Whether you like to garden/plant on a budget or perhaps are looking for an inexpensive activity with many fruitful effects this post is for you!
This has been something I’ve been doing since the spring of 2019 and it’s been working like a charm, not only from the perspective of my wallet but also that of “family activity time” as well as “gardening”. I remembered when I was little that my grandfather (on my moms side) had a beautiful backyard that had a wide variety of flowers and bushes. I use to think to myself, especially considering how peaceful his yard seemed, that one day I would love to create my own serene garden but hopefully also do some vegetation or herbs. In case your wondering no I don’t have some large backyard (yet) but I came to realize during the winter of 2018, that your “serene garden” isn’t limited to the square footage or space, its what you make of it. So I took the time to measure my large patio space so that I could figure out what how to make the most of the space since I had plenty of time to purchase items and really envision the space I wanted. The point I want you to understand at this point of the post, is that I was making use of the time prior to spring 2019 arriving. Take the time to envision and create your space/garden because as my grandfather used to tell me in his garden, the plants also need love and attention so if you don’t give the area love and a nurturing feeling your plants won’t thrive. Well when this commencement of thought process began for my garden, we (my daughters and I) were living in a three bedroom apartment home that had this lovely patio entrance, in addition to the main door entrance. The image below shows the main living area in front of the kitchen space, that’s where the patio entrance from the exterior was. So what I was envisioning was a space that would allow me to see/hear my children play while I was in the kitchen, a place that would be fun for my girls while being a place of relaxation for me, something outdoors that would allow delicious and soothing fragrances, a place of entertaining visitors, and most of all a place where I could possibly sit down to look/listen to the storms that rolled in (or perhaps enjoy the outdoor sounds while being inside the home.) With that mental visualization of the space, I was able to begin brainstorming on the types of plants I would be planting. Obviously being a single mom since then, budgeting is always something I’m conscientious about, so these ideas are price efficient :) In case you’re worried about that.
I had budgeted a total of $800 for my patio idea…so I began with what I thought would be the most expensive, the patio furniture (which I still have to this day and continue to re-use in this new home we’ve been in). Contrary to online furniture buying phobias many have, I was and continue to be successful in my online purchases through Amazon. I bought my patio set of two rocker chairs with a loveseat bench and all their cushions, in addition to an end table-all for $396.72 (that’s includes the shipping on Amazon Prime). In case you’re wondering there are still some good patio sets online for that price even if mine was purchased back in 2019. The apartment home did have it’s patio light but it wasn’t LED and it was an awful bright light that served it’s purposes to shed light but didn’t help in mood or just enjoying the outdoor space, so I ended up purchasing all the outdoor LED lighting (yes that I can and have re-purposed still today); pendant lights to hang (a total o four of them) and these two string lights that I ended up wrapping around the little fence area posts - all for a total cost of $89.98 (all lights were purchased from Amazon). The outdoor lighting was all wireless (battery operated and came with a remote) and considering that they weren’t plugged in and I used the lights almost every night during the nice weather and storms, battery life was considerably surprising to me. $18 a piece for the stone pieces (purchased from Home Depot) for the entrance of the gate and $10 for the door entrance mat (from Wal-Mart). $118.72 for the plants and planters, but they were from two different locations; all planters were purchased from Wal-Mart (a total of 10) along with four small cilantro plants, two rosemary plants, and four small sweet mints. The reason for the purchase of these specific small plants at Wal-Mart was because these plants thrive and grow quickly if done right so it’s not about purchasing a large plant but finding the best ones TO plant; they’re also way less expensive :) You see, the small plants can all be planted together and in doing so their roots will all expand nicely into the planters and provide you quick new “buds” or extensions of their branches, in turn giving you a very “full” or “bushy” plant in your planter. The more you cut and use them, the quicker it grows and replenishes as well. I digress and move on…Three plant food packages, two large lavender plants, two lemon-thyme plants, two lemongrass plants, a small cherry tomato plant, and a small jalapeño plant - were all purchased at Home Depot along with the one large bag of All Purpose Garden Soil. Then at Ollies, I found this great square artificial turf mat (with the idea of myself or the girls ever just wanting to sit down on the ground) that was mold resistant and could get wet and be used for outdoors.
Why you may ask the garden soil and not the vegetation soil or whatever other special soil, I’m not sure except to answer that question with, my grandfather proved to me that special soil was never required for his plants so I continued with that belief and rule (instead of also dishing out more money for the soil) and observed how my “green thumb” would be. So this soil has been doing wonders and working quite well for me for all my plants since! And yes I still use that soil today with my plants. All that being said, the grand total of it all comes out to be $711.22.
Also in case you were wondering why I chose those specific plants, here’s the reason why :) First off I’m sure everyone can agree to hating mosquitos or bugs of any kind entering your home, yet you’re wanting to enjoy the outdoors or the ability to have the screen door/mesh only at your entrance doors. Lavender, lemongrass, lemon-thyme, sweet mint, and rosemary are the most poignant natural mosquito repellants-so if you have those planted as closest to your entry doors you eliminate those pesky flying bugs from entering into your domain, especially if you get into the habit of slightly “petting” or rubbing on those plants every time you open the doors. I have confirmed to this day that wherever I’ve lived no annoying mosquito’s have affected the three of us! Also all the plants I’ve chosen can be used for cooking as well as creating herbal teas (whether hot or cold).
This brings me to the right here and right now, Spring 2022 where I now do have a yard but haven’t created the backyard “paradise” that I want yet…however I have started on my plants. $63.84 got me the image you see below; four planters, two packages of plant food, one large bag of soil, three lemon thymes, one rosemary, one lavender, and three cilantro plants. It’s a start for one door entry and since those were all planted on April 9th, I’ve been able to cook and make plenty of things since with them since they’re growing like weeds. You’ll see when it comes to my next post ;)
Once I start the backyard creation I’ll also let you know how that goes and what ways I was able to save for that!
A Distinct Woman
