Grow your own garden sundries

Save money, save plastic, save the planet...

By choosing and using useful plants such as hazel (Corylus avellana), willow (Salix), dogwood (Cornus), and New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) in your garden, you'll be able to grow a surprising range of garden sundries.

These plants not only look good, they'll keep your shed well stocked, too.

Annaick Guitteny

Garden sundries to grow at home

Beanpoles: Grow coppiced hazel and you get ramrod-straight stems that make excellent plant supports. Harvest three-year old stems in late winter once they’re 3–5cm (1¼–2 inches) in diameter. Trim off the twiggy tops (but save them for supporting peas) to make poles about 2.5m (8ft) tall.

Plant supports: No need for ugly plastic stakes; weave together plant supports from coppiced stems of dogwood or birch, or use corkscrew hazel. Avoid using willow as it's likely to root and the resulting plants may overwhelm whatever you were trying to support in the first place.

Plant labels: Cut a hazel twig about 10cm (4in) long and 2cm (¾in) in diameter, and whittle the bark

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.

off one end with a sharp knife to make a flat surface. Wooden labels absorb water, smudging your writing, so paint with water-based varnish to seal it or tie the label to the plant instead of sticking it into the compost

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.

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How to grow a low carbon garden

Garden twine

Twine is a soft, fine loosely woven string treated with preservatives for outdoor use. Used for tying in climbers and other plants to supports.

: New Zealand flax makes a handsome ornamental garden perennial

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.

, but it also has tough, fibrous leaves that provide a never-ending supply of garden twine. Cut a leaf away at the base, split it lengthways, and peel away long, stringy fibres from the edge.

Fencing and trellis: Hazel, willow, and dogwood make wonderful fences, arches, and trellises. Weave young willow or dogwood stems between hazel uprights, or make a simple trellis by lashing together straight hazel stems with flax string to make a grid.

Greenhouse shading: Plant runner beans along the sunny side of a greenhouse and train up strings tied to the roof to provide shade in summer. When you need more light in autumn, simply remove them.

RHS How to Garden the Low-Carbon Way

How to grow your own sweet pea supports

Annaick Guitteny

Sweet peas ramble over a hazel dome at RHS Garden Wisley

Weave together sturdy hazel uprights with young, whippy willow or dogwood stems to make a beautiful, long-lasting support for sweet peas, annual climbers, or climbing beans:

Step 1

Cut six to eight straight hazel stems, 2–3cm (1–1½in) diameter, and trim to the same length – 1.8m (6ft) works well.

Step 2

Push the poles firmly into the ground to make a circle, with each pole crossing at the top. Lash them together firmly with string.

Step 3

Weave stems of young willow or dogwood in and out between the uprights in wide bands. Try brilliant scarlet Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, or flame coloured Salix alba var. vitellina.

Step 4

Plant one or two young plants at the foot of each upright, water in, and tie them in with flax string to guide them into the support as they grow.

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Grow your own garden sundries

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