We have put together some top garden life hacks that can help you save money this summer. Some of them are minor, but every little bit helps during this expensive season.

1. Save Money on Garden Tools

A full set of good gardening tools can be extremely expensive, and can take up a substantial portion of your budget if you try to get them all yourself. However, set up a garden tools sharing system with your neighbours, and you can save up to 80% on these costs – maybe even more. This can include lawn mowers, electric hedge trimmers, grass trimmers and edgers, branch cutters, driveway weeding tools, and other expensive electronic gadgets that will help you make light work of your gardening. You can each agree which of the tools you are going to buy, amongst as many neighbours as you can get in on the plan; and then simply share the tools as required.

2. Save Money on Watering Your Plants

If you have a garden with lots of plants, and we have a long hot summer with hardly any rain (here’s hoping), then you can find yourself using a fair amount of water from the hosepipe. If you are on a meter for water, then the cost of this can soon add up. However, you can reduce your water bill slightly by reusing water. Every time you wash vegetables and salad, you can use up more water than you think on this task. Rather than allowing this to go instantly down the drain, consider washing your veggies and salad in a bowl and catching the water. Then you can use this daily to water your plants, reducing your hosepipe requirements.

3. Save Money on Weed Killer

Again, this is about saving you money by cutting down on waste. Reduce your weed killer bill by using boiling water from pasta and rice, and excess water boiled in the kettle, to kill weeds in the garden. You can often find that this is sufficient to keep the weeds at bay. It is also a more natural way to kill weeds, and ensure that your plants are not affected by the nasty chemicals used in traditional weed killers.

4. Save Money on Entertainment for the Kids

During the summer, your children will want to be constantly entertained, and what better way to keep them occupied than by getting them to help you with the gardening. The key to this life hack is making it fun for them, and not a chore. There are many ways you can do this, but one of the most appealing ways is by giving them a section of the garden each and making it their responsibility to design, plant, and maintain (with a bit of guidance from you). The beauty of this is that it allows you to spend quality time with your children outside – for free. Many excursions cost a fortune to take the whole family, and the garden will need to be looked after anyway so this could even save you money on a gardener if this is something you would usually consider at this time of year. It gets them away from the computer, and gets you all out into the sunshine.

5. Save on Your Entertainment Costs

If you invest the time getting your garden in order, you will be more inclined to want to spend time in it, rather than go out for expensive meals. You can invite guests over for a summer barbecue (inviting them to bring their own food of course), and if you get the heating right in the garden, you can also sit outside more often as a couple or as a family and enjoy your meals outside. A good idea is to try and redesign your own garden to make it feel like a very different space to the one you are used to. Invest a small amount in solar lighting and a few potted plants; and clean up garden fences and decking to transform your outdoor space. This can make it feel like more of an occasion to sit outside, and one that you can take real pleasure in.