Some Gardening Tips

Bigger Blooms!:- Exactly why, I don't know but wood ash seems to the best food for flower development, Two sources have recommended this to me so I am waiting to see if my Hydrangeqas are bigger this year. - Vanessa Echols

Waking up your Lawn Mower!:- If you use a gas (petrol) powered lawn mower you may have had a problem in starting it up for the first cut of the year; try replacing the fuel with brand new. The more volatile parts of petrol tend to evaporate faster than the rest and this affects ease of ignition. Just topping up with fresh gas is sufficient to make a big difference, especially with an older machine. -- Axel K

Home made Insecticide:- Boiling down a few cloves of garlic, straining, and adding an eggcupful of low cost dishwashing liquid will produce a gallon of useful aphid deterrent -- Margaret Anderson

Slippery Decking: Wooden Decking can become very slippery when wet . A good solution is to use chicken wire fixed down with staples. A Klystrom

Pesky Cats: Unwanted cats can be kept out the garden by sprinkling pepper in the garden. Citrus fruit peel is supposed to work as well. – Anne Johns.

Moles: Stick open bottles into the middle of molehills to deter moles, as the sound of wind blowing over the empty bottle tops will scare the moles away. – Anne Johns.

Slugs and Snails:To keep slugs away from sensitive plants sprinkle eggshells around them. Ash and grit are also supposed to be effective. Sprinkle slugs with salt to kill them. It is also possible to trap slugs using containers in the ground that have some beer in the bottom. Empty grapefruit halves work as well. Vaseline smeared around plant pots stops slugs getting to the plants inside. – Rosalind Ed.

Pest Removal... Pour some grits on the ant hill.... when the ants take the stuff and eat it, it expands and kills them -- PsiQueue

Flowers.

Azaleas. My azaleas like a bit of white wine vinegar added to their water every so often.They also like used teabags as fertilizer. -- Anon.

Roses. My rose plants love old banana skins placed around their bottoms as fertilizer. -- Anna Davis 

Sweet Peas: Pinch off the tendrils to improve the flowering capacity -- Vanessa Echols.

Fuchsias: Bury your fuchsia’s in the winter to protect them from the frost. --Vanessa Echols.

Vegetables.

Grow your own Chilies. Save some seeds from small red peppers and plant two or three seeds at a time in yogurt pots.  When they are a couple of inches high repot in a medium sized plant pot. You will soon have an attractive indoor plant - and a supply of chillies -- Simon Spicer

Leeks. I find my leeks grow better when you add a bit of soot to their soil. I've also heard that they also like heavy beers like stout to drink as well, but I'm a bit skeptical myself. -- D Jenkins, Cardiff

Cucumbers: Avoid watering with cold or chlorinated water, leave the water standing for a few hours. Keep a container for water in your greenhouse -- V E Webb

Cucumbers: Keep cucumbers dry at the point that they emerge from the ground to avoid "Collar Rot" -- V E Webb

A couple of tips....  Hi there webmaster of hints n tips, here's a couple of tips for those involved with hydroponics.
1) A video on setting up a hydroponics system http://www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/video.htm 
2) General hydroponics tips http://www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/top-tips.htm 
Best Regards,  Duane.

Links:

  Very useful houseplant resource website. www.plantoasis.com