This Month’s Best Deal: Summer Garden Prep on a Budget

April is the perfect time to start your summer garden in Rim Country, and you don’t need to spend a fortune to do it right.

Seeds vs. Starts: A packet of seeds costs $2-4 and produces dozens of plants. Starter plants cost $3-5 each. For tomatoes and peppers, starts make sense (they need a head start at our elevation). For beans, squash, and herbs, seeds are the way to go.

Free Compost: Check with the Town of Payson about mulch and compost availability. Many communities offer free or low-cost compost from municipal yard waste programs.

Water Smart: Mulch around your plants to reduce water needs by up to 50%. Use drip irrigation instead of sprinklers — your plants get more water and your bill stays lower.

The $20 Garden Challenge: With $20, you can buy two tomato starts, one pepper start, a packet of bean seeds, a packet of herb seeds, and a bag of mulch. That’s a summer’s worth of fresh food for the cost of two fast food meals.