{"id":1396,"date":"2011-01-04T06:41:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backyardcity.wordpress.com\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2012-07-07T22:49:32","modified_gmt":"2012-07-07T22:49:32","slug":"three-money-saving-garden-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/three-money-saving-garden-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Money Saving Gardening Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Garden\u00a0 \"Earthmaker\u00a0 \"Square<\/p>\n

Gardens enhance the beauty of any home, but more and more homeowners choose to garden as a way to save money on grocery expenses.\u00a0 Home-grown vegetables, herbs, and fruits not only taste better and provide greater nutrition\u00a0than store-bought varieties, they cost less.<\/p>\n

Keeping costs low\u00a0when maintaining a garden, no matter what kind of garden you have, can be as easy as adopting three easy\u00a0money-saving practices:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Collect Rainwater<\/strong>\u00a0— There’s no point in paying the local water department\u00a0when you\u00a0water your gardens if you can simply use the free stuff that falls from the sky.\u00a0 According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average homeowner “uses at least 30 percent of their water outdoors for irrigation,” and some studies suggest that “more than 50 percent of landscape water used goes to waste due to evaporation or runoff caused by overwatering.” Collecting rainwater in rain barrels<\/a> and using it to water gardens is one way to save big on your water bill, and it plays an important part in water conservation.<\/li>\n
  2. Make Your Own Compost<\/strong> — Compost enriches the soil and makes for happy, healthy\u00a0plants.\u00a0 Sure, you can buy compost\u00a0from your local garden center or nursery, but you can also make it yourself for\u00a0free in the backyard.\u00a0 With\u00a0the right\u00a0compost bin<\/a>, making compost\u00a0can be\u00a0easy and somewhat hands-off.\u00a0 In addition to saving money by making your own compost, you also reduce the amount of lawn and kitchen wastes that go into local landfills.\u00a0 Not everything can be composted, though.\u00a0 For a handy listing of what you can and cannot put into your compost bin, take a look at this brief article on Composting Basics<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. Use Raised Containers <\/strong>— If you frequently lose\u00a0your plants to nibbling rabbits, deer, or other garden-invading critters, you should consider planting your more delicious plants in a raised container.\u00a0 Raised containers<\/a> allow gardeners\u00a0to keep plants safe from animals, thereby saving money that would have to be spent replacing those plants.\u00a0 Raised containers\u00a0also make it easy to relocate the\u00a0plants as necessary, and they\u00a0prevent sore backs and joints that sometimes come with tending a garden at ground level.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 \u00a0 Gardens enhance the beauty of any home, but more and more homeowners choose to garden as a way to save money on grocery expenses.\u00a0 Home-grown vegetables, herbs, and fruits not only taste better and provide greater nutrition\u00a0than store-bought varieties, they cost less. Keeping costs low\u00a0when maintaining a garden, no matter what kind of garden you have, can be as easy as adopting three … Continue reading 3 Money Saving Gardening Practices<\/span> »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[102,107,108,203,435],"class_list":["post-1396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmentally-friendly-ideas","category-garden-tools-tips","tag-compost-bins","tag-composting","tag-container-gardening","tag-gardening","tag-rain-barrel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Nnyf-mw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1464,"url":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/how-to-thrill-the-thrifty-and-excite-the-environmentalist-at-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":0},"title":"How to Thrill the Thrifty and Excite the Environmentalist at Home","author":"Sara May","date":"February 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to a furry little friend, I happen to know that spring is coming a little early this year.\u00a0\u00a0The coming of spring means the coming of rain...and lots of it, depending on your locale.\u00a0 You don't have to be a gardener or conservationist like me\u00a0to see the benefits of capturing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environmentally Friendly Ideas"","block_context":{"text":"Environmentally Friendly Ideas","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/category\/environmentally-friendly-ideas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Garden Rain Barrel - 60 Gallon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backyardcity.com\/Images\/SSI\/RB6000-Rain-Barrel-Closed-Large.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2746,"url":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/small-scale-gardening-offers-big-benefits\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":1},"title":"Small Scale Gardening Offers Big Benefits","author":"BYC Temp Admin","date":"January 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Small Scale Gardening Offers Big Benefits Container Gardens and Small Spaces Work Together Backyard gardening is on the rise. Many homeowners who never before considered a garden are now taking up spades, shovels, and watering cans in order to reap the benefits that come with creating and tending a garden.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Backyard Fun"","block_context":{"text":"Backyard Fun","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/category\/backyard-fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backyardcity.com\/Images\/ETC\/Corsica-Flower-Bridge-On-Rail-Large.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1965,"url":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/minimize-the-messy-in-gardening\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":2},"title":"Minimize the Messy in Gardening","author":"Sara May","date":"January 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Gardening is messy.\u00a0 Don't make it messier by tossing garden tools into a corner of your shed or garage when gardening chores are done for the day.\u00a0 Not only are tools harder to locate when they're needed again, they can suffer damage easily and require frequent replacement. To prevent hoes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Garden Tools & Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Garden Tools & Tips","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/category\/garden-tools-tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Messy Garden Tools Need Organization","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mooseyscountrygarden.com\/garden-journal-09\/messy-garden-tools.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1513,"url":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/april-showers-bring-opportunity-to-save-water-and-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":3},"title":"April Showers Bring Opportunity to Save Water and Money","author":"Sara May","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"If it's true that April showers bring May flowers, then now is the time to take advantage of\u00a0capturing some of that rain so you can water your garden on drier days.\u00a0 Rain barrels\u00a0offer an effortless\u00a0way to collect rain water, so you can avoid having to\u00a0open your faucets (and your wallet)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environmentally Friendly Ideas"","block_context":{"text":"Environmentally Friendly Ideas","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/category\/environmentally-friendly-ideas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rain Barrel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backyardcity.com\/Images\/SSI\/Rain-Barrel-Open-RB6000-Large.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2718,"url":"https:\/\/www.backyardcity.com\/Outdoor-Patio-Blog\/three-solutions-to-common-gardening-frustrations\/","url_meta":{"origin":1396,"position":4},"title":"Three Solutions to Common Gardening Frustrations","author":"BYC Temp Admin","date":"December 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Planter Boxes, Garden Tool Storage, and Potting Benches Solve Multiple Problems Gardening is an enjoyable past time for millions of people, but for many, it can present challenges and hassles not to mention gardening frustrations. 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