My Science School

•  Lawn tonics

Some highly successful lawn growers achieve great results with lawn tonics made from the most ordinary items. Add any of the following ingredients to the reservoir of a 12-16-litre garden sprayer and water your lawn with the mixture every three weeks or so. Adding 1 cup (250ml) washing-up liquid each time will help to spread the solution more evenly and make it stick to blades of grass. Try some of the following lawn tonics:

1.  A 330-ml can of non-diet cola or beer. The sugar in both stimulates microbes that help to break up the soil.


2.  A 1-cup (250-ml) dose of golden syrup or molasses. (See note on sugar, above.)


3.  A 1-cup (250-ml) dose of household ammonia. This will add nitrates, the primary ingredient in most fertilizers.


4.  A ½- cup (125-ml) dose of mouthwash. The alcohol in mouthwash kills bacteria and spores and helps to deter some pests.

•  Recycle your grass

Take a cue from public parks and golf courses and 'grass cycle' when you mow your lawn, which means leaving clippings on your lawn when you finish. Just mow often enough to make sure that only a third of the length of the grass blades is chopped off each time. The resulting clippings serve as beneficial mulch and keep garden waste out of landfill sites.

•  Three temporary tree-trunk protectors

If you are growing a number of fragile tree saplings that would suffer badly if they were accidentally rammed with your mower, wrap them up before you mow. Wrap slender trunks in bubble wrap or several sheets of newspaper secured with masking tape or gaffer tape. An old towel pinned with two or three large safety pins will also work. All three wraps are easy to put up and take down.

•  Oil your mower blades

Spraying lawnmower blades and the underside of the lawnmower housing with olive oil cooking spray or WD-40 will help to keep cut grass from building up in your mower, so whip out a can and spray away thoroughly before you use your mower.

•  A pair of pantihose for a power mower?

Believe it or not, yes. A few layers of old pantihose (or two fabric-softener sheets) will protect the air-intake opening on your power mower — specifically, the carburettor intake horn. Just cut the material to size and secure it to the horn with gaffer tape.

•  Coat-hanger topiary for ground covers

If you take the low-maintenance route and choose a decorative ground cover in preference to a grassy lawn, you can ornament the expanse with a mini topiary or two. Turn wire coat hangers into frames in the shape of your choice: a circle, a heart, animals and birds — even someone's initials. Anchor the frame into the soil and train strands of the plants to cover it, using clippers to neaten the growth as necessary.

•  A hairy nitrogen source

Human hair is by far one of the best nitrogen sources that you can add to your compost heap. Three kilograms of hair contains 450g nitrogen, making it about 25 times as rich as manure. The nitrogen only becomes available when hair breaks down and mineralizes, so it is less useful for fast-growing plants.

• Help from your pet

Sprinkle unused, alfalfa-based feed or bedding onto your compost pile and toss well. Alfalfa, or lucerne, is high in nitrogen — an excellent compost activator — which will help to hasten decomposition.

• Attract earthworms with coffee grounds

The larger the number of earthworms wriggling about in your soil, the better its tilth. Attract the worms to planting beds or other garden areas by digging coffee grounds into the soil.

• Warm up the soil with clear plastic

What free resource will kill weed seeds, most plant diseases and nematodes in your soil? The sun. Till a patch of soil and water it, then lay a sheet of clear plastic over the area (a split-open dry-cleaning bag works well) and anchor the edges with stones. After four to six weeks, the sun's heat should have rid the soil of most plant menaces.

•  Composting in a leaf bag

Turn autumn leaves into compost by storing them over the winter in large, black plastic leaf bags. When filling the bag with leaves, add a small spadeful of soil and sprinkle with seaweed liquid fertilizer as an activator. Then water sufficiently to ensure all leaves are saturated.

Tie the bag closed and bounce it on the ground a few times to mix the contents. Store the bag in a sunny place so that it absorbs the heat of the sun. By spring the leaves will have rotted into rich compost.

•  Rake-it-up pine-tree mulch

Money doesn't grow on trees. But if you grow blueberries, free mulch does — if you have any pine trees in your garden. Naturally acidic pine needles will not only leach the acid blueberries crave into the soil but will also help to protect the plants' shallow roots. Just rake up the pine needles and spread them beneath the blueberry plants to a height of about 5cm.

•  Aluminium bird-pest prevention

If you grow productive fruit trees, don't throw away the aluminium pie dishes that come with shop-bought pies. Use them to scare away blackbirds, starlings and other fruit-loving birds. Poke a hole in the rim of each plate, thread a 60-cm piece of dental floss, fishing line or string through the hole and triple-knot it tightly. Hang a couple of plates onto the branches of each fruit tree and the job's done. Old CDs also work well as reflective bird scarers. Shiny reflective objects that swing in the wind are far better at discouraging birds than stationary plastic or metal cats and scarecrows.

•  Make your own invisible net

You don't always have to buy netting at a garden centre in order to protect ripening cherries and other tree fruit from birds. Just buy two or three spools of black thread. Stand beside the tree, grab the loose end of the thread and toss the spool over the tree to a helper — it's a fun job to do with kids. Continue tossing the spool back and forth until it is empty. The invisible thread won't seal birds off from the tree, but once they run into it a few times they may look for their ripe fruit lunch somewhere else.

