107. Make A Gardening Belt From Old Jeans
Materials needed: An old pair of jeans, scissors
Cost To Make: Free
When it comes to gardening, it often means that we have to juggle several things at the same time. Instead of worrying about where you’re going to put your spade or trying to hold several things at once, just cut the butt out of an old pair of jeans.
Make A Gardening Belt From Old Jeans @practicallyf/Pinterest
Keep the waistband on and use it as an apron, with the jean pockets acting as a great place to place anything from a trowel to your gardening gloves. The best part? It doesn’t have to cost you a single penny.
108. Use Christmas Baubles To Deter Birds
Materials needed: An old Christmas bauble, string
Cost To Make: $1*
If you’ve ever grown vegetables or fruits in your garden, you’ll know how difficult it can be to stop birds from pecking at them. After all, these brightly-colored morsels look very appealing to our winged friends. Instead of buying a big scarecrow, you could just use an old Christmas bauble.
Use Christmas Baubles To Deter Birds @KHOU 11/Youtube
Tie the bauble to the vine with a piece of string. The reflective surface will stop the bird from flying close enough to pick at the fruit. Birds might be beautiful, but they’re not the smartest animals on the planet. When they see their reflection, they’ll fly away.
109. Turn Your Mailbox Into A Decorative Planter
Materials needed: Trailing/decorative plants
Cost To Make: $30*
People see our mailboxes all the time, but most of us don’t put much thought into making them extra pretty. It’s just a place that mail goes, but with a little bit of imagination, it can become a lovely front yard feature.
Turn Your Mailbox Into A Decorative Planter @ortiz1836/Pinterest
Placing plants around the mailbox in planters can really brighten it up. If you go for trailing, highly-scented plants like Jasmine or sweet peas, your mailman will get a lovely waft every time he visits. This hack isn’t just for you, but for anyone that walks by!
110. Research How To Care For Plants
Materials needed: The internet, books
Cost To Make: N/A
When visiting the local garden center, it can be really tempting to just buy whatever plants and foliage look good at the time. This can end up costing you more money in the long run when they end up dying. Like most good things, research is key.
Research How To Care For Plants @SurvivorsMcr/Twitter
Research how to look after the kinds of plants you want before you make the purchase. Find out what sort of soil they need, whether they need to be in direct sunlight, or how often they need to be pruned. Knowledge really is power when it comes to gardening.
111. Use A Crocodile Clip To Hold Headphones In Place While Gardening
Materials needed: Crocodile hair clip
Cost To Make: $2*
Putting on your headphones and listening to music while weeding is a great way to relax and have fun while gardening, but headphones often slip when your head is lowered. To stop this annoying issue, simply use a crocodile clip.
Use A Crocodile Clip To Hold Headphones In Place While Gardening ©ancoay/Shutterstock.com
Crocodile clips can be purchased from stores like Target for just a couple of bucks. Simply place the clip over your headphones to grip it to your hair and stop them from slipping. That way, you won’t have to use your muddy hands to reposition them every two seconds.
112. Make An Area For Pets
Materials needed: Various
Cost To Make: $10-$50+*
Our four-legged friends enjoy using outside spaces just as much as we do, so it might benefit you to think about them when you’re setting up your garden. In the summer months, dogs need somewhere they can cool down. Setting up a pet area in advance is the perfect solution.
Make An Area For Pets @dogtime/Pinterest
It may be as simple as planting a tree or plant that has plenty of shade under it, but it can also extend to setting up an astroturf lawn section, or a kiddie pool. If you put in the leg work before summer, your pets will appreciate it!
113. Grow Cress In A Lemon
Materials needed: An empty lemon half, soil, cress seeds
Cost To Make: $2*
Growing cress is one of the easiest things you can do, even if you’re horrendously bad at gardening. As long as you keep the seeds damp and follow the instructions, there’s little that can go wrong. If you want to give your cress a little citrus tang, try this hack.
Grow Cress In A Lemon @deeprootsathome/Pinterest
Srape out half of a lemon and fill it with soil before planting the cress. The soil will take on the flavor of the lemon, which will transmit into the cress. It’s inventive and simple – and above all, cheap and tasty!
114. Keep An Eye Out For Sand When Digging
Materials needed: A shovel and a keen eye
Cost To Make: N/A
This isn’t something you can make or something that will help your garden look better. However, it’s vitally important. When you’re digging in your garden and trying to prepare for your best begonias yet, keep an eye on the soil. If you find that you start digging up sand, you may want to stop.
Keep An Eye Out For Sand When Digging @1garden1273/Pinterest
Sand can often mean that you’re getting close to underground cables or pipes which can be dangerous if hit. According to DIYncrafts.com, it’s very unusual to find sand underneath a solid layer of dirt. There’s usually a reason for it. You can always call your utility company to ask for more information.
