Lowe’s & Home Depot: Save on Soil, Mulch, Fertilizer, and More (With This Helpful Reader Tip!)

By Collin | Owner

Feb 12, 2013 @ 6:16 PM MST

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With Spring getting closer, I want to share this very helpful email I received from Hip2Save reader, Nina, on how to save on soil, fertilizer, and more at Lowe’s and Home Depot! Check it out…

I discovered a way to save lots on gardening supplies such as soil, fertilizer & mulch at my local Lowe’s! Last summer I overheard another shopper in the outdoor garden supply area ask about repackaged bags of potting soil. It seems when the bags beonlinee ripped from handling the salesperson will put the entire bag into another clear plastic bag and the item is then half price. Some bags may have spilled and have only 1/2 or 3/4 left of the contents but many are full, they just have a hole or tear in them. I’ve purchased top soil, potting soil, fertilizer, mulch and gravel stones all for 50% off! Now each time I’m at my local Lowe’s I swing by the outdoor gardening section to see what bargains I can find. I may not need it at that moment but sooner or later I will (and there’s no expiration date)!

I’d love to hear your tips on how to save money on outdoor projects as well!

Join The Discussion

onlinements 35

Ang February 12, 2013 at 6:21 pm MST

Home Depot does that too!!

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Collin (Mrs. Hip) February 12, 2013 at 6:31 pm MST

Awesome! Just added to the post! 🙂

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daltonjsmom February 12, 2013 at 6:25 pm MST

We did this one fall at Home Depot and bought an suv full at 80% off. When we went back the following spring, it wasn’t as cheap. They guy in Lawn&Garden said they reduce it more when there is less demand.

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Stephanie February 12, 2013 at 6:28 pm MST

I got quite a few bags last year that way. Especially rock…the bags always rip on those. Plus, I get a 10% discount because my mom works there 😉

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dawn February 12, 2013 at 10:19 pm MST

Do you have to ask someone for it or is it on display for all to see?

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ercin13 February 12, 2013 at 6:28 pm MST

At home depot , sometimes the sod pieces are not cut properly and some are almost the size of 2 pieces but they will only charge you for 1 piece. It pays to look through the pile a bit, although it can be a dirty job.

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Hiro February 12, 2013 at 6:35 pm MST

My Walmart dose same way. My sister-in-law saved a lot last year.
But you need to ask…

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Kara February 12, 2013 at 6:37 pm MST

Lowes also does this with bird seeds. Just check out the bird seed sections

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naibuy February 12, 2013 at 6:57 pm MST

I don’t know about other cities, but the wonderful City of Los Angeles Sanitation Dept has 11 locations all through the city giving away free mulch from local parks and green bin collections. You just back your car/truck in and load as much as you want with your shovel. We’ve been doing it for a couple of years now and have been laying down couple of inches of mulch. 🙂

Here is a link that talks about it:
https://takeventura.online/free-mulch-for-your-garden-so-easy-youll-wonder/

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veronica0128 February 12, 2013 at 7:19 pm MST

yup out here in arlington tx our parks and rec department does the same thing several saturdays during spring 🙂

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Seana Yates February 16, 2013 at 5:26 pm MST

Hey, thanks for the shout out of my blog post on mulch. 😀 My site is now known as AlongVentura.online and still has all the same helpful info. Thanks again!

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Peggy February 12, 2013 at 7:14 pm MST

We just got 27 inches of snow where I live in Ma, oh how this talk makes me long for spring!

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JackieO February 12, 2013 at 11:46 pm MST

I feel you Peggy, I’m a Braintree Girl Myself! 🙁

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Kristen February 12, 2013 at 7:27 pm MST

So is there a certain place to find these or do you just have to ask if there’s any available?

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Heather B. February 12, 2013 at 7:46 pm MST

You just never know what deals you’ll find. i went to home depot the other day and right in the front of the store were clearance carts full of $1 products: mosquito foggers, and name brand citronella candles. The foggers were double packs and for sure will be at least $10 onlinee summer time. Also not garden related but dont forget to ask about the oops paint. You can save a lot of money this way too.

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Merideth February 12, 2013 at 7:52 pm MST

Where do you find these bags? Do you have to ask someone for them?

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Jill February 12, 2013 at 8:45 pm MST

In my store they are sitting along with the undamaged packages.