•  Ant stick-ups

Ants won't be able to climb your fruit trees and munch on ripe fruit if you wrap the trunks with one of these sticky materials:

1.  Contact paper, folded in half with the sticky-side out.


2.  Two-sided clear tape, wrapped around the trunk in a 7cm-deep band.


3.  Sheets of cardboard secured with masking tape and sprayed with an adhesive insect spray.


4. A cardboard sleeve taped shut and smeared with petroleum jelly.

•  Fertilize with banana skins

Grow stronger tomato plants by putting 3-4 banana skins in the bottom of each planting hole. (Note: there is no need to eat all the bananas at once. Freeze the skins in freezer bags until you have enough to work with.) When you plant a tomato seedling, pop the skins in the hole with a mixture of dry leaves, manure and soil. Banana skins act as a kind of time-release fertilizer, leaching potassium and trace minerals into the soil.

•  Aluminium foils root-cooler

To help ripen vine fruit towards the end of the season, lay lightly crumpled aluminium foil around the base of tomato plants, shiny side up and anchor them with a few stones. The foil will reflect the sun's rays upward, ripening the fruit that are shaded by foliage, and repelling aphids. Foil is also effective when used under peppers — chillies and capsicums — and cucurbits — cucumbers, melons and squashes).

•  An ornamental yet practical support

If you cultivate tidy tomato plants that grow to a certain height and then stop, consider painting a stepladder in bright colours and using it as an ornamental A-frame trellis. Plant one seedling 7-10cm from each leg, and then tie the stems loosely to the ladder as they grow. As the plants mature, they will be supported by the ladder's sides and treads and no ripening tomatoes will have to rest on the soil and risk rotting.

•  Sugar for sweeter tomatoes

When tomato fruits start to show colour, add a spoonful of sugar to the watering can — especially when you have found a variety that you like but that seems a bit too acidic. (That tomato taste we all long for results from an optimum balance of acidity and sweetness.) Your tomatoes will not only be sweeter but juicier.

•  Prevent blossom end rot with Epsom salts

The bane of many a tomato grower, fruit-spoiling blossom end rot is often caused by a calcium deficiency. It appears as a dry shrivelled area that then darkens on the base of the fruit. This is caused by uneven watering, which results in periodic calcium deficiency in the developing fruit. Mulching and reducing water stress is important, but Epsom salts, which contain magnesium sulphate, aid the transport of calcium. Place 90g at the base of each hole and lightly cover before planting.

•  Grow tomatoes in hay

If you live in a flat without a garden and don't have anywhere that is suitable for growing tomatoes, take a bale of hay (preferably lucerne) up to your balcony (if building regulations permit) and you will have a nitrogen-rich medium that heats up like a compost pile. Starting in very early spring, water the bale daily to activate the heating process.

Once the bale decays into fertile compost (usually after seven to eight weeks), its cool enough for planting. Create a grower bag by stuffing this compost into a sturdy garbage bag. Seal and place the bag flat, after creating a few drainage holes at the bottom. Create four holes in the top and plant a determinate (or dwarf) tomato variety seedling such as ‘Tiny Tim’ in each hole. Watering daily will keep the plants growing well for the rest of the season.

• Sun boxes for vegetable seedlings

When you're starting vegetables indoors near a normally sunny south-facing window but the early spring sun won't cooperate, maximize the rays with aluminium foil-lined sun boxes. Cut out one side of a cardboard box and line the three inner 'walls' with foil. When you face the boxes towards the outside, sunlight will reflect back onto your vegetable seedlings. Plants will not only catch more sun, but their stems will grow straight rather than bending towards the light.

•  Foiling cutworms

Before setting out a tomato seedling, wrap each stem with a 10 x 10-cm collar of foil, leaving it loose enough to allow the stem to grow as it expands. Plant the seedlings with 5cm foil above the soil and 5cm below so that the cutworms won't be able to penetrate the shiny armour.

•  Night-time warmers

If an unseasonably cold night has been predicted, get outdoors as early as you can and flank your vegetable plants with something that will absorb the heat of the sun all day and radiate it at night. That 'something' could be large, flat stones or terracotta tiles left over from your new floor. Another solution is to bend wire coat hangers into hoops, secure them over the plants and drape them with black plastic garbage bags for the night.

• Secure trellis-grown melons with pantihose

If you grow your melons on a trellis, a sling made from a pair of old pantihose will keep the enlarging melons from falling to the ground. Cut off a leg of pantihose, slip it over a melon and tie each end of the pantihose to the trellis.

•  Keep root vegetables straight

To prevent horseradish and special varieties of carrots and parsnips from forming forks or getting bent out of shape, which is usually A caused by stones, grow them in sections of PVC pipe placed vertically in the ground and filled with rich soil and humus. When you harvest the roots in autumn, you'll be surprised at how straight and thick your vegetables have grown.

•  Hang a bag of mothballs

Mothball-haters include rodents and insects, so consider putting some of these smelly balls into your vegetable garden. Caution: don't let mothballs touch the soil or the toxic chemicals in them (usually naphthalene or dichlorobenzene) could contaminate it. If you think you can simply place mothballs on lids, tiles or other flat surfaces to keep them off the ground, think again. In no time at all, wind and garden invaders will knock them off. For safety's sake, put a few mothballs in small mesh bags and hang them from a trellis.

•  Grow onions through newspaper

Here's a bit of headline news: one of the easiest ways to grow healthy onions is through newspaper mulch. Why? Because onion stalks cast a very slim shadow at best, letting in the sunlight that will sprout weed seeds. A block-out mat of newspapers will stop weeds short.

