The White Thumb

In my experience, unless you have the time and patients to have a garden it is tricky to figure out how to make your home look beautiful without the constant maintenance and up keep! Gardens take time, patience, and money. Usually we have some of those things but not all and so I have a couple of different ways to help with each one of those scenarios.

The “I have the time and the patients but no money” garden.

Ok friends, here is where I feel like I’m an expert lol. I have loved gardening all through my 20’s during a time when I wasn’t making a whole lot of money and lived alone. Here is what I have learned!

Avoid nurseries until the fall! Local nurseries especially when you’re close to a larger city, drive up the cost of plants. If you are like me and you enjoy supporting local businesses, wait until the fall when things go on sale. This will allow you to spend local on a budget! Typically in the fall when we’re moving into winter, plants are being sold for 50% off. My recommendation is only buying perennials at these places. This way you get to enjoy these plants every year and you’re not just enjoying that money spent for 1 season!

If you don’t feel the need to spend all your money locally or it is really just not in your price range check out hardware stores and or sometimes grocery stores! These places have perennials and annuals for 1/2 the price. I bought hanging ferns for $15 at the grocery store which would be sold at a nursery for $30-$60 depending on what kind of hanging basket their in or how big they are. They are also something you typically get rid of at the end of a season, so $15 sounded like a reasonable price to me. I also bought some smaller less mature Hostas from the grocery for $8 dollars towards the end of the season (mid July) and since they are perennials that is a damn good purchase.

Buy less mature plants if you can help it. I understand wanting the instant gratification of a larger plant… trust me it’s my thing! If you are trying to save money, buy the smaller plant. I promise you it will get big and strong just like you want and sometimes in the matter of 1 season depending on the plant!

The “I have time and money, but not patients” garden

Okay let’s dive into this. Welp you have money so if you do not have the patients to keep up with a garden then you’re in luck because there are ways to hire someone or purchase things to help you!

Hire Landscape Architects & Designers in your area. Depending on what you are willing to spend, they can work with you on whatever you want. Do you already have a garden and you just want it cleaned up and maintained? They got you covered. Do you have a blank slate and need a complete garden design from start to finish? They have you covered. Do you only want maintenance? Gotcha covered! Are you willing to do the maintenance but you just need help with design and installation? That’s what you can get! You can spend as much or as little as you need with them and they should be able to do it all! The cool thing about utilizing them is they plan for seasons, zones, sun, shade, and alll of the above.

Find someone in your area here.

Even when hiring someone, if you still want a low maintenance garden, go for the shrubs, trees, and any other low maintenance plants.

The “I do not have the time or a lot of money but I would still like my house to look nice” garden.

First things first. LOW maintenance plants y’all. The best plants to find are perennials that are either evergreen or come back every year. Why did our grandparents always have pristine lawns!? Because they usually only had a couple of things to take care of. My favorite are grasses, hostas, trees, and shrubs. The best time to buy these puppies are in the fall. So if you have to live with no landscaping for a summer after buying your house so be it! You can plant these things all the way up until the ground freezes if you are in a colder zone.

Another thing you could consider is gravel instead of mulch! Huge money saver over time and it looks great! If you do buy mulch buy the traditional black, it usually is less expensive than specialty mulch!

Lets talk watering….

There are lower cost tools to help you spend less time in the garden as well. I have a lot of pots outside, but I also like to travel and or not have to water them every evening. So the best thing that I found to help is these Watering Globes. These help the soil stay moist for your plants and because pots do not pull moisture from the ground you’ll find yourself constantly having to water. Note: Stay away from terracotta pots and anything that resembles them! These soak up all the moisture from your plant because they are porous, so you will find yourself watering your plants ever day in order to keep them alive. There are also Drip Watering Systems. These are pretty darn easy to install and they are great for all different kinds of gardens (potted, vegetable gardens, and flower gardens). The best thing we purchased for our 20’x20′ vegetable garden. We quickly learned how much water was needed and to water in the morning, so then we bought a timer as well and connected it to the system. All we needed to do was harvest our veggies!

I hope what has helped me can help you in some way or another! We can find ways to make our homes cozy and low maintenance whether you have money to spend or not a lot!

Happy Gardening!