I’m a gardening expert, my £4 hack gets rid of slugs and it also fills your garden with a beautiful scent

FOR the next six weeks from now  the heady scent of elderflower will fill the air in countless British gardens.
Now is the perfect time to pick the blossoms - which can be transformed into cordial, added to cakes and champagne or even fried in batter! Belvoir Farms founder Mary Manners has revealed her cordial recipe to Sun Gardening.

YOU WILL NEED:
2.5kg white sugar, granulated or caster
Zest from 2 unwaxed lemons
20 fresh elderflower heads, stalks trimmed
85g citric acid (buy online or from a chemist)
Method

Put the sugar and 1.5 litres water into a large saucepan. Gently heat, without boiling, until the sugar has dissolved, occasionally stirring.
Remove the zest from the lemons, then slice the lemons into thin rounds.
Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the pan of syrup to the boil, then turn off the heat. Transfer the washed flowers to the syrup along with the lemons, zest and citric acid. Stir well, cover the pan and leave to infuse for 24 hrs.
Line a colander with muslin or a clean tea towel, then sit it over a large bowl or saucepan. Pour or ladle in the syrup and let it slowly drip through. Discard any bits left in the towel during the straining process.

THIS WEEK’S JOB Remove side shoots from cordon tomatoes, deadhead roses and keep picking those slugs and snails by night.

THIS WEEK’S TIP
Get a bunch of spring onions from the shop, put them in water, wait until the roots grow - then plant out - they’ll grow lovely long spring onion microgreens out of the top to use in all sorts of cooking all year round.

WIN!
Thanks to our friends at Kettler, one lucky reader will get their hands on a Corus String Five Seat Sofa Set worth a massive £1,799!! The set includes a three-seater sofa, two lounge chairs, and a durable slat-top coffee table.
To enter visit www.thesun.co.uk/KETTLER or write to Sun KETTLER competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 22/06/24.  

SAVE!
Screwfix are selling a great Spear and Jackson handfork for £13.99 - or get this £4 version from Asda.

LEARN!
Q. I have a cherry bush three years old in a large pot. It flowers every year but no fruit. I would like to plant it directly in the ground. When is the best time to replant? Hugh Hardie, via email.
A. You could technically do this at any time - but the best time is from late Autumn to Spring, when the plant is dormant. It means you won't shock it too much while it's merrily growing and producing flowers. It sounds like it could do with a prune to encourage fruit. And planting it at this point means it will have time to root over Winter ready to burst forth in Spring!

NEWS! A paper origami self watering pot won Sustainable Garden Product of the Year at Chelsea this year - and it can even fit through your letterbox. Visit www.potr.co/ for more.