There are few things as rewarding as harvesting your own home-grown produce and knowing you had full control over its freshness and chemical fertilizer or pesticide exposure. What’s more, you probably saved yourself a few bucks compared to grocery store prices for the same produce! But what do you do when the up front costs of starting a home garden seem too high? Good news! Here’s some pretty reliable ways to find plants for your garden at a minimal investment! Read on for ways to obtain free or discounted produce plants!
Save Seeds From Last Year
If you’re not starting from scratch, seeds you saved from a previous growing season are an obvious free plants source! A little seed starting process or a well-timed planting and you can be well on your way to a virtually free harvest!
It’s always a good idea if you intend to save seeds to do so closer to the beginning or middle of your plants’ growing season. You want seeds from fruits that the plants produced while they were at their peak health and efficiency. Plants that are thriving produce more viable and healthy seeds!
For my tips on growing a thriving and productive vegetable garden, check out this article!
Save Seeds From Locally Grown Foods
Similar to saving seeds from previous plants, you can stretch your investment dollar by saving seeds of locally grown products! Roadside stands or local markets have beautiful fruits and vegetables that come from the same soil type, climate, and growing conditions as your own garden. This helps you know you’re planting seeds to plant varieties that are more likely to be successful in your garden.
Additionally, using locally grown produce helps control how fresh your products are and the purchase supports community members!
Obtain From a Family Member or Friend
If you’re not comfortable harvesting or saving your own seeds, consider asking a friend or family member who does! Most seasoned gardeners will have found their own methods for saving seeds or starting plants to maximize their garden yields. For many garden plants this will include thinning out sprouted seeds to prevent overcrowding. Some of those plants may be able to be transplanted with a little effort!
You may also obtain plant trimmings, extra seeds, or even extra plants from them if they bought in bulk or started seeds indoors.
If you are gifted plants or seeds and they grow into successful fruiting crops, it is good practice to offer some of the harvest as a thanks for their donation to your garden.
Plant Swap or Trade
Not everyone has someone in their life who may have plants or seeds to spare. If that’s you, another thing to consider is if you have multiples of the same kind of plant. Having multiples of the same plant might let you consider finding someone local to do a plant swap or trade.
Swapping or trading is a convenient way to build variety in your garden and simultaneously build relationships with other gardeners in your area! There are few things as valuable as having experienced gardeners as a resource when troubleshooting the many things that can go wrong in a garden.
A simple ad or social media post attracts local plant lovers in your area who might be interested in trading. Always be sure to be respectful of the person who volunteers to trade with you and be willing to trade so they are getting a good value for their time and willingness to participate with you- in short, don’t rip people off.
Search Social Media
Similarly, social media sites are great landing places for plant-loving communities! Chances are good there’s at least one association, club, or group near you where you could inquire about plants. These are the people who will be able to tell you where the best deals are for plants, when the best sales are going on, where’s has good or poor quality plants, and what a fair trade value would be.
Feel free to ask the members of these groups about plants you are interested in or have acquired but have no idea how to care for. They are passionate about growing healthy and beautiful plants, and are often incredibly kind and helpful!
These groups are also great places to keep track of for members who are splitting healthy plants or separating offshoots of plants that you can root and grow into a separate plant. Keep in mind, you will probably not be receiving them for free unless the grower is incredibly generous! These are people that know the true value of a healthy plant and even a few bucks may well be a steal compared to purchasing at retail.
I’ve found MANY posts on Facebook marketplace of plants locals are getting rid of or selling for cheap. Last year I got several Butternut Squash plants, a handful of tomato plants, and some other flowers all for free just by keeping an eye on my local social media sales platforms!
Local Plant Auctions/Markets
One favorite place of mine to obtain plants for my vegetable garden each year is our local plant market and auction! While local greenhouses are nice and super fun to support, I just find it so fun to bring home a flat of plants that I got for a bargain and watching the payoff throughout the growing season! This is absolutely my preferred method for getting tomato, pepper, and even squash plants! I also try to find plants that benefit my garden by repelling pests such as marigolds or mint plants.
Sometimes, if you pay attention to other auction attendees you can trade off or purchase a plant or two. I have given parts of a flat of plants I purchased to other buyers in exchange for a small payment or a plant I did not have on my own on a few occasions before. It’s a great way to be neighborly and help everyone to have a thriving varied garden!
Clearance Sections in Hardware Stores or Home & Garden Centers
If you don’t have time to attend auctions, you should check your local Hardware Stores or Home and Garden Centers. This is an especially effective technique for finding houseplants that will revive with a little TLC or purchasing perennials at the end of a season to plant and enjoy the following year!
Another thing to keep in mind about chain stores like Lowes or Home Depot is they have price-matching policies against competitor stores! If you find an identical plant for a better price at a competitor and can display the advertisement to an associate, you might just be able to bargain down a non-discounted item and save a little money this way as well! Woohoo!
Check out: Lowe’s Garden center here! Home Depot center here!
I would also recommend checking these gardening centers for discounted seeds toward the middle or ending of a growing season. Save those seeds for the following year or plant for a late crop and you can benefit from this as well!
You might even find discarded pieces of plants that are easy to propagate from cuttings! I have heard before of people gathering broken off branches of plants or succulent leaves from the floor and managing to get them to grow! My only word of advice would be to ask a store employee first before assuming that this is okay. Be polite and even point out to an employee the discarded bits on the floor before taking them. Most importantly, respect the ‘no’ if you are given one. There is some gray area here about what is store merchandise versus trash so it is better to ask than be accused of stealing.
Bonus- if you’re already following social media groups keep and eye out for alerts of good bargains and sales!
Split cost of seed catalog with friends or family
And, finally. Consider recruiting a friend or family member to split the cost of orders from a seed catalog! You can purchase bulk seeds and have enough to split amongst one or two other people without breaking the bank!
A benefit to purchasing from a catalog would be that the seed quality is usually high and the reputation will often speak for itself. It’s a pretty reliable investment if you have the money up front!
Quick Disclaimer: Some plants are actually protected and are illegal to sell or trade without a license. It is always in your best interest to do your research, specifically on houseplants, before buying or selling privately.