In early spring, wet the soil of the onion patch. Then spread three or four sections of newspaper over the area, hosing down each one. With one or two fingers, punch holes about 12-15cm apart through the wet mat and place an onion set or onion seedling within each. Firm moist soil around the sets or seedlings and cover the mat with shredded leaves and grass clippings. Weeds won't survive as your onions grow and thrive.

•  A tyre tower for potatoes

Increase your potato yield by growing potatoes in a stack of tyres. Fill a tyre with soil and plant two whole or halved seed potatoes about 5cm deep. Once the potatoes have sprouted around 15-25cm of foliage, place a second tyre on top of the first and fill with more soil, leaving 8-10cm of foliage exposed.

Repeat the process again and your three-tyre tower will triple your potato crop. Potatoes sprout on the underground stems — and the taller the stems, the greater the number of tasty tubers you will produce.

•  Two sprays for pumpkins

Ward off fungal diseases in a pumpkin patch by spraying each pumpkin with a homemade mixture of 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda and ½ teaspoon vegetable oil stirred into 1 litre water.

Fungal diseases aside, some gardeners claim that they can enrich a pumpkin's colour with a different spray: aerosol whipped cream, applied around the base of each plant every three weeks.

•  Grow your own loofahs

The loofah gourd (Luffa cylindrica) is a purely practical choice for gardeners: it's grown primarily for its dried pulp, which we know as the exfoliating beauty sponge of the same name. Simply plant and cultivate loofahs as directed on the seed packet — although in cooler climates with short growing seasons you'll need to start the loofah gourd seeds indoors.

When a gourd lightens in weight and its skin begins to brown, peel it. Wet it thoroughly and squeeze out the seeds with both hands, then put the gourd on a rack to dry for two to four weeks or until hard. (Placing the gourds near a heating source will speed the process.) Use a sharp knife to slice the dried loofah crossways into rounds to make homegrown skin scrubbers that the whole family can use.

•  Free houseplants

Every time you eat an avocado, save the stone and grow a houseplant. Just clean the stone pit and insert three sturdy toothpicks into it just above the base. Fill a drinking glass with water and put the stone on its rim. Change the water often and top it off as necessary.

After several weeks, the stone will sprout a shoot and roots, at which point you can put your fledgling houseplant. Keep the pot in a sunny position and pinch back new shoots, including the central leader stem, to make the plant bushier. Planted in rich soil outside, it should fruit in seven years. (Do not pinch out the leader before planting.)

•  Coffee filter soil guard

When potting plants in flowerpots, put it small coffee filter in the bottom of the pot first, then add drainage material and soil. This way, excess water will leak out of the drainage hole while the soil stays put.

•  Cleaning hairy or corrugated leaves

 Smooth-leaved houseplants can be cleaned by wiping with a damp paper towel, but hairy or corrugated leaves require special care.

1. Brush dust away An effective way to clean African violets and other hairy-leaved houseplants is with a soft-bristled toothbrush, a paintbrush or, best of all, a pipe cleaner. Brush gently from the base of each leaf toward the tip.


2. Breeze dust away Dust plants with corrugated leaves with a hair dryer. Set the appliance on Cool or Low and blow air onto every leaf.


3.  The cloth-glove trick

Wearing an old cloth glove lets you clean houseplant leaves in half the time. Just run each leaf through your gloved fingers from bottom to top and you've dusted both sides at once.

•  Go one size larger

To prevent houseplants from becoming root bound (and dying out too quickly), replant them in a larger container. Add extra soil to the bottom and sides of the pot, and your plants should grow faster and live twice as long.

•  A when-to-water pencil gauge

Houseplant manuals tell you to water whenever the soil dries out, but determining dryness is easier said than done. Here's an easy trick that's foolproof: push a pencil deep into the soil then pull it out. If bits of dirt cling to the bare wood point, the soil is still moist. If the pencil comes up clean, it's time to water your houseplant.

•  Water with ice cubes

Place ice cubes on top of the soil of potted plants, making sure that they don't touch the stem. The ice will melt slowly, releasing water gradually and evenly into the soil.

•  Pot within pot

Use a casserole dish, Dutch oven or large saucepan to water cacti and succulents. Just pour a few centimetres of water into the pot, put in the houseplant and leave it there until no more air bubbles come to the water's surface. Drain the plant well before putting it onto a saucer. Other houseplants that benefit from the pot-in-a-pot method include anthuriums and grassy-leaved sweet flag (Acorns gramineus).

•  Film protection for seeds

If you've just sown flower seeds in a seedbed and are pleased with the spacing and soil coverage, you can go one extra step towards warming the soil and speeding germination, and keeping the earth moist and thwarting birds foraging for seeds. All it takes is spreading a layer of clear plastic wrap over the seeded area. Anchor the plastic with rocks and remove it as soon as the seeds have sprouted.

•  A salt that flowers crave

Epsom salts consist of magnesium sulphate, which, as a supplement to your plants' regular feedings, will deepen the colour of blooms and help to fight disease. Every three or four weeks, scratch 1 teaspoon Epsom salts into the soil around an annual or perennial's stem and water well. Alternately, dissolve 1 tablespoon Epsom salts in 3.5 litres water. Every two weeks or so, pour some of the solution into a spray bottle and spray the leaves of your flowers.

