We love to use natural ingredients in our products so we have thought up five great ideas for creating fun and quirky recycled planters in the garden for all those amazing skin friendly plants and herbs.

1. Your old pair of wellies.  We are simply tickled by planters as creative as this. Wellies over- flowing with luscious greenery really makes the perfect combination ideal for any garden.
2. Abandoned plastic paddling pools. When children are younger there is nothing quite as fun as spending a sunny afternoon splashing around in a small paddling pool with friends. Those small paddling pools can quickly be outgrown and often replaced with large pools the whole family can play in! So why not recycle the old pool and create a gorgeous planter full of lemon grass, rosemary and mint. It will smell delicious and look charming.
3. The old bathtub, Belfast sink or even the toilet! If you have replaced your bathroom suite why not put the old one to good use. If you have an old fashioned bathtub with gorgeous scroll feet you can create a stunning garden focal point.  This type of planter is ideal for plants that have longer roots such as lavender.
4. Teapots and crockery. This idea is ideal for anyone with a passion for old crockery.  Teapots and tea cups make the ideal containers for small singular plants. You can create gorgeous displays by hanging the teapots of railings using garden wire or string, or even line your fences with these gorgeous old pieces of china.
5. Guttering. Believe it or not plastic or metal guttering can be turned into an attractive garden display. A great idea for guttering planters is to screw them onto the side of your fence or shed and grow salad plants and herbs to enjoy using in your cookery or to make your own beauty products.

Creating a Planter

• Line your improvised planter with a plastic bag (recycled of course).
• With a sharp tool push through the container and plastic liner to create drainage holes. You may need to use a drill for harder objects such as the bath or teapots.
• Place a few stones or broken pots at the bottom of your planter and fill the rest up with compost or potting soil.

• Plant your seeds or pop in your plant and add another layer of soil on the top and water generously.

Remember to protect your hands before and after with a protective hand cream. Why not try our miracle balm which not only helps to soften your hands it also works as the ideal barrier cream thanks to the magical properties of beeswax.

Today is actually Royal Oak Day which originated back in 1660 to celebrate the restoration of the English Monarchy.

Will You Be Wearing Your Sprig of Oak?

Oak Apple Day used to be celebrated every year with dancing and lots of parties. Sprigs of oak leaves were worn in order to show support for the monarchy and children used to use this to have a little fun.  If they spotted another child failing to wear their sprig with pride they would hand out punishments such as a pinch on the bum known as ‘Pinch Bum Day’ or the not so pleasant ‘Nettle Day’ where you’d be whipped with a bunch of nettles, ouch!

Worcester still celebrates Oak Apple Day even though the public holiday was stopped in 1859. If you are in the City go and check out the entrance to the Guildhall which will be brightly decorated with oak branches and leaves.

Protect Your Skin

Be prepared! Just in case anyone remembers the age old tradition of Pinch Bum Day or Nettle Day it’s always good to be prepared. Soften, protect and sooth your skin with Miracle Balm. That should help to help your skin recover from the sting of the nettles or a pesky pinch on the behind, perhaps grab a dock leaf too just to be on the safe side!

Here is a quick guide on how to treat your feet and feel confident when showing off your heels and toes to the world.

What You Need

• Foot file
• Tootsie Frootsie Foot Cream
• Cling film or sandwich bags
• Warm towel
• Scrummy socks

Steps to Soft Flip-Flop Ready Feet

1. The first step is to file the feet with an abrasive foot file. You should always work from the outside in and apply a fair amount of pressure to remove the build-up of hard skin.
2. Pop your feet in a foot bath and let them soak while you relax with a cup of tea.
3. Apply lashings of your favourite cream for dry feet, we recommend Tootsie Frootsie Foot Cream which has loads of excellent natural ingredients to care and protect. Put a generous layer all over the top and the bottom of your feet.
4. Now it’s time to wrap your feet up in cling film. It’s easiest to place the bottom of your feet on the film and bring the rest of the film up to cover the rest of your foot. Grab the warm towel and wrap your feet up and enjoy the relaxing sensation.
5. Unwrap your feet and pop on your softest pair of socks.

Check out our video showing all of the techniques you need for this simple, relaxing treatment for dry feet that will have you showing off your tootsies in no time at all.

You can find out why we think Nettles are brilliant by reading Amazing Weeds We Love dedicated to the prickly plant, and just to help you get into the spirit of things here are five fab facts you may not know about the little stingers.

1. Scientists still haven’t identified all of the chemicals that cause the nettles to sting! So far research has been able to identify formic acid, histamine, acetylcholine, and serotonin. It’s believed that the last three are responsible for the burning sensation when you are stung, as is the unidentified ingredient yet to be discovered.
2. Nettles have some rather nasty cousins in the Tropics, and Timor is particularly unpleasant. If you are unfortunate to be stung by the nettles you will have to cope with a burning sensation that can last for weeks, and add to that the symptoms of lockjaw too! Not very pleasant at all. Perhaps our nettles are quite so bad after all…
3. Once you pick nettles, wearing gloves and long sleeved clothing, you can naturalise the sting.  To do this you can either cook the nettles in boiling water or dry them out. Once they have been neutralised you can handle them without protection, and even use them as an ingredient in your cooking.
4. Nettles have been used for medicinal purposes for over two centuries. The herb can be used to increase milk flow for nursing mums, used to relieve acne and eczema and even used as a mouth wash to help cure throat infections.
5. Nettles are used in our Pear and Nettle soap bar. This is a fabulous soap that has the healing powers of nettles combined with pumice to help clean even the dirtiest hands and feet. You can use this soap to cleanse and soften hard skin on heels and then follow with some soothing Tootsie Frootsie Foot cream to finish.

