Get wise to plants
Approach your plants sensibly and you’ll never have to spend more than a few pounds on them again! Prepare early in the year
to sow seed – they’re cheap enough from garden centres centres, free with Garden News or even collected from your own plants. And it’ll save you y m buying expensive plugs or pot la A plants. Master it and you’ll have a ready-grown selection of gifts for friends, too! Use a good seed compost, practise good cleaning and hygiene principles, make sure you aim for the best temperature and light for each plant, and you’ll flourish, year on year, with probably too many plants! A good tip is that rotted down leaf mould makes a great seed compost – cheap and cheerful.
Take cuttings from everything – late summer is a great time to do this from all the new stems of your favourite plants. Pick a healthy stem, cut above a bud and remove its lower leaves. Dip in hormone rooting powder and pot up. It’s as simple as that in many cases, and only costs your time.
Bag those bargains – Bargain plant sales and garden centre sell-offs of wilted seconds are just as good as any other plants, they just need a bit of nurturing to get them back up to speed. Trim off dead foliage and water well, giving a feed if need be. The rule is, if it’s still alive, there’s hope for it!
Ban the bedding! – Bedding plants are lovely but need constant feed and water to thrive, a lot of time spent on them and usually last only one season. Perennials are sturdier, more stylish, longer-lasting, less needy and tend to cost less, too. It’s a no-brainer!
Make life easy for yourself – Grow easier plants. Geraniums, Alchemilla mollis, most grasses and wallflowers seem to thrive just by looking at them! Most bulbous plants need little care too, can be bought in bulk to spread around happily, and are the easiest to plant.