Top Gardening Hacks

Now summer has arrived we are all spending more time outside and enjoying our gardens. Here are a few tips to keep your plants blooming and your gardening looking beautiful.

1. Soaking your seeds in warm water for 24 hours before you sow them helps them to germinate and develop strong roots.

2. Fill a terra-cotta with a mixture of sand and mineral oil to make your own self-cleaning and self-sharpening garden tool holder. The sand will help to keep your tools sharp and the oil will lubricate them to prevent them from going rusty.

3. To keep pests away from your favourite plants put coffee grounds or eggshells around the base of the plant. As an added bonus eggshells also add calcium to the soil.

4. Recycle your fruit skins. Bananas are brilliant for adding potassium, which is great for plant growth, to the soil. Placing orange peel in your borders will also keep cats away.

5. Hate slugs and snails? Then give them some beer they love it. Pour some beer into a shallow dish and place in the soil. The snail and slugs are attracted to the smell, crawl in and drown.

6. Re-use water that you cook with as it is rich in nutrients and perfect for your garden. Water that vegetables have been cooked in can add nutrients back into your soil. Rice water contains starch which helps to encourage healthy bacteria for strong roots. Finally, water that eggs have been boiled in contains calcium which helps plants grow and prevents pathogens from attacking them.

7. Re-use the wellies the kids have grown out of, chipped crockery like mugs and teapots and old watering cans as containers for bedding plants.

8. Turn a shoe organiser into a herb rack. This is a great space-saving idea in a small garden. Hang the shoe rack on a wall in a warm sunny spot. Pierce a small drainage hole in each pocket, add a layer of gravel to each pocket and then plant your herbs in compost.