Budgeting for a New Garden Design

Determining How Much You’ll Spend to Create a New Garden

p]You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great garden, but it sure is easy to get carried away. If you’re not a budgeter in any other aspect of your life, you are not going to change your habit in the garden. But to prevent sticker shock from arriving halfway through creating your garden, let’s look at an overview for you to price out and determine what you can reasonably expect to spend.

Preparing the Site

Unless your garden is going to be composed completely of containers, you will first need to concern yourself with preparing the garden bed.

This will generally involves:

1. Removing Turf

   You may choose to rent or purchase a garden tiller to make the job easier, however it is possible to prepare a garden bed with just a garden fork and some hard work.

1. This is when you can be very glad you decided to create a small garden. Actually this is when a lot of gardens are scaled down.
3. Testing the Soil

   It’s tempting to skip this part, but don’t. Good soil is essential to a healthy growing garden. As they say, feed the soil and the soil will feed your plants. But you can’t properly feed or amend your soil until you know what you are starting with. You can get a basic pH soil test at many garden centers or at your local Cooperative Extension. Fees range from free to a few dollars. For a bit more, you can have your soil analyzed for the percentage of essential nutrients and minerals. Here’s the Dirt on Soil.

4. Amending the Soil

   Your soil may be fine to work with as is. Unfortunately that isn’t usually the case and at least a good quantity (3-6 inches) of organic matter should be worked into the soil. Don’t skimp at this stage. Great soil is what makes a great garden. It’s not the fun part, but it will make every other stage of creating the garden easier and more successful.

Containers

 

If you are going to create a garden with containers, you will still need to purchase, find or create containers. Containers can be costly, so look for containers that are well made and will last. Many of the new light weight containers are very attractive and can handle weather extremes better than old, vintage pots.

While you won’t have to dig or till your garden, you will need to bring in soil. Plants in containers do better in a potting mix rather than straight garden soil. You’ll want a mix that is light weight and allows water and air to pass through. Garden soil will pack down, as it does in the garden, and make it difficult for the plant’s roots to get the nutrients they need.

Because water will be draining out of your containers and taking nutrients with it, you are better off using a fertilizer than trying to amend the soil in the pot. There are many excellent time released fertilizers, organic and synthetic, that can be added at planting and forgotten about the rest of the season.

Tools

Small gardens won’t require a tool shed full of equipment, but there are some basics you can’t do without like: a shovel, pruners and a good hose. It can take awhile to stock your garden tool shed, and eventually you will find yourself favoring one or two particular tools, but it helps to have the right garden tool for the job.

Water

If you are going to be relying on a hose for water, when it doesn’t rain, then hopefully you chose a site near a water source. Hoses vary in quality. Buy the best you can afford. At the very least, save yourself some frustration and get one that doesn’t kink. You will also want a good nozzle that has a misting setting, so you can water your young plants without knocking them over.

Drip irrigation has become the ideal in gardening. It’s also become more affordable and much easier to assemble and use. Every good garden center sells the basic parts for drip irrigation systems and the staff is usually knowledgeable enough to help you determine what you’ll need for your garden. You may think a small garden won’t need drip irrigation, but watering is one of the most underdone garden tasks and believe it or not, drip irrigation is supposed to be cheaper than hand watering. You don’t just use less water, you waste less water.

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