So you see Nettles really are pretty remarkable. You can use them to help your body both inside and out!

Unbelievable Barrier Creams

I have to admit I have heard some jaw-dropping suggestions. Surprisingly these are the most common:

• Lard
• Vaseline
• Cow Udder Cream (one customer would even send his wife to buy nipple cream!)

It’s important to consider how healthy these and other types of ingredients found in many barrier creams really are for your skin.

Should I Be Putting This on My Skin?

Lard –Lard comes from the fat of pigs; it’s a saturated fat which was once most commonly used in cooking.  However since scientists discovered that saturated fat was not good for the cardiovascular system, lard has fallen out of fashion. Gardeners used to use lard as a hand cream to help protect their skin from cuts, scraps and dirty in order to prevent infections. However, in this day and age the thought of smothering the fat of pigs over the skin probably leaves you with an unsavoury feeling (and perhaps a faint whiff of pork scratchings?!).

Vaseline – Petroleum jelly was patented in 1872, as a by-product of oil-rig drilling, and was used as a barrier cream thanks to its ability to protect the skin from grime and dirt and sources of infection.  It’s thick and greasy leaving your hands slippery, and needs constant reapplying each time you wash your hands. Perhaps the worst thing about Vaseline however is that it actually blocks your pores. Your skin cannot breathe and is unable to perspire naturally.

Cow Udder Cream – This is not cream made from cow udders, its cream made to sooth the udders of cows to stop them from getting sore or cracking when being milked. As this is a product made for animals it hasn’t been tested for human use which is a little disconcerting. Cow udder cream is full of lanolin which will cause irritation to anyone who is allergic to wool. Lanolin is secreted from the sebaceous glands of sheep and there are some concerns about the level of chemicals found in lanolin due to pesticides used in farming entering the food chain, scary stuff!

There is a Natural Alternative

Our bestselling barrier cream doesn’t contain lard Vaseline or cow udder cream. Our Miracle Balm is perfect for chapped hands and is a brilliant barrier cream made from beeswax. Beeswax creates a natural barrier for skin without blocking pores, allowing your skin to breathe whilst remaining protected against water, dirt and grease. You can even wash your hands and still feel it working.

Nature’s pretty smart I think you’ll agree.

Amazing weed #3: Chickweed!

Chickweed will grow just about anywhere and thank goodness it does. This common weed is super-duper full of vitamins and minerals and also works wonders on sore skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis.

Soothing chickweed bath

My daughter became well-versed in chickweed baths when her patches of eczema used to flare up. It is a great plant for relieving itchy, sore and painful skin problems such as psoriasis and eczema.

Use a square of cotton, fill with fresh or dried chickweed and rolled oats. Secure with string (a hair bobble is perfect) and put under the hot tap when running the bath. During the bath, the little package can also be dabbed directly onto the sore areas of the skin.

And Miracle Balm is a firm favourite in our house for a post-bath, all-over, eczema or dry skin treatment.

Chickweed salad

If you ever needed a reason to stop pulling up the chickweed, here it is…. Eat It Instead!

Susan Weed of Healing Herbs  claims it is loaded with nutrition, being high in chlorophyll, minerals — especially calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, vitamins — especially C, A (from carotenes), and B factors such as folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, and thiamine.

And as for a tasty garden salad recipe…

Use 4 cups of fresh chickweed, 2 cups fresh watercress, 1 cup fresh flowers, such as violets, and 2 tablespoons of finely-chopped chives. Dress with olive oil or whatever takes your fancy.

Amazing weed #2: Horsetail!

Now horsetail may be a tenacious weed, a real blight to the garden or allotment but it is also happens to have the highest silica content in the entire plant kingdom. Silica is the perfect ingredient for healthy hair, nails and bones and also helps the body form collagen (which keeps our skin firm and elastic).

If you have weak, brittle nails, horsetail can help them grow stronger and healthier. At SkinnyDip, we love horsetail which is why we use it in our hand & nail cream, Viva La Diva.

Horsetail-infused oil

A great excuse to stop battling the horsetail in your garden and a simple way to start using it! Use the oil on nails, cuticles, cuts and even fine lines and wrinkles!

Place some fresh or dried horsetail in a jar or bottle. Pour over some oil (apricot kernel oil would be great, but olive, almond or sunflower could be used too). Put on a sunny windowsill and let the warmth of the sun infuse the oil for a few weeks. Strain, ready to use, directly on the skin.

Horsetail toner or hair rinse

Infuse some fresh or dried horsetail in boiling water. Let it steep, strain and then bottle ready to use over the next day or so.

