We are all trying to save a few dollars these days.  Did you know that your garden actually provides many opportunities for saving on your household budget?  Here are a few of my favorite tips for saving a little “green” in your garden.

Grow Your Own Edibles
Have you seen the cost per pound of blueberries and tomatoes these days?  Tomatoes are going from around $4/lb and blueberries are around $15/lb.  The average tomato plant will produce around 20lbs of tomatoes.  That’s an average savings of $80!   A 4 inch tomato plant and some fertilizer is one 20th of that cost. The average mature (3 year old) blueberry bush can produce up to 13-18lbs.  Your blueberry bush can be yielding up to $200 towards your grocery bill. 

 

Use Preventive Care
Taking the time to use a preventive, like an herbicide, pesticide or fungicide will not only save you the cost of potentally replacing your plant, but using a preventive is cheaper than the cost of treatment solutions.  For example, using a pre-emergent herbicide like Preen to prevent weeds from growing is more economical than the purchase of Roundup that kills the weeds after they are there.

Use Concentrates vs. RTUs
Ready to Use (RTUs) are easy and convenient.  Unfortunately, you are paying a lot for that convenience.  What you are really buying is just water. RTUs on average will be 20 to 60 times the cost per oz. when compared to buying the concentrate.  Yes, the concentrate takes 5 more minutes to mix, but your savings are incredible.  For example, Roundup RTU will cost you just under $30 a gallon, whereas if you purchase and mix the concentrate it is only around $4 a gallon.   That’s probably the most expensive water you’ve ever purchased. 

Buy Quality
Sometimes buying cheaper isn’t better.  There’s an old saying “Sometimes when you bend over to pick up a penny, a dollar might drop out of your back pocket.”  There a lot of knock offs that are cheaper than the original products.  Unfortunately they don’t all work as well, and you might end up spending twice as much to get the job done.  My suggestion is to ask an expert.  Al’s Experts will share with you there experience to get the right, most affordable product to do the job, so you only have to do it once.

Select the Right Plant
The right plant, in the right place, given the right space can not only save you a headache later, it can also save you the dollars of replacing the plant.  Read the plant tag before you make the purchase.  Each tag will tell you if the plant likes to be in sun or shade.  It will also tell you how much room the plant needs.  We see a lot of over planting.  Overcrowding isn’t good for the plant’s health.  Knowing exactly how many you need to fill a space will help prevent you from over spending.  When in doubt ask an Al’s expert.  We are happy to help you figure out your optimum plant needs for your space.