Do you have a plant budget and how do you track?

Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)

9 years ago

There is a thread over on the Cacti & Succulents Forum that got my attention. It is a discussion about plants/gardening budget and tracking purchases. I started gardening in 2001 or 2002 and started trying to keep track in 2009. I use a pretty rough spreadsheet and don't always remember to update it. I try very hard to keep my spending under control. I have a few buying rules, too... and sometimes they get broken. One rule is that I don't purchase anything I already have and can propagate. I've gotten better at propagation. Another rule is to keep striving for more perennials. Anything that doesn't make it through the winter does not get repurchased and planted. Another rule is don't buy anything else that I know has to go into a pot because it will otherwise not make it through the winter. I am already dragging far too many pots in/out/in/out/in/out/in/out all winter long! :) That is the rule that still gets broken. Regularly. And the last rule is, if I come across an interesting plant and think I might like it, and can easily return to the store and buy it, I go home and research it first to see if it will work in my garden. I learned this lesson/rule the hard way. Walmart and other stores bring in quite a few plants that are not even close to hardy in my zone and I used to be such a sucker for those plants in early spring! I have learned to check first before I buy, especially if it is a store I drive past frequently.

How do you keep track of what you spend?
How do you keep track of what plants you buy?
How do you keep track of what plants you have?
Do you throw all caution to the wind?!
Is your philosophy "Life is too short to track such things"?! {{gwi:387657}}

Carol in Jacksonville

Here is a link that might be useful: Cacti Forum - How much do you spend?

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Comments (9)

VirginiaWhine
9 years ago
I don't budget, but I do purchase cheap. I shop at the $1-$3 rack at Lowes. I always take my tablet in with me and I will stand there with a plant and look up information pertaining to my area. Many things are listed as annuals, but we know if Florida, many annuals will come back. I also go to the flea market and do the same thing.

I do like the idea of making a spreadsheet to track my finances though. I already have one because I put down my plants, where they're located, when they were planted, and how to follow-up with them. This is my first year gardening in this home (it only took me 5 years) so adding the costs would be a cinch, everything is fresh in my mind.
fawnridge (Ricky)
9 years ago
Carol - I refuse to pay for plants. If I can't get it from a cutting or seed, I don't need it. Of course, space is a premium in my garden and if it doesn't grow in shade, it's not going in the ground.

That having been said, I just paid $100 for a massive Licuala grandis in a 25-gallon can, just because I had an open spot. So, throw caution to the wind? Yeah, I guess so.

