New baby? Just bought your homestead? Still grinding through college?

Whether your finances are tight or you’re simply adopting a frugal lifestyle, you can garden without spending money!

Standard gardens do require a good bit of preparation and investment: building beds and buying pots, amending soil, purchasing seeds, buying pest control, adding garden tools…. it really adds up fast.

Trust me. You don’t want to know how much money I’ve invested in my gardening and food growing adventures.

Today, I’d like to show you each and every FREE trick I’ve learned for zero-investment gardening; you might not have anything to spend, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a productive, thriving, food garden without investing a dime; Even when obtaining seeds!





Growing Food In Free Pots


If you are going to be growing your plants in containers, you need to start hunting for them and saving them now– while it’s still fall/winter! In my post 21 Ways to Find Free Containers for Gardening, you’ll find many different ways to collect these pots. Ask friends and neighbors for all of these recyclable containers, and you can save all of the bottles, yogurt containers, and old storage totes that you would normally toss. Growing plants in these containers will require some soil though; so, you’ll either need to get free compost from your city/county, or you’ll need to dig up some dirt from your own (or your family’s) property. Long, rectangular planters like the one shown below can grow a variety of foods, ranging from salad greens and spinach to berries and tomatoes.





Building a Garden Bed with Zero Money


If you are growing plants in the ground, there are a few different ways that you can establish a bed for free.

You could go with a lasagna garden. You will need to find cardboard and newspaper, as well as some yard waste, compost, or hay. Lay down newspaper and cardboard to smother and control existing grass. Plant your seeds through the layers, and allow them to sprout. Once the plants are a few inches tall and thriving, place more newspaper around the hole to help suppress weeds. Afterwards, a nice layer of compost, yard waste, or hay will help to hold everything in place.

Next, you could go with a mulching method. While this typically only involves hay or straw, you can use newspaper for better weed control. If using newspaper, lay it down 3 or 4 sheets thick on the bed area, after it is mowed and thoroughly soaked. Wet the newspaper down to keep it in place. Then, apply hay or straw over top of the paper, approximately 8″ (inches) thick. This will be easier to plant through than cardboard, but keep in mind that you will need to reapply hay or straw through the summer. Dried grass clippings are great to use, too!





Finally, we come to double digging! If you have a shovel (which I’m going to assume that you do, or you could use an above method), you can double dig. First, dig out a trench one spade deep along the border of the shortest dimension of your bed. If your bed is 4′ wide and 10′ long, dig out one of the 4′ borders. Place all of this sod in a wheelbarrow, and cart it over to the other 4′ border. Then, within the trench you just dug, dig through and loosen one spade deeper. This means you will go two spades deep to establish your bed. Once the second layer is loosened, move inward towards the wheelbarrow, and shovel the sod into the trench you’ve dug out- root/dirt side up. Loosen this sod as you fill in the trench. In essence, you are now filling up the trench you dug out with loose dirt from the new row that you’re “tilling”; which allows you to loosen the deeper layer of dirt before beginning on the third row, and so forth. When you reach the end of the bed, the sod from the FIRST trench that is in the wheelbarrow will be placed in the LAST trench. This is a standard, hand-tilled bed, full of loosened, airy soil that will graciously accommodate plants’ roots!





The Biggest Cost-Saving Trick of All: Finding Free Seeds!


Seeds are beyond expensive, especially if you’re buying organic, heirloom, non-GMO seeds like I am. Even conventionally grown and GMO seeds are expensive– especially if you buy them at big box stores! I like to buy $0.99 sampler packs of many seed varieties (such as squash, cucumber, or tomato, for those varieties that you don’t need many seeds for) through this company, so if there is something that you REALLY need to buy, I would tell you to place an order for sampler packs. After all, if you’re going to make ANY investment, it should be seeds.

However, we’re here to discuss FREE ways to get seeds, so let’s think about some options!





First, your food scraps from the grocery store are a good place to start. Only fresh or air dried seed is going to be useful. If something is processed, the seeds won’t be viable due to heat during the processing. This includes:

  • Frozen food
  • Canned food
  • Refrigerated food
  • Freeze-dried food
  • Most dehydrated food

So let’s go with the fresh food section! When you buy produce, you know several different items will contain seeds. Lettuce, cabbages, most root crops (except sweet and Irish potatoes), and GMO products will not contain seeds. Some products, such as sweet corn, summer squash, and green bell peppers, are immature and do not contain mature seed.

