Plant a Flower Garden for Less Than Ten Dollars

Flower transplants have gone up in price in the last few years and with the economy struggling you may want to cut back on flower garden prices.

There are several ways to cut costs but still have a beautiful flower garden. I have always had the thought that if you save money in one area in the garden, you can spend it in another ;). So saving money may actually get me more flowers in the long run!

Cost cutting tips for the flower garden

• Easy to grow annuals such as marigolds, zinnias and poppies are easy to start from seed and have many colors and varieties available. Often these seeds can be found in the low cost section of seeds for less than 40 cents. Start the entire package and trade flower with your neighbors. (One package usually will supply more plants than you need.)
• When the danger of frost is gone, direct sow your seeds into your garden bed. Just make sure you have all the weed roots out of the garden so that weeds will not get a head start over the flower seeds. (I often will start some of my seeds in pots early so that I can set out plants and have flowers faster.)
• Trade seeds with a neighbor to cut back on seed packet costs. Your neighbor may also have extra plants or perennial plants that they need to find a home for.
• Mix in vegetable with you flowers. Swiss Chard, cabbage, gourmet lettuce varieties are all pretty and will add interest to a garden area. So will pepper plants and tomatoes.
• Herbs are also easy to grow and have pretty foliage and flowers. You can add those to your flowerbeds too. Basil plants come in all sizes and colors and would add to any garden and to the kitchen later as spices.
• Sunflowers come in all sizes and colors. They are easy to grow and add color and brighten up any garden area. They also make great cut flowers.
• Buy plants towards the end of the season for discount prices. Just make sure they are still healthy.

Tip: Make sure to deadhead any flowers for a constant supply of new flowers.

You may also check out the seeds available at cheapseeds.com.

And toward the end of the planting season flower seeds will be on sale. If stored properly (in a cool dry place) they will be fine to plant the following year. I also store seeds in glass jars to protect them from moisture and mice)

You may want to collect seeds from you flowers from this year’s garden to plant next year.

And even though flower transplants have gone up in the last year one pack of flowers will bloom the entire summer so actually that’s not a bad price for a summer of color, flowers and enjoyment in your backyard.