To give seeds the best possible start, collect empty cardboard inner toilet rolls, fill with compost, plant your seed and leave rolls in trays in the greenhouse.  When seedlings are hardy enough to plant out just transfer them in the toilet roll in the ground - the cardboard decomposes naturally.

Another alternative is to invest in a 'paper potter' (about £7) to make your own bio-degradable pots out of old newspapers.  This tool is well worth the outlay. You cut long strips of newspaper and wind it around the 'potter' and then press it into the 'stamp' thereby making a perfect little pot. One newspaper makes approximately 60 pots - this takes about 20 minutes.  I always plant my broad beans in these little pots and then transfer them to my vegetable plot when they are seedlings.  They produce much stronger, healthier plants than sowing directly into the ground.

A really good investment for a small cost is a propagator in which you can sow a few early tomatoes, or peppers.  Just plug it in and it becomes a little heated greenhouse and allows you to enjoy some early salad vegetables - avoiding always having a huge glut of produce every summer.

To ensure a constant supply of green salad shoots, buy a pack of ordinary dried peas from the supermarket (very cheap!) and sow in compost in a container.  They will quickly produce tender green shoots - just cut as you need them.  Delicious - and cheap - have you seen the price of a bag of pea shoots in the supermarkets?!!