10 thrifty tips from The Money-Saving Gardener

A self-taught gardener, Anya grew up in Poland, beside the Baltic Sea, surrounded by people who were passionate about nature, wildlife and plants. She created her own garden on a budget by propagating plants, growing from seed, and always thinking about sustainability. 

Think differently 

Anya wants to encourage people to think differently about how they garden, “By choosing to buy less of what we don’t have, and waste less of what we do, we can all act to make gardening more sustainable. This approach encourages us to garden in harmony with nature, to listen to the changing of the seasons by growing our plants from seed or by propagation instead of impulsively buying mass-grown

Bedding plants are usually colourful half-hardy, short-lived or annual plants, grown for displays in beds or containers. They may be changed seasonally, with spring, summer and winter bedding displays each using different plants of appropriate hardiness and flowering times.

© Dorling Kindersley: Britt Willoughby-Dyer

Anya’s garden in Buckinghamshire, which was created using propagated plants

Anya’s top ten tips

1 Change your mindset 

2 Grow strong plants and take lots of cuttings

A method of growing new plants from parts of an existing plant, such as sections of root, stem, leaf or bud. When prepared correctly and planted in the right conditions, they can produce roots and eventually become independent plants. There is a wide range of different methods for taking cuttings, depending on the plant and time of year.

cuttings

• The videos are from Anya Lautenbach’s personal YouTube account

3 Let nature give you a hand  

Scatter seeds around the garden at the right time in the right place, instead of starting them off in trays, letting nature just do it for you. This works well in gravel areas where seeds can easily germinate without us being involved. 

Create quick stunning effects using annual seeds

4 Get creative

Grow your own gifts instead of buying them. Save money by growing your own wreaths, made from plants such as asters, strawflowers, grasses, shrubs with ornamental branches and ornamental seed heads. Create pots of joy, filled with floral arrangements as gifts for friends and family.

You can also make your own plant supports using pruned branches, instead of spending money on readymade products. Avoid dogwood, fruit bushes and willow as they’ll easily root (unless you want more of these!)

5 Leave the lawn

6 Alternative bedding

Use what you have in the garden, instead of buying annual bedding. Use propagated

Perennials are any plant living for at least three years. The term is also commonly used for herbaceous perennials which grow for many years (To compare: annual = one year, biennial = two years).

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

perennials

7 Ask friends and family

Swap seeds with friends and gardening groups

8 Compost for free

Make your own

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.

9 Save water

• Grow drought-tolerant plants

• Collect rainwater (in water butts)

• Water in the morning or evening to minimise evaporation loss

• Mulch (I use grass cuttings, a fantastic nitrogen-rich money-saving solution)

• Collect wastewater (washing up, bath, fish tank)

• Check for leaks in the hose

• Line terracotta pots and hanging baskets with used plastic compost bags to reduce evaporation

• Avoid sprinklers in the garden, they are not water efficient. 

10 Reuse and repurpose

Show Garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival

Listen to Anya on the Gardening with the RHS podcast