People in the northern hemisphere! Now is a great time to start a garden. Never better, really. There may be price shocks and supply disruptions for food this year, and if you can soften that a little and learn a little and enjoy some nature, that is really really worth it.
Starting a garden does require some monetary inputs, but there are ways to soften it. If you are renting or only have a sunny balcony, container gardening is the way to go. You may not grow much, but it'll be fun and you'll gain experience. To save money on containers, you can use grow bags like these:
[get these particular ones at the Epic Gardening store]
Or you could sew your own if you have a stash of heavy canvas, or drill holes in old buckets or trash cans, or in a pinch even just grow right in the soil bag by putting drainage holes in the bottom and rolling down the top (though it will break down sooner or later, especially in direct sun).
If you're handy with a hammer and saw, check out the idea of salad boxes.
[Information here from the University of Maryland extension service]
If you can plant in-ground, know that tilling is neither necessary nor recommended, so you don't need a tiller. What you can do instead is something often called lasagna gardening. See what you can get for free cardboard (chain stores tend to have a compactor these days, but if you ask at smaller local stores you can probably get a bunch of boxes) and yard waste. Then pick a spot and put down the cardboard, then top it with whatever you can afford/get for mulch, yard waste, and compost (or aged manure if you live in an area with farms; often you can get this for the cost of hauling it away). Ideally you'd (*I'd* haha) have done this in the fall, so the material has a chance to break down and be processed by the soil life, but if you do it now, you can still plant small plants by just cutting through the cardboard with a trowel to dig the holes. The material will break down over the course of the year.
Notably, planting seeds directly is trickier with this method. You might be able to get away with just piling a couple inches of bought potting soil on top of the paper and hoping the paper breaks down enough by the time your plant roots get down that far. I'm going to have to learn more about this myself this year.
If you only have a sunny windowsill or a single grow light to start seedlings, that's fine; check out the seed snail method of starting seedlings--it's economical of both space and soil.
Seeds are pretty affordable as-is, but you can also check around in your area for seed swaps and seed libraries, where you can often get seeds for free. Your public library, Master Gardeners group, or FB are all good places to look.
This is NOT a complete coverage of the topic. It's just meant to serve as an encouragement to consider that you might have options even if you didn't think you did. You don't need good soil or a tiller or a prepared bed or the ability to plant in ground. All you need is some sun and growing medium. The internet offers a wealth of knowledge for gardening, even with limited resources.
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