Gardening on a budget

It's summer in South Africa and time for homeowners to indulge one of their most popular hobbies, gardening and creating beautiful outdoor spaces around their properties where they can enjoy eating al fresco, sipping their early morning coffee, swimming and long chats with friends and family over a leisurely braai.

However, as most gardeners are finding, cost of living increases have not skipped their area of interest and mean that gardening can be quite a costly undertaking now unless you know a few tips and tricks for extracting the maximum value for the least expenditure. 

For example, it's a really good idea to use rain barrels under as many downpipes as possible to collect water instead of using the municipal supply to water your garden. This will also cut the cost of using a borehole and may even save your garden in a drought, when you may face tight water restrictions.

Next, you can save a lot by making your own compost and mulch instead of buying bags from your local nursery or garden centre. Make compost to enrich your soil using kitchen scraps and yard waste, and create mulch from leaves, grass clippings and straw to retain moisture and suppress weeds.

 It also helps to garden with indigenous plants that are adapted to your region's climate and thus don't need special care or additional resources, and to integrate companion planting and natural pest control, especially in your veggie garden, instead of having to use unhealthy - and expensive - chemical pesticides. 

You can also cut your garden expenses by saving seeds or bulbs from your existing plants to grow new ones, and by learning to propagate your own cuttings and seedlings. In addition, you should keep an eye out for any wood, sacking or other materials that can be recycled or reused for garden structures such as raised beds or trellises, or plant covers to keep pests and frost out.