The Busy People’s Guide to Saving Money on Plants

An irreverent guide from a seed-sowing loser.

Part of my recent garden centre sale haul.

Saving money on your garden has become a huge deal in the last few years with the cost of living crisis. Social media influencers, including myself, have been going out of their way to show you how to propagate your own plants and get them for free. But, what if you just don’t have the time or the patience to nurture seedlings and cuttings? A lot of us don’t have a greenhouse, which makes it much harder to grow things en masse, particularly with our ever-changing climate.

The fact remains though that the best possible way to save as much money as possible is indeed to sow your own. For the price of less than one fully grown Delphinium you can buy 50 seeds, for which at least half should germinate successfully. That’s 25 plants, no other money saving ideas can beat that. But, the average perennial grown from seed will take between 3-5 weeks to germinate in the right conditions, with an average 50% germination rate. Then there’s the pinching out and potting on, the constant checking, back and forth, the hardening off and final transference to the soil. Many people find joy and comfort in this process, it calms their nerves and actually forms an annual ritual that they savour. So here’s my big confession: It does the complete opposite for me! I actually find it excruciatingly dull and it drives me to distraction. There, I’ve said it. Please don’t hate me.

Am I alone here? A scroll through the gardeners of Instagram would have you believe that everyone is happily scurrying around, ordering a hundred seed packets and spending most of their lives in their greenhouse. I have no issue with that, if that’s what melts your butter, then knock yourself out. But, it does feel sometimes that those of us that aren’t that keen are somehow considered lesser gardeners. Whereas in reality, I certainly am a fully hands on, muddy fingered hort lover, just without the meditative process of indoor seed-germination.

Oddly, a few years back I did tried my hand at growing a wild flower meadow from seed. I also tried vegetables and salad crops and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and patted myself on the back. But, I think it was the lack of faff that enthralled me the most as I was able to sow everything directly into the soil. I really am ‘The No Fuss Gardener’. I liked that I just popped the seeds in the ground, watered them, gave them light and they grew. No withered, pitiful excuses for a seedling on a window sill, pleading to be euthanised, or at least given to someone who cared more. I just had strong, healthy confident outdoor-bred pals that got the job done! A few months later my trusty friends gave me poppies and cornflowers galore and a fully stocked salad drawer. Bless ‘em.

Give me a seed tray, packets of microscopic dots and a winter full of perilous waiting and you’ll find me running for the hills. It’s partly the sausage fingers, you see. Dealing with delicate, fiddly seedlings feels to me like wearing an oven glove to thread a needle. But, I’m also dreadfully impatient when it comes to my garden. I’m a huge fan of the garden makeover show, giving instant gratification. I’m very happy to work my socks off creating a garden and even more content looking after everything once planted and watching it grow, but I like to see a ‘garden reveal’ pretty damn sharpish. The thought of waiting a for tiny saplings to become my garden of dreams just leaves me cold.

I think it’s because I see gardens as another room in my home. Instead of paint, wallpaper and fabric, the flowers, grasses and trees are my medium for decorating. A room renovation requires a lot of thought, preparation and skill, but it doesn’t require me to wait for what seems like an hundred years to see the end result. The gardens I create follow that model of choice and I get great satisfaction in witnessing a patch of soil turned into an oasis within 24 hours.

Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not a spendthrift. I love a bargain and although I want my garden quickly, I don’t want to pay the earth for it. So, if you are like me, what can you do to save as much moolah as possible to get your garden of dreams?

The end of season sale

This, my friends is a little golden nugget of love from me to you! If you’re a paid member of my gang, then you’ll have seen on our wonderful private chat (which is so much fun btw) that I went plant shopping the other day. Now is a great time to bag those bargains! Garden centres and nurseries are at their in between stage at the moment; it’s no longer summer, but it’s too early for christmas trees, so they tend to sell off all the plants that are no longer looking their best. When they look completely dead (I assure they are just sleeping) come late December, they lower the prices even more.

Do a garden centre tour. Plan your day and a route with a good handful of establishments and fill your boots! Better still, plan a lunch at a great pub in between.

A couple of years back I created a huge flower border using just Hydrangea Paniculata Limelight, surrounded by Hidcote Lavender. The whole thing cost me under £150 because I waited till the sales and then sashayed in and bagged the lot. I then waited till late February the following year ( you see, I can be patient) to create and plant my new border, secure in the knowledge that it would look like it had been there for years come summertime. Last week I bought 19 mature hydrangeas for less than £180 and I’ll be creating my new border in the barn garden come spring.

I have to say I love buying plants. A day at a nursery is one of my favourite things in life. I often spend my birthday doing exactly that. It’s the ultimate treat. I also think it’s incredibly important that we support plant growers. If all of us just grew our own, what would become of the industry?

Blag it and join a trade nursery

There’ll be professional garden designers queuing to strangle me for this one! You’d be forgiven for thinking that all trade nurseries are a closed shop. Many are and their staff guard them like the vaults of the Bank of England, so you need to choose wisely. However, there are also many where, if you put on an air of confidence and totally blag your way in, you’ll come up smelling of roses. Very often, there is just an online registration form to fill out and within days you will be a member. Sometimes they will ask for proof of your company, but many nurseries just want to see a company letterhead. You might have to tell a little white lie and say you’re a landscape gardener, but it’s worth the cringe as the prices will be so much cheaper than a garden centre.

