Gardening can be expensive and time-consuming. If you are on a budget, it's useful to know how to save some money for gardening without sacrificing the well-being of your plants.

Gardening is a great hobby and can bring a lot of fun moments. However, you don't have to waste a lot of money for your garden. While some things tend to be expensive there are ways to do gardening on a budget.

Here are some useful tips on how to save money on gardening:

Useful Tips on How to Save Money on Gardening

• Line the bottom of a clay pot with a coffee filter. It will prevent the soil from leaking out of the bottom hole.
• Use plastic water bottles (or, alternatively, clear milk jugs) to fill the bottom of large pots. They will reduce the weight of the pot since they will require less soil to fill.
• You don't have to buy expensive potting systems made for starting seedlings. Simply place a few cardboard toilet paper rolls inside a clean plastic clamshell. They should look similar to those used for salads in the supermarket. Fill each tube with potting soil and plant. This will give you an affordable system for starting seedlings. One the seedlings grow too tall for the clamshell, tear off the top lid to let them grow further.
• Use permanent marker and a yardstick to mark the handle of your tools, such as rake, shovel or hoe. This will give you a handy measuring stick you can use whenever you need to measure something during planting or another gardening task.
• Test your seeds for germination by simply placing them on a wet paper towel. Use as few as 3-4 seeds to see the results. It will be even better if you place the towel inside a zip top bag. It will show you if seeds are viable.
• Plant sunflowers in a large circle instead in rows. Once they reach their full height they will be a great hideaway for kids to play.
• To prevent weeds from showing, line your garden with a layer of newspaper. Top two or three sheets of newspaper with a layer of pine needles, dried leaves and grass clippings. This is a cheap, eco-friendly weed barrier that will make your job in the garden much easier.
• Birds love bright colors, so offer them come colorful nesting material to use. You may cut small lengths of ribbons, yarn or twine cloth strips. Place them over tree branches or sturdy plants for birds to find them. All of the nests in your yard will be so colorful.
• You should always keep gardening twine handy to use. Simply nail a funnel to your potting bench with the sprout pointing downward. Feed the twine through it and your string will never go missing again. If you want a more portable solution, simply place a ball of twine inside a Mason jar, make a hole in the metal lid and push the end of the twine through the hole. It will allow you to take twine anywhere you go, and it will never get tangled.
• Canning tomatoes is a craft that requires some experience and a lot of patience. In order to make things easier, you should skip canning and simply freeze your tomatoes for further use. Just place them in a zip top bag. Once you thaw the tomatoes, their skin will slip right off and you can easily add them to your favorite recipe.

Photo credit: Claudia Daggett