•  Prop up tall perennials

Peonies, delphiniums and gladiolus are among a number of tall perennials that generally need support. A wooden stake is the usual answer, but a less obtrusive option is a tall, old lampshade frame. Place the metal frame, narrow side down, amid seedlings when they're about 15cm tall, working the frame into the soil to a depth of about a centimetre. As the seedlings grow, tie them loosely to the top of the frame with twist ties. The leaves will obscure the frame as the blooms above stand tall.

•  Bromeliads like fruit

To encourage a potted bromeliad's rosette of leaves to sprout its pretty flower, place the plant in a plastic dry-cleaning bag with a ripening banana or three or four ripe apples. The ethylene emitted from the fruit will stimulate flower production.

• Splints for bent stems

If any of your flower stems are bent, pick one of these common items to use as a splint: for thin stems, a toothpick or cotton bud; for thicker stems, a drinking straw, pencil, ballpoint pen or paddle-pop stick. Fix the splints to stems with clear tape, but not too tightly.

•  Ties for stakes

‘Ropes’ made from old pantihose have long been used to tie snapdragons, hollyhocks, tomatoes and other tall flowers and climbing vegetables to stakes (they're soft and pliable), but pantihose aren't the only household item that will serve the purpose. Try these ties:

1. Gift-wrapping ribbon left over from birthday parties


2.  Broken cassette tapes


3.  Plastic garbage bag ties


4.  Dental floss (the thicker kind)


5.  Velcro strips


6.  Fabric strips cut from old sheets


7.  Strips of hessian or sacking material

•  Make a flower dome

 Get creative and use an old umbrella — stripped of both its handle and fabric — as a frame for a flowering climber or vine. In the spot of your choice, drive a 1.5-m metal pipe wide enough to accommodate the handle into the ground about 30cm deep, then slide the umbrella stern inside. Plant seedlings of morning glory or any other thin-stemmed flowering vine next to the pipe. Over the next few weeks a unique garden focal point will take shape.

•  Make hand cleaning easier

 If your garden gloves have gone missing but you need to work in the soil of your flowerbeds, just scrape your fingernails over a bar of soap before you start doing the messy work. The dirt will come out from under your nails more easily when you scrub your hands.

•  Bag bulbs to prevent rot

Brown paper bags filled with sawdust or coconut fibre peat are the easy answer to the winter storage of tender crocus, tulip, daffodil, iris and other bulbs and rhizomes. Put a 5-cm layer of sawdust or peat in the bottom of the bag and then arrange bulbs of the same type on top, making sure that they don't touch. Continue layering the bulbs and organic material until the bag is about three-quarters full. Clip the bag closed with clothes pegs or bulldog clips and use a marker to label each bag with the name of the bulbs contained inside.

•  Plastic bulb protectors

To keep underground pests from burrowing and nibbling on newly transplanted bulbs, seal the bulbs off in wide-topped plastic containers. Before planting, punch drainage holes into the bottom and sides of a large plastic bottle or carton, bury it in the soil up to the open top and fill it with soil and humus. Plant two or three small bulbs in the container or one or two larger bulbs. This won't stop rats or mice from attacking your bulbs, but it will protect them against burrowing pests.

Old plastic storage boxes are more space-efficient — and you may find other kinds of potential bulb protectors if you go rummaging through your garage or shed.

•  Flavour food with scented geraniums

Scented geraniums have edible leaves that release a fragrance when rubbed. Among the varieties to grow in pots (or, in warmer climate areas, flowerbeds) are those with the aroma of rose, lemon, apple, apricot, lime, coconut, cinnamon, ginger, mint or nutmeg. Foods that benefit from the addition of finely chopped scented geranium leaves include fruit compotes, biscuits, cakes and poached pears.

•  Newspaper protection for young trees

If you have planted out tree saplings that look a bit spindly, wrap the trunks in newspaper to protect them from the elements. Secure this newspaper sleeve with garden twine. Or make a foil sleeve, to prevent rabbit damage. Remove the newspaper or foil within a month to prevent insects from collecting inside the sleeve.

•  Lichens: love them or hate them?

Lichens are the ruffled, fungus-like organisms that grow on stones, brick walls and tree trunks. Many gardeners love the natural look that lichens lend to trees and paths — but if you're not among them, this is a simple way to make lichens disappear: scrub them with a stiff brush dipped in a solution of 2 tablespoons household bleach and 1 litre water. Be very careful that none of the run-off comes into contact with other garden plants.

•  Warm sleeve for standard stem roses

Standard roses are ordinary rosebushes grafted onto long rootstock trunks. To protect the graft in cold winter areas, cut the sleeve off an old jumper or sweatshirt. Prune back the bush's top growth in late autumn, then slit the sleeve and wrap it around the graft scar, tying it at top and bottom. Stuff the sleeve with coconut fibre peat or clean straw for insulation, then tie a split plastic bag around the stuffed sleeve for protection against severe frost. When you remove the sleeve in spring, your rose should grow more vigorously.

•  Speed rose-blooming with foil

 In mid-spring, place sheets of aluminium foil on the ground beneath your rosebushes and anchor the foil with stones. Sunlight reflecting off the foil will speed up blooming.

•  Feed bananas to roses

Most gardeners know that banana skins make a good fertilizer for tomatoes, peppers and their solanaceous cousins, but roses love them, too. Chop banana skins (up to three) into small pieces and dig them into the soil beneath a rosebush. The banana skins provide both phosphorus and potassium — important plant nutrients that spur the growth of sturdier stems and prettier blooms.

