Thrifty Gardening is a handy little book from the Country Women's Association full of ways to save money

Instead it is a little book of tried and tested hints and tips with a few projects and recipes thrown in, with the aim of demystifying gardening.

Whether you have a large country garden full of thriving fruit trees, vegetables and flower beds, or you live in a small apartment in the inner city with some pots on a balcony, there will be ideas to inspire you.

Here's how to spend the rest of summer in the garden - without spending a lot of money.

And what's a CWA book without a sneaky little recipe to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of your labour.

Avoid watering in the middle of a hot day - either water in the early morning or evening. In the middle of a hot day water evaporates quickly, which is a waste. Water sitting on the leaves can also magnify the sun's rays and scorch your plants.

Better to water deeply once a week. This encourages plants to send their roots down deep looking for water, and they are less likely to suffer heat stress.

"Train" your plants to grow with less water. If you water frequently but not deeply, the plants will grow shallow roots and will not have the resilience to come through a dry period.

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In hot weather, you may need to water plants in pots daily, but check first with your finger to see if the pots have dried out.

Mulching your garden will keep the plant roots cool and help stop water evaporating.

In a burst of very windy hot weather keep an eye on new seedlings. Shade with an old cotton bed sheet, if necessary, to prevent burning and drying out.

If leafy green vegetables dry out in hot windy weather they may bolt up to seed. Liquid feed these leafy green crops every 10 to 14 days. If tomatoes dry out, they may develop blossom-end rot, so regular deep watering is best.

Powdery mildew on zucchini leaves can occur late in the season. Spray foliage with a mixture of one part full-cream milk and 10 parts water.

If going away for a few days, punch holes in clean large plastic water bottles. Push into the pot near the plant and fill with water. This will dispense the water over time.

Wicking beds are an efficient and water-saving way to water vegetables and plants. The wicking bed contains a reservoir of water that the roots of the plants can easily take up. Watering is as easy as topping up the reservoir when the indicator shows it is required.

Group pots of herbs or annuals together to make watering them easier in summer.

Grow a vine such as a grapevine over the chook pen. It will give shade in summer and, being deciduous, allow the sun in winter. And it might even give you fresh grapes for the table. If you keep poultry, always make sure they have access to good shade and plenty of cool clean water to avoid heat stress.

Use egg cartons to store ripe nectarines and peaches. Leaving fruit on the tree to ripen gives the best flavour, but they can be easily bruised and damaged.

Plant Brussels sprouts plants in February to give them plenty of time to grow before the frosts of winter. Frost is needed to set the little sprouts. Make sure to protect them through autumn from the white cabbage moth. Use a very fine net covering to stop the moths laying their eggs.

Tomatoes and pears continue to ripen after picking, but stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums), berries and apples don't.

Grow lettuce seedlings in full sun and fertilise with liquid fertiliser every fortnight.

A teaspoon of vinegar in the water for soaking salad greens will effectively remove all insects hidden in the leaves.

Protect your fruit trees with exclusion netting. After harvesting, the netting can be removed, carefully rolled up and stored for next season.

If a storm or rain is forecast, fertilise citrus trees with a complete citrus food and let the rain water wash it in.

Stone fruit trees (nectarines, plums, peaches and apricots) send up a lot of long "whippy" growth in summer. Prune this while the sap is still flowing, and also trim off any branches that are crossing over in the middle of your tree.

Strawberry plants will develop runners over the season. Peg down the end plant on each runner to enable them to develop roots. These will become your new strawberry plants for the next season.

Dig up garlic bulbs when some of their outer leaves start to turn yellow. Dry out before hanging in an airy place, either in used net bags saved from buying oranges or onions, or tied together with twine to hang them. Cut off the roots so they don't suck moisture out of your garlic bulbs. If you are unsure if the garlic bulbs are large enough to dig up, dig just one up to check first. However, if the leaves die down the bulbs won't grow any bigger, no matter how much longer you leave them in the ground.

Stagger plantings of vegetables such as beans, lettuce, beetroot, turnips and peas to extend the fresh harvest time. Plant a row every two to four weeks.

Do not feed capsicum plants with a high-nitrogen fertiliser or it will lead to an abundance of leaves and less fruit. When the plant begins to flower, apply a fish emulsion solution.

If you notice pear/cherry slug on your pear, cherry or quince trees, they can suck the leaves leaving them skeletonised. Throw some very fine woodfire ash over the tree to cover the slugs. This will smother them but won't harm the fruit.

