What’s happening with the weather is important to gardeners and the direction the wind is coming from can make a big difference to how our plants are doing. In my garden, in summer, if the wind is coming from the north, I know I will need to water more than usual. If the wind swings round and comes from the south the temperature can drop very quickly – sometimes by 15 degrees in half an hour. In winter, if there is no wind on a cold, clear night we know to expect frost overnight. You can make your own weather vane to show which direction the wind is coming from.

You will need:

A piece of card (a business card is perfect); a drinking straw; some masking tape; a long pin with a bead on the end; a pencil with an eraser on the end; a large blob of BluTack; an empty 2 litre plastic milk container; some pebbles and wet sand; a compass.

What to do:
Rule a line lengthways down the centre of the card dividing it exactly into two. Measure 3 cm from one end of the line and make a mark across the line. Using a ruler, draw straight lines from each corner to this 3cm mark to make a triangular arrow shape. Cut along the straight lines to cut the arrow out. You now have the arrow tip of your weather vane and the other piece makes the tail.

Take the drinking straw and carefully make a lengthwise cut 2cm long on each end. Try to cut the straw neatly so it is divided in half to make a slot. Slip the arrow into the slot on one end and the tail into the slot on the other end. Stick some masking tape over the slots on both sides to make them secure.

Cut the milk container below the handle so that it is quite a bit shorter than the pencil. Stick a big blob of Blu Tack right in the middle of the bottom of the container. Push the pencil into the Blu Tack leaving the eraser-end sticking out at the top. Put some pebbles in the bottom of the container. Use a trowel to spoon in wet sand around the pencil. This will keep it upright and will make the weather vane heavy so it doesn’t blow over.

Now measure the length of straw between the arrow head and the tail and find the half way mark. Hold the straw so the arrow and tail are straight up and down (not flat like the floor) and push the pin right through the straw at the half way mark. There should a bit of pin sticking out both sides of the straw.

Push the pin carefully into the centre of the eraser end of the pencil. The weather vane will spin around easily in the breeze.

Use the compass to find which direction north is at your place. If you face north, then the east is on your right hand side, west is on your left hand side and south is behind you.

Your weather vane will always point in the direction that the wind is coming FROM. If it is half way between, for example, north and east, then we say it is a north-easterly.

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Making a Rain Gauge

In many parts of Australia we don’t get as much rain as we need and we are always interested to know how much rain has fallen when it does come. You can make a rain gauge of your own and keep a record of the rainfall for your area.

An empty plastic fruit juice bottle with a flat bottom, a pair of scissors, a ruler, a fine permanent marker (the ones used to write on CDs and DVDs are good).

1. Use the scissors to carefully cut the top part of the bottle off. Cut it at the point just before it starts to slope in towards the opening. You might need a grown-up to help you with this bit as it can be difficult to get started.

2. Turn the cut section upside down to form a funnel and push it back into the bottle.

3. Place the bottle on a table and use the ruler to mark off the measurements. It will be easiest if you measure off in 5mm lots. (You may even have a small thin plastic ruler than you can cut to size and stick on to the container with clear PVC glue)

4. Find a spot in the garden that is open with no overhanging trees or plants.

5. Dig a narrow hole about one third as deep as the bottle is tall. Push the bottle into the hole. This will stop it being blown away in the wind.

6. Check the bottle each time it rains and record the amount of water you have collected eg 5mm.

7. Once you have recorded the amount empty the bottle and replace it in the hole.

8. When anyone asks, "How much rain did we get last night?" you will know the answer!

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Drying Flowers

Dried flowers are very pretty decorations and the best thing is that they last for such a long time. Dried flowers can also be used to make cards and to decorate all sorts of craft work.

What you will need: flowers suitable for drying; secateurs; string; a dry airy place.