•  A grassy boost for azaleas

After mowing the lawn, lay some of the grass clippings out to dry. Then spread a thin layer of clippings around the base of azalea plants. As the grass decays it leaches nitrogen into the soil, supplementing regular feeds. Many gardeners find this 'something extra' speeds the growth of azaleas and darkens the leaves. Be careful, though: piling the grass clippings too thickly may make them slimy and, in turn, expose the plant's stems to disease.

•  Cola and tea for gardenias and azaleas

Occasionally watering a gardenia or azalea bush with a can of cola will increase the acidity of the soil, while the sugar will feed micro-organisms and help organic matter to break down. And tea? Place tea bags around the base of a gardenia or azalea plant and then cover with mulch. Whenever you water the plants, the ascorbic acid, manganese and potassium present in the tea leaves will trickle down to the shrubs' hungry roots.

•  Cleaning sap off pruning tools

Taking a saw or shears to tree branches usually leaves sticky sap on the tool. Use a clean cloth to rub any of the following substances onto the blade(s), and say 'goodbye' to sap:

1.  Nail polish remover


2.  Baby oil


3.   Olive oil cooking spray


4.  Suntan oil


5.  Margarine

•  Lubricate pruning shears

Rubbing petroleum jelly or spraying WD-40 onto the pivot joint of a pair of shears will have you snipping away at shrubs so smoothly that you will feel like a professional pruner.

Credit: Reader's Digest

Picture Credit: Google

• Make seed holes with chopsticks

Instead of buying a dibber — the wooden garden tool used to poke seed holes in the soil — use a chopstick or pencil instead. You'll get the same holes for free. Another choice is a full-sized pair of folding nail clippers, the blunt arm of which you can poke into the soil and twist. When the time comes to transplant seedlings, use the same arm of the clippers to work a seedling and its rootball from the soil.

• No dibbing (or watering) required

An alternative to dibbing holes into the soil of a seed tray is to wet the soil, lay the seeds on the surface then cover them with another thin layer of soil. Cover the tray with a tight layer of plastic wrap and your job is done. Condensation on the wrap will drip down to keep the seeds moist until germination.

•  Spice jars as seed sowers

Before sowing seeds directly into a seedbed, put them in an empty dried herb or spice jar — the kind with a perforated plastic top. Then shake the seeds out over the seedbed or along a row.

• Sowing tiny seeds

Seeds of impatiens, lobelia, carrots, lettuce and a few other flowers and vegetables are so miniscule that they are difficult to sow evenly. To remedy the problem and make seedlings easier to thin out once they sprout, combine the seeds with fine dry sand and add the mix to an empty salt shaker. This will put some space between tiny seeds.

•  Make your own plant markers

To label your seeds tray by tray so you won't risk confusing your specially chosen tomato varieties, turn empty yogurt pots, cottage-cheese tubs or other white plastic containers into plant markers. Cut strips from the plastic, trim the ends to a point and use an indelible felt-tip marker to write the plant name (variety included) on each. Stick the strips into the edge of the trays as soon as you plant seeds so you'll know which plant is which from the start.

•  Paper-cup seed starters

Small paper drinking cups make excellent seed starters. They're the right size, you can easily poke a drainage hole in the bottom and they're easily cut apart when it comes time to plant your seedlings. Note that we specify paper cups: polystyrene cups may sit in landfill until your great-great-grandchildren have come and gone.

• Dry-cleaning bag humidifier

To provide the humidity needed to root a tray of cuttings, lay a dry-cleaning bag over the cuttings, making sure that it doesn't touch the plants. (Paddle-pop sticks or pencils can serve as ‘tent poles’.) Clip the bag to the rim of the seed tray with clothes pegs or small bulldog clips.

•  Root rose cuttings under glass

An easy way to root a cutting from your favourite rosebush is to snip off a 10-15-cm piece of a stem that has flowered and plant it in good soil in a pot. Then cover it with a large glass jar to create a mini-greenhouse.

• Willow-tea rooting preparation

Soak a handful of chopstick-sized fresh willow twigs in water to make a solution of natural plant-rooting hormone tea. Cut 6-8 twigs from a willow (any species), then split them. Cut twigs into 7-cm pieces and steep them in a bucket filled with 9-12cm water for 24 hours. Use the tea either to water just-planted cuttings or as an overnight soaker for the base of cuttings.

•  A rolling seed tray

Recycle an abandoned, old toy cart into a seed tray on wheels. Poke holes in the cart bottom with a screw-hole punch and hammer, then fill the cart with coconut fibre peat pots or expandable peat pellets, labelling as you go.

•  Potatoes as transporters

When moving plant cuttings to another location, you can use a potato as a carrier. Simply slice a large potato in half crossways, poke three 2cm-deep holes in each cut side with a chopstick or pencil, then insert the cuttings, which should stay moist for about 3-4 hours.

•  Take a drop sheet along

After painting the house or doing other messy home repairs, you may be ready to pack up and go camping, so remember to take some of the drop sheets you've used to protect flooring and furniture with you. Choose one that more or less matches the dimensions of your tent floor and pitch the tent on top of it. The drop sheet will prevent dampness from seeping in and keep the tent cleaner into the bargain.

You might want to bring another drop sheet (an inexpensive new plastic one) to use as a tablecloth; campsite tables are often covered with bird droppings and other debris.

