The price of raw materials for garden products continues to rise, with costs of potting media, paper, plastics and plastic substitutes, fertiliser and energy remaining high. Here are some environmentally sustainable, seasonal solutions to ease the pressure on your wallet.
8 money-saving ideas for spring
1) Grow fast flowering plants from seed
Raise speedy Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. They are generally easy to grow from seed or can be bought as young plants from garden centres. Annuals are ideal for growing in summer containers and filling gaps in borders. Some examples of annuals include sunflowers, cosmos, sweet peas and zinnia.
2) Sustainable seed sowing
Instead of buying pots and cell trays, make your own using newspaper and paper roll centres. Alternatively use supermarket goods trays to grow seeds in. Space seeds evenly and plant out when they are big enough. Except for some plants that favour undisturbed roots, calabrese and sunflowers for example, this works nearly as well as cell trays.
Gardeners with well drained soil in full sun can sow their seeds for planting straight in the ground from mid-April, transplanting A seedling is a young plant grown from seed.
3) Learn to love your weeds
There are some showy weeds, hawkbit and green alkanet for example, that can be lifted and potted to be replanted (perhaps best not to let them set seeds though). Or just leave them in situ, closely supervised, for a touch of the wild. Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: • Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.
4) Plant from your pantry
Sweet potatoes make lovely lush, summer foliage – in fact some cultivars have been specifically bred for this. Sprout them in the airing cupboard and plant in the garden once the risk of frost has passed. Plant supermarket onions in spring and they will produce large, purple, globe-like summer flowers loved by bees, much like their cousins the ornamental alliums. Carrots, if grown on, will produce feathery insect-friendly flower heads, which look rather like cow parsley or the trendy annual, Ammi majus.
5) Buy plug plants
Grow on Seedlings or young plants grown singly in small modules, with the advantage that they can be transplanted with minimal root disturbance. Bedding plants and young veg plants are often sold as plug plants of various sizes, with smaller ones requiring more aftercare. They usually need to be potted up and grown on indoors until large enough to plant outside.
6) Use smaller tender plants as ‘stock plants’
You could also buy small tender plants such as Argyranthemum and fuchsias to act as ‘stock plants’. Repot into fresh potting compost and place on your sunniest windowsill or in a conservatory if you have one. Liquid feed once roots appear at the bottom of the pot. Remove young soft shoots, nip out the softest A bud is a small, undeveloped shoot that contains the potential for new growth. Buds are typically found on stems, where they can be apical (found at the tip) or axillary (found between leaf axils) and may develop into leaves, shoots or flowers.
A heated propagator is a portable heated structure with a vented lid and adjustable, constant, thermostatic temperature control. It provides a warm, humid environment to help seeds germinate and cuttings to root quickly.
7) Feed your plants for free
The price of fertiliser has also risen markedly. However, it is easy to make your own free, and much more sustainable, alternative. Gather rampant spring growth of borage, lawn grass, nettles and green alkanet, and place in a covered bucket for a week or two. The resulting, rather smelly, ‘liquor’, diluted with water to straw colour, makes a liquid fertiliser that, being weak, can be used generously.
8) Recycled compost
Potting compost is costly, and although the expense is generally worth the investment when sowing seeds or raising young plants, there are less pricey options for the large amounts needed to fill tubs and troughs. Mixing spent potting compost from last year with fresh material is a good option.
For long term containers containing shrubs or a tree, adding 30% (by volume) of fine landscape Bark is the outermost layer of woody plants (trees, shrubs and woody climbers). It is several cells thick and provides protection against physical damage, disease and environmental stresses. Bark comes in a wide variety of colours and patterns, and these can help gardeners when identifying plants. The fissures and crevices of bark on older plants also creates valuable habitat for many garden creatures as well as lichens and small plants.