I remember adding up just the credit card charges to Bushel Stop, where I buy mulch, rock, and the components of my potting soil, for a six-month period. When I hit $2000, I stopped adding and had a scotch instead.
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Hi again Alisande/Susan, Even though most of your current financial issues are very different from what you expect them to be in future, I'd suggest that you get started now tracking every single expense. Though some of them are different, probably some will be ones that you have to deal with monthly in future. To begin with, get a receipt for every (cash) expenditure. You'll have a record of cheques. (Yeah, Canadians spell funny - you call 'em "checks"). If you don't get cheques returned regularly, be sure to write down amounts and the reason for it in your "cheque register" when you write each cheque. You should record the amounts as you go and deduct from balance, in any case - avoiding one $20.00 fee for "Not Sufficient Funds" will pay you a good rate of return on your record-keeping time. I have a small box (formerly two milk cartons - need I say "thoroughly washed" - telescoped together and stapled) just long enough to hold a regular business-sized envelope. I try to use envelopes without windows, put a dozen into the box, labelled with each month of the year. Keep each receipt received this month in the "June" envelope, writing the name of the item and amount in my account book as I go. Box holds about 18 envelopes, when filled, if desired. During May I collected (current) "May" receipts in "May envelope. At end of "May", I moved it to back of the box. "June" was then at the front of the box, filled with last year's June receipts. I removed those receipts, put them into another business-sized envelope, labelled it "June 2002" and stored it in archive - O.K. if it's window type, as it seldom gets viewed. Last year's "July" receipts are just behind the "June" envelope - and "August"'s behind that. All of my receipts for the last year are right there, easily viewed whenever I choose. But - it's easier just to look up last year's business in the account book. Check with amount in the wallet every couple of days, so it's not too difficult to remember where the unrecorded amount(s) went. Soon you'll get used to remember amounts spent that you didn't get a receipt for - e.g. morning coffee. Even though quite a few of the amounts you're dealing with now are quite different from what you expect in future - probably a number of your current expenses will carry over as regular expenses in the months to come. As you look at your record later - you can see which ones are special and which ones recurrent. Suggest that you have a record book with five columns: Date, Item, Expenditure, Income, Balance. Maybe 6 - including 2 for "Expenditure", keeping record of each "Expenditure" item in left "Expenditure" column, add half a dozen, ten or so, writing total of those few in right "Expenditure" column, deduct that total from "Balance". Count money on hand at first of month, write in "Balance on Hand". When receive cash, write in "Income", add to "Balance". When spend money, write under "Expense", deduct from "Balance". Check amount in wallet against amount recorded very couple of days, in the beginning. Soon you'll get so used to remembering that once or twice a week will do. Good wishes for being able to keep the ship of state moving along without hassles. joyful guy
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zzackey
9 years ago
I prefer to grow from seeds or cuttings. I worked at Lowe's last year so I just had to buy a few cheap plants every week. It's hard, but it's worth it. Whenever I buy a plant it comes with bugs and diseases.
garyfla_gw
9 years ago
Hi
That's a really tough ?? lol Most I've ever paid for a single plant was 60 bucks ,hybrid Catt orchid . Was one of my better buys as I now have 8 of them while many of my 5 buck plants are long gone .
I'm a hopeless "collector" so "Rare and exotic" always rings my bells lol. I have an arbitrary 20 dollar limit but have violated that twice in the last 6 months .
I don't think there is an answer. I look at it as a "hobby"
and a relatively cheap one compared to birds,marine aquariums . scuba diving, or just plain dining out.
I feel that I've had a greater return on "gardening" than any other thing I've done.??
I do avoid the large shows and always keep a mental notebook on costs .
good luck with your plan!! gary
Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
9 years ago
My plant budget is "Whatever is cheap and native or, at least, non-invasive." This has led me to pretty much exclude much of the plants in big box stores. It seems they are always putting invasive exotics with Florida-Friendly on the pot on the tables. And since I do not have a local native plants nursery, it means that many of my orders are seed orders from online sources. I haven't really kept track of how much I have spent, my gauge is whether my wife fusses at me for spending too much or not. Usually she doesn't. Still, it would be kind of nice to know how much I have invested in my yard. I will have to do that in the future.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
9 years ago
I collect tropicals and I like rare plants. I don't really keep track. I will go 3 mos without buying any then splurge a little when I find something 'good' lol. I know what I do and do not have...sometimes finding it is a different story lol. Chickens like to pull tags off of plants and out of the pots, so some of my older stuff like dragonfruits, I don't know which variety is which, but I know I have 8 different ones and I know the names of which varieties I bought haha.
I have started using paint pens on all the pots and UV resistant marker and tree tags or metal tags on the taller plants so they can't get removed so easily.

I spent way too much on water plants this spring but I hardly bought anything all winter so....

The seedlings that I have kept careful track of (ones I used paint pens on the pots) are my brugmansia seedlings and other hybridizing projects. I also use a spreadsheet so I know who begat whom on those.

I usually give myself 3 times to kill something before I give up. If I kill it twice I will wait to buy it again until whatever conditions I couldn't provide the plant are fixed. Of course, if I get it again for free=that philosophy goes out the window.

~SJN
morningloree
9 years ago
Hi,
I save up cash for some of the shows like Leu Gardens, when the cash is gone, time to go home. Recently, I have been to some nice garden parties and have received wonderful plants in trade. I have recently started collecting passionflower vines and trade with other collectors. I used to have a limit of $100.00 per month, but haven't spent that much in a long time. I have been experimenting with propagating, too. That keeps me busy!
kinzyjr {Lakeland, FL - USDA: 9b, Record: 20F}
9 years ago
My budget was laid out when I got my house. I took a piece of graph paper, designed the landscaping I wanted including the types of plants, mulch, borders, etc.

After that, I separated the entire landscape into phases (1, 2, 3...) so that I wasn't just socking money away and never doing any of the work. Each phase is under $250, except two big ones that will be around $500 each. I've completed 4 of them with about 16 to go :).

I have to agree with garyfla. My small amounts of money have made a huge difference in the way my property looks, and I derive more joy from watching the plants mature than anything else.

I'd love to be able to say most plants are native. I can't though, I'm more of a theme guy, with some of my yard crowded with classic desert plants (cacti and date palms), some with tropicals (coconut palms and bird of paradise), some edibles (limes, oranges, grapefruit, avocados, bananas, papayas), and some wonderful natives (live oaks, sea grapes, and needle palms) to help balance things out.
garden_gal_fl (z10)
9 years ago
I keep a regular budget and try to forecast my want and need garden items. So If I look a last years budget and spent about 100 on mulch and have a note that it covered about 75% of the area the I know need about that much planned. For the want items I might set a basic budget for seasonal seeds and leave a little money for splurges on something special.

Do you have a plant budget and how do you track?

Comments (9)

VirginiaWhine

fawnridge (Ricky)

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zzackey

garyfla_gw

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sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)

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kinzyjr {Lakeland, FL - USDA: 9b, Record: 20F}

garden_gal_fl (z10)

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