‘Repurpose everything!’ Gardening expert’s 10 top tips to fill your outside space for free
AS the cost of living crisis hits harder, prepping your garden for Spring can seem prohibitively expensive.
But fear not - a new book by Anya Lautenbach is bursting with tips and tricks to save you money.
And she has shared with Sun Gardening how she cut costs to create a beautiful garden for free.
Mother-of-two Anya, 46, who has a million followers on social media, grew up in Poland - where there were no garden centres.
“Everything was turned into something useful,” she said. “We were self-sufficient through necessity.
“When I came to the UK, it astonished me how much equipment people say you need, with gardening gadgets for everything.
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“It puts people off, it’s not good for the environment and you just don’t need it.
“We all get a dopamine hit from getting a garden centre bargain, but I challenge myself to recreate that buzz by propagating from my own garden for free. There’s nothing like it.”
After a terrible family tragedy, Anya, who has ADHD, discovered that digging in the garden and growing new cuttings helped ground her, giving her purpose and taking her back to her Polish roots.
Now she posts regularly from her Buckinghamshire home, as @anya_thegarden_fairy about her neurodiversity, upcyling, propegation and how to create a dream garden on a shoestring budget.
She told Sun Gardening: “When you come back from the supermarket, repurpose containers like tall pots for cream or yoghurt to plant sweetpeas and seedlings.
"Heat a nail over the cooker and use it to make drainage holes in the bottom. Use the mushroom or grape containers for seedlings.
“When you prune branches, use them for plant support. When you mow the lawn, use the cuttings as mulch.
“Collect stinging nettles and comfrey to make plant food.
“Use old toilet rolls to plant sweetpeas and plant them directly in the garden and make your own compost if you have room,.”
She added; “Instead of paying for new bedding plants, dig up your self seeded seedlings, and put them in pots for lovely displays.
“It’s all about changing your mindset that gardens create waste, and instead use everything you have already to create a beautiful garden without breaking the bank.”
The £16.99 Money Saving Gardener, published by DK Gardening, is out now.
KEW BLIMEY!
KEW’S annual orchid festival is now open to the public and I cannot recommend it enough.
This year it’s inspired by the island of Madagascar - and has an incredible array of some of the most stunning orchids in a natural setting.
Around 5000 orchids were used to create the fabulous floral displays throughout the Princes of Wales conservatory, helped by Master Florist and Kew Ambassador Henck Röling.
Solène Dequiret from Kew, said: “It’s wonderful to be able to draw inspiration from the incredible plant and animal life of Madagascar, an ecosystem like nowhere else on earth.”
Alongside the impressive floral sculptures, the team has recreated some of the island’s most iconic wildlife.
For more photos, top tips to keep orchids alive at home, and exclusive video content, visit https://thesun.co.uk/orchid-tips
FLOWER POWER
IT’s nearly Valentines Day! And our friends at Blossoming Gifts are offering Sun Gardening readers 40 per cent off their Valentines Day Bouquets!
Just use the code SUNV40 at https://www.blossominggifts.com/valentines-day-deal before Feburary 13, 2024.
T&Cs: Excludes delivery charges and add on gifts. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Valid on full priced bouquets only. Excludes subscriptions.
For my review of the best Flower Subscriptions available right now visit https://www.thesun.co.uk/shopping/23547827/best-flower-subscription-services/
BLOOMING MARVELLOUS!
A RARE flower which blooms just once a year - for 12 hours only - has finally blossomed.
The Amazonian cactus, known as a moonflower, or Strophocactus Wittii, burst into life at Cambridge University Botanic Garden on Friday last week.
TOP TIP!
Birds still need help finding food in February - and they love grated hard cheese! So leave out breadcrumbs, hard cheese, leftover mashed potato and peanuts.
THIS WEEK'S JOB!
Time to start thinking about cutting back deciduous ornamental grasses, like Miscanthus, Calamagrostis or Pennisetum, right back to the base, before fresh green shoots appear.
SAVE!
Bring all the birds to the yard with this swanky squirrel proof £34.99 feeder from roamwild
or go cheep with this Homebase version for £5.
WIN!
Soon our feathered friends will start nesting - and what better way to see them than this Robert Dyas Green Feathers Wifi Birdbox Camera bundle, worth £194.99!
To enter visit www.thesun.co.uk/BIRDBOXCOMP
Or write to Sun Birdbox competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP.
Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 24/02/24. One winner only.
Terms and Conditions can be found HERE
LEARN!
Q. A bamboo that has been dug up and removed from my garden still keeps shooting up stems in my lawn. How can I remove them? Mrs E Bell, Isle of Man
A. Bamboo is an absolute nightmare and sadly there’s no quick fix. The invasive version sends out underground rhizomes spreading through gardens like wildfire.
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Try digging them all out with a very sharp hand trowel - and follow the rhizomes, pulling them up as you go.
You can try a concentrated glyphosate weed killer, like Roundup Ultra, - but it’s expensive and could damage your lawn.