If your garden has space, a mulberry tree is a delicious addition. Mulberries are unavailable in fruit shops. The tree is deciduous (loses its leaves in Winter) and only grows to a moderate size with attractive Autumn foliage. The ripe berries are delicious. As soon as they start to colour, around Christmas, cover the tree in fine netting as they are a great favourite with birds and bats. The berries need to be picked when they have turned black and fully ripened, but unlike many other fruits, they hang on the tree and ripen over many weeks, extending your fruit season. Water deeply in Summer when the berries are ripening.

If you find an old wire gate, hang it up in the shed to string bunches of onions and garlic off, and to store pumpkins on.

When planning, group your plants according to water needs. Roses, geraniums, salvias, sedums, euphorbias and kniphofias tolerate extended dry conditions and full sun, once established. Hydrangeas and hostas need some shade and have high water needs. Clivia and arthropodium (New Zealand rock lily) tolerate dry shade.

Succulents, such as the various species of echeveria, aeonium and sedums, have low water requirements, as do many Australian plants.

Provide water for bees and birds. Have a rock or ledge in your pond or bird bath so smaller birds and the bees can climb out if they fall in.

If plants are heat stressed, don't fertilise them; fertiliser is unable to be taken up by a heat-stressed plant. Instead, keep up with the water needs of your garden and save your fertiliser.

Don't apply mulch to dry soil. If you haven't mulched before summer, wait until rain, then mulch to slow the evaporation. If a heatwave is forecast, give the whole garden a really deep watering.

If you like the bright colours that annuals provide, but don't have the time for dead-heading and feeding them, plant a few pots where you can admire them, while doing minimum maintenance.

Resist the urge to cut off sunburnt leaves; unsightly as they are, the sunburnt leaves will protect others from the sun. Pull them off in autumn to tidy up when the weather has cooled.

Crepe myrtle is a deciduous shrub of medium size suited to most sunny garden spaces, and now also available in dwarf form. It has a glorious colourful display of flowers in late summer, then autumnal leaf colour. Once established, it is dry tolerant.

Wisteria is a beautiful plant but a very vigorous grower that can become huge and very heavy. Make sure the structure it is growing on is very sturdy and strong. Prune wisteria after flowering and again in late summer/early autumn if you need to cut off the whippy growth of the warm months. If you prune in Winter, you are pruning off the spring flowers. Keep wisteria cut back from gutters.

If your iris clumps have become overcrowded, dig them up in January, divide and replant with the rhizome sitting at soil level and the roots facing down. Trim the top of the iris at an angle as you replant. Iris like to have their rhizomes baked by the sun in summer. They are best not watered except by any natural rainfall over summer. Dig up and divide bearded iris rhizomes every three years. If the clumps get congested, flowering will be poor. Iris flower on the new rhizome only once, so each year the plant will grow new rhizomes, which gradually spread the clump in a circle and leave the inner part bare.

As flowers on roses, perennials and annuals die, keep dead-heading to stimulate more flowers to come. If you leave dead flowers on the plant, it will put its energy into producing seeds instead of growth.

A chemical-free alternative to treat powdery mildew on roses is to make up a spray of one part full-cream milk to 10 parts water. Spray on your roses (but not in the middle of the day).

At the end of summer, check around the bottom of plants such as salvias, pentstemons and geraniums as they might have rooted pieces of stem over spring and summer growth. Carefully cut the stems of these new plants, dig up and repot, replant or give away.

Remove the spent flowers of lilium to stop the bulb putting all its energy into producing unwanted seeds. As with other bulbs, allow the foliage to die back, then cut this foliage off in autumn.

Dead-head agapanthus when their summer flowering is over. They can self-seed into the bush or other areas, where they can be a pest.

Trim lavender plants when the flowers start to fade. Don't cut back hard into bare wood; frequent small trims will prevent your lavenders getting "leggy" and unsightly. When you're trimming your plants, take cuttings. Pull off most of the foliage to expose the stem, dip in honey to help roots form, then pot in propagating mix.

If a very hot day is predicted and your hydrangeas are not well shaded, throw an old cotton sheet over them to protect the plant burning in the hot sun. Remove in the evening and water deeply.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan and cook the leek and bacon until softened.

3. Mix together all the ingredients, except the pumpkin, in a large mixing bowl.

4. Pour into a greased 20x30cm dish. Scatter with the roasted pumpkin pieces, top with a little more grated cheese and bake for 30-40 minutes.

5. Don't be afraid to alter the vegetable combination - use whatever is growing well in your vegie beds.

Serves 4-6.