When it comes to garden bargains, one that’s easily obtained is actually laying out your design or plan for your garden. We’re convinced that when starting a new garden or when significantly altering an existing garden that it’s extremely important to have a plan in writing first. From our experience you will likely deviate from this plan which is perfectly acceptable. But it’s invaluable to at least start with a plan that describes at the least the minimum details such as the size of the garden and what plants are to be included.  So what are the options in developing your plan? There are really only two.

Iris

Software

There are a variety of computer programs that will assist you in designing and planning your garden (for one quick overview of your options look here). At the risk of over generalizing most garden related computer programs seem to be tilted toward the landscaping end of design. That is they will provide substantial help in placing or sizing your garden so that it fits appropriately into the overall plan for the property. They will also provide very helpful direction in picking larger property design elements like trees, bushes or a substantial area dedicated to one or two particular plants. But they frequently are not as helpful in planning out the specific plants you choose for something like a vegetable garden.  In part that’s because your vegetable or flower garden will reflect your preference for specific plants.  Particularly if you attempting to garden inexpensively, lots of times your specific plants will be chose less on a computer generated plan than they will on what specimens at your garden center look healthy, are on sale, or catch your fancy.

There are a wide variety of programs to choose from represented by a wide variety of prices. The question is, are any of them worth it? Answering that for the hobbyist gardener, our answer would be that it depends on whether or not you enjoy working on the computer and handling the learning curve required by almost any computer program. If working out your design on a computer is enjoyable, than by all means a computer landscaping/gardening program will be worth the cost. If that’s not fun for you than by all means skip it. Please skip it! You’ll only get frustrated and that will make you start to feel like gardening is a pain-in-the-neck because you’ve got to get this computer design figured out.

Paper & Pencil

So what’s the alternative? Our preferred method of tackling garden design is the age old use of paper and pencil.  Talk about garden bargains! It’s so simple it hardly bears describing. One suggestion we would make – we know is costs a little money – is to stop at your office supply store and pick up some graph paper. While you’re at it make sure you’ve got a good eraser because you’ll probably need it. Once you’ve got the graph paper, pick an appropriate scale – say 4 squares on the graph paper represent one square foot of garden – and then get to work putting in the design elements you’ve gathered from other sources. In a future post we will describe the basic elements that ought to be included in your plan, but one of the benefits of a good plan is that you’ll be able to construct a budget for your garden as well as shop for garden bargains that reduce that cost.

If you have found this article it’s probably because you’ve searched garden bargains or some related term. And you probably searched that term because you’re interested in finding a bargain on something related to gardening. That’s a good thing and we’re glad you’re here. As this website develops we will increasingly provide exactly that – discounts on gardening related products and services. And we hope you keep coming back for exactly that.

Keep Gardening Simple and Fun

But in all our getting and acquiring its important to maintain a balance with keeping things simple. Happiness is the goal and in gardening, as with many other things in life, keeping things simple keeps them fun. So here are 7 ideas for keeping your gardening simple:

1. Make sure you make time to just enjoy your garden. Don’t always feel the need to be working in it. Just be there, linger and look. One local professional gardener we know, when it comes to his own garden, says, “I work hard until Father’s Day. From then on it’s pretty much sit-and-enjoy until fall.”
2. Related to #1, find or buy an inexpensive garage-sale chair. Take the time to actually sit in your garden. Even if it’s only a container garden or something similarly small, sit near it and watch. Marvel. You’re watching God’s gift called life.
3. Don’t spend money you can’t afford. Once again a life principle but so very true. Something we believe at Garden Bargains it that nothing can steal the joy out of a passion as neglecting important financial responsibilities in its pursuit.
4. Make a place you keep your gardening tools and supplies. It can be as small as a designated drawer in a cabinet. Then get in the habit of returning your tools to that place after every use. You want to spend your time gardening, not reassembling your equipment.
5. When possible invite the involvement of a child. Be it your child, a grandchild – whatever the case. Your joy will be increased in the joy of the child as you help them find the toad that’s taken up residence in your garden. Or in attempting to count all the shades of green in but one container garden.
6. Learn to enjoy other gardens but don’t try to be them. Joy and simplicity are lost when we attempt to match everything “they do”. Be glad for them. Enjoy what they’ve done. But do what you want to do with the money and time that you have.
7. Don’t overbuy from seed catalogs or garden centers. Start small, smaller than you think. If in the future you desire to make additions to your garden, great! That desire shows you haven’t overdone it. So many start big and decide that gardening isn’t their cup of tea because of all the work involved. Gardening can be and sometimes definitely is hard work. But it ought to be joyful hard work. If instead it’s become a burden, it could be because you’ve gotten too big.