Gardening on a budget

In this new series, Stephanie Hafferty shows you the many different ways you can save money on your fruit and veg by growing your own

- Stephanie Hafferty

I love the creativity of gardening, finding different ways of growing my own as cheaply as possible. Having grown some food in corners of gardens and on windowsills since my teens, I created my first veg plot while pregnant with my daughter (she is now 26) with a budget of £0, using my grandad’s old tools and seeds and transplants donated by friends and neighbours, plus potatoes I’d found sprouting in the veg basket. That year I gathered harvests of herbs, tomatoes, beans, strawberries, potatoes and sunflowers, all grown for free.

Over the years the size of my veg plot (and family!) has grown and I now produce most of my vegetables, fruit, herbs and edible flowers year round. For much of this time I had to be as frugal as possible, money was tight raising three children on my own. Necessity being the mother of invention, I found ways of growing as much as possible on a budget. Based on this experience, over the year I’ll be sharing seasonal ideas for growing your own for very little money or for free.

STICKS FOR PEAS AND BEANS

In January, I like to start preparing for the coming growing year, including gathering sticks for peas and beans. This is a lovely warming job for a cold January day. I cut the hazel right back with a small saw, leaving stems of around 5-6cm (2-2½in) and then cut the sticks at right angles at the bottom – this makes it easier to push them in the ground later on in the year. Long sturdy sticks are bundled together for beans, and thin sticks bundled together for the peas. The little offcuts are gathered and dried for woodburner kindling.