Costs?

Been looking at the bits and pieces I am going to need for this gardening malarkey. The price of some items is crazy. I can't be the only one working on a tight budget. I am talking about things like plant markers, pots, trays, rose for the watering can. One place I tried for the rose, wanted £6.99.

So I did some scouting around the internet, then today had a little shopping trip to the local cheap shops. Found 4 x 20 cell seed trays for £1.00. 100 x plastic plant labels for £1.00. The same rose as in the other shop but priced at only £2.45. 2 x plastic airtight boxes to keep my spare seeds in for £1.00.

Only bought what I need to do what I want to do, but it sure does pay to shop around for this stuff.

Does anybody else feel that some of the garden places are charging too much for pretty basic items?

Chopper.

 

Apart from the watering Rose, yes.

I have a Haws watering can. They cost the earth, but do exactly what they claim.

http://www.haws.co.uk/fine_as_rain/large_oval_plastic_rose.html

Mind you, just the rose is £2.99 - not hugely more than what you found - and they are definitely The Biz!

 

I save everything I possibly can from the shopping-plastic mushroom trays, meat trays, egg boxes. pot noodle cups. I use milk cartons cut into strips for labels, if you buy pots especially at this time of year they cost a fortune.

Ingenuity saves a great deal of money.

 

I buy loads of stuff in Oct/sep, Mainly from wilkinsons 75% off

 

I do what Claire does too and I remember someone saying they buy old window blinds and cut them up for plant markers. Actually i think it was helofadigger

 

You can spend as much or as little as you like. It doesn't neccessarily have any effect on how good the garden is. One of the biggest expenses is buying ordinary plants. One could cost £8, and for that you could buy at least 4 packets of seed which could give you 200 plants. Or better still get the seeds from other members of GC. There is quite a lot going for free.

 

Definitely shop around. Also, as a rule of thumb, cheap tools come from the big chains, whereas cheap everything else comes from Wilkos, independent nurseries, the car boot sales/markets and online.

Also as others have said, for planting seeds just save up all your plastic packaging. The seeds have no interest whatsoever in whether you planted them in something most people would consider rubbish, or something you've paid way over the odds for at B&Q.

 

While Mrs Chopper was doing some normal shopping, I had a look in another cheap shop today. Found a few other bits.

1kg ball of green garden string for £1.00. 60 x 3" square plastic pots for £1.00. 100 x small peat pots £1.00. Packet of Bizzy Lizzy seeds, half price at 75p and a packet of Petunia seeds for 50p. 4 x very sturdy gravel trays for £1.00. All stuff I am going to need and nowhere near the price of the same stuff in garden centres.

Chopper.

 

Hi. For sure, it pays to shop around and pick up the odd bargain here and there, and there's nothing wrong with Heath Robinson. But, I do think it's worth paying a bit more for some of those things that get a hammering or that are exposed to the elements. Things like hand tools have to last a long time AND be reliable. Also, things like hosepipes are worth spending a bit more on. I bought a reinforced one maybe 10 years ago (?) and it's still like new. I had cheap ones in the past, and they didn't last 5 minutes. Something to consider. Cheers...freddy.

 

Have to agree with Freddy.............(Hope this is not going to become a habit!!).

A lot of the things that I have bought are the type of thing that does get used, abused and thrown away. Not much point in spending a fortune on stuff from B&Q for things like garden string.

All of my engineering tools are top of the range. All of my mechanical tools are Snap-On. Cost a fortune but they are top notch and come with a lifetime guarantee. I dread to think how much I have spent on things like spanners and sockets for working on bikes and trikes over the years. I build custom bikes and trikes for a living. I make a lot of the parts myself in stainless steel, alloy and brass.

When I get back on my feet I am going to make some stainless steel tools. A trowel and hand fork. Thought maybe I would turn some exotic wood handles for them as well.

Chopper.

 

Have to agree with everything that's been said on here - you can get so many bargains, it makes you feel guilty in a way.

But you have to have the means to get out & about for these bargains, which not all people can do, so the internet is a great place. Thanks to forums like this we know which are the good ones and which aren't

Chopper - I know I haven't spoken to you before but I know about Snap-on. In your experience you know whats good, gardening is probably the same with some people having the same tools for decades - I don't know only being new & tight, lol.

Growing from seed is definately cheap, and you get lots of offers on here. But I think the best thing is watching them grow. It doesn't take alot of money to have a garden, just look back at the posts on here.

cheers