Use the ash from your wood-fires on your flower-beds. It enriches the soil and also discourages slugs!
Belinda Walsh (April 2000 competition winner)

I have a heated windowsill propogator (very cheap with no thermostat) and instead of buying new seed trays each year I use the thin plastic trays that vegetables are packed in @ supermarkets. They are thin enough to be able to put drainage holes in but strong enough to cope with handling etc.
I find the organic mushroom trays from my local store to be exactly the right size for my propogator and I can fit in 4 trays at a time. I also use them for raising seeds in my cold greenhouse.
Margaret G. (April '99 competition winner)

If, like me, you have clay soil and a lot of turf to get rid of, pile it up in a corner and cover it with an old bit carpet. After a few months the 'pile' should be grass free and you can turn it into a rockery by adding some fresh compost, a few stones and various plants. My soil was so full of clay that the turf would have taken years to compost down into something nice to put back into the soil!
Janice McKinnon

To start a garden fire to burn unwanted rubish use a good handfull of straw as it gives out good fast heat with less chance of burning yourself , and no chance of blowing up in your face like petrol or parafin would do.
Terence Williams

If you are doing a dirty job in the garden, put some hand cream on, and wear rubber gloves, this will keep your hands from getting grimy, give them a beauty treatment, and the rubber gloves don't affect your dexterity as much as cloth ones.
Sylvia Baughen

To keep cats off the garden, use squeezy lemon juice, it's easier to squirt up fence posts, bushes etc.
Tracey Blackburn

For a colourful display of sweet peas this year, I've painted bamboo canes with bright exterior gloss paint.
Julia Maddocks

If there is a skip nearby and the owner does not mind, look for disgarded rocks, bricks or wood that can be incorporated into your garden design. A new pergola, trellis panels and a rockery can easily and very cheaplly be made.
H. Harris

Buy your plants and all garden excesories from nurseries not garden centres, a lot lot cheaper.
Mrs Marilyn Hounsome

Use up your left over comic relief red noses to stick on to the ends of canes. You can't miss them!
Carole Thorpe

I bought some cuttings mail order, which came in green plastic protective sleeves for safety through the post.
I have re-used these to sow my sweetpea seeds as they are approx. 6" x 1" in blocks of 6 (1" x 1" x 6" long) Ideal as they can be opened flat but allow for good root growth as they are so long and thin. Filled with compost and resealed I have put a seed in the top of each tube therefore giving less root disturbance when planting.
With care they should last for at least 2-3 years.
Allan Watkins

Vine weevils can create havoc in a greenhouse, and according to the gardening press we can expect an infestation this year.
Trap adult weevils by painting trappit glue on the pot rims of vulnerable plants such as primula, fuchsias and cyclamen.
Once detected,introduce a biological predator for effective control.
Gareth Wyn Jones

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