Garden on a Low Budget

With more time being at home, many folks are thinking or have already been doing some gardening. Here I have a few resources:

(1) Free compost and mulch

San Francisco residents can get free compost and mulch from Bayview Greenwaste Management. Their hours (during COVID) are Mon-Sat 7:00 am — 3:30 pm. The process was smooth, and the manager was friendly. Do bring your own containers, and the wheels of your car will get dirty :)

(2) You can make your own potting soil once you have compost:

If you have access to topsoil from your yard, you can mix that with mulch, and you won’t need to spend money buying topsoil. If you don’t have a yard, then go to (3)

(3) One of the cheapest places to get soil and perlite is Home Depot. Soil can be purchased anywhere, but Home Depot has the best pricing by a lot. This is comparable to a very well-rated Amazon product for the same quantity costs over $17. For example, this product of 8 quarts of perlite costs less than $5. Perlite is used to make succulent soil. Perlite increases aeration and allows the soil to be fast draining, which is essential for succulent health.