When you are new to growing your own, choose plants that are easy to grow and pay their way. The veg varieties I choose here don’t entail buying any expensive equipment such as a propagator or a plastic or glass mini greenhouse. These are budget suggestions.

As well as growing some of your favourite veg, fruit or herbs, select ones where freshness matters, such as with lettuce or courgettes, and forget about the likes of potatoes that store well enough anyway.

Many veg varieties are easy to grow and it’s cheaper to raise your own plants from seed rather than buying plants.

So go for seeds – not the small plants seed companies are always urging you to get. One thousand parsley seeds cost 99p while three established plants retail for £13.95.

Wherever possible, save cash by choosing open-pollinated seed rather than F1 hybrids. You can get 25 Zucchini courgette seed for 99p but 10 F1 Defender seeds cost £13.99.

You only need a couple of courgette plants so 25 seeds will be more than enough for a few years.

Open-pollinated seeds also produce plants that breed true to the parent plant so you could save seed from a plant at the end of the season and use them in later years. F1s do not breed true like this so you have to buy fresh every year. This keeps the tills ringing while emptying your pocket.

With very limited space, herbs are an excellent choice for many folk. Some, such as mint or chives, should be bought as plants as you only need one, but the likes of parsley needs to be sown in a seed tray on a sunny windowsill in March.

When the first frilly leaves appear, prick out into small pots or even toilet roll holders, and plant out after a fortnight. During warm, sunny April weather, you could even plant direct from the seed tray.

Coriander and dill can be sown direct in to the soil when it is warm, from April onwards.

Nothing cheers up a sandwich more than your own freshly cut lettuce leaves. When choosing which kind to grow, avoid salad mixes as the varieties may harvest at different times, making picking a bit harder. It’s much better to sow two or three individual varieties in separate rows.

Successional sowing keeps the show on the road during spring and early summer. Salad rocket, especially Esmée, grows well in Scotland from mid-March onward, provided the ground isn’t covered in snow, of course.

Other options for direct sowing include: Swiss chard, beetroot and ball-rooted carrots like Paris Market. You could also cheer up a wall or high fence by planting a few runner beans in early summer.

 

Plant of the week

Evernia prunastri, Oak Moss. This is a lichen not a moss and it grows on a range of deciduous trees as well as oak. The pale grey green, flattened branches grow in tufts, drooping downwards and can be conspicuous against a dark winter sky. Lichens are to be welcomed in a garden, or anywhere else, they are a sign of clean air and a healthy environment and are very beautiful when you look closely. They use trees only as an anchor, taking nothing from the tree.