At home with: Beth Otway

FTB: Tell us about your first step on the property ladder?

BO: My first property was a two bedroom, semi-detached cottage in Godalming in Surrey. I devoted a lot of love and energy to this property and created a beautiful secret garden. I had hoped to live there for a long time, but we ended up moving on after just two years. Some years later we were considering moving back to Godalming; the first house that popped up on Rightmove was our first home, which over the years had risen out of our price range.

FTB: How did you get into gardening?

BO: I’ve always been a gardener and I’ve always been fascinated by plants. As a child I spent all my time in the garden studying plants, flowers and butterflies, sowing seeds and taking cuttings. I love helping people and sharing my knowledge. When I was younger I would give my friends, neighbours and acquaintances advice on how to help their plants and so often they would ask me to write it down for them.

Beth Otway is a horticulturist and garden writer with a passionate interest in plant conservation, and holds the National Collection of Miniature Phalaenopsis Species and the National Collection of Miniature Aerangis and Angraecum Species. She has a passion for houseplants; her Surrey home is jam-packed full of plants! Beth talks to Lynda Clark about her first home, her love of allotments, favourite gardening tools and admiration for Martin Lewis

Photos © pumpkinbeth.com

I used to organise and write all the press releases for Godalming in Bloom. A couple of the local publications that received my press releases asked me if I would write a regular column for them. I’ve been a freelance garden writer for over 10 years and I’ve been writing my gardening blog, pumpkinbeth.com for nine years.

FTB: What advice do you have for first time buyers?

BO: Location really is key. A bathroom or kitchen can be impressive and captivating, but something similar can be recreated in every home, on every street. Eventually kitchens and bathrooms become dilapidated and need replacing – whereas the view from the lounge window and the beauty of the local countryside, or the distance from the train station and journey time to a particular town or city is unique to the dwelling and is more important to evaluate and consider when buying a property.

None of us knows what the future holds, so one of life’s true luxuries is an emergency fund. This is something I’d recommend first time buyers save for. Ideally an emergency fund will cover six months’ worth of mortgage payments, bills, and essential expenditure.

I have hundreds of ideas of how to save money in the garden, but for ideas on reducing household expenditure I take my inspiration from Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis – who shares fantastic ideas and offers for saving money on all aspects of life, from tips for making smart purchases to reducing household bills and travel costs.

Moving home is an expensive, time consuming and stressful activity; it’s not something I would rush into doing again! Try to visualise different scenarios (positive and negative) for your future and consider the options and limitations that any potential home could offer when your circumstances change.

For me, the one incentive to moving home is the thought of all the different houseplants and garden plants I could grow! I love trialling plants and discovering the best houseplants for shaded conditions as well as for bright, sunny rooms. The option of a new houseplant or orchid trial is a tempting prospect!

FTB: If you are a keen gardener but you can’t afford a home with outside space, is there anything you can do?

BO: There are plus sides and drawbacks to everything in life and however big or small your budget, no property is perfect. If you want a garden but you can’t afford to purchase a house or flat with a garden, consider purchasing a property near an allotment site or a local community garden. Having said that, in some areas there are waiting lists for allotments – so add your name to the list as soon as your offer is accepted. Another way to speed up your allotment application is to offer to take on a full or half-sized plot or volunteer to help an existing plot holder with their allotment.

Getting an allotment is a great thing to do! If you’re thinking of joining a gym, why not consider taking on an allotment instead? You could grow your own healthy food while taking exercise, making new friends, and socialising! I have so many happy memories of times spent at the various allotments I’ve tended in Scotland and Surrey. I’ve made some superb friends at my allotments and cultivated a vast range of edible plants and cut flowers. I’d recommend allotments to everyone; they can be life-enriching spaces!

Our lives are busy. Work and household tasks drain a lot of our time and energy. Naturally it’s easy to put off doing things. When you haven’t visited your allotment for a couple of weeks or more it can be quite a shock to see how much the weeds have grown. When you recall how hard you worked at your previous visit, seeing the plot look the same or worse than when you started can be very demoralising. Try to avoid this by aiming to visit your allotment at least once a week and ideally more often.

Some allotment holders prefer to have set days of the week to visit their allotment –perhaps one or more evenings after work in the spring and summer months, as well as a Saturday or Sunday.

When taking on an over-grown allotment, you might choose to spend your first visit clearing anything the previous custodian left on site. Then start at one side of the plot and begin clearing any plants you don’t want. Before you leave, sow at least one row of seeds, if you can. The types of seeds you can sow will vary depending on the time of year, as well as how sunny the site is, and what the soil is like.

At your next visit, start right at the beginning – at the area you weeded and cleared. Use a hoe to skim over the soil on your weed-free patch, taking care to keep your distance as you hoe around rows of seeds or seedlings. A hoe is my favourite tool. Hoeing the ground each week will help prevent weeds germinating. Next, water your seedlings if necessary and continue clearing. Before you leave, sow a row or two of seeds if you can. Repeat the cycle of maintaining your weed-free area at each allotment visit before you make a start on clearing new ground and remember to sow seeds before you leave.

For ideas of which seeds you could sow this month and tips on growing a wide range of orchids and houseplants, visit Beth’s website pumpkinbeth.com