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katie February 12, 2013 at 7:55 pm MST

Not quite backing up lowes or homedepot, but if you can find a dump truck driver that will deliver stone, you can get cheap cheap gardening stone. Here in ohio you can get it for about $12 a ton at the stone quarry. Even if you were to drive a truck there and shovel it out, you could save tons of money on stone!

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Misty Nicole Overstreet February 12, 2013 at 8:08 pm MST

These are in the back of the mulch section at my local lowes, I’ve done this for years.

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Donnann T February 12, 2013 at 8:19 pm MST

at the Home Depot I work at, we also do this with water softener salt

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Jenifer February 12, 2013 at 9:04 pm MST

I noticed plant racks out by the dumpster at Home Depot. I asked the lawn & garden guy if they were trash and he said yes. There were hanging baskets with coco liners full of beautiful flowers. There was also flats of all kinds of flowers! We got several and the flowers look great in my planters!

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Crystal February 12, 2013 at 9:09 pm MST

My suggestion is to contact your city manager and ask if they have onlinepost or wood chips that you can have. Our city delivers it to me free of charge. All I did was look up the city managers email address on the city website and email him and he was so helpful and set it all up for me. Never hurts to ask. Most of the time this stuff is just a byproduct of their “beautification” projects around the city and they’re looking for places to dump it. Also tree services are good too for wood chips.

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llc February 12, 2013 at 9:57 pm MST

At home depot last spring they had 3 huge pallets of mulch. It was a pick your size and price deal. I got the medium sized one – $40 for over 80 bags of mulch. I brought a truck and they loaded it up (since it was on a pallet) with the forklift in minutes. Most of the bags were worn on the sides from sitting thru the summer sun but they had the entire thing wrapped in plastic. Best deal ever. I have been scouting the home improvement stores for a similar deal this year.

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Pam February 13, 2013 at 4:57 am MST

My gardens could be the advertisement for Lowes!!! I only buy perennial plants and never buy until they are on clearance. I watch especially for the 75% discounts. I then can purchase them in quantity. Lowes has a return policy that if your plant dies you may return it within one year. I keep all of my receipts and when I find a plant that has died I pull it out and keep all of my dead plants in one area and a few times a year I make my returns. You have to watch your dates on your receipts but I’ve never had any problems at the store. They are excellent with their customer returns. It does take some time and patience and you do have to be willing to make changed to your garden when things don’t thrive or die, but I have saved thousands of dollars while enoying the beauty of what has survived.

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April February 13, 2013 at 6:26 am MST

The clearance plants are exempt from the return policy

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coleen6000 February 13, 2013 at 5:57 am MST

My wonderful neighbors and I help each other by “split and share”. At the begining of every spring, and during our fall cleanup, we split our perennials, and share them with each other. We learn a little about other plants, nurture them, and save some money too. It is a great way to connect with each other after hibernating all winter.

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Erin February 13, 2013 at 6:33 am MST

This is a great idea 🙂

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Diane February 13, 2013 at 7:23 am MST

You can also use Ace Hardware or True Value coupons at HD and Lowe’s. We have replaced about 1/2 of our door knobs using Ace 1/2 off any item up to 30.00 coupons and are looking forward to replacing the rest. Our local city also has a free mulch program but since we live in the county and don’t own a truck to haul it home we have to pay for our mulch.

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donna February 13, 2013 at 7:48 am MST

Thank you for the info.Never thought of it.I work at Walmart and see them throwing away all kinds of planters,plants and etc.I asked if I can buy them and they said no.I guess I will bring my business to Lowes and Home depot.Any suggestions on who to ask maybe????

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Yustina February 13, 2013 at 8:28 am MST

I work at Lowe’s Outside Lawn&Garden dept. In my store if we see that we can tape it or the stuff not missing that much we have to tape it to reduce the shrink. But if the bags busted really bad, spilled 1/2 or more then i will put them in recovery bags. We put those repackaged bags with the undamaged bags. But if you see any bad busted bags and they’re not in recovery bags just let us know and we will take care of it and give you half price.

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Willard February 13, 2013 at 1:09 pm MST

Thank me, every time I go I tear a bag of top soil

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Manny February 13, 2013 at 7:01 pm MST

hahaha

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Ieva February 13, 2013 at 7:52 pm MST

that doesn’t sound very nice

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Yustina February 14, 2013 at 3:10 pm MST

Yes dont do that please! Be nice!

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Jenn May 11, 2013 at 4:18 pm MST

New Mexico lowes said corp has changed the policy to 10% off for recovery bags. I’m really not happy right now.

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