Budget Saving Flower Potting Tips

This past weekend I finally potted up my annuals recently purchased at local garden centers. I budgeted $125 for flowers and dirt. Here's how I broke it down.

• I signed up for the "Garden Club" at Home Depot. You get a $5 coupon immediately and others later.
• Additionally, sift through those coupon mailers! I've saved $10 at a local garden center with a mailer.
• When I purchase dirt, I buy the cheap bags of "garden soil" or "top soil" and then mix it with whatever expensive Miracle Gro bag happens to be on sale at the time. So you get the benefits of the "moisture retaining" soil still mixed with good top soil
• I didn't buy my annuals right away. We get anxious, I know. But you need to wait a month for them to start putting items on sale.
• I watch a lot of HGTV. One tip I tried this year was fill the bottom of my larger pots with styrofoam peanuts. I've also seem them fill super large containers with plastic bottles. The theory is your annuals' roots don't go down that far - hence why fill the entire pot with dirt??
• I try very, very hard NOT to buy perennials this time of year. They'll be on super sale in another 3-4 weeks.
• I visited three places this year: Home Depot, Whispering Gardens by Cottage Grove off Military Road and Belinda's Garden Center on Hwy 95. Of the three, Belinda's was the least expensive and she's the best on-site consultant. I bought a huge hanging basket for $30 that was at least double that at Whispering Gardens and Home Depot didn't have anything even close to this beauty.
• Pots are expensive. I visit rummage sale looking for anything useful and wait until year end for big sales on pots. The green was fading on a matching pair of plastic pots, so I spray painted them gold. It's like they are brand new!
• I buy a lot of smaller annuals, like petunias and impatients, where you get the best "bang" for your buck. Then, I'll plant one "specimen" in the middle of the pot that was more spendy - like a coleus, large begonia or large geranium.

Hope these tips help you get more potted plants for you budget this summer!