You don’t need pricey products to transform your garden – here’s 8 ways to get plants for free

FROM Tulip bulbs selling for gazillions of Dutch gilders back in the 1600’s to a single snowdrop auctioned on ebay for £1,850 last year - there’s no doubt gardening can literally cost the earth.  

Legend has it an RHS Chelsea Show Garden takes a cool £180k to assemble - and even turfing your lawn can hit your pocket where it hurts. 

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But before you run shrieking from your local garden centre and concrete over your outdoor space  - here at Sun Gardening we have some top tips on how to get everything you need to glow up your garden for free. 

DIG FOR VICTORY

Councils up and down the country are currently turning your green waste into compost - and are desperate to give it away for nothing. Just google ‘free compost council’ to find your local spot.

Check you don’t have to make an appointment to turn up and bring your own spades and bags. 

CALL ON THE COMMUNITY

Community Gardens and Orchards host open days - where they get rid of surplus plants and give great expert advice for free.

Or you can volunteer there and take home all sorts of treasures. Just look on your local websites for more info. 

SWAP YOUR SEEDS

Local seed swaps take place regularly across the UK - where you exchange packets you never got round to using - or seeds straight from your garden - in return for other people’s. 

SEARCH ONLINE

Online marketplaces like Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and Freecycle are a haven for cheap or free garden products and plants -  you can even bag bigger items like unwanted greenhouses and second hand tools for nothing. 

LISTEN AND LEARN

Listen to gardening podcasts. Usually hosted by very clever gardening folk, they offer a wealth of advice on getting free plants, how to turn your garden into Eden.

Or just how not to kill tomatoes. I like Talking Heads, and Skinny Jeans Gardener. 

JOIN THE CLUB

Join a local gardening club - you’ll be amazed at the joy you can get from sharing your top tips, learning new tricks and swapping plants. The RHS has a club locator on their site. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Garden influencers on social media can be great inspiration - and more and more are tuning into the cost of living crisis with money saving advice and realistic reviews.

Most importantly they’re often giving away free stuff in competitions and have loads of top tips.

Try @viewfromthepottingbench and @greenfingeredcityboy for starters.

ASK AROUND

And finally - just ask your local community - via street whatsapp groups, school mum get togethers and local websites - and you’ll unearth a whole gang of garden enthusiasts desperate to get rid of all the plants they grew in their greenhouse and now have absolutely no room for.

LEAVE IT OUT

SINCE September we’ve struggled with Storms Agnes, Babet, Ciaran and Debi wreaking havoc across our outside spaces.

But did you know all those colourful piles of Autumn leaves can be turned into FREE compost with hardly any effort?

All you need to do is put them in a damp plastic bag or bin liner - pierce it with a few holes and tie the top loosely - and then just leave it hidden away for up to two years. 

It will naturally breakdown slowly using fungus to create Leafmould - which is perfect for seed sowing compost, soil conditioner or mulch.

The RHS says that the best quality comes from oak, hornbeam or beech - as these will break down the quickest - but as long as they’re not evergreen, or needles, I’ve found that most trees that lost their leaves in Autumn will work. It might help to shred the bigger thicker leaves like horse chestnut (conker) and sycamore first. 

If you're grabbing them from the street - and you'll be thanked - make sure they're not polluted with rubbish. Quiet residential lanes are better.

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