Now is a great time of year to be lifting and dividing plants in the garden.

This simply means taking plants out of the ground, dividing them up at the roots and replanting the pieces in different locations.

The new plants that you have created for free can be used in a variety of ways. I’ve always felt that you don’t need much space or money to grow stuff, just some imagination Last week we had to lift some Verbena bonariensis to make way for a new hedge. Verbena looks lovely this time of year — too lovely to throw on the compost. So one of our guys had the inspired idea of replanting it in an old disused recycling bin he found in a skip. It’s made a wonderful, instant and colourful display now taking pride of place in my back garden. All for free!

This got me thinking about what else we could recycle to keep our green performance up to scratch. Virtually anything can be recycled and used as a container for growing stuff. As long as you make sure that the container has got holes for drainage at the bottom you can let your imagination run riot.

I have seen wellies stuffed with petunias, car tyres filled to the brim with pansies and old saucepans brimming with parsley. A few years ago visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show were asked to donate clean, unwanted bras for a ‘good life’ display. Once bras are no longer required to lift and divide areas of the female anatomy, it seems their shape makes them ideal hanging baskets.

If you sew two together you have what could be described as a ‘hanging bras-ket.’ Obviously the bigger the bra the more you can grow; I guess you might grow anything from a couple of cherry tomatoes to a pair of decent sized melons according to cup size. Stick the bras-kets on old hangers, decoratively but discreetly, in your garden and there’s little doubt you’ll impress neighbours with your green credentials!

It’s easy to be green in the garden and it is vital for me to finish the life cycle of plants by returning as much to the soil as possible.

I like my designs to include at least a small area for a compost bin. Not only can you put most of your garden waste in it, you can toss in a third of your kitchen waste, even paper products can be recycled in the compost bin.

Just remember to leave out meat or dairy (which may attract vermin) and in a year’s time you should have a wonderful supply of compost to feed and condition your soil.

Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (oxfordshire waste.gov.uk) has plenty of composting advice and can even send you a master composter. So, make your garden greener – without hanging out your bangers!