*Home made fertilizer. Half-fill a jar with eggshells, fill up with water and leave for three to four weeks. Use the liquid then to feed the houseplants. Put fresh lawn cuttings into an old bucket or tank and fill up with water. When this ferments it will make fine liquid manure.
*Frost- Plants likely to be damaged by frost should be watered with cold water in the evening.
*Garden ties- Use discarded tights to tie up large shrubs or fruit trees that need support.
*Garden tools- Paint garden tools with a spot of luminous or brightly coloured paint to avoid losing them among the weeds. To keep tools rust free through the winter, oil them and stand them in a bucketful of sand.
*Garlic- Home grown garlic is bigger and stronger. Simply plant individual cloves, they will soon sprout green shoots above ground.
*Geraniums- Leave geraniums in their pots when planting in pots for the summer; then it is easier to bring them indoors for the winter. Feed geraniums by emptying cold coffee grounds around the roots.
*A hanging basket- Line a wire basket with sphagnum moss (which you can buy at a seed merchant’s). Put an old saucer or small plate on top of the moss then fill the basket with potting compost. Plant colourful flowers like petunias, and trailing ones like geraniums, lobelia or nasturtiums, and hang in your porch. Water the basket about once a week, ideally by suspending it in a bucket of water overnight.
*Houseplants- Turn plants round regularly so that they get sunlight on all sides. Never leave houseplants standing in water for a long time: always allow draining after watering. *Lavender- Cut lavender in the first half of July. Place in newspaper and dry in the airing cupboard for four days. Shake off the flowers and use to make lavender bags for drawers. Tie the stems into bundles and use them to give a sweet perfume to winter fires.
*Marigolds- Marigolds keep pests away from potatoes and tomatoes; grow them close together.
*Milk for plants- Rinse milk bottles in cold water and pour this on to houseplants or into window boxes.
*Newspaper fertilizer- Lay wet newspaper along the bottom of the trench when planting peas or beans. Sprinkle soil on top of it, then the seeds.
*Cyclamens-Cyclamens should always be watered from below. Stand them in a bowl of water for an hour or so, then pour off any water that remains.
*Drainage- Put a layer of broken crockery or small pebbles in the bottom of flowerpots, garden tubs and window boxes to ensure good drainage. A piece of net curtain placed over this before soil or compost is added will prevent drainage holes from clogging.