Our local garden centre offers a discount to village garden clubs on compost, grit etc for orders up to end of February. They will deliver free as well. Presumably it encourages us all to spend our money at a time of year when footfall is lower in the shop. I usually spend about £75 on all those things each year so 25% discount is worth having. They also give that discount on everything else during January and February so if I want something expensive like a huge pot or an expensive plant then I will get it then.
Im lucky that I can spend what i want within reason.
I'm barely past the staring out stage myself so still dropping some money on bits most people will have already and making mistakes as I go, but as we didn't go away last year and have resigned ourselves to the same this year i have been given free reign to enjoy the garden and make it what i want as the husband couldn't care less as long as i have fun.
I'm with Ben Cotto on this one. Gardening is my major hobby and I would rather buy something for the garden than eat out or have expensive holidays. That said, I don't anticipate a big spend this year as most of the garden is now 'done' and we spent a couple of thou last year on new fences. I think the most expensive plant I ever bought was probably a small tree about £30. I do spend a lot on manure/compost and other sundries each year though, not so much on bedding plants or seeds.
Whenever another plant appears in the garden, my partner says "you don't need any more plants!" and I say it could be worse - I could have an alcohol addiction rather than a plant one
I was lucky enough to be able to get most of the hard landscaping done with materials left over from other jobs but the planting now is down to me. I have a mid sized garden but I do also have a family of 6 that would like feeding.
I would like to spend no more than a couple of hundred pounds a year on the garden but it's still so bare I can see me spending more than that.
I don't really watch how much I spend, I don't generally buy plants on a whim unless its extremely cheap like the Garrya james roof I got for £3 a few months ago or if it need rescuing from the sick bay.
I do spends hundreds but how many I don't know I probably spend around £100 on compost a year and the same again in bulbs sometimes more . I bought a new tree last year for £60 , I am willing to spend more now on more mature plants due to the garden being relatively full so I want instant impact , I am not buying 15 to 20 9cm pots of plants anymore so I can spend more on individual plants .
I do like to look at buy plants as like an investment , unlike a lots of things you buy plants do get better in time except for the annuals of course . I see a rose and think that could last me 20 - 30 or even 50 + years, £20-25 for a Austin roses doesn't sound quite as expensive then.
@Cambridgerose12 - I'm with you on considering clothes non-essential... ...within reason, of course. My gardening trousers have a broken zip held closed with a nappy pin - fine in the winter cos nobody can see them. Come summer, I'll need a trip to the charity shop.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
@Liriodendron I wear my son’s outgrown trainers and a parka so old that it has extra ‘pockets’ in the form of tears down the side, as well as loads of white paint splashes from where I painted the garden wall... The only embarrassing thing is, the white splashes look just like bird droppings... as my family and friends like to remind me.
I have and old Barbour coat that I’ve had for many a year and I also wear an old pair of hush puppy shoes that have seen better days but they feel like slippers
"There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true"
If I see something I like and feel the cost justifies the benefit then I go for it. But I do love a bargain About a year ago I decided I wanted 12 pittosporum Golf Ball shrubs for my front garden but baulked at the cost of over £200 for 12 x 2L pots. I kept looking and was eventually rewarded. Coolings Nursery had a Early Bird sale - I got my 12 plants in 3L pots for £80 inc P&P I was so chuffed!
They arrived just before the freeze, so they stayed in their boxes in the garage, but today I let them out
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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They also give that discount on everything else during January and February so if I want something expensive like a huge pot or an expensive plant then I will get it then.
I'm barely past the staring out stage myself so still dropping some money on bits most people will have already and making mistakes as I go, but as we didn't go away last year and have resigned ourselves to the same this year i have been given free reign to enjoy the garden and make it what i want as the husband couldn't care less as long as i have fun.
could mean some costly mistakes going forward 😂
I would like to spend no more than a couple of hundred pounds a year on the garden but it's still so bare I can see me spending more than that.
I do spends hundreds but how many I don't know I probably spend around £100 on compost a year and the same again in bulbs sometimes more . I bought a new tree last year for £60 , I am willing to spend more now on more mature plants due to the garden being relatively full so I want instant impact , I am not buying 15 to 20 9cm pots of plants anymore so I can spend more on individual plants .
I do like to look at buy plants as like an investment , unlike a lots of things you buy plants do get better in time except for the annuals of course . I see a rose and think that could last me 20 - 30 or even 50 + years, £20-25 for a Austin roses doesn't sound quite as expensive then.
But I do love a bargain
About a year ago I decided I wanted 12 pittosporum Golf Ball shrubs for my front garden but baulked at the cost of over £200 for 12 x 2L pots.
I kept looking and was eventually rewarded.
Coolings Nursery had a Early Bird sale - I got my 12 plants in 3L pots for £80 inc P&P
I was so chuffed!
They arrived just before the freeze, so they stayed in their boxes in the garage, but today I let them out
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.