•  Pill-bottle salt and pepper shakers

There's no need to eat bland food just because you're roughing it. Pour salt, pepper and any other spices you enjoy into separate small screw-cap pill bottles and label them with an indelible marker on masking tape so that you'll be able to reuse them. Because these containers are airtight, moisture won't cause the contents to dampen and congeal. Then take two lids from another set of pill bottles and punch small holes in them with a sharp tool. You can then use one for salt and the other for pepper, and then shake away to suit your taste. But make sure you replace the solid caps at the end of the meal to keep moisture at bay.

•  Save plastic bottles

Before you throw plastic bottles into the recycling bin, consider the ways you can put them to good use on camping trips and picnics.

When you're in the great outdoors, you can use a plastic bottle to do some of the following:

1. Make a bowl Cut off the bottom portion to make a bowl of any depth you need; you might want to sandpaper the edges to make them less rough.


2.   Dispose of liquids Pour in cooking oils and other liquid rubbish.


3. Create an icepack Fill a bottle with water, freeze it and use it to keep an esky cold. Or put it in a backpack to keep food cool on a long hike.


4.  Serve as a makeshift toilet Keep it just outside the tent so you don't have to wander out into the dark. (At least this works for male campers.)

•  Plastic containers are great, too

Recycle old plastic butter tubs the next time you go hiking or camping — they have many practical outdoor uses, including:

1. Snare stinging insects To keep wasps and other insects from invading your outdoor meals, fill a container with water, add a little sugar, poke a hole in the lid and place this sweet trap off to one side of your dining area. The wasps will fly in but won't be able to fly out.


2. Feed your dog Fill a container with biscuits so the dog's dinner is ready when he's hungry; use a second container for water.


3. Block ants Fill four plastic containers with water and put one under each leg of a table. Ants won't be able to get through your makeshift moat and crawl up the table legs to get at your picnic.

•  Freshen sleeping bags with soap

Sleeping bags can become a bit musty after a couple of uses, but you can freshen them by putting a bar of soap or a fabric-softener sheet inside them. Do it after you get out of the sleeping bag each morning, then zip the bag shut. The next time you slip in, remove the bag freshener and put it aside to use again, then drift off into sweeter-smelling dreams.

•  Bubble-wrap mattress

Pack a 2-m length of bubble wrap and lay it under your sleeping bag before you get in. The air pockets are not only soft; they'll also protect your sleeping bag from damp.

•  Hula hoop privacy protector

If you have a hula hoop, some rope or string, an old shower curtain or tablecloth and a few large metal bulldog clips, bring them along — to build a portable cubicle that you can use for changing, washing up, even showering under a bucket (see 'Staying clean outside',). Suspend the hoop from a branch with the rope or twine. Drape the shower curtain or tablecloth over the hoop, fastening the material onto the hoop with bulldog clips or any other fasteners you might have. While it may not be a thing of beauty, you will welcome the chance to disappear inside it for a bit of privacy.

•  Shoo off insects with fabric softener

Fabric-softener sheets aren't your usual item of technologically advanced outdoor gear, but you'll be glad to have some when mosquitoes start swarming around your tent. Just pin or tie one to your clothing to keep them away.

•  Foil dampness and grime

For a little extra campsite comfort, take some aluminium foil from the kitchen when packing. Here are three ways to use it.

1.  Wrap your matches in aluminium foil to protect them from moisture.


2. Lay a large piece of foil under your sleeping bag to prevent dampness from seeping in.


3.  Wad some foil into a ball to use as a scouring pad. Foil is great for scraping grime off a barbecue and blackened residue from the bottom of pans that are used over an open fire.

• Balloon therapy

Balloons can be good for the body as well as the spirit. Pack a durable, uninflated balloon with your travelling medicine kit and use it to make a cold or hot pack to soothe a sprain or muscle soreness when you're away from home. Just fill the balloon with very cold water or hot water from the tap. Tie it off and lay it over the affected area. If you have a freezer and want to go the whole hog, make an icepack by freezing a partially water-filled balloon.

•  Chest rub for painful feet

If a day of sightseeing leaves you with pleasant memories but sore feet, rub a little medicated chest rub onto your feet before going to bed (put on a pair of socks to keep the rub from marking the sheets). Your feet will feel like new in the morning.

•  Pre-soaked insect repellants

You never know when insect-repellant spray might come in handy, but cans and bottles can take up a lot of room in a portable medicine kit. Leave bulky containers behind — before leaving home, soak cotton wool balls in insect repellant and store them in a self-sealing plastic bag. When insects make an appearance, just pull out a cotton wool ball and dab some of the protective liquid onto your skin.

•  A pill-bottle toothbrush protector

Have you ever opened your travel kit to find a toothbrush soaked in shaving cream? An easy and tidy way to keep up with dental hygiene on the road is to make a toothbrush-holder kit out of an old plastic pill bottle. Cut a slit in the lid and slide the lid over the handle of your toothbrush; then replace the lid so the bristles of the toothbrush are inside the container, where they will remain clean.

• Scrounge around for old film canisters

If you still use a film camera, hoard empty film canisters for use when hiking or camping out. These convenient, waterproof containers with their snap-on, leakproof lids are great for storing matches, small batteries or other small items that could leave you high and dry or in danger if they become wet and unusable. If you've made the switch to a digital camera and don't have easy access to film canisters, use old pill bottles instead.

•  Zap sap with butter

Sticky tree sap is one of the more harmless hazards you'll encounter when camping out, but it's still annoying to find sap on your skin. To get rid of it, take out some butter or margarine from the esky, rub it into the sap and wash the area with soap and water. This gentle treatment will not only be easy on your skin but has another application for campers: it will help to waterproof tent canvas and other outdoor equipment fabrics.

