My parents have such a tiny garden and I try to make use out of every bit of space but that means growing in pots and containers, and that is EXPENSIVE.
I already have 7 pots like these with saucers but i wanted to buy waaay more to try grow other stuff on the roof/balcony in the making. But when I counted everything I need (only pots and saucers) it got up to €628…
I contacted the official company to ask if they did bulk deals and they said no but still they gave me a 5% coupon which is nice but that still leaves me with €595 WITHOUT SOIL I love this hobby but I’m getting broke lol
I also checked fb market place and second hand sites but nothing similar or right size. And if it is it’s only 1 and like super far, any tips?
by National_Volume_5894
35 Comments
If you are spending all your money on pot I think it’s time for an intervention
What size and how many are you trying to buy?
And if appearance isn’t important you can use things like IBC tanks as cheap containers but they’re not the prettiest. Home improvement stores (not sure what your local ones are) sometimes have clearance sections where they get rid of old product lines or slightly damaged stuff, you frequently see pots and raised planters for pretty cheap.
Dollar tree 👍 drill some holes in the bottom of their $1.50 buckets, good to go bb
Nice looking pots tend to be pretty expensive. Nursery pots are far more economical but don’t look as nice. If you can find a place that sells them you could save some money.
Give grow bags a try they are pretty cheap on Ali express
I have opened soil bags and grown plants in that. Some chicken wire and moss could work for somethings. I have used old rubber boots too. I have seen in a magazine someone used an old bird cage. The fun thing about gardening is that you can get creative and be resourceful! Have fun with the process!
If you’re looking for smaller sized pots, you should check out thrift shops. Very likely to find some really cute ones for just a couple euros.
Our local garden center has a big bin out the front for recycling plastic pots, perhaps there are ones where you live that have something similar? You can also make garden pots out of pretty much any container, although you might have to drill or cut holes for drainage. You can paint them up, although then you need exterior paint / lacquer, because the paint will wash / peel off when it gets wet otherwise.
Drawers and other old furniture can be used as planters, buckets, old kettles, wheelbarrows, large cups, mixing bowls, vases, drums, barrels and even bins; you just need to make drainage. Put a few rocks in the bottom of the container before you put soil on top to help with this.
You could also try popping a little sign up “wanted : free plant pots for garden” or something similar, you might get a few that way.
Estate sales & garage sales for the win!
Hit up your local bakery and deli. A lot of products come in different sized buckets and in my experience are free for the asking. Before I had my in ground garden I did herbs in icing buckets and tomatoes and peppers in pickle buckets.
One of the main reasons that the plastic ones are up in price is that they are almost all imported from SE Asia. If you are in the US then tarrifs add quite a bit to the price tag now. The film and foil manufacturer I work with has increased prices nearly 50% in the past year.
Edit: I somehow missed the euro symbol.
I don’t know about Europe, but in the US, there are only a few wholesale greenhouse suppliers. They sell the same stuff in bulk as what you see on store shelves.
Another trick that works if you have an Amish community anywhere nearby – shop where they shop. Farm stores that supply Amish communities have the lowest prices that I’ve found anywhere.
Facebook marketplace usually has a bunch.
The real answer from someone who owns a garden center is bulky shipping, location of manufacture – lots of large manufacturing centers in Vietnam for example, and you gotta make up the cost of all the broken ones.
Not as nice looking, and doesn’t last as long, but grow bags could be an option. You could buy the grow bags for this year. Then just slowly purchase nicer pots so the cost doesn’t hit you all at once.
Buy at the end of the summer
Look for moving/garage sales in your area.
We moved last summer and didn’t have room for all the pots I’d been hoarding. They were heavy and full of dirt; I knew I’d never be able to haul them to the dump by myself.
I offered the nursery cheapo ones for free on social media, and let the buyers make offers on the nicer ceramic ones. I managed to get rid of about 20+ pots in a few hours.
Win/win as they say, but now I’ll have to start over in the spring.
