Garden With What You Got
This year we started our garden journey. We had to take building this garden slowly, DIY everything, and use the resources we had in order to stay within our budget. No one is going to have the same situation as us, or have the same resources, but I want to share to inspire and encourage you to figure out what supplies you may already have for your garden so that the whole process may seem less daunting and expensive.
Some gardens may not take a lot of work to get started. If you have healthy soil and start your garden straight in the ground, it won’t take as many supplies as building a raised bed. Or even if you build yourself a short 6 inch raised bed or so, that may not take as much labor and money. And of course, how much your garden will cost you also depends on how small or large you want your garden to be! That being said, there are many ways to start your garden, but I figured there must be a few people out there in a similar situation to us… Essentially in our first year of gardening, we built four raised garden beds that also served as a fence for the garden. Each bed is 2 feet wide, 4 feet long, and 2 feet tall. See photo:
Now that you have an idea of what we were working with, I’ll let you know how we repurposed items to really make our garden cost effective.
Reusing Wood From Other Projects
Planning your builds around what you already have is one of the best things you can do. We had fence posts leftover from fencing in our backyard, so we cut those down to 2 feet tall and used those as the corners of each bed to secure the sides together. Of course, not many of you probably have fence posts lying around, but you could use 2x4’s, logs, or any other wood as long as you design your beds to fit those things. You barely even notice this part of the garden beds, so if you have to mix and match materials, that’s okay!
2. Use What You Have, Not What You Think You Have to Use
I was contemplating buying hog wire to use as the top half of the beds (this is to make the beds into more of a fence). That's what I saw used in someone else’s garden on Pinterest, so I thought that must be what I should use too! But we actually had leftover fencing wire from our backyard fence. We cut it size and it worked perfectly! It also gave us an opportunity to give this leftover fencing a purpose. That being said, it is good to do your research on what will last the longest in your garden and what will be durable, but once you have done your research, make the decisions that make the most sense for you.
3. Filling Up Raised Beds
Like I mentioned our beds were two feet tall, that’s a lot of square footage to fill up. First, I covered the bottom of the beds in paper bags and cardboard. This helps keep weeds from growing. (You only want to use brown cardboard with minimal print) Then for the bottom 12 inches of the beds, we took anything we could find in our yard and threw it in! Rocks, logs, sticks, and even cinder blocks! If you have any dead trees or dead branches in your yard this would be the perfect time to cut them down and put them to use. Next, we had planned ahead and bagged up our leaves the previous fall, which I definitely recommend! Then we were able to use the leaves as the next layer of the garden beds. The leaves really helped fill in the gaps of the first layer and took up quite a bit of vertical space as well. It won't take the leaves too long to break down either, and your plants will love it. You should keep in mind that when you top off your beds with soil, the leaves will compact quite a lot so you want to use more leaves than you may think! Next, we reached out to my family. If you have any family or friends that you think has extra yard waste or even better lives out in the woods, reach out! My family lives in the woods so they have an abundance of leaves, and they even have a mulcher. We took decaying logs, sticks, and leaves and mulched them up! This mulch went on the next layer of our garden beds. Up to this point, we did not pay for a single thing to fill up the beds! Unfortunately our compost was not quite ready to be used, so we did have to purchase compost, but if you are able to ask a farmer or anyone else near you if they have compost to give away that would be a great option! After laying down a layer of compost, we topped it off with a few inches of raised bed garden soil. If you are able to purchase your soil in bulk and pick it up, that is a cheaper option than buying bags of soil at the store. Lastly if you would like, you can take some mulch and do a thin layer to finish filling the garden beds! Putting some mulch on top of the soil helps your soil retain water and not dry out as fast.3. The Pretty Part
I am aiming to have a beautiful cottage garden. I wanted a stone path going along side all the garden beds. I took a few stones from little paths other places in the yard that did not make much sense. I found many other stones throughout the yard and kept any that had any kind of flat side. I gathered all the rocks up and laid them down in a design I liked. It’s really good start to the path, but I think I will definitely need to buy more stones. I would recommend checking at your local Habitat for Humanity Restore for stones or bricks if you prefer. They are a good price and they are second hand, both great things.
4. Save All Containers
Sometimes you might be tempted to throw away empty plastic plant container/pots, but they can really come in handy. I ended up growing too many tomato plants to fit in the garden beds and used all my leftover pots to plant the tomatoes. I also decided to plant some last minute black bean and chickpea plants and needed a place to put them. Your leftover pots/containers are a great plan B! You can also use small containers to start your seeds before transplanting them into the garden beds.
5. Building A Garden Path
Lastly, I wanted to build a stone path in the garden that looked like an English cottage garden. If not for aesthetics, then simply to make it less muddy. It wasn’t in the budget this garden season to buy all the stone we would need to make the whole path, and the full garden wasn’t built anyway so it wouldn’t have made sense. However, I was still eager to begin building the pretty parts of the garden, like this path. I was able to find/dig up quite a few stones in our yard! I saved any stone that had a fairly flat side for the path. I also took a few stones from another path that was in our yard that wasn’t needed. I was able to gather enough stones to fill in the entry to the garden. I dug up the appropriate amount of soil in order for each stone to fit into the ground, and I laid out the stones in a design I liked, and that was it! Now I have a good start to what will be a beautiful garden path. Maybe you also have extra stones in the yard or some maybe some bricks, just remember to think about how you could use what you have. Another option is checking your local Habitat for Humanity Restore. Next year, when I hope to finish the garden path, I will be checking out the Restores in my area to see what landscaping items they have! You will not only get discounted items, but you will be giving all these items a new purpose.
