Hints - Weston super Mare Horticultural Society

To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the garden, draw your finger-nails across a bar of soap and you'll effectively seal the undersides of your nails so dirt can't collect beneath them. Then, after you've finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be sparkling clean

Turn a long-handled tool into a measuring stick! Lay a long-handled garden tool on the ground, and next to it place a tape measure. Using a permanent marker, write inch and foot marks on the handle. When you need to space plants a certain distance apart (from just an inch to several feet) you'll already have a measuring device in your hand

To have garden twine handy when you need it, just stick a ball of twine in a small clay pot, pull the end of the twine through the drainage hole, and set the pot upside down in the garden. Do that, and you'll never go looking for twine again

The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don't pour the water down the drain, use it to water potted patio plants, and you'll be amazed at how the plants respond to the "vegetable" soup.

Use leftover tea and coffee grounds to acidify the soil of acid-loving plants such as azaleas, rhodo-dendrons, camellias, gardenias and even blueberries. A light sprinkling of about one-quarter of an inch applied once a month will keep the pH of the soil on the acidic side.

Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a spot of tea to the soil around the base of seedlings once a week or use it as a foliar spray

The quickest way in the world to dry herbs: just lay a sheet of newspaper on the seat of your car, arrange the herbs in a single layer, then roll up the windows and close the doors. Your herbs will be quickly dried to perfection. What's more, your car will smell great

Before filling a strawberry barrel with compost stand a piece of drainpipe or cardboard tube upright in the centre and fill with pebbles. As you fill with compost gradually remove the tube releasing the pebbles. This will act as a central drainage system preventing the soil from becoming waterlogged.

To prevent slugs getting to plants in containers, smear outside of container with petroleum jelly or WD40

When growing sweet peas from seed, two-thirds fill pot with compost and water well, top up with dry compost and plant seed at about 1/2 inch beneath surface of compost. This way the seed with draw up as much water as required and will not rot away.

As long as you don't mind how they look, old car tyres make a good temporary cold frames for new seedlings. Sow the seeds inside the tyre and place a piece of glass or clear plastic on top. The rubber absorbs the heat during the day and releases it over night.

If your hose springs a leak it can be temporarily repaired by inserting a cocktail stick into the hole. Snap the stick off as close to the hose as possible and wrap around with insulating tape or water-proof tape (if available). This should extend by about 2" each side of the hole. As the wood absorbs the water it will expand and seal the hole

To clean white plastic garden furniture break up two dishwasher tablets into a bucket of warm water, mix well, scrub the furniture well and leave for about 15 minutes after which rinse well with clean water and then buff up with a clean, soft, dry cloth