Gardening is a wonderful, healthy hobby that millions of people adore, but it can also be complex, laborious, and expensive. If you want to simplify your gardening experience, below, we’ve collected together ten popular gardening “hacks” that are capable of greatly benefiting your gardening endeavours, starting with…

#1 - Make your own sprinklers

You don’t have to invest in an expensive sprinkler system in order to ensure that your garden is always watered! Simply poke a number of holes in a large plastic bottle or milk container and feed your garden hose through the opening; your garden will be perfectly irrigated in no time at all!

#2 - Prevent herb spread with a plastic pot

Herb roots can spread and impact other plants planted nearby, but this hack helps to make that issue a thing of the past. Simply take a cheap, standard plant pot and cut the bottom off with a pair of scissors or a sharp knife. You can then plant the pot directly into the ground, keeping a potentially invasive herb well under control.

#3 - Create a bug hotel

Attract beneficial bugs to your garden by building living quarters that any critter would be delighted to live in! Use wooden planks to create layers, then add grass cuttings, old plant pots, leaves, and any other organic matter to each segment in order to ensure bugs feel right at home.

#4 - Create a gravel feature

Have you got a spare corner of your garden you’ve never been quite sure what to do with? A gravel feature is the perfect solution! Dig the ground out to create a trench, add landscaping fabric, and then a layer of gravel. Gravels such as Canterbury Spar can be a feature in their own right, or you can add decorative ornaments for an extra design element.

#5 - Paint planters with glow-in-the-dark paint

For an instant night-time brightness boost, purchase a few cheap planters and then paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint. You’ll want to use several thick coats of the paint to ensure complete coverage, and add a few plants so the planters look the part during the day, but the overall effect at night-time is well worth the effort!

#6 - Use cheap umbrellas to deter squirrels

Squirrels are incredibly cute, but they’re also more than happy to sample fruits and vegetables you have grown. If you want to ensure there’s still produce available for you and your family to eat, purchase small, clear plastic umbrellas from any pound store and insert the handle into the ground next to the plant that needs an extra level of protection.

#7 - Bulk out deep planters

Planters are a great way to add extra plants and flowers to your garden, but particularly deep or tall planters can be expensive to fill with soil. For most planter shrubs and flowers, a huge depth of soil isn’t actually necessary. You can bulk out the base with wood, leaves, mulch, or even tin cans, then add your best soil to the upper half of the planter only.

Happy garden hacking!