• Use sea sponges that wash up on the beach to clean pots and pans. Being rough in texture they remove scraps but do not scratch the surface of the pots.
• Recycle bike chains as hinges for gates and small doors.
• If butter has gone rancid it can ‘sweetened up’ by immersing it in cold water with a pinch of bicarb soda for two hours.
• If the inside of your chimney catches on fire, place wet newspapers on the fire. The steam from the papers will put it out. Try it before you call the fire brigade!
• Recycle the canvas from deck chairs. Turn it into carry bags for groceries.

Speaking of carry bags, our local New World supermarket is encouraging shoppers to give up plastic bags. If you take in your own reusable carry bags they reduce your grocery bill by 5 cents per bag or a clip on a coffee card. The good thing is the store gave away the reusable bags in the first place. While the saving is not all that significant in the overall scheme of things, the cause is – and good on New World for taking the initiative to help reduce plastic waste in the environment.

“To get a head start on winter, I started collecting pine cones in December from local parks and public places where there are pine trees. The best time to go collecting is after a Northwester, as hundreds of cones are blown off the trees. I have 12 large sackfuls so far for my fire. I also collect branches and twigs over the summer that have either fallen off or come from when I prune my trees. I save everything for kindling. I already have eight boxes of kindling which means I won’t have to buy expensive kindling.” Good squirrel work Thrifty, well done!

Using wood ash is a very good oily rag trick. Spreading ash onto plants gives the soil potassium – that’s the “K” in “NPK” trio (the others being Nitrogen which is good for leaf growth and Phosphorus which boosts the development of roots, flowers, seeds, and fruit).

According to experts, potash (potassium) helps plant intake of carbon dioxide, the circulation of water within the plant, and gives them an energy and strength to resist stress – including when things get dry. In that respect a dose of potash sounds a little like one of those miracle cure health food company ads on TV!

As far as wood fire ash is concerned, it can be spread directly onto the soil or added into the compost bin, just as you would add lime. Adding it increases the pH level of soil which is good for plants that like sweet soil but not those that like acidic soil such as radishes and blueberry plants.

Here are a few tips:

• Spread it and dig it into the soil a few centimeters.
• Only use ash from wood that is untreated.
• Make sure the ash is cold before applying!
• Improve grass growth by sprinkling it over a lawn – then give it a good watering. It has the same effect as applying lime. Apply it at a rate twice that of lime.
• For those who make fertiliser soup, you can make a potash brew by putting the ash into a permeable cloth bag and soaking it in a drum of water. Use about 1 kilo of ash per 100 litres of water. Leave it for a week or so then apply to vegetables.
• Spread ashes around the base of hardwood trees, especially apples and citrus.

Most soils are on the acidic side and become more so over time. So how do you test your soil acidity? The simplest way is to use litmus paper, which is used to test the water in swimming pools. Simply take a sample of soil, mix in some rain water, and give it a shake around. Dip in the litmus paper and check it against the colour chart (blue is sweet, red is acidic). Most hardware stores like Bunnings and Mitre10 will have reasonably cheap options suitable for oily rag gardeners

[Another reader uses the dried stalks from the flax flower as kindling. It’s light like balsa wood and very easy to burn. – Oily Rag Ed’]

[Yes, that does work well. You don’t need a lot of meths. Enough so each bag is damp, not dripping. – Oily Eag Ed’]

Use the dry leaves as fire starters or in your garden as plant ties.