“Cost effectiveness” seems to be the buzz phrase for 2025. No matter the aspect of our lives, we are looking for ways to do more with what time, space and money we have, or at least with very little extra of all of the above. We will cost-effectively garden this year!
With food and living prices rising, we want to get even more produce out of our gardens to help lessen the stress of our weekly grocery bills. That’s why this month we are taking a look at how we can do more with the garden space we have. We will go over strategies to use materials on hand to create growing spaces, grow vertically, and even find non-traditional spaces to grow in. We’ll also discuss some planting strategies that will help you use your garden space efficiently, including additions to the soil that’ll get your plants producing to their potential.
Reuse Materials You Have on Hand
Nothing says “cost effective” better than reusing what you have in new ways. If your challenge this season is to find growing space where you have none—and to not spend a small fortune on gardening structures—repurposing materials you already have is the way to go.
The key is to think creatively. For instance, if you need a pole, what else on hand is long and sturdy? Can you find a broomstick or some scrap lumber? Need a trellis? We’ve seen coiling from the back of a refrigerator used to support climbing vines. With those creativity caps on, you can transform everyday items into useful garden tools.
Here are a few more suggestions of what you might have on hand and how to use it:
- Repurpose items like buckets, storage bins, and drawers from old cabinets as planters. Anything that can hold a planting mix is fair game—old shoes, a truck bed, a rusty mailbox, a pair of pants! Just be sure there are drainage holes in the bottom to avoid waterlogged soil. This might be the most fun way to transform any old thing into a planting space.
- Wooden pallets and scrap wood can be used to create vertical gardens or DIY raised beds. Scraps can also be repurposed for building trellises, garden borders, fencing and more.
- Starting seeds this spring? Use egg cartons, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, take-out containers or plastic yogurt cups as seed starters. This saves money and gives a second life to materials that would otherwise be discarded. Again, add some drainage holes to anything that might hold water, such as those yogurt cups. By reusing materials, you’re saving money and reducing waste.
Grow Vertically
If your challenge is growing more in a small space, grow up! Not everyone has room to let cucumber plants sprawl as they see fit. But you likely have room for them to grow upward.
Growing vertically is one of the best ways to maximize your limited space. Instead of growing horizontally across the ground, use walls, fences, or homemade trellises to guide those plants upward, allowing you to pack more plants into a small area.
Here are some more ideas for ways to grow your plants vertically:
- Trellises and arbors: Climbing plants like beans, peas, cucumbers, and tomatoes can be grown upward on trellises or arbors. DIY your own structures using bamboo, fallen branches or repurposed materials like old ladders or scrap wood as mentioned above.
- Wall planters: Use that garage wall or property-dividing fence to your advantage. Install wall-mounted planters to create a vertical garden. Or, or create that planter yourself using an old pallet. A pallet can be outfitted with grow bags or fabric to hold planting mix. This works great for small crops like herbs, lettuce, greens, and even small fruits such as strawberries.
- Hanging baskets: With hanging baskets, you might actually be growing down, right? There are a bunch of edible varieties specially bred for baskets such as Topsy Tom tomatoes, Pot-a-peño peppers and Alpine-type strawberries. Hang them from fences, balconies, or porch railings—anywhere up that receives a good amount of sunlight.
Utilize the Unusual Gardening Space
Don’t let not having a soil patch stop you from gardening. We’ve already seen that we can grow in containers, against walls, and suspended from porches. Take a good look around you and scan your surroundings.
- Balconies and patios: Apartment dwellers and condo owners alike can grow food in the small outdoor spaces allotted to them. If it holds a pot and gets good sun, you can grow! In fact, some vegetable varieties have purposefully been bred to be more compact for growing in these limited spaces.
- Window sills and ledges: If growing on windowsills wasn’t a thing, then why would we have window boxes? Their oblong shape is well-suited for both sills and ledges, as well as for porch railings. You can even place them along a walkway beautifying the way of friends and family to your front door.
- Rooftops: There’s been a big push in the last two decades for companies to develop garden beds on any flat outdoor roof space available to them. The same is happening for residential buildings. If you have a flat roof with a source of water, then its unlimited access to sunlight will help you raise a bountiful garden.
Planting Strategies for Maximum Efficiency
Being efficient in the garden is not all about the structures and space! What you plant and when you plant it can also increase your yield in your given space over the course of a season. You can implement at least two strategies that’ll help you on your way to maxing out your garden.
Planting High-Yield Crops
Some crops are either naturally high-yielding or have been bred to give you the most bang for your buck. Leafy greens such as kale, Swiss chard, spinach and lettuces are quick-growing, can be planted close together, and can produce multiple harvests via the cut-and-come-again technique. Radishes, bush beans and herbs produce giant crops—and quickly! And we all know that tomatoes (especially cherries) and squash are prolific producers. The key with the last two crops is to grow them vertically and find varieties that are bred to grow in tight spaces. Yes, there’s even zucchini varieties meant for growing in containers!
Succession Planting
A square foot of garden space—whether that is in the ground, in a pot or in a raised bed—can grow more than one full crop per season. Succession planting involves planting a second crop in the same space from which you’ve just harvested your first crop of the season. A common succession strategy is planting cool-season crops such as radishes, spinach or peas then planting warm-season crops like tomatoes, peppers and beans once the first crops are done.
It’s also possible to get a third crop of late summer-planted cool-season crops for fall. And if you’re up for the challenge and crafty with structures, you can extend the growing season even further with low-lying tunnels that create a warm mini greenhouse. Fresh kale and spinach in late December? It’s possible!
Adding Biochar Blend
“If there is one thing you add to your garden this year to improve plant growth and yield, it should be Biochar Blend,” said Organic Mechanics’ founder Mark Highland. Sure, he’s a little biased, but Mark is a gardener first, mad soil scientist second. Of course he’ll recommend a product that supercharges the soil to help plants grow and produce the best they can. And the bonus here, Mark says, is that adding Biochar Blend to in-ground and container plantings this year will produce even better results for your yields with each passing year.
This 100% natural and organic product adds compost, earthworm castings, alfalfa meal, kelp meal, bone char, zeolite, and azomite to the incredible properties of biochar to create an amendment that is scientifically proven to increase not only yields, but also the flavor profiles of what you’re growing. Biochar is a bit of a miracle! And just the thing you should be adding in this age of efficiency.
Implementing just a couple of the above techniques will turn your limited space into a productive, budget-friendly garden. As you wait for your seeds to grow and the outdoor temperatures to rise, sketch out for plans for taking your garden space to the max.
