2 weeks Ago By Michael Moran
With the price of more-or-less everything rising all the time, there’s a lot to be said for focusing on simple pleasures such as gardening. But even there, you can save money with a little forward planning. Anya Lautenbach has garnered a massive following for her budget-conscious gardening tips, and in her new book The Money-Saving Garden Year, she guides her readers month by month with each season’s essential jobs – with a special focus on minimal outlay for maximum results.
Although the gardening year is beginning to wind down now, and the days are drawing shorter, there’s still plenty to do in November, Anya told the Daily Express. She recommends buying bare root plants this month instead of the potted up versions later in spring: “I teach people how to save money in the garden,” she says, “and I also like to support the horticultural industry.” She explains: “Buying bare root roses, shrubs and trees in November will not only save people a lot of money, but it will also positively contribute to our environment, because there is less packaging involved in this process, plus the industry gets supported.
Win-win for everyone and that's the best outcome in my opinion.” She explains that her economical approach stems from her early years in Poland: “I left Poland nearly two decades ago,” she said, “and life back then was completely different to what it is now. When I was growing up in the eighties, growing your own food wasn't a choice, it was a way of surviving.
” Anya added: “If you didn't grow, you simply didn't eat. I remember growing up in an atmosphere of gratitude for the food that our garden was giving us. Nothing was being taken for granted and nothing got wasted.
” Although Anya now lives in leafy Buckinghamshire, she still continues with that philosophy today. When she moved into her home 11 years ago, its garden was almost completely bare. But over the past decade or so, she’s transformed that arid wasteland into a riot of colour – at a total estimated cost of around £1,000.
Anya keeps costs down by growing many of her plants from seed, propagating as much as possible, and making her own compost and fertiliser. She says: “Now my world is different and I live in a different country, but I still like to live the same way as I was brought up. Grow your own and feel grateful for every stem and every fruit or veg your land is giving you is the way forward.
" Even if her new book hadn’t just been published, this would still be a special time of year for Anya: “I adore autumn,” she revealed. “This is where a lot of gardening gets done, but it's also a very peaceful time for me. "I like to reflect on the previous seasons and make plans for the coming ones.
“As a person with ADHD I'm very sensitive to the beauty our gardens offer us at this time of year, to the movement of ornamental grasses, stunning colours of trees such as Sumac and ornamental cherries and the colours of Asters. Gardens at this time of the year can turn onto a symphony of colours and I just love to stop and admire the changes and miracles on our doorstep.” The Money-Saving Garden Year: A Month-by-month Guide to a Great Garden that Costs Less, published by Dorling Kindersley, is available in bookshops and online now.
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