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gardening on a serious budget

by FigTree

You really don't have to spend a lot of money to add plants to your life, you just have to use a little creativity maybe some muscle to go with it.

So, I am one of the cheapest people you know, and am always looking to do things cheaper, better, faster.  This year we are renting a house in Seattle and I am fully admitting to you now our garden here is worse than ugly.  It is depressing and bad and I can't take it anymore!  Phew, just had to vent. 

I am coming up with a bunch of different ideas to try and create a garden with a small budget, as it is a rental and you never want to invest too much in something so temporary-- but the best part is that you can take these with you when you leave.  So, here is my first post on buget gardening.

I am going to buy 6 - 10 quart galvanized buckets to place on my front walkway, which are $6.39 each.

Bucket.detail

Then I am going to paint a stripe of color around the middle of the bucket with tintable colored chalkboard paint in these colors $9.95

Green.detailOpensky.detailOrang.detail

I am planting them with a combination of herbs, lettuce, and nasturtiums for color!

Basil-thai.large.detailLettuce.detailNasturtium.detail

Then I am going to use chalkboard pens and label the buckets!  Can't wait to start this project and I will post pictures when I am done!

Tags

budget gardening, vegetable gardening, containers, vegetable gardening in containers, DIY, creative gardens

comments

If you have a Dollar Tree store anywhere near you they have beautifully bright colored plastic containers that do awesome for plants also cheaper than the galvanized buckets and you could always label them with stick on labels if you wanted, they come in all sizes and if you decide to dispose of them you've only lost a dollar per container
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MrsClintEastwood commented on 05/05/12
In my part. I always use cans to save up the budget but I never dreamed of using buckets for the essential use of gardening. Great Idea you have there.
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hewitt12 commented on 08/04/11
This is serious creativity-- how did you come up with this??
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earthworm commented on 03/31/10
What a neat idea - I agree with LL, it sounds totally Martha Stewart! I expect to see it in the next edition of the mag! I look forward to seeing pics too.
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gardengirl commented on 02/02/10
I am feeling my inner MARTHA come out! :)
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FigTree replied: on 02/02/10
well, for me it's a cheap way to fix this garden. trust me it needs something! if i was to redo the whole thing it would be super expensive, so i am just dressing up my front door :)
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FigTree commented on 02/02/10
It doesn't sound cheap at all. It does, however, sound like something that I would see in a Martha Stewart magazine. Please post pictures when the herbs are growing in your cute planters.
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LilyLover commented on 02/02/10

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