Learn how to transform your garden or even indoor space, no matter the size, with these handy tips and tricks from Greco Gardening.
Aaron Greco, 28, Keyworth attributes his early love for gardening to his grandad, who was a gardener and taught him his first skills when it came to gardening.
Some of Aaron’s earliest memories are ‘playing about in the garden and digging holes’.
However, Aaron fell out of love with gardening until April 2020 when Covid-19 convinced him to give gardening another try and he was hooked.
His favourite things to plant are tomatoes and grapes that come out in summertime.
Aaron started his own gardening company just over two years ago called Greco Gardening, starting with maintenance, weeding, lawn-mowing and hedge-cutting.
He now has a weekly plant stall at the village market selling his homegrown plants.
“I don’t really plan stuff out, I just like to freestyle it”.
Aaron Greco provided insights into tips and tricks for planting in smaller spaces.
He said: “If you’ve only got a window sill I would say use cartons, like milk cartons, that’s how I got started off.
“So I got a carboard carton, lay it on its side and then fill it with compost and sprinkle seeds.”
Greco says that the easiest thing to grow on a window sill would be lettuce, salad leaves and peas.
There are also ways of maximising smaller spaces such as using raised tyre planters and recycling guttering.
Aaron also talks about the importance of starting to prep your potatoes for planting.
To do this you can buy seed potatoes from a garden centre or shop and use an old egg box.
Then place them on the window seal allowing them to sprout.
When the sprouts are two inches long you know its time to plant them outside.
Greco said: “You just give them a head start really”.
Greco says that you should ‘save money where you can’.
He said: “I wanted to do everything for free.
“Ask friends, family, neighbours for the materials that you want.
“Save as many seeds as possible”.
He uses milk cartons to label all his plants as a way of recycling something that would otherwise be going to waste.
He said: “Taking cuttings of plants is really easy to do and very money saving”.
You can take cuttings of plants by trimming a stalk of an already grown plant and re-potting it.
Another way of saving money could be buying a small composter to put your food scraps in and save money buying compost.
We could all take a leaf out of Greco’s gardening book when he said: “I don’t really plan stuff out, I just like to freestyle it”.
Greco is most excited to plant Italian tomatoes and see his grapes grow this upcoming season.
You can follow Aaron Greco and Greco Gardening on Instagram @plantedbyaaron for all things gardening and planting.