Watering your garden

•  Use a toothpick to test when it’s time to water

Just as you can test a baking cake for readiness by sticking in a wooden toothpick, you can do the same to see whether a flowerbed is in need of watering. Stick the toothpick into the soil as far as it will go, then examine it. If it comes out clean, it’s time to water. If any soil clings to the pick, you don’t need to water just yet — test the soil again the next day.

• Saving splashes…

Flat smooth stones collected on a trip to the beach can be used as a splashguard in a window box. Watering plants in window boxes often splashes mud onto windowpanes, as does driving rain. To solve the problem, simply spread some water-smoothed pebbles over the surface of the soil. They look great and also help to retain moisture.

•  Recycle unsalted cooking water

Boiled foods release nutrients, so why pour their cooking water down the drain? Let the water cool and then use it to give a garden plant a healthy drink. Caution: when cooking any of the following, do not add salt to the water as it is harmful to many plants. Try these foods:

1. Eggs Boiled eggs leave several minerals in the cooking water, so use the cooled liquid to water calcium-loving solanaceous plants such as tomatoes, potatoes and all peppers.
2. Spinach Plants need iron too — and spinach water gives them not only iron but also a good dose of potassium.

•  Milk-bottle trickle irrigation

Tomatoes aren’t the only garden plants that like lots of water. Other thirsty plants include zucchini and rosebushes. How can you keep their thirst quenched? Bury plastic milk-bottle reservoirs alongside each plant. Start by perforating a bottle in several places. Dig a planting hole large enough to accommodate both plant and bottle and bury the bottle so that its opening is at soil level. After refilling the hole and tamping down the soil, fill the bottle with water. Then top it to overflowing at least once a week and your plant’s roots will stay moist.

•  Water ferns with weak tea

When planting a fern, put a used tea bag into the bottom of the planting hole to act as a reservoir while the fern adapts to its new spot; the roots will draw up a bit more nitrogen. Another drink ferns like is a very weak solution of household ammonia and water (1 tablespoon ammonia to 1 litre water), which will also feed them a little nitrogen.

•  Cocktail time for plants

After serving summer drinks, save any stale club soda to give to your plants. It adds minerals to houseplants when watered into the soil.

•  While you vacation…

Houseplants will survive well while you take a short holiday if they are placed in the bathtub or in the kitchen sink (if it’s big enough to fit). Add water to the tub or sink, but no more than one-third of the pot’s height. Too much water will cause sodden soil. Plants need oxygen for their roots and will die if pots remain saturated. If you have a collection of pots to keep moist while you’re gone, the one-third rule applies to the shortest pot.

•  Hose punctured?

If water is leaking from a tiny hole in your garden hose, stick a wooden toothpick into the hole and then break it off at surface level. Wrap electrical tape or gaffer tape around the hose to secure the toothpick. The wet wood should swell up and form a tight seal.