plants that grow well in your area, how to care for them and so on. Most garden clubs go on visits to other gardens and these can be a wealth of information and a source for cuttings and seeds too. Make sure to take your camera on outings. Folks just love their gardens being photographed and you will have a visual reminder of the things that caught your eye and you liked.

Select Location and Colour

Next, look at your notes, photos and clippings and choose the colour scheme you‘d like to have in your garden. Don't forget to keep in mind if you’re designing and planting in shade, sun, or partial shade or partial sun. Are you looking for something bright and vibrant or something more calming and soothing? Consider starting with a foundation of shrubs and accenting with some perennials, bulbs, ornamental grasses, and annuals for more seasonal colour. Perhaps, you want all flowers. Decide on a shape that compliments your house style. Straight styles give a more formal appearance while curves give a more informal feel. If you don’t feel confident selecting colours, you can use a colour wheel to help pick contrasting and complimenting colours.

Budget and Create a Plan

Decide how much you are able to and want to spend on your new garden. Do you want to start with a foundation and add to it gradually? If so, start with purchasing your most expensive plants and shrubs first. Use these as a focal point for your garden. Start watching for sales and discount plants at garden centres and nurseries. Tell everyone you know that you’re starting a garden and would love it if they could give you divisions of their perennials or seeds they have saved from their garden. Let family and friends know that you have a wish list of plants that would be the perfect gift idea. If you have access online, do a search for seed swaps. Many gardeners love to help a new gardener. Many are willing to send seeds for the cost of postage or will trade for something else that you may have that they are looking for.  Look for a gardening group in your area, join the group, and post letting the group know that you would be interested in garden plants and seeds. You may get lucky and find that a member of the group has already offered some plants up for grabs. Don’t forget to ask your local garden club when they are having their sales too. You can also start some plants from seed yourself. Many seeds are very easy to direct sow and a little can go a long way.

Here is a partial list of easy to grow seeds:

Candytuft

Asters

4 o’clock

Sunflowers

Pansies

Violas

Impatiens

Dianthus

Larkspur

Salvia

Cupid's Dart

Morning Glories

Moonflowers

Zinnias

Calendula

Marigold

Cosmos

Sweet Alyssum

Bee Balm

Poppies

Nasturtium

Don’t forget if you decide to sow into containers, there are many inexpensive containers such as yogurt containers, milk jugs, egg cartons, and plastic ice cream pottles. You can also call your city and see if they have free mulch available. Don’t hesitate to strike up conversations with your neighbours while you’re out for a walk. You never know, the topic of gardening may come up and they might be more than happy to offer you some seeds, cuttings or divisions.

Design Away

Now you’re ready to design. You can sketch out your idea beforehand. Keep the following in mind as you design.

Scale- Judge the size of the area and choose plants that aren’t going to be too large, too wide, or too small for the area. Keep in mind the plant’s size when it’s met its mature growth.

Balance- Don’t place your plants where one area is too compacted with plants and another area is too airy. Try and achieve a good balance of small, medium, and large plants. Balance offers visual stability. It can be created with space between plantings or the visual weight of your design. This can be created with lines so that your garden is pleasing to look at from all angles.

Focal Point- Your focal point will be the area that your eye is drawn to first. This can be your prized flowers, tree, or shrub.

Rhythm- This is visual flow. The eye wanders throughout the entire garden design, but comes back to the focal point. It can be achieved with repetition and contrast.

Harmony-Unity- This is when plants have a way of appearing connected and a part of one another. This can be achieved with colour, texture, and groupings of the same plants. Unity is lost when your plants look too separate or your colour choice makes one plant look lost amongst the rest.

Colour- Colour impacts the entire design process. Use a colour wheel if you don’t feel confident selecting colours that go well together.

If all of this is too confusing and overwhelming, check out some garden catalogues. Many have suggested designs. It’s also best to place your containers out and arrange and rearrange where you want to plant them before you start digging.

Accessorize (homemade garden art)

To add some interest and whimsy to your garden, consider some homemade items or trash to treasure works of art. Ideas such as making your own stepping stones, garden markers, terra cotta bird baths or toad houses, painted rocks and pavers, and fun wind chimes are simple projects that can add a lot of interest to your garden area. Look around for unique items you could add to your garden such as milk cans, wooden chairs, ladders, tricycles, wagons, trunks, roofing shingles, mailboxes, or even dressers. The sky is the limit on what you can create. Use your imagination.

There you have it and you didn’t have to hire a pro, spend thousands of dollars, or take years to achieve a pretty garden. You won’t be a new gardener for long. Soon, it will be you sharing starts, cuttings, seeds, divisions, and tips.  Gardening is one of the most therapeutic occupations around and there is also something magical about taking a bare bit of dirt and turning it into a wonderful display of colour and beauty. Remember too that gardens although primarily used for colour, whether in blossoms or foliage can also be fruitful. There are no hard and fast rules so why not include a few cranberry or blueberry bushes in the shrubbery. You will have the pretty blossoms, then the fruits to harvest and then in Autumn the beautiful foliage change in colours.

Magazines are a great source of inspiration but remember to individualize your garden with your own signature and style.

Happy Garden Planning