•  A tin-can fire starter

Instead of using lighter fluid, try building a fire with this homemade, fluidless charcoal starter.

Cut both ends off an old very large tin can. Punch several holes near the bottom of the can, then punch two holes near the top and insert a length of coat-hanger wire through them to form a handle. When it comes time to start a fire, put the can into the fire pit, place a piece of crumpled newspaper in the bottom and lay briquettes on top of the newspaper. Light the paper through the holes punched at the bottom. When the briquettes are glowing, lift the can away with the wire handle — it will be extremely hot, so be sure to wear gloves or use tongs when grabbing it.

•  Tin-can candle holder

Don't curse the darkness. Instead, make a reflective candle holder. When opening a large can of tomatoes or some other can with a pull ring, keep the lid partially attached. Once you have finished the contents, wash out the can and bend back the lid so it faces straight upward. Put a candle inside and then place the can so the lid blocks the wind. The candle will burn steadily — and seem brighter as the lid will reflect the light.

•  Great (cotton wool) balls o' fire

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to start a fire when the wood is damp and won't ignite, so here's a trick to warm an outdoor enthusiast's heart. Pack a dozen or so cotton balls, heavily saturated with petroleum jelly, into a plastic bag. When a fire just won't get going, place several of the balls among the paper scraps and kindling and light them. Then get your food ready to cook, since the petroleum jelly usually burns long enough to get even the most reluctant campfire blazing.

•  Repurpose empty sweet tins

Once you've finished a tin of mints, cough lollies or other sweets, save the tin. They are a great weatherproof carryall for:

1.  Fishing hooks and artificial flies


2.  Matches


3.  Aspirin


4. Packets of sugar and artificial sweeteners


5. Safety pins


6.  Loose change and keys that you don't want to carry in pockets while fishing, hiking or doing other outdoor activities.

•  Floss it while camping

Dental floss, with its super-strong waxed string, is useful for many other purposes when you are camping, including:

1. Hanging stuff Floss is so strong that you can use it to hang a small lantern, shaving mirror and other gear from a branch.


2. Repairing canvas gear Floss is slender enough to thread through the eye of a needle, yet sturdy enough to hold canvas in place, making it ideal for mending tents, backpacks and tarpaulins.


3.  Cutting and slicing food Hold a piece of floss taut and slice your way through cheese, cake and other soft foods.

•  Shampoo to the rescue

Though shampoo may seem like a luxury item when you are camping, it's well worth putting some into a small plastic container that easily fits into a backpack or bag. Not only will it keep your hair squeaky clean, but it can also be used to do the following:

1.  Lubricate a tent zip


2.  Remove sap and other sticky stuff from your hands


3. Stand in for shaving cream when you decide to get rid of stubble.

•  Vinegar at your campsite

Vinegar will add a bit of zest to campsite meals, but it also:

1. Repels gnats and mosquitoes Just dab some white vinegar onto exposed skin.


2. Traps flies and mosquitoes Pour some apple cider vinegar into a container and place it on a picnic table or anywhere else these pests tend to congregate.


3. Helps to kill bacteria in water Add a few drops of cider vinegar to a water bottle.

• Wave goodbye to sand on the beach

 You probably come home from a day at the beach with plenty of sand in the car, in your shoes, on your clothes, not to mention what ends up in the house. Leave the sand where it belongs by taking a plastic bag partially filled with baby powder. When you're ready to go, dip your feet and hands into the powder and dust some more powder over the rest of your body. When you brush off the baby powder, the sand will easily brush off with it.

•  Keep baby essentials organized

Pack a separate self-sealing bag with the essentials your children need each day — a stack of wipes, a change of clothing and some disposable nappies. If you have more than one child in tow, prepare a separate bag for each child. This way you won't have to search through suitcases to put outfits together when dressing the troops every morning.

•  Save empty washing-up liquid bottles

If you've travelled with children before, you know the mess they can create. Prepare yourself for the inevitable by saving an empty (but unrinsed) bottle of washing-up liquid. Fill the bottle with water before you set out and tuck it away in a leak-proof, self-sealing plastic bag, along with some paper towels or face washers. Use this cleaning kit to wipe faces after snacks, wash hands after bathroom stops and clean up spills and smudges in the car and hotel room.

•  A mini plastic carrier

Young travellers will enjoy keeping small personal items — such as coins or tiny toys — in a carrier they've made themselves. All you need is an empty film canister or pill bottle and a key ring with a plastic spring-lock clip that attaches to belts or backpacks (the clips are sold in hardware shops and many discount and bargain shops). Help them by cutting two holes near the top of the canister to accommodate the metal ring, and then let them decorate it.

•  Map fun for little navigators

One way to keep children busy on a road trip —and teach them about geography as well — is to help them follow your route on a map. While planning the trip, cut out and colour photocopy the portion of a map that corresponds to your route for each day of travel. Attach the segments to a clipboard, give the children some washable markers and get them to chart your course and check off towns and landmarks as you go. If you need directions, you might be able to get some help from the back seat.

• A backseat snack tray

Little appetites always seem to get bigger on car trips. This fun way to dish up snacks may be exactly what you need to keep the children satisfied. Thoroughly wash an empty plastic or polystyrene egg carton with warm soapy water (for short journeys and dried foods use a clean cardboard one). Fill each compartment with a different treat — cheese cubes in one, breakfast cereal in another, dried fruit in another. When the back seat crews are ravenous, simply pass the carton around.

