Twelve of my best gardening tips 2025

Daniel Pliska • August 30, 2025

My Home Growing Techniques and Practices for Improving Your Gardening

Let's face it gardening can be expensive. The price of plants, garden soil, wood to build beds and structures along with soil amendments can all be pricey. I am constantly striving to reduce cost, and to do things more efficiently. I also try to reuse ordinary by products or containers to save money and reduce garbage that adds to our every growing landfills. Here are twelve ways that I have found to been successful that can help you in your gardening journey as well.

1. Capture and use rainwater- Rainwater contains no chemicals like city water and is free. We use two rain barrels connected to our roof gutter down spouts. Make sure to cover with a screen to keep the mosquitoes out.

2. Make your own compost with a tumbler system- Another simple system that uses raked leaves and shredded paper in equal parts with kitchen scraps to make compost. This type of compost is one of the most nutritious for plants and also reduces the garbage that goes to the city landfill.

3. Recharge your potting soil- Potting soil can be expensive, it can be reused repeatedly by taking out of the pots at the end of the season and then mixing with 1/3 each compost and peat moss along with some granular fertilizer.

4. Recycle your plastic yogurt and other containers for the garden- These containers are excellent for up potting seedlings prior to transplanting into the garden. Simply drill some holes in the bottoms so as to create good drainage and for bottom watering in underliers.

5. Use reclaimed wood for garden projects- I am always on the lookout for free wood or leftover wood from projects to use in the garden for beds, containers, trestles etc. Pressure treated deck wood, cedar fencing and hardwood floor scraps from a wood pile at a hardwood floor store have all been used in my garden projects. (see the image below for a planter made with upcycled wood)

6. Build teepee trestles with last year’s sunflower stalks- At the end of the season after the sunflowers have died strip the dead leaves from the long straight stalks, these can then be dried over the winter to be used in the next season for build teepee trestles. They are strong however, last only one or two seasons. Even so it's still much better to use the free leftovers stalks versus purchasing bamboo stakes sold at the stores.

7. Companion planting to deter pests- This old world technique is a natural way to help keep bad bugs out and can also add some nutrients back to the soil and example are peas and beans which fix nitrogen in the soil. When they die don't pull the dead vines out just cut them at the base of the soil to increase nitrogen in the soil.

8. Rotational planting- This will help with the depletion of certain nutrients when the same species of plants are repeatedly planted in the same bed season after season.

9. Succession planting- Another old-world technique for getting the most yield from your garden. Start two runs of plants such as lettuces, cucumbers and squash etc. With a time span of 3 to 6 weeks between each planting so as to stretch out the season. I try to get three harvests from my beds every year in the spring, summer, and fall.

(Cloth grow bags are an exellent and low cost container that will also free up garden space)

10. Growing from seeds to save money- Plants from the store are expensive $3 to $5 a plant or sometimes even more. Growing plants from seeds takes a little more time and work, however it is very gratifying and will surely save you money. Save seeds at the end of the season to save even more money.

11. Explore new ways of cooking from garden to table – Fresh vegetables are healthier and taste much better than vegetables from the store. However, they can become boring to eat unless various ways to cook with them are used. Use alternative ways to cook with them such as grilling, roasting and stir-frying. Also experiment with how to mix them with other foods, alternate herbs and spices and use them in soups and sauces to make simple dishes more exciting and nutritious.

12: Grow vertically whenever possible to maximize garden space and to keep many crawling pests away from the plants. This way of growing makes it easier to maintain the plants in order to minimize back aches from bending over repeatedly.

The last image below is one technique I use to preserve the harvest by making pesto from basil, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil. I also like to freeze the pesto in small two serving portions in small zip lick bags. Later in the year I thaw out only what is needed to minimize overproduction and better control waste.