INTRODUCTION
Garden lovers with low budget can incorporate cheap container gardening ideas in their garden. A beautiful garden is the desire of every gardening enthusiast. People with less space also seek to build a container garden. The right pots, the right setting, the right lighting, and the right shade are sought after.
To fulfill the desire, one considers availing the services of gardeners and landscape design companies. But all may not have the means to take these services or buy expensive products.
It is not necessary to spend a lot of money to have your dream garden. Cheap container gardening is possible with good planning and creativity. You can create an exterior to suit your eyes and heart.
You must choose a space in your home where you would like to start container gardening. It can be terrace, balcony, or porch in the home. It can be a small or large space; every space can be beautified with container gardening.
Let us discuss the ideas you can consider to have a cheap container garden at home.
CONTAINERS: THE BASE OF CHEAP CONTAINER GARDENING IDEAS
Begin your journey of cheap container gardening ideas with the most basic thing.
Containers, or pots, are the first and foremost thing you have to have. You wish to enhance the garden with beautiful pots. Though exquisite plastic, fiber, steel pots, etc. are available in the market, they might be hard on your pockets.
Cheap plastic, cement, and sand pots are available. You can also use old containers or dishes at home, like jars, bowls, etc., as pots. Reuse old garden pots. You can decorate all these and bring life to the otherwise plain looks.
Use bamboo, cane, macramé, or other materials you may have at home to make containers. They look beautiful and also provide enough drainage and air for the plants. You can use macramé or nylon as ropes for making hanging pots.
You must choose container size and number as per the space you want to convert into a serene garden.
Image Courtesy: Annie Spratt on Unsplash
PLANTS: THE NEXT IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN CHEAP CONTAINER GARDENING IDEAS
Now we will discuss the next very important thing in your pursuit of cheap container gardening ideas; plants.
Buying native plants will be low on your pocket. Keep a mix of leafy plants and flowering plants. If you get the urge to buy expensive plants, you can always borrow some stem cuttings from your acquaintances though propagating plants from stem cuttings requires expertise, especially if the plants are not native.
You can buy plant seeds and grow them in nursery pots or home-made pots after making sufficient holes in them. When the plant attains little growth, plant it in a big pot.
You should choose a plant according to the size of the container you have and the amount of sunlight your garden space receives during the growing season.
OTHER ESSENTIALS OF CHEAP CONTAINER GARDENING IDEAS
Cheap container gardening ideas can also be applied to items other than containers and plants. Let us see these items below.
POTTING SOIL
Prepare a high-quality, well-draining potting soil specific to the type of plant you have. Potting soil consists of soil, river sand, fertilizers, and fungicides.
Potting soil is an important component of container gardening. To get cheap potting soil, you can visit a construction land where soil is dug up and get permission to collect that soil in a rug sack. If you are ready to spend a little, you can visit nurseries that provide soil for gardening. You can get river sand to add to the soil from construction stores at cheap rates. Buy according to your needs; single containers require at least 40% soil and 30% river sand.
FERTILIZERS
Fertilizers are the key ingredients in your potting soil. Cow manure is one of the cheapest nutrients you can get for plants. There are other low-cost, high-quality fertilizers available in the market, such as vermicompost and neem cake.
You can make fertilizer at home, which will cost you barely anything. Decompose the kitchen waste at your home in a large composting bin for free compost all year round. The peels of vegetables and fruits like onions, potatoes, and bananas can be soaked overnight, drained of the liquid, and apply the liquid fertilizer by diluting in water to your plants. Banana leaves can be dried in the shade; after dried, make a powder of them in a mixer to apply to the plant.
You can use curd for your plants’ good health. Dilute two tablespoons of sour curd in one liter of water and pour it into the pots. Rice water is a good natural fertilizer too. Cinnamon powder acts as fortifying manure and can prevent pests.
FUNGICIDES
There are both synthetic and organic fungicides available in the market at cheap rates. Personally, we prefer organic gardening; therefore, I use neem cake and sour curd as fungicides in the potting soil. Use only 5–10% of the neem cake in the potting soil mixture. Neem cakes are prepared from an Indian plant; if it is unavailable in your country, you can use sour curd. These two are the cheapest forms of fungicides. It works wonders in our garden; it will work in yours too.
PESTICIDES
Use natural pesticides such as neem oil, cinnamon powder, garlic spray, and insecticidal soaps to protect plants from pests. If the health of your houseplants is good, chances are very low that they may get affected by pests.
GARDEN TOOLS
If you are low on budget, either you can buy cheap garden tools or use old kitchen utensils as tools. A scraper is required to till the soil intermittently. If you do not wish to buy, you can use a cooking turner, a fork, or a wooden piece at home as a scraper.
For a spray bottle to spray pesticide, you can take an old empty bottle and attach a sprayer knob to it.
DECORATION
To bring an artistic touch and harmony to your garden, you can decorate your pots.
You can color the containers and make designs on them. You can draw Buddha, cartoon characters, and birds on the pots.
Use old children’s toys to decorate the pots and the garden area. You can use an old spoon, color it, and place it in a pot with a herb plant.
God’s old mini-statues can be used in your garden. Similarly, you can create ideas with other home materials.
CONCLUSION
You can very well build a beautiful garden with cheap container gardening ideas using items available at home and other ideas discussed above.
We have given a few ways that we found relevant to starting a garden with a minimum budget. You can use your own ideas to incorporate them into your garden. We hope your garden blooms!