1. Not all flowers are suitable for drying. Some that are very good are strawflowers (Xerochrysum), paper daisies (Rhodanthe), love-in-the-mist seed pods (Nigella), statice (Limomium) and yarrow (Achillea). You can easily grow strawflowers, paper daisies and love-in-the-mist from seed in your garden, and you should find plants of yarrow (most likely in the herb section) and statice in your local garden centre.

2. Flowers should be cut in the morning after the dew has completely dried off. Cut strawflowers and paper daisies before they completely open. (Like in the picture on the right.) Cut the seed pods of love-in-the-mist while they are still green. Cut all the flowers with the longest stems you possible can.

3. Remove most of the leaves.

4. Tie the flowers in bunches with the string leaving a long loop for hanging up.

5. Hang the bunches of flowers upside-down in a dry, airy place. They will take a couple of months to dry out completely.

6. When dry, arrange the flowers in a dry vase.

7. Flower heads can also be cut off and use to decorate greeting cards. Use a clear glue to attach them. Sprigs of dried flowers also make pretty decorations for any home-made goods such as jam, sweets and bags of potpourri.

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Don't you love the smell of potpourri? The name is French and it means "rotten pot" which is an awful name for something so nice, don't you think? Potpourri is a mixture of dried scented leaves, flowers and added spices and fixatives. As well as making the house smell wonderful, it can be used to create all kinds of gifts.

You will need: scented leaves and flowers from the garden, orris root powder & essential oil (from health food shops, craft stores or aromatherapy shops), ground mixed spice. (Orrris root is the dried and ground root of some particular kinds of iris.)

1. Collect scented leaves and flowers from your garden. Use leaves and flowers from plants such as scented geraniums, lemon verbena, and herbs such as eau-de-cologne mint, rosemary, lavender, thyme, lemon balm, bergamot and angelica. Flowers add colour. Try jasmine and nasturtium flowers, rose petals, small rose buds and violets. You can also make Australian potpourri with eucalyptus leaves and flowers (Lemon Gum leaves smell
wonderful!), mint bush (Prostanthera), brown boronia flowers and many more. There is no need to collect them all at once.

2. Spread the leaves and flowers on a rack to dry. An old fly screen on some bricks is perfect, but sheets of newspaper work well too. Choose a warm, dry, airy place.

3. When the leaves and flowers are dry and crisp, put them in a big glass or ceramic jar with a lid.  Keep collecting the material until you have enough.

4. For every 4 cups of dried material, add 1 tablespoon of orris root powder, 1 teaspoon of spice and 1 teaspoon of essential oil. (Choose whatever oil you like e.g. lavender, rose, lilac, or native plant oils. Real essential oils are expensive but they last much longer than the cheap ones.)

5. Mix the potpourri well and leave for a few weeks before using.

6. You can usually buy nice potpourri bowls in $2.00 shops. Filled with your home-made mix, these make lovely gifts. Even easier, fill paper bags with potpourri and tie with a pretty ribbon.

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Make a Bug Spray

As you know, there are many good bugs in the garden that help to clean up many of the insects that damage our plants. Birds to a very good job of this too. Spraying plants with some pest sprays can harm helpful insects and birds. However sometimes there are so many pests that we just need to use a spray. Here is one you can make yourself that won’t hurt birds and it can also mask the smell of your favourite plants so that the pests are unable to find them as easily.

You will need: a lemon, wormwood or tansy leaves, lavender leaves and flowers (see right); sage leaves, boiling water, pure soap flakes (not detergent powder!), a jug, a fine strainer, a trigger spray container (available at supermarkets).

1. Grate the rind of the lemon into a bowl.

2. Add 1 cup of wormwood or tansy leaves, 1 cup of lavender leaves and flowers; 1 cup of sage leaves and 1 tablespoonful of soap flakes.

3. Pour 500ml of boiling water over the top. (Ask a grown up to help with this bit.)

4. Stir the leaves around a bit and then let them soak until the mixture is cold.

5. Strain the mixture into a jug.

6. When you are ready to spray, pour a quarter of a cup of the liquid into the spray bottle and add 3½ cups of water. Give it a shake.