For super-shiny hair, use it as the final rinse on your hair before towel drying.

For acne-prone skin, or for fine-lines and wrinkles, use it as a daily toner on your face. Simply dab a cloth or cotton wool pad into the diluted tea and apply it all over the face, after cleansing. Do not rinse off, but let the horsetail work its magic.

Amazing weed #1: Nettles!

Nettles, yes those awful stinging nettles that can leave the skin burning and itching like mad, well they aren’t all bad. In fact, they are good for you and your garden.

In the garden, they are a fabulous home for ladybirds, a nitrogen-rich treat for your compost heap and they can be stewed into an organic plant food.

Nettle tea

Just use a leaf or two and add boiling water!

Nettles can be turned into vitamin-rich tea full of fabulous antioxidants and vitamins C, A, D and K. Nettle tea has loads of brilliant benefits including:

• Strengthening bones, hair and nails thanks to the calcium
• Reduce allergy symptoms thanks to the histamine content
• Cleansing and detoxifying the body, especially the kidneys and the bladder
• Said to increase fertility in men and women

Nettle Hair Rinse

Add a zing to your brunette tresses, by using nettles in a hair rinse to bring out dark highlights.

1 tablespoon of dried nettle leaf, or a nettle tea bag, or a few fresh leaves

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of dried sage leaf or a few fresh leaves

1 cup boiling water

Place the nettle, sage and vinegar in a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Leave for a couple of hours, strain and pour over the hair as the final rinse, before towel drying.

1. Before you even step outside your door start to think about your hands and what they are about to be exposed to. You can prevent many problems from occurring if you apply a barrier cream such as our Miracle Balm, over your skin and under your nails. This will help to protect the skin from damage, dirt will be prevented from entering cracked or scratched hands and it will also keep the dirt from collecting under your fingernails.
2. After your hands have been given a natural protective layer cover them in a pair of gloves.  This will help to seal in the cream and also protect your further against the germs and parasites that make their home in the soil. If you use traditional garden gloves you can further protect your hands by putting on a pair of fine cotton (or disposable latex) gloves first.
3. After you have finished working in the garden it’s time to give your hands a good old scrub. Use a natural soap rather than one filled with chemicals.  Natural soaps won’t strip your skin of their natural oils which would leave them drier and more painful, especially if you suffer with cracked dry hands.  Make sure you use hot water and remove the balm which should have trapped the dirt making it come off easily.
4. Finally it’s time to thank your hands for all their hard work by soothing and moisturising using a beeswax hand cream.  The cream will help the healing process if you have chapped or cracked skin, as well as leaving them soft.

So there you have it, four great tips to ensure your hands remain in wonderful condition allowing you to garden as often as you like.

The problem is that some of the ‘rewards’ can often be painful, especially when it comes to our hands. But thankfully, Mother Nature has a trick or two up her sleeve to help soothe our hard-working hands.

Problems One – Splinters and Thorns

Splinters and thorns can leave our hands feeling shredded. Not only is there the instant sharp pain, you can also make the problem worse by working to remove the tiny shards leaving your hands feeling sore and often red raw.  If you can’t reach the splinter, Mother Nature can help.

Natural Solution – Banana Skin

It may sound a bit funny but banana skin is a wonderful natural method used by experienced gardeners.  Cut some banana skin and place it over the area with the splinter and secure with adhesive tape. Leave it overnight and the tiny shard will be brought back to the top of the surface of the skin and allow for easy removal with a pair of tweezers.

Problem Two – Scratches

It’s all too easy to be scratched while working in the garden, especially if you have rather a lot of bramble bushes to maintain like I do. Even without the brambles twigs, tree, bushes and weeds can all easily leave your hands, arms and even your face covered in scratches.

Natural Solution – Borage Seed Oil

Borage is an excellent herb that’s easy to grow and produces pretty annual flowers in shades of blue. You can attract the bees and plant it in your vegetable garden as a companion for tomatoes and strawberries.  Borage seed oil is very effective for treating sore scratches and dry cracking hands.  It has the highest known concentration of Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) which converts to prostaglandin E1 in the body – great for healing wounds and skin conditions. (By the way, you can find lashings of borage seed oil in our Finger Food Intensive hand cream: perfect for post-gardening recovery).

Problem Three – Dirt and Germs

Dirt is an inevitable issue to deal with while working in the garden. It gets all over clothes and skin, and can be rather tricky to remove from under the nails. Although many germs can help us to build strong immune systems, when they get into cuts and scratches, they can lead to rather nasty and painful infections.

Natural Solution – Beeswax

Barrier creams can help to stop dirt and grime from getting etched into the tiny cracks in our hands or under our nails. Nature’s finest barrier cream is beeswax which should be smothered over your hands before you start getting on with the dirty work. This can prevent dirt from entering cracked hands and if you place some under your nails it will ensure your nails remain dirt free too.  Beeswax will also help with rough skin, protecting against the condition by acting as a barrier, and softening any rough skin which may already exist.  (Our Miracle Balm is the perfect barrier hand balm, contains beeswax and is even good on lips!)