Bouquet brilliance! ARRANGE YOUR SPRING BLOOMS

Local green thumb Olivia McCord shows how to turn your beautiful backyard bounty into a floral masterpiece

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FLOWER CONDITIONING

START WITH A CLEAN VASE

The very first step is to ensure all your vases are clean and free of any bacteria. A good gauge is to ask yourself, "Would I drink water from this vase?" Give them a good clean and pop a tiny drop of bleach to remove any bacteria you might have missed.

ADD FLOWER FOOD

Once you have clean vessels, it's time to add flower food to help nourish the stems and blooms. Flower food typically contains three key components: sugar to feed the flowers, an acidifier to lower the pH of your likely alkaline tap water and a biocide or bleach to prevent harmful bacteria from forming. Before I knew what flower food was made of, I never used it as a home gardener - it just didn't seem practical to have on hand. But once I learned the basics, I realised how easy it was to make using everyday ingredients.

STRIP THE STEMS

Remove all the leaves to an appropriate level. Generally, it's the bottom two-thirds. However, the key point is to ensure no leaves are below the water level. These will turn yellow quickly and can make the water dirty, as well as introduce bacteria.

RE-CUT AND REST

Next, re-cut your stems to the right length, ensuring you cut on an angle. This will allow the largest surface area for the flowers to absorb water. Allow them to sit in clean buckets with the flower food in a cool place for a few hours before arranging. The majority of flowers are happy with this method, but some require a little bit of extra attention.

RELUCTANT GUZZLERS