A Quick Guide to Sustainable Gardening

What can you expect here:

1. Reuse and Recycle - plant your seeds even more sustainably

2. Save Water - few tips and tricks to use less water

3. Encourage Wildlife - it has so many benefits to our world

4. More tips! - Learn more various hacks for you eco-friendly garden.

As I write this, pretty much every single windowsill in our house is covered in pots and trays full of baby plants which need a LOT of containers to grow in!

Instead of buying new pots I kept and reused old ones from plants I had bought the year before. But it is important to give them a good wash before refilling with fresh compost though to get rid of soil salt deposits and plant diseases.

However I got so excited about growing seeds this year I soon ran out of actual pots so had a rummage through my recycling bin to see what else I could use.

And you know what?

I have discovered that old plastic food trays make great seed trays and yogurt pots can be used for growing individual plants when they are big enough to pot on.

Make sure you poke holes in the bottom of any plastic container if it doesn’t have them already. Then, pop them on a tray or in a larger food container with no holes to catch any water that drains out after watering them.

Talking of watering, why not reuse an old cleaning spray bottle to water your seedlings? Just give it a really good rinse out first.

It is now time to start planting out my biggest plant babies and I am finding that plastic 2 litre bottles with the bottoms cut off make great cloches to protect young plants, acting both as a mini greenhouse and slug deterrent. You can take the lid off during the day to let the air in and pop it on at night to keep them warmer.

If you don’t use plastic bottles or milk containers yourself ask family or friends to save some for you. You can melt the raw edge to make it ‘roll in’ by placing it on a hot pan which makes them studier too. There are some good tutorials out there about how to do this so just have a search.

Chances are that your gardening uses up a lot of water as well. This year I am trying to find ways to give my plants a drink without resorting to the tap as often as I have in the past.

• Obviously having a water butt in the garden is a great way to collect rain water but if you don’t have space or don’t want to buy one then just popping some buckets and other containers out when it rains is also a great way to collect it to use on your garden when the soil dries out again.
• Another brilliant idea my good friend Beth told me about recently is the concept of ‘Grey water’ Which means recycling the dirty water from your washing up and baths. You need to use the water quickly before any bacteria present will feed on any organic matter like food particles. But beware: it is not recommended to use it on any plants you are growing for veg or fruit but it is perfect for general flowerbeds or houseplants.
• Another simple piece of advice I have been following myself is to water less but water well. Give your plants a really good soak so that it reaches right down to the roots. If only the top layer gets wet it will soon dry out and need water again far more quickly.

An extra tip: For pots both outside and in I tend to water from below and sometimes simply pop all my houseplants in my bath with a few inches of left over bath water for an easy way to water them all in one go. The exception to this is seedlings and baby plants who really don’t like being over watered which is why I tend to use an old spray bottle and water them daily.

The cool thing is that wildlife like bees, butterflies, birds, ladybirds and hedgehogs are all very beneficial for our gardens, some pollinating plants and others eating aphids and slugs. That's why this year I have planted some more wild flowers in our garden like Red Campion and have let some areas of our lawn grow so that they are now full of dandelions, daisies and clover.

When choosing plants remember bees prefer single flowers over double ones and love tubular shaped blooms like foxgloves and snapdragons. Purple flowers like Lavender and Buddleja are also great for bees who can see purple more clearly than any other colour.

A few years ago my children April and Joseph helped build a simple bug hotel using some old bricks, bits of wood, plant pots and natural materials like pine cones and this year we are going to add a bee hotel and make a hole in the fence to let hedgehogs in.

Leaving out water for wildlife is also important but so is remembering to change it often so it doesn't go stagnant!