7. Remember to spray under the leaves of your plants as well as on the top but don’t spray it in your eyes and wash your hand after using the spray. Keep the spray out of the reach of little kids and your pets. It won’t keep for very long.

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Making a Daisy Chain

Daisies are very pretty and it is fun to use them to make a necklace called a daisy chain. Ask a grown-up what daisies from the garden you can use. They need to have fairly soft stems. In our garden we have lots of lawn daisies and they are great to use. (You can use clover flowers instead if you like.) Watch out for bees!

What you need: daisy flowers

What to do:

1. Pick daisy flowers and make sure you have a short stem attached to each one. The stems need to be about 4cm long.

2. Take one daisy and carefully split the stem with your thumbnail. Make the split about 1cm from the end of the stalk and about 1cm long. You might have to practice this a bit before you get it right.

3. Split the stalk of another daisy.

4. Slip the stalk of the second daisy through the slit in the stem of the first daisy.

5. Choose another daisy, split the stem and then slip the stalk through the slit in the stem of the second daisy.

6. Continue to add daisies in the same way until the daisy chain is long enough to fit over your head.

7. When you come to the last daisy, you will need to make the slit in its stem 2-3cm long so that you can fit the whole flower head through so that it makes a complete circle.

8. Pop it over your head and you have a pretty flowery necklace to wear.

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Snails and slugs can do a lot of damage in the garden. They hide in all sorts of places during the day and come out at night when it’s damp to feast on the lawn grass and plants in the garden. Squishing them is a good quick way to get rid of them, but that can be a bit yucky. Snails really like beer. This trap provides beer for them to drink and then they get drunk and fall in and drown. As least they die happy!

You will need: an empty margarine container (or similar); some stale beer, a trowel

What to do:

1. Use the trowel to dig a hole the same size as the margarine container in a place where snails are a problem eg the vegetable garden. (Other types of wide food containers work fine too.)

2. Push the container into the hole so that the rim is level with the soil.

3. In the evening, pour some stale or left-over beer into the container so that it is about three-quarters full.

4. Empty out the beer and the dead snails every couple of days and replace with more beer.

5. If you don’t have any beer to use, crushed up eggshells sprinkled in a band around seedlings and plants can stop snails crossing to get to the plants. They don’t like the sharp shells because they stick to their slimy "feet".

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Many gardens have at least some herbs growing - they are so tasty to use in cooking. Herbs can be used for other things too. We can use them to make our rooms and wardrobes smell nice and to scent writing paper and all sorts of things. You can also use herbs to make cosmetics and we have an easy recipe for you to try that I’m sure will become a family favourite.

You will need: sorbolene cream with 10% glycerin (a 100g jar costs $3-4 at the chemist); freshly picked herbs; a small jug; boiling water; a teaspoon; a tea strainer; a suitable jar. (The jar that the cream comes in is usually perfect. You might like to transfer the extra cream into another container to be used later.)

What to do:
1. Choose a herb from the garden that you really like. Lavender, rosemary, mint and lemon verbena are all very suitable. Keeping to just one will probably give you the result that pleases you most.

2. Collect leaves and/or flowers from the bushes in the morning before the sun gets hot. This is when herbs smell the best. You will need enough to generously cover the bottom of a small jug.

3. Scoop half of the cream out of the jar and put it in another container to use later.

4. Boil the kettle. (You will be using very hot water, so ask a grown-up for help.)

5. Pour enough boiling water into the jug to just cover the herbs. Stir and squeeze them a bit with the teaspoon for a few minutes.

6. Place the tea strainer over the jar and pour a little bit of the hot herbal tea into the jar with the cream. Stir it around carefully until the cream is nice and smooth again. Continue to add small amounts of liquid and stir until the jar is almost full of smooth cream.

7. Stick your own hand-decorated label over the existing label (you might like to use pressed flowers to decorate it) and you have your own hand cream which is very nice to use. Soon you’ll be taking orders from your family and friends!

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