How to save money in Spain

Most of us like gardening, or at least sitting out enjoying a nice garden. The problem is that gardening can be a very expensive hobby but with a little bit of planning you can save money and still have a beautiful garden.

Here are some of my tips for saving money in and around the garden.

Plants for free – get plants for free by taking cuttings from more mature plants. I always try to see which plants I can get a cutting from, and increase my plant stock. Summer flowering herbs such as lavender are great for cuttings as not only do they flower but they help to control bugs as well.

Start a plant swap club – I bet you have a friend who has some great plant in his or hers garden. Start by swapping plants with your friends and you soon see you have your own little plant swap club going. Participate in local blogs and tell people which plants you have available, and let others contact you. There are some great ways to start your own web page these days so why not start your own swap plant society on line. You never know what it will lead to. I have got most of my plants this way, and it has been great fun.

Now I have a sign outside my gate telling people which plants I have available for sale, and it is a great way to let your garden make money for you.

Vegetables – growing your own vegetables is another top tip. Tomatoes are great produces, and anything you don’t need or eat immediately you can sell or make home produce. Onions is another cool vegetable to grow as they are easy to dry and most of us use onions in our cooking. Another good vegetable to grow is the courgette or zucchini. They look great and produce a lot as well. Now the good old fashioned ridged cucumber can be planted directly into the soil in May, and you will have your own cucumber into October. They are great climbers and look really cool. Hanging baskets – fill them with cherry tomatoes.

Compost – instead of buying fertilizer make your own compost. It is not very difficult and you can add things like newspaper and eggs shells to your compost. Be careful with citrus fruits as they do not compost very well and remember not to add weeds. Let your weeds dry and burn them, and add the ash to your garden.

This is nothing to do with gardening really but safe your empty glass containers. Once all of those vegetables get up an going you will end up with too much produce. Start pickling, or selling things like chutneys or onion marmalades.  I added up what I made out of my produce sales last year and found at the end of September I had made 483€ from my produce and almost 300€ from my plant sales. My cost had been about 50€ for my pots, maybe should take time into consideration as well. I was really surprised and pleased with myself.

Do you think your garden can earn you money?