Start an allotment on a budget

In January, we got an allotment.

We’ve always liked the idea of growing food and then eating it. We love food. So, when our friends told us how fun the allotment was, we wanted in.

We’re complete novices when it comes to a vegetable garden, and what we are doing we are doing on a budget. We’ve learned these tips for vegetable garden on a budget from expert allotment-ers and green fingered heroes.

Turns out the allotment is an absolute treasure trove of people who want to give you things, help, and share information.

The wonderful community let me know I was growing and nurturing bindweed thinking it was peas. We live and learn.

We also like the idea of a recycled garden, rustic even. We aren’t buying lots of new things, just reusing and recycling. This is saving us some money and it’s pretty fun to get some good finds, too.

Tips for starting an allotment on a budget

Here’s our allotment plot after two months of graft. We’ve got potatoes (£2), Jerusalem artichokes that we didn’t plant but have gone mental (free), celery (£3), beans (gift), cucumber (gift), a marrow (gift), chilli (£3), corn (£1), and now strawberries (from our garden from years ago). All in all we’ve spent £9 on plants and seeds. We also have a nature pond at the back, made from a paddling pool shell.

Reuse wood

We used old pallets and offcuts of wood to create boarders around our vegetable patches. You could also sand some down and make raised beds. There’s no need to buy wood for this. Look on Facebook for free pallets and wood furniture that you can breakdown and use.

Swap seeds and plants for a budget allotment

In our village there’s a whole afternoon dedicated to seed and plant swap at the eco fair. People also sell small veg plants from front gardens and on Facebook. This is much cheaper than buying from garden centres – and easier than growing from seed yourself!

Here’s Ida and Marfs picking strawberries at our friends’ allotment. We promise to swap some goodies from our allotment when it starts producing!

Reuse plant pots

Anything can be a plant pot for a seed starter. Get creative. Cut up plastic bottles, yoghurt pots, egg boxes (which I think you can then plant directly into the ground to avoid transplant shock). Get creative with your ‘pots’. Be sure to keep plant pots from plants you buy, too. These are gold.

Plant pots and lemonade bottles can also be used to deter slugs. It seems to have worked for the ones we tried it with!

Use wooden lolly sticks as plant markers

Start saving lolly sticks every time you or the kids have a lolly. Use these as plant markers, adding the variety and sow date. You can also buy lolly sticks if you don’t eat many! They’re very cheap online. Some garden centres give them away for free, too.

Find big sticks in the woods for climbing beans and climbing veggies

Some of the best plots on the allotment have natures sticks holding up beans and climbing plants. It looks so effective and rustic, and also it’s free! For a pack of 6 6ft bamboo sticks it’s about £4, which isn’t too much, however, you’ll need more than 6. Get out on a nature walk and discover some sticks! Great way to use any sticks your kids have been hoarding in the back of your car… or is that just mine?

Look on Facebook marketplace for everything!

Before you buy anything new for your vegetable garden, look on Facebook marketplace first. You’ll find people getting rid of plants, benches, wood, pots, composters, water buts — all sorts! We got a composter for £5 on FB, which would usually be £40 new.

Here’s Matt, admiring his allotment and sitting on a crate we’ve had in our lives since 2014. It’s been a book shelf, a coffee table, a medicine cabinet. Now it’s an allotment seat.

Woodchips for your budget allotment

Make a path around your vegetable patch using wood chips. Often you can find these for free, too. At our allotment there are woodchippings free to take.

Make a scarecrow on a budget!

Make a scarecrow using two thick sticks of wood. Hammer them into a cross shape, then dress the cross with a hooded jacket. Get fancy if you want and stuff the scarecrow jacket with hay and make a face, too. The jacket might be enough on its own to deter the birds.

Here’s Ida at the allotment being a scarecrow. She’s dressed as a witch for Halloween. It’s June.

I’ll keep updating this as I learn more about allotment life!