LABELLED WITH LOVE

Helen Tidy enjoyed one weekend moored next to The Beer Boat ... simply the perfect solution to collecting bottle tops for her next project

- Helen Tidy

For those of us confined to houses for the period of lockdown, it has been an inescapable observation that the nation has turned to gardening in droves. For Andy and I, this past year has represented the first time we have really been around in order to get to grips with our garden and like so many, we have relished this slice of outdoor living. What we have missed in terms of canals, we have attempted to make up for with bedding plants.

Not quite the same but we are very aware of our good fortune in having our own outdoor space so we are not complaining. Given that so many of us have the zeal of the newly converted, I thought present ideas for the gardeners in our lives might be worth exploring, especially as we approach the festive season of giving.

Recycling or repurposing stuff seems to me to be very much standard practice when it comes to gardening. So making gifts out of rubbish has to be a good thing. Plant markers are an easy way to begin and there is a vast range of possibilities. My first attempt was using lolly sticks and could not be simpler. After a summer of self-indulgence, we had more than a few lolly sticks kicking around. These needed washing and then thorough drying. When ready, I dipped them into blackboard paint and set them to dry in wodge of Blu Tak.

Once dried, these are simply stuck into the ground with the relevant plant information written on using a chalk pen. Variations can be made using oddments of old cutlery which would make a spectacular gift decorously bound together with ribbon.