Unusual gardening hacks to save time and money

“Nature doesn’t really have any rules, so I just do things my way by experimenting,” says Simon Akeroyd, RHS-trained gardener, author and social media influencer with more than 2.4 million followers.

Akeroyd, author of more than 30 gardening books, has now written Way To Grow, which offers hacks to save time and money in the garden, along with some inspirational, simple growing techniques.

“I think we make it (gardening) really long-winded because there are so many different ways of growing things. There isn’t just one way of doing things.”

Here, the Devon-based garden expert offers seven hacks to save you time and money.

1. Nurture beds with keyhole gardening

Rather than having a separate compost heap, pile your composting materials into the centre of a round raised bed, so all the goodness will leach out into the area of the raised bed where you are growing plants, he suggests.

So called, because from above it looks like a keyhole with a notch in the circle to provide access to the compost heap, you can build the raised bed from whatever you have – bricks, rubble or other material, he says.

“The crops that you then plant in the raised bed around the central compost will be fed and it also reduces the amount of watering for your crop. Almost any vegetable would benefit, from lettuces and cabbages to courgettes and pumpkin.”

You don’t have to turn it and if you need more space, spread it over the bed as a mulch.

2. Make a feather and potato bird-scarer

“Basically you take an old potato, stick feathers in it, then use a skewer to make a hole through the middle of it, get a piece of string and thread it through and tie the potato up, suspending it over your crops. It moves in the wind and scares birds,” he says.

3. Liquid feed with bindweed

We’ve all heard about the benefits of homemade comfrey and nettle feed, but did you know you can make plant food out of pernicious bindweed?

“I dig it up – and you have to get the roots – and just chuck it in a bucket of water and let it rot. The problem with bindweed is that you can’t add it to your compost heap because the roots will just start growing in your compost.

“But if you drown it you can use it as a liquid feed as it’s high in nitrogen and potassium so it’s a great way of recycling bindweed roots. Make sure it has rotted, which takes a good few weeks. The roots, which look like white spaghetti, should have gone black and feel squishy. Then you have this lovely liquid feed.”

4. Deter slugs

“The easiest way to get rid of slugs is to take a plank of wood and lean it on to the shady side of your raised bed to create a shelter for them to gather.

“I water it in the evening, as slugs and snails like it slightly damp. The next morning, pick your plank up and you’re likely to find loads of slugs and snails on the underside of the plank.”

His other favourite slug deterrent hack is to use sheep’s wool around the base of plants.

“We’ve got sheep roaming around near where I live and I pick loads of wool caught in barbed wire fences and on the hawthorn trees and collect in a bag.

“For some reason, slugs and snails don’t go near it.”

5. Make a cactus out of dragon fruit

“One of the more unusual fruits to grow is the dragon fruit. You literally cut it open and scoop out some of the black seeds which are like little specks.

“Spread them out of a plate and leave them to dry. Once they are dry, pick them up, sprinkle them over the compost and you get this mass of cactus – and you can grow them like that, or prick them out individually.

“I’ve got a dragon fruit plant growing on my windowsill, which is about two or three years old. Whether I get any fruit off it, I don’t know. But it’s a very dramatic, architectural plant, a really great houseplant – and it cost nothing.”

6. Build a mesh potato tower

“This is great for space-saving and you don’t have to do any digging or earthing up. Put three or four little posts in a small circle and wrap chicken wire around them in a cylinder shape, securing the wire with string to stop it unrolling. I didn’t dig up the grass where I made one.”

Put around 25cm of compost into the bottom of the tower then add four equally spaced potatoes. Cover them with another 25cm of compost then add more potatoes. Keep repeating until you’ve reached the top of the tower.

“You could put a maincrop in the bottom, then second earlies a bit higher up and your first earlies at the top and more compost – then you could gradually harvest them. Your first earlies ripen first, so you’ll work your way down the tower as and when you want the potatoes.”

7. Put white stones under fruit trees

“Before I studied horticulture, I studied viticulture. What I noticed travelling through vineyards in France and Spain is that they use white pebbles underneath the rows of their vineyard to reflect the light, because of course white reflects the light up into the bunches of grapes.

“Now I use it for ripening tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and fruit. I put white pebbles on the layer of compost and it reflects up into the canopy, and helps ripen cucumbers, squashes and many other fruit and veg.”

Way To Grow: Over 100 Hacks For Green-fingered Greatness by Simon Akeroyd is published by DK, priced £16.99. Available now