40 cheap and easy gardening tips using everyday items

OLD IRON NAILS

You need old, rusty nails for this rather than shiny new galavanised ones. The rust helps release iron, which is vital for ericaceous or acid-loving plants like azaleas and rhododendrons. Leave the nails in full a watering can for a few days then water your plants.

BRILLO PADS

An alternative to rusty nails if you can’t find any. Add a brillo pad to the watering can for a few days until it turns nice and rusty. Then water ericaceous plants.

OLD TOWEL

Keep plants watered while you’re away! Towels are very absorbent, so lay them down and soak with water. Place plant pots on top and the roots will draw the moisture up from the towel. You can do this with houseplants in the bath or patio pots in a big tray.

BEER

It’s not just humans that love beer – slugs are big fans too. Create beer traps to get rid of slugs without using pellets. Sink a cupful of beer into the soil so the rim sits at ground level. The slugs will be drawn to the beer, fall in and drown. Remember to remove the slugs in the morning and top-up the traps.

MUSCLE RELAXANT SPRAY

Keep cats out of the garden with smelly muscle relaxant. Dry out cold used teabags and spray them with the relaxant. The tea leaves absorb the strong smell which cats hate.

Place the teabags in borders where cats come into the garden. The smell should last a couple of weeks.

VODKA

Stop the water in your cut flower vases from going green by adding a tot of vodka. It inhibits the bacteria growth that turns water green and rots your flower stems.

TEABAGS

Cold tea leaves are a good source of minerals for plants. You can add used teabags to a jug of water and leave for a week, then pour the liquid around ericaceous plants and add the teabags to the compost heap. Or rip open the bags and add the tea leaves directly to the soil as a mulch.

SUGAR

Boost your cut flowers with sugar dissolved into the water. It will keep them looking fresh and encourage more blooms to open. Add a teaspoon of sugar to a vase full of water and change the water every few days.

PLASTIC CARRIER BAGS

This is a great container garden watering tip. Punch holes in an old carrier bag and fill with ice cubes. Lay this on the soil surface around plants in dry weather. The ice cubes will melt and slowly water the plants.

COFFEE GROUNDS

Don’t throw used coffee grounds away! You can add them to the compost heap or mulch directly onto the soil around plants. They are full of nutrients.

WOODEN COFFEE STIRRERS

There are stacks of these at coffee shops and they make great cheap plant labels. Write the name of the variety on the stick, coat with varnish and push into the soil.

PLASTIC SHOWER CAP

You can pick up shower caps free from hotels. Pop one over the top of a plant pot and you have an instant propagator. It’s great for sowing seeds indoors or taking cuttings. Remember to ventilate the pots often. You can also prop the shower cap up with wooden coffee stirrers to stop the plastic touching the leaves.

BANANAS

Ripen green tomatoes in the greenhouse by hanging bananas up among the plants. They release a ripening gas called ethylene, which will encourage the tomatoes to turn red. After a few days, your tomatoes and bananas should be ready to eat.

MAYONNAISE

Brighten up dull and dusty houseplants with a cheap leaf shine – mayonnaise! The eggs are great at cleaning and adding gloss. Simply wipe over the surface of the leaves with kitchen roll.

OLD TIGHTS

Keep the water in water butts fresh with a filter made of old tights or stockings. Cover the end of the drainpipe with the tights to catch leaves and debris. Remember to clean out the filter regularly.

You can also use tights as tree ties. They are a good material because they stretch in the wind. Tie in a figure of eight so the tree stem doesn’t rub on the wooden stake.

COCKTAIL STICKS

Keep cats off your plants with cocktail sticks. Push them into the soil around plants – especially young plants and seedlings. They will stick up out of the soil and stop cats from walking on the soil or digging in it.

COPPER TAPE

A clever way to slugs and snails out of your pots and containers. Wrap a length of copper tape around the pot – it will give them a little electric shock if they try to crawl across it.

BROOM HANDLE

An old broom handle can be really useful in the garden. If you have heavy soil that sets hard in summer, push the end of the broom handle into the soil around the plant to crack the crust. Then water into the holes to make sure moisture reaches the plant roots, rather than running off the surface.

You can also create straight seed drills by laying a broom handle across the soil. Push it down as deep as you need the drill to be, then remove and sow your seeds.

YOGHURT

Want to age new stone features to make them look weathered? Use live yoghurt, sometimes sold as ‘natural’. Smear it over the stone surface and wrap with cling film. Leave in the sun for a few days, then remove the cling film and gently wash off excess yoghurt. The stone should be dark and weathered.

WASHING UP LIQUID

Deal with aphids without pesticides – simply add a little washing up liquid to a water spray bottle. Douse plants regularly, concentrating on the leaves.

CDS

Hang up old shiny CDs in the garden to scare birds away from your crops. Tie loosely to trees and hang from fences and bamboo canes. They will reflect the sunlight and startle the birds.

ENGINE OIL

Don’t just get rid of old engine oil – you can use it to clean and protect tools. Fill a bucket with sharp sand and add the engine oil. Then plunge your spade several times into the bucket. The sand will knock off any soil and dirt and the oil will protect from rust. You can do this with forks, trowels, hoes – any metal tool.

PINS

Ever bought a bunch of tulips only to watch them all flop over a couple of hours later? This is because they have hollow stems. Sometimes a bubble of air gets into the stems and is pushed all the way to the flower neck, where it gets trapped. It blocks water from reaching the flower. Push a pin through the stem just under the flower head to release the air, and an hour later the tulip will stand up again!

OLD CARPET

Don’t throw away old carpet after renovations. Use it as pond liner between the bricks and the plastic liner. It helps smooth any rough brick edges to stop them piercing the plastic liner and causing a leak.

BUBBLE WRAP

Most mail-order companies package their products in bubble wrap, and you should save it. Wrap pieces around plant pots in winter and tie with twine to protect the plant roots from frost. You can also stick bubble wrap to the windows of unheated greenhouses to keep them insulated in winter.

SALT

Kill weeds with table salt! You can sprinkle it directly onto troublesome patio weeds and let the rain take it down, or dissolve a few spoonfuls of salt into boiling water and pour this onto weeds.

NAIL VARNISH

Sometimes the writing on plant labels washes off in the rain or fades in the sun. Keep it there for longer by painting over the top with clear nail varnish. This works especially well on homemade plant labels made from coffee stirrers or old twigs.

FLAT LEMONADE

When lemonade goes flat, add it to your cut flowers. You need full fat stuff rather than diet as it’s the sugar they need. Add a few splashes to the vase.

PLASTERS

Sticking plasters are great at repairing plants. Tall bedding plants like geraniums can be damaged by wind and the stems sometimes snap. But the plant is not lost – attach the stem back together and hold in place with a plaster. They should fuse back together.

VIDEO OR TAPE CASETTES

Create bird-scaring streamers with the tape from videos and casettes. Strip it out and hang as streamers around fruit crops to stop birds stealing your bounty.

SOLUBLE ASPIRIN

Boost your cut flowers with soluble aspirin. Dissolve a tablet into the water and place the stems back into the vase. It helps water keep moving up the stem.

TENNIS BALL

Stop your pond freezing over and keep fish safe with a tennis ball. Float the ball onto the pond surface. When the water freezes over, remove the ball and you will have a hole for air to reach the fish, without risking harming them by trying to crack the ice. Make sure to replace the ball during the day in case of freezing temperatures the following night.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER GREAT GARDENING TIPS? SHARE THEM IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!