Look for pots made from coconut husk, they aren’t going to last forever but you get many many years out of them.
The other option, I too am a broke gardener, I use old used 3 gallon black plastic rose pots I got for free from a nursery. Nurseries aren’t legally allowed to reused those pots because of problems transmitting blight and other incredibly risky diseases. Some will give them to you, others will not because then none of their customers would buy pots
Option 3. Find a supplier that greenhouse and growers use that supply retail nurseries. Mostly gonna fine 4in 4.5in and gallon squares this way that all fit nicely In trays. Some brands are incredibly durable and long lasting others crack in half when you look at them too hard and they switch materials the use at seemingly random times. High risk high reward.
Get them used off Facebook marketplace
Try thrift stores for containers and drill holes in the bottom
OSJL usually has some nice pots at a decent price, I’ve never found anywhere that has “cheap” pots that are actually of any quality
Price hike that occurred during the pandemic. Before then especially the plastic ones were very cheap.
You can still get them cheap during limited time sales in Spring.
Pots weren’t the only thing that had spiked, watering cans did a lot as well, last year though they finally came back down. So it’s a temporary price hike, if people don’t buy they adjust.
FB Markeplace and local Buy Nothing groups. I like the gallon ones that bushes usually come in because those are nice and thick plastic. For bottom dishes I use anything I can find. Dishes, take out containers,etc
I know ..pots and picture frames i truly believe there’s a conspiracy for big Pots and big Frame corporations to all agree to make their prices super expensive 😆
Do you know some active gardeners who happen to have storage space? I’ve been gardening for decades and have *piles* of used pots, many of them quite large. I sort them by size and stack them in a shed. I have lots. They’re not great-looking, they’re just black plastic and some have broken edges, but they definitely work for container gardening. And because they were designed for use in a commercial nursery, they’re pretty UV-stable. I don’t need all of these anymore. If anyone asked for a few, I would certainly share, and maybe even give most of them away.
If you have any network of area gardeners, or know of a gardening club, maybe you can get some leads that way.
Fabric pots are pretty cheap. You have to water them more in summer though.
Bunnings and community nurseries usually have a huge bin of boomerang pots out the front, you can drop off old ones and grab new ones. They are just the basic plastic ones, not fancy, but they function perfectly.
Maybe one of your local plant nurseries might have the same? Or you could suggest they start one.
for cheap black nursury ones, just buy them off facebook marketplace from people who are selling hundreds. usually you can get them for a tiny fraction of what they sell for new.
Pots and container containers are to expensive.
Maybe you have two options to try:
Find someone with a trade license (the trade doesn’t matter). So you can buy from pot wholesale which doesn’t sale to private.
This one depends where you live in B. There are many companies which doesn’t send products to Belgium. But they send e.g to Netherlands or Germany.
The usual way: you gave the company where you’re buying a near border adress and you later get your pots from this adress.
Save your toilet paper and paper towel rolls all year and use those for your seedlings.
The pot you posted doesn’t look that different from a black nursery pot. If you’re okay with the look of black nursery pots, you can probably get them for free from a landscape crew. We often have 200+ pots to deal with after a planting day, and nurseries don’t always want them back.
For seedlings I reuse a lot of food packaging to grow seeds in. It’s basically free and keeps stuff out of landfill. I eat a ton of mushrooms and the plastic punnets are great for seeds.
Our city has a heavy-trash pickup once a month in residential areas. My SIL cruises her neighborhood the night before pickup and picks up pots thrown out after big landscaping jobs. She has also picked up lots of tomato cages.
As for me, I have no shame about recycling containers into pots, e.g, dishwasher pod buckets, ice-cream cartons, sour-cream containers, etc. I pick up nicer pots at thrift stores, yard sales, and occasionally regular retail if I see a good discount.
I’ve been lining milk crates and using those for planters, works really well
There about 2euros or 3€ if you get like 55cm from stores such as Kik and tedi (German stores but we have them here in SK) ….(if you have those stores that is!)