Imperative advice: You cannot behave like a member of the public! They will sniff you out quicker than a ferret down a rabbit hole. You must not under any circumstances fill your trolley with one of everything. You have to buy in bulk, so fives, sevens, nines and beyond of the same variety. If you know your plant names, then be sure to drop a few in earshot of the staff. An audible proclamation of something like: “I’m going to need at least nine Fagus Sylvatica Purpurea for the show garden”, goes a long way. Most importantly, hide all excitement and behave like a nonchalant, rather aloof Chelsea medal winner named Tristan, Tuppence, or Darcy.

Also, be warned, there are no pretty displays, or helpful signs. There will be no cafe, or place to buy candles, seasonal doormats or novelty mugs. Usually, there is just a basic catalogue and a code for where to find that particular plant. If you’re visiting out of flowering season, then it really helps if you’re good at recognising plants via their leaf structure.

Buy bare roots

Guess what? The plants that you buy at the garden centre are much more expensive because they are planted in pots. Save yourself a fortune and order bare root plants now. It just means they will arrive without any soil.

Come the autumn, most plants go into their dormant period. You can buy them in bulk without soil for a fraction of the price because nurseries don’t have to pay for pots, compost, heavy goods transport and watering. Roses, shrubs, hedging and a lot of perennials can be bought this way. It’s a great time to plant them too as they’re not in their growth period. For those of you in the UK, or similar climates, you won’t have to water them much either. Go, go, go!

Divide and conquer

This is my favourite form of propagation. You can’t go wrong with this one and you get some hefty butch gardening action while you’re at it. It’s an incredibly simple way to increase your existing plant stock and you don’t have to be a gardening genius either.

Perennial plants generally need to be lifted and divided every three to five years. As they grow larger they take up more space. Some can outgrow a space and strangle other plants. Others will start to die in the centre, creating a ring. At that point it’s time to dig them up and cut them into smaller clumps, creating more free plants. It’ll revitalise the host plant and give you many more juniors to place around your garden.

In the simplest of terms, just carefully dig around the host plant and lift the whole thing up and plonk it somewhere where it’s easy to work on. You can then use two garden forks back to back to tear the plant in half and then into quarters and so on. Some perennials have thick, fibrous roots and you may just need a sharp spade to slice through, or even a kitchen knife. The method you use depends on the plant. To be sure, the RHS has a great little guide on how to do it.

Taking cuttings

This form of propagation can be fun and is pretty easy to do once you know how. There are different methods for various types of plant and the way that you do it can change depending on whether you are taking cuttings from old or new growth. This isn’t the time, or the place, for me to go into all the methods now. But, some can be planted directly into a gritty compost mix, with or without rooting compound and some can be simply placed in some fresh water and a short while later will grow roots. Plants are amazing.

What social media videos won’t tell you though, is that yes, it might only take a few weeks for your cuttings to take root, but it will be years before they are large enough to look like anything half decent in your border. Yes it was free, but how many grey hairs did you accumulate whilst waiting? If your host plant was carrying any type of disease, then your new cuttings will have it too. But, if you are very patient, then this option is for you.

Bulbs

Now is the perfect time to be buying bulbs and they don’t just have to be for spring. You can get your hands on all kinds of gorgeous varieties that will pop up out of the ground throughout the year. Please, please, don’t waste your money and buy potted bulbs at a garden centre. I’ve never understood anyone that buys a single giant allium in a pot for a small fortune, when they could have bought a bag of the bulbs for the same price. Planting bulbs yourself has to be one of the easiest gardening jobs ever. I like that there is something substantial to hold onto and that’s easily found if dropped. The amount of times I’ve dropped an open sachet of seeds, only to be scattered to the wind, or left for the dog to hoover up. For most types of bulb though, I would still wait a bit longer (late October onwards) before planting, the ground is too warm yet.

…and finally, bigger is not always better!

I have many a male friend who would disagree, but I’m talking about plants now. Don’t be tempted to buy the largest specimens. You’ll often see three or four different sizes of the same plant at a nursery and it’s very tempting to go for the huge one. Unless what you’re looking for is particularly slow growing, it’s much more economical to buy the smallest pot and then let them grow to the size you really want in your own garden. One summer season in the soil can make a huge difference to the size of a plant.

Another great solution for bulking out your borders for free is to organise a plant swapping scheme with your friends, neighbours and family. If you know someone that is a prolific seed-sower, then I can assure you they have way too many plants. Be very nice to them. In return, dig up some of your well-established perennials, split them into smaller clumps and give away a few. It’s good to share.

My seasonal styling series will be back next weekend with more lovely things for you to make at home. Do download the Substack App, if you haven’t already, it’s the best way to join our Chat Forum and get involved. I say this every week, but if you enjoyed this post, then it’s so important that you like it by leaving a heart ♥️, a restack (that’s the recycle symbol below) and/or a comment. It’s the only way this newsletter gets shown to new people. Thank you so much! Xx