Spending money on the garden

Snap peas in foreground, trio of Savoys behind, June 2018

Regular expenditures on the garden include purchase of seeds and plants.  To be honest, at this point in my gardening journey I rarely buy plants any more--though I did just buy some lavender plug plants.  I've got pretty much all the perennials I want/need, and I almost never buy vegetable starts these days, preferring to grow from seed myself (cheaper).  That said, I'll probably be buying replacement rosemary and tarragon plants sometime this year...

While much cheaper, seeds add up and I do my best to wait for sales and stock up.  I just bought 10 packs of seeds online in a £1 sale from one of the major seed merchants.  My favorite seed purveyor doesn't seem to hold sales, so I pay full price for theirs--though they provide heirloom varieties with instructions for saving your own seed.  I generally buy the more unusual varieties from them and stick to the plain (i.e. easy to grow) stuff in the sales.

Other garden expenses in the past have been insect mesh and bird netting, fencing, paving bricks, pond liner and pump, tree surgeon services (ouch: expensive), lawn mower, garden tools.  Over the years I must have spent hundreds of pounds on this little patch of land.

I hope to reduce spending as my food growing establishes and expands.  I'll do this by saving seed where possible, as well as propagating plants such as through cuttings and grafting.  I hope to be eating more perennial and self-seeding vegetables in the future (thank you chard).  And getting stuff on sale or for free where I can, of course.