Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 09:04 pm
You’ve just bought a house with a plot of land and want to start a garden to enjoy your own vegetables and to clear your head when the office work gets too much. The idea of starting a vegetable garden is exciting, but when it’s time to order seeds, you may be wondering about the budget?
The condition of the land to take into account
It is difficult to give precise figures since it will depend on the state of the land you invest in: if it is a ground with earth fill around a new house, an uncultivated land to be cultivated again or an old vegetable garden that you will just have to take over, the work will have nothing to do with time and money.
Moreover, a complete garden development can take into account the creation of a path, a lawn, flowerbeds, the planting of trees, shrubs, hedges, the installation of an automatic watering system, an adapted outdoor lighting, the construction of a garden shed or a low wall, etc. We limit ourselves here to the vegetable garden.
A practical and economical location for the vegetable garden
First, you need to take stock to ensure that your vegetable garden project is in the right place. Don’t bite off more than you can chew: maintenance takes a little time, so don’t risk being overwhelmed, or you’ll be discouraged and give up!
To make your life easier, think about permaculture techniques that aim to make little effort, expend little energy and optimize your time, while achieving beautiful harvests. Ideally, the vegetable garden will be close to the house: it is more convenient to have herbs, salads, tomatoes, etc. almost at hand. You will also be able to use the water from your gutters to water your garden at a lower cost, and finally, the composter near the garden will be as functional for pouring organic kitchen waste as it will be for fertilizing the garden soil.
Calculate your vegetable garden budget
Start by drawing a plan of your vegetable garden according to a realistic budget
List, according to the sketched plan, the products and vegetables which you need. Determine the number of varieties you need and the price per unit, since the rarest varieties are more expensive. Add up the lines and you will get the budget for your garden.
If you want to build a small frame or install a tunnel to protect your early plantings, take into account the purchase of the necessary materials.
How to reduce your vegetable garden expenses
There are a few tricks to minimizing expenses in the garden. The most common vegetable plants purchased from garden centers or nurseries vary between 0.5 and 1 dollars depending on whether they are grown conventionally or organically. But if you buy a bag of seeds and grow your own lettuce plants, you will quickly get a return on your purchase.
If your neighbors and friends are gardening too, practice plant exchanges. Don’t miss out on seed and plant exchanges which can be very interesting, especially for discovering new varieties.
Practice propagation by cuttings as much as possible or by division.
Favour salvaging (pallets, an old window to make the cover of a frame) or buying second hand (on the internet in particular).
If you have to plant a hedge of edible fruits and berries as a screen against the wind, depending on the length of the hedge, the type of shrubs (younger or older) and the type of hedge (thicker or thinner with staggered planting or simple alignment), your budget will increase.
It’s up to you to use the calculator!