The following types of produce will likely contain mature seeds that you can plant after your eat your produce- just be sure to ferment or dry the seeds correctly based on type, otherwise the seed will mold and ruin. Here’s a good list:

  • Any RED pepper, or otherwise mature pepper (most peppers turn red at maturity- some are an exception)
  • Large cucumbers
  • Watermelons (with black seeds)
  • Pumpkins
  • Any other type of winter squash
  • Tomatoes (tomato seeds have a special fermentation process to follow)
  • Cantaloupe
  • Other Muskmelons




There are also fruit trees and bushes that you can grow from seed! Please remember that not all seeds grow true, due to some varieties of plants requiring cross pollination (blueberries, apples, and sour cherries, for example). This doesn’t mean you will have bad fruit- it just means that you should expect the daughter plant(s) to have variations in characteristics including size, color, flavor, and yield. Even sister plants may be completely different! Here are some varieties:

  • Raspberries
  • Blackberries
  • Blueberries
  • Strawberries (I have many posts about my experience growing them from seed!)
  • Cherries (sour only, sweet cherries are known to be sterile)
  • Avocados
  • Oranges
  • Lemons
  • Apples
  • Plums
  • Pears
  • Peaches
  • Dragon Fruit




Free Root Crops: An Amazing Resource for High Yields!


Are there some root crops you’re interested in? Well, considering saving a few of your groceries to grow them (or, simply plant sprouted “bad” potatoes instead of tossing them)! You need to be aware of the potential for contamination with store-bought plant material, however. Grocery store root crops are a touchy subject for most gardeners; some things, like the verticillium wilt that we discussed here, can live in the ground for many years! This could destroy your plants for years to come, so please be aware of the disease that you could be bringing into your soil. Certified seeds, tubers, and roots come from healthy plants, which is what you would find during the spring in the gardening section (and pay more for). Many people use these techniques for growing food though; it’s all personal preference. Now, let’s check out some roots you can grow:

  • Turmeric
  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • Irish Potatoes
  • Sweet Potatoes (one potato can grow mountains of slips!)
  • Green Onions
  • Carrot Tops (for producing seed only- only non-GMO plants)




Saving Dry-Packed, Raw Food Seed Products!


If you buy dried beans, raw peanuts, chia seeds, and more, you can save a few seeds and grow them for yourself! Many households consume raw grain, bean, and seed products- but they don’t consider growing them. There are many types of beans that are eaten green as green beans (green beans are the immature seeds and pods of many varieties of beans), which also serve as dry beans and shelling beans. Try researching the different varieties of dry beans that are available in your local grocery store to see if they will work for your family. Peanuts are another excellent choice, but only if you’re buying raw nuts to roast yourself- roasted nuts will not grow. You can also check out pecan, brazil, walnut, hazelnut, chestnut, and other hard nut seeds during the holiday seasons! Here’s a good list of RAW seeds you could grow:

  • Beans (Northern White, Navy, Pinto, Kidney, Fava, Chickpea, Black, Cannellini, Lima, Blackeye, etc)
  • Chia Seeds
  • Quinoa
  • Wheat
  • Oat
  • Flax
  • Barley
  • Peanuts
  • Peas
  • Lentils
  • Sprouting mixes (if you grow sprouts, some can be grown to full size for harvesting such as sunflowers, broccoli, radish, and more)


Joining Local & Free Seed Swaps and Exchanges


Whether or not you have seeds to swap, don’t fret! There are tons of exchanges around the world that still make it possible for you to get your hands on some seeds. Some companies offer free samples, while others offer free packs of seeds to help local wildlife (such as flower mixes for bees, milkweed for Monarch Butterflies, or food sources for endangered birds or mammals). These are all excellent options to add in your garden, as you’ll be doing something wonderful for your local ecosystem.

There are also many libraries who take part in seed exchanges, which is an excellent resource for local residents. The community grows food or flowers from the seeds, and members preserve seed to return to the library’s seed bank. This seed is then distributed through the community again, to be returned at the end of the following growing season.





Building Fertility & Feeding Plants


Composting is the best way to produce nutrients for your growing plants.

Begin composting now, so that you have enriched soil to add fertility to your pots and beds during the summer months. Compost food waste, yard waste, and rabbit or chicken waste. If you are not going to invest in fertilizer, this will be the only way to ensure that your plants are receiving the nutrients that they need to thrive.

Certain items, such as bones, blood, wood ash, egg shells, and deep rooted plants such as comfrey add hard-to-find, important nutrients and trace minerals to the compost. This is why some people compost EVERY type of waste, rather than excluding things such as meat and bones. They provide nutrients like potassium and phosphorous, which are vital for plant growth. Please research hot composting and safe composting before you begin, so that you are aware of the dangers or concerns that may arise through composting.



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