•  Double duty for fruit and vegetable bags

Onions, capsicums, citrus fruits and other fruit and vegetables often come in mesh bags. Once you have eaten what's in them, save the bags for a day of outdoor fun. Mesh bags are ideal for taking toys to the beach, or anywhere else that gear is likely to become sandy and dirty. At the end of the day, just put the playthings back into the mesh bag and rinse the whole lot out under a hose. If you can't find a mesh bag, take a plastic bag and punch holes in it — but only enough holes to allow the water to run out.

•  Self-service

Family car trips can be a wonderful experience — and even more so when you're equipped with self-sealing plastic bags in various sizes. With some of the uses outlined on page 250 in mind, try taping a few bags to the back of one of the front seats on a long car trip so that children can reach them to get snacks, dispose of rubbish or to access pencils and crayons.

•  Delicious pre-trip prep

A great way to prepare young travellers for the sights, smells and tastes that they experience on a family excursion is to have a living room picnic before you go, with foods that are likely to be encountered at your destination. While your intrepid gourmands are eating, take the opportunity to tell them about the history of the location, its geography and other interesting facts that they'll hopefully retain once they get where they're going. Or, better still, try to get them to help you prepare and cook the food, in the hope that being more involved in the process will make them more interested.

•  Spray-bottle play

 On a hot day, a simple spray bottle can be a godsend for young travellers. Recycle a couple of spray bottles from the cleaning cupboard, clean them well, fill them with water and keep them on hand, then use them to:

1.  Spray the kids while they're sitting on a beach, hiking or walking in the city.


2.  Dress children in their swimming costumes and set them loose in a park or other public outdoor spot with a couple of spray bottles. Drenching one another — with parental approval — might be the highlight of your children's trip.

•  An improvised money belt

If you're pressed for time, you can make your own money belt out of a pair of old pantihose. Put your money, passport and other valuables into the foot of the pantihose and tie the top around your waist. And don't worry, your home-made money belt will be concealed by clothing.

•  Point your shoes towards the emergency exit

When you check into a hotel, take a few minutes to study the fire-exit diagrams posted on the inside of your door. Then place your shoes by the door before you retire for the night, pointing them in the direction of the emergency exit in your corridor. This way, if an alarm goes off in your hotel room and you wake up and smell smoke, you won't panic trying to remember which way to turn to escape.

•  Seal luggage latches

When you check your luggage onto a flight these days, you may be encouraged to leave them unlocked, in case security decides to inspect them. Thoughts of your luggage being chucked about and the latches popping open —and your belongings being made vulnerable to thieves — may well follow. Allay these concerns by covering the latches of your suitcase with just enough gaffer tape to fit over the fastenings. Security will then be able to inspect the bag by peeling back the tape, and hopefully they will retape the fasteners once they have finished. Use tape that matches the colour of your suitcase or travel bag so that your quick fix won't be obvious to potential thieves.

•  Thwart pickpockets

A simple safety pin can make your wallet a lot more secure. Put your wallet into a pocket of your trousers or your jacket and close the opening with a safety pin in such a way that you can still squeeze the wallet out — but just barely. The pin will dumbfound anyone who attempts to pickpocket you, since you will undoubtedly notice the tug.

•  A fine-toothed wallet protector

If you're a man, a wallet and a comb are two items that you probably carry with you at all times. But did you know that you could use them together to prevent pickpockets from taking your wallet? Place your comb in the fold of your wallet so that the teeth extend beyond the open edge; then double-loop a rubber band around the wallet through the teeth of the comb. When you put the wallet in your trousers pocket or the breast pocket of your jacket, the teeth will catch on the fabric when they are moved. So when a thief tries to slip the wallet from your pocket, the comb will act as both a barrier and an alarm.

•  A hole in your sole

Temporarily fix shoe soles using gaffer tape; the backing is waterproof, so your repair might hold up through a couple of downpours. If a broken shoelace is slowing you down, cut off a strip of tape that's about as long as your lace, roll it tightly (lengthways) with the sticky side in and thread your new 'lace' through the holes.

•  Tape a broken car hose

You can use gaffer tape to fix petrol-powered locomotion, too: tear off a strip to make a quick repair to your car's broken water hose — but don't rely on your handiwork to get you any further than the nearest garage.

•  Damp umbrella holders

Hate carrying around a wet umbrella? Make sure that you always have a plastic supermarket bag with you; simply stuff the closed umbrella into the bag, roll it tightly like a sausage, then stow it in your bag or pocket.

•  Plastic bag 'galoshes'

Rain can really dampen your enthusiasm for walking or hiking — but you needn't let bad weather get in the way of your fun. After pulling on your boots, wrap each foot in a sturdy plastic bag. Your feet are more likely to stay dry and you can put your wet footwear into one of the bags when it's time to pack and move on.

•  Wick water from wet shoes

To speed up air-drying, stuff water-soaked shoes and boots with crumpled newspaper to wick out the moisture. Speed the drying by placing shoes or boots on their sides, turning over from time to time and replacing damp newspaper.

•  Freshen car air

When the air in your car is getting a bit stale, and one of those scented cardboard shapes dangling from the rear-view mirror isn't what you have in mind as a solution, plan ahead and bring a plastic bag filled with cotton wool balls soaked in pure vanilla extract, tea-tree oil or eucalyptus oil. Take out a couple, put them in the car's ashtray or cup holder and enjoy a natural scent that's far subtler than most overly perfumed commercial products.