Save Money Gardening

• A well maintained and thriving vegetable garden will not only produce better tasting, healthier fruits and vegetables but can also help you cut your grocery bill by up to 50%.
• Lots of people love to grow their own fruits and vegetables and share them with like minded friends, relatives or neighbours.
• Buy a packet of seeds for your vegetable garden instead of seedlings as you will generally get 3 years worth of seeds for the same price as a punnet of seedlings.
• An even better idea than buying packets of seeds is to collect your own seeds from your vegetables and use them again next year. Empty matchbox containers provide the ideal place to keep seeds dry and organized until next year.
• You can also share seeds collected from last year's harvest, plants and plant cuttings from your garden with your friends, relatives or neighbours.
• In order to save money on your heating and cooling bills plant a deciduous tree on the westerly side of your house so that it reducing the warming effect of the hot evening sun in summer because lets the house naturally warm up in winter.
• A cheap and easy way to cover up a fence or wall area is to create a virtually invisible network of wire threaded through vine eyes and then plant an attractive climber such as jasmine and watch it climb along the wires to cover the area.
• If you have a large tree or bush in your garden give it a severe pruning instead of replacing it. If you cut it down to ½ metre high in early Spring it will regenerate into the garden plant you want in one or two years.
• The easiest and cheapest way to remove weeds from your lawn and end up with that pure grass look is to periodically remove any weeds that you see using a household screwdriver or knife. Make it a habit to remove 20 or 30 weeds each night after work and before you know it you will have a weed free lawn without having to waste money on expensive garden chemicals.
• If you put down a weed membrane before planting your garden bed and then cover it with back chips then you will save time and money by not having to do as much weeding. Just remember that over time bark chips will break down and may need to be topped up every now and then.