10 Garden Hacks to Save You Money this Summer

The Joy of Zero-Waste Gardening: 10 Smart Hacks to Save Money This Summer

Gardening has always been a source of immense joy in my life, providing not only delicious homegrown food but also a sense of connection to nature. Last year, I returned to gardening after a brief hiatus, starting with just one garden bed. The experience brought me so much happiness that this year I expanded to three beds filled with nutrient-rich compost. Throughout this journey, I've discovered clever hacks that help maximize yields while minimizing costs, creating a more sustainable garden that provides abundant harvests all season long.

One of my favorite discoveries involves grocery store green onions—those everyday kitchen staples that typically cost around $1.50 per bunch. Instead of discarding the root ends, I've learned to plant them directly in soil or water them until new roots develop. These repurposed onion ends grow continuously throughout the season, allowing me to harvest fresh green onions whenever needed. The amazing part? On Vancouver Island where I live, these hardy plants even survived winter in outdoor containers, providing a near year-round harvest from a single initial investment. By planting 12-18 starts at once and staggering harvests, I ensure a continuous supply of fresh green onions without ever buying more.

Another remarkable hack involves "living lettuce" commonly found at grocery stores. These lettuces still have their root balls intact, which not only helps them stay fresh longer in your refrigerator but also makes them perfect candidates for replanting. By separating individual lettuce plants and placing them directly into garden soil or containers, you create a "cut-and-come-again" system that produces multiple harvests. The key is to harvest only the outer leaves while leaving the center intact, allowing the plant to regenerate. I've had lettuce plants producing continuously for 4-6 weeks from a single $1.99 grocery store purchase! Even in limited space, lettuce thrives in containers, making this an accessible hack for apartment dwellers and small-space gardeners alike.

Root vegetables like beets and turnips offer another opportunity for garden maximization. When thinning seedlings (necessary for proper growth), instead of discarding the extras, transplant them to other areas of your garden. These resilient plants quickly recover from transplanting, especially when they're 1-2 inches tall with established roots. I've tucked transplanted turnips and beets between lettuces, under broccoli and kale, and around zucchini plants, utilizing every inch of garden space. The best part about beets is their dual-purpose nature—the gorgeous leaves and stems are entirely edible, perfect for salads, stir-fries, or even as nutritious additions to smoothies. This "whole plant" approach ensures nothing goes to waste while providing multiple food sources from a single seed.

Tomato plants offer surprising propagation opportunities through their "suckers"—the shoots that emerge from the junction between leaves and main stems. While traditionally removed to focus the plant's energy on fruit production, these suckers can be replanted to create entirely new tomato plants! Simply snip them with a clean knife and either root them in water or plant directly in soil. Though they may look lifeless for about a week, patience rewards you with free additional tomato plants. Similarly, herbs like basil can be propagated through cuttings, allowing you to start with just a few quality plants and expand your herb garden significantly throughout the season. I've found planting basil beneath tomatoes creates a beneficial partnership—the basil enjoys partial shade while supposedly enhancing the tomato's flavor.

Perhaps the most transformative hack I've implemented is saving all vegetable scraps for future use. Everything from onion ends and celery bottoms to beet tops and carrot peels goes into a dedicated freezer bag instead of the compost bin. When making stock from chicken or turkey bones, I add these accumulated vegetable scraps, which has elevated my soup game by at least 50%. The resulting broth has incredible depth of flavor and nutritional value, all from ingredients that would have otherwise been discarded. Similarly, cauliflower and broccoli leaves—often overlooked—make delicious, nutritious chips when baked with seasonings like nutritional yeast and garlic salt, offering a guilt-free snacking option that repurposes what might have been composted.