115. Plan Your Color Scheme
Materials needed: A keen eye
Cost To Make: N/A
Impulse buying has its place, but it doesn’t necessarily work when you want a stylish and chic garden. Before you start buying plants, the best thing you can do is take time to plan what you want. What sort of feel are you looking for? A tropical paradise, or an English country garden?
Plan Your Color Scheme ©apple2499 / Shutterstock.com
Go online and research what color plants go best together, sketch out exactly where you want them to go. That way, you won’t end up spending hundreds of dollars on plants that end up looking messy and wayward!
116. Hire A Gardener
Materials needed: A good gardener
Cost To Make: N/A
Yes, this one can cancel out a lot of our other budget-friendly tips and tricks, but hear us out. Gardeners are invaluable resources if you have the means to hire one. They know exactly what they’re doing, they can advise you on what to plant, and they’re reliable.
Hire A Gardener ©goffkein.pro/Shutterstock.com
Even if you hire a gardener just to get you set up, you might really appreciate the advice and guidance they’re able to give you. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were stunning gardens. Sometimes you have to spend money in order to get the desired look.
117. Invest In The Right Equipment
Materials needed: Shovels, trowels, gloves etc.
Cost To Make: $100+*
Gardening novices often don’t realize quite how much money gardening pros spend on equipment. It’s true that wonders can be done with an old kitchen spoon and a pair of rubber gloves, but inadequate tools will only get you so far.
Invest In The Right Equipment ©iliart / Shutterstock.com
If you’re really serious about gardening, consider buying all of the right tools before you get started. This includes trowels, shovels, lawn mowers, and heavy-duty gardening gloves. It may cost you a little bit of cash, but the good news is that once you’ve bought it, you’ve bought it.
118. Repurpose Old Toys
Materials needed: Old toy trucks etc, soil, plants
Cost To Make: Free
Kids get sick of toys and grow out of them on a regular basis, leaving things like toy trucks to sit forlornly in a corner. Instead of giving them away or throwing them out, you could repurpose them and make them part of your garden. The chances are, the kids will love it.
Repurpose Old Toys ©patpitchaya/Shutterstock.com
Dump trucks are especially good for this reason as they can be filled with soil and used as a planter. It acts as a whimsical and often colorful addition to any garden. Plus, it’s recycling which has a positive effect on the environment!
119. Use Decoy Strawberries To Save Crops
Materials needed: Pebbles, paint
Cost To Make: $5*
Birds love to fly down and take a bite of anything they think is juicy, which can be a real problem when you’re trying to grow a crop for human consumption. Instead of using nasty pesticides, take advantage of the bird’s lack of intelligence.
Use Decoy Strawberries To Save Crops @Vapors Smoke Shop/Facebook
Paint some pebbles to look like strawberries and scatter them around your garden. The birds just might be distracted enough by these to leave your actual crops alone. It’s not a foolproof plan, but anything is worth a try if it means avoiding harmful chemicals!
120. Use Scissors To Get Perfect Lawn Edges
Materials needed: Scissors
Cost To Make: $2*
This hack is not for the faint of heart, or those that have way too much to do already. However, if you’re a sucker for really straight, tidy lawn edges, you may just have to try this. Lawnmowers are great for getting the bulk of the job done, but they won’t necessarily give you a straight edge.
Use Scissors To Get Perfect Lawn Edges ©Karynf/Shutterstock.com
Instead, give your lawn a little haircut by using a pair of scissors and doing it yourself. Is it annoyingly time-consuming? Absolutely – but it will leave you with perfectly straight edges that could be measured with a ruler!
121. Store Seeds In Old Pill Bottles
Materials needed: Old pills bottles, seeds
Cost To Make: Free
Have you ever opened up a pack of seeds and had some leftover, or harvested seeds yourself to use the following year? Finding somewhere to store them that doesn’t take up a lot of space can be tricky. That’s where old pill bottles come in.
Store Seeds In Old Pill Bottles ©barmalini/Shutterstock.com
If you have some of these kicking around, you can remove the labels and use them to store old seeds. You can use a marker pen to write which seeds are in the bottle on the lid, and then tuck them away until you need them.
122. Make A DIY Fairy Garden For Kids
Materials needed: Fairy door, pebbles, knick-knacks
Cost To Make: $10*
If you have kids that still believe magic is real, then this one is for you. Find a little space in your garden to create a fairy garden. All you need is a few little bits and bobs, a fairy door, and some imagination. It doesn’t take a lot of money to make the perfect fairy garden!
Make A DIY Fairy Garden For Kids ©Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
Not only is it a great space for kids to let their imagination run wild, but it’s also cute to look at for adults, too. After all, just because we get older doesn’t necessarily mean that we don’t believe in magic anymore…if it doesn’t cost much money, even better!