If your a gardener like me then discovering hints and tips that can make life easy is a god send. The hints and tips I have listed below are ones that I have discovered over the years as I have indulged in my passion of gardening. I am sure you will not only find them useful but also that they will ultimately save you money too.
- When planting bulbs I always either wrap chicken wire around them or steel wire wool before planting them as this prevents animals from digging them up and eating them.
- Instead of buying expensive insecticides to treat such things as roses for green fly I always use a mild solution of washing up liquid instead. Just fill a spray bottle with room temperature water and add a small dash of washing up liquid. It is cheap, saves you money and works a treat. Any washing up liquid works even the cheap ones.
- When cutting fresh flowers stems always cut them at an angle. This creates a larger surface area in which the stem can draw up water. Also it is a must to remember to put your flowers into fresh water immediately; if you don't do this then air pockets will form in the stems and cause them to droop.
- Rather than putting fresh flowers into tap water, I recommend you use either distilled water or purified water. Also make sure the water is at room temperature as putting flowers into cold water can send them into shock and cause them to droop.
- A little trick I use in order to prolong the life of freshly cut flowers is to put them in a vase of lemonade or drop a couple of teaspoons of sugar into the water.
- When planting shrubs or trees I always use some old garden hose or ½ inch pipe and bury it with the shrubs or trees and leave one end sticking out of the ground. This enables you to water the roots directly and also helps the shrubs or tress become established quicker too.
- During the winter months try using bubble wrap to line the pots of container grown plants as it will keep them warm during the winter months. Also using old sacking wrapped around the outside of plant containers and pots can keep them warm too.
- If you live in a country that tends to have sever cold climate during the winter and you have extremely large exotic container plants then wrapping the container in an old boiler jacket works a treat in keeping them at just the right temperature in order to help them survive the winter months.
- We all know that if your growing or have planted such exotic plants as palms in your garden and the country you live in is not native to these plants and the winters tend to be too cold in which to sustain them and keep them alive then coming up with ideas to do so is a must. So here's a hot tip, wrap the palms or exotic plants and trees with straw, then place sacking or plastic liner around the straw and tie with gardening string. . It keeps them warm and snug until summer comes around again.
