hich mortal amongst us hasn’t at times wished for more time, money, or space? These three limitations may also make you hesitant to start or be more ambitious with gardening. Seeing a seed germinate, smelling a flower, or tasting a garden produced tomato all reinforce that old song that “the best things in life are free.” From almost free, little time and space to a grand production, you can find your sweet spot for gardening. This article digs into fiscal, temporal, and spatial aspects of gardening so you feel an appropriate sense of challenge with harmony.
Are you reluctant to begin gardening because of a time, money, or space constraint? Many beginning gardeners share this hesitancy to start working on a garden. The beautiful thing about gardening is that it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. A productive garden can be built in as little space as a windowsill, or it can sprawl across a large backyard. It can take little of your own personal time to harvest a modest amount of crop, or it can burn several hours per day for a far larger yield. Seeds, soil, and necessary tools can be found for very cheap at decent quality. A garden’s space can be made with expensive woods and other materials, or it can be made on a tight budget. This article digs into fiscal, temporal, and spatial aspects of gardening so you feel an appropriate sense of challenge with harmony.
Money is often the resource that people worry about when it comes to beginning gardening. How you plan your garden will determine how you finance it. Many types of gardens can be created and maintained for a relatively low cost. If budget is a factor for you, choose among the produce that you enjoy that have high yields so as to increase your savings when it comes to purchasing food. Furthermore, there are many areas where you can cut costs when it comes to the design and construction of your garden. A smaller garden will often be cheaper to create and maintain. However, the larger your garden is, the higher amount of crop yield you will have. This is something to take into account when deciding what garden is the right fit for you.
Gardening tools can become specialized and expensive as your skill level increases. However, for beginning gardeners many tools can be found for relatively cheap. In a pinch, many of the functions that gardening tools serve can often be completed with just your bare hands. For maintaining a garden, here are some gardening tools that should be on the top of your priority list when thinking about what to choose to buy first (or at all).
Your expenses will change depending on what type of garden you will have. If time is more important to you, you may choose to have the added expense of an automated watering system. This would save you the time of having to water your crops manually, but it would be a more financially costly expense. If you are growing in an arid region like Arizona, irrigation is recommended. If this is not possible, make sure a water source is nearby.
One bar to beginning a garden is thinking that you may not have enough space to foster a successful one. The amount of space you choose to garden in will not affect whether or not your garden is successful. Any sized garden can be successful in producing a productive yield per square foot. A successful garden could be found hanging from a windowsill. The space you have will tailor what crops you are able to grow, so this is important to account for when you are deciding how much space you are willing to dedicate to your garden.
A popular type of gardening system can be completed at relatively low cost in a small area of gardening space. This process is called square foot gardening. This is a tried and true method of starting a garden and is a great way to begin gardening. You can read more about square foot gardening here. You could also try UFE’s Ready, Go, Garden system, which you can find more information about here.
There are many different types of gardens that can be utilized in any living arrangement. You can garden from the ground, hanging pots, or flower boxes. You will personally need to decide which method of gardening will serve your needs best.
If time is a large factor for you, there are many ways to reduce the amount of time to maintain your garden. You may design for, and choose, hardier plants that require less gardener input to have a successful yield. Furthermore, you might choose a smaller amount of space to garden in. Increasing space will increase the amount of area you will need to maintain of your garden but will also lead to a larger overall yield. There are pros and cons to be weighed with every scenario. As previously mentioned, installing an automated irrigation system will decrease your time spent manually watering crops, but will increase the amount you spend to purchase, install, and maintain your irrigation system. If you wanted to really cut down on time spent gardening, you might try to make it a family project, so you are not the only one having all the fun weeding!
After reading this article, you should understand that each of these resources are intrinsically linked with each other. If you choose to spend more money, you may decrease your time spent gardening. If you increase the space you will garden in, it will increase the amount of time you spend maintaining your garden. Furthermore, increasing space will likely increase your overall cost, but increasing cost could mean using more expensive materials or a higher budget – not necessarily more space. The overarching conclusion is that each garden should be hand-tailored by yourself to fit your specific needs. Only you know exactly which constraints you have when gardening. The solution to this problem is to plan efficiently!
In life, and in gardening, you might discover concerns about time and money. A passion for gardening reduces concerns about time and money. You might not be as flexible about area, but there are many small-area solutions. Let your passion level decide the time and money you will spend. Understand that for a higher passion level or larger size of your garden, the more time or money you will need.
