Monty Don just posted a photo of his purple sprouting broccoli and tomatoes, and it wasn’t the thriving crops that caught my eye the most – it was actually the way he used terracotta plant pots as a safety measure.

There are a fair few ways to use broken pots in the garden, but if you have healthy spares lying around, Monty’s method is simple – and it looks a lot nicer than shoving other objects on the end of your plant supports.

I’ll be taking a leaf out of Monty’s book to save myself any accidental injuries in my own garden!

Monty Don’s purple sprouting broccoli and ‘Gardener’s Delight’ tomatoes were the stars of his recent Instagram post – he said they’re loving the hot summer weather – but it’s what he wrote in brackets at the end of the caption that I liked the most: ‘[The] flowerpots are to stop poking out my eyes on the broccoli canes.’

I’ve spotted safety terracotta pots in a couple of Monty’s Instagram posts, and the way he uses them is simple: he balances one small pot on the end of each of his plant supports. Even the best plant supports can pose a safety hazard, and it’s easy to forget they’re there while you’re weeding your vegetable bed or tending to your crops in other ways – but Monty’s trick will keep you from injuring yourself.

It’s worth cleaning your terracotta pots if you want to have them looking their best. Or, you could buy a new set, like this affordable 12-pack of 6.5cm terracotta plant pots from Amazon.

What I like most about Monty’s plant pot trick is that they actually look nice – almost rustic, or Mediterranean, if you prefer that kind of garden design scheme. This set of 18 terracotta grow pots from Crocus are a similar style to Monty’s, too.

Commenters on Instagram agree that it’s a brilliant idea, noting that they’ve very nearly injured themselves on their own plant stakes and canes from time to time. If you have children, that’s even more of a reason to accident-proof your garden.

Where to buy small terracotta pots

Will you be using tiny terracotta pots as a safety measure in your garden?

If there’s one underrated kitchen appliance that definitely deserves a spot in your kitchen, it is undoubtedly a humble rice cooker. And if you’re yet to get your hands on one of these much-loved appliances, the Aldi rice cooker Specialbuy is coming back to stores this week, and it’s only £9.99.

Landing in stores on Thursday (20 August), Aldi’s rice cooker has arrived back in stock right on time for freshers heading off to university. But I think this star buy deserves a place in every kitchen – especially if you struggle to nail perfect, fluffy rice every time.

At just £9.99, this incredibly affordable kitchen gadget is not to be missed. Here’s why we at Ideal Home rate it so highly as a kitchen essential.

The best rice cookers deserve a place in every kitchen simply because they produce perfect rice every time, take up minimal counter space and make batch cooking and meal prep easier.

It’s a kitchen gadget that our Kitchen Appliances Editor, Molly Cleary, recommends, as well as being the Christmas gift Nigella Lawson swears by – and if anyone I know is reading this, I’d like a rice cooker for Christmas, please.

‘I never saw the use in a standalone rice cooker before I tried one, but now I wouldn’t be without mine. I used to have Lakeland’s £50 version, which also has a porridge setting, but I just swapped it out for Joseph Joseph’s microwave version as it saves so much space and doesn’t require another plug socket to be taken out. It takes 10 minutes to whizz up perfect rice every time, and it’s only £25! I use mine every single week for meal prep,’ said Molly.

At just £9.99, Aldi’s is one of the most affordable plug-in rice cookers that I’ve seen. It’s small, as to be expected with the price, making two cups of rice at a time. Because of this, it’s an ideal choice for couples and those of us living alone.

The cooker itself is available in three colourways – black, warm grey or sage green – and includes a measuring cup and spatula. It has a three-year warranty, too, so you can expect to get a good amount of use out of it. I’ve seen this rice cooker doing the rounds on social media every time it comes back into stock ( so you can expect it to be popular), with many users stating it takes about 20 minutes to cook rice.

While I haven’t tried the Aldi rice cooker, I use Salter’s 3-tier 7.5L food steamer, which also cooks rice in 20 minutes, as well as steaming veg and fish at the same time. If Aldi hasn’t caught your fancy, I highly recommend this steamer.

Alternatively, here are a few more rice cookers we recommend that you can shop online.

If you’re after perfect rice every time, a rice cooker is the way forward.

It’s been a while since I went to university, but one thing that’s still fresh in my mind is my student accommodation, and in particular, the less-than-ideal sleep setup.

Anyone who’s lived in student halls, or indeed any type of pre-furnished accommodation, will no doubt have horror stories to tell about the furnishings they inherited from previous occupants. But the most traumatic tales I’ve heard tend to revolve around the mattress.

Suspect stains, broken springs, and lumpy sleep surfaces soon paled in comparison when I heard friends’ stories of bites, rashes, and bedbug-infested mattresses.

Thankfully, I’ve found a simple solution to this very unwanted risk: Dunelm’s £16 Fogarty Cotton Anti-Allergy Zipped Mattress Cover. And after it sold out online last year, I think it’s well worth snapping up whilst it’s still in stock.

Now we probably all realise student accommodation isn’t going to involve sleeping on one of the best mattresses on the market. Mattresses are expensive, and, understandably, uni accommodation will involve some cheap and cheerful fixtures.

But one thing I hadn’t factored in when I started uni was that, of course, the student accommodation provider also isn’t going to change the mattress in the room with each new occupant.

According to details on numerous university websites, I’ve discovered that mattresses in student accommodation are generally replaced every 3 to 10 years, which means a *lot* of bodies could have been lying on that mattress before you.

Yes, this could be deemed ‘character-building’, which is of course a key part of the uni experience.

But, based on the cleanliness and housekeeping skills of many of my fellow students during my uni years, we could perhaps also term the ‘pre-used’ mattress situation… ‘gross’. Extremely gross.

In fact, as I’ve gotten older – and especially since I became Ideal Home’s Sleep Editor and started learning about bed bugs, dust mites, and how much sweat the average person oozes each night (yuck!) – it amazes me how relaxed I was about the whole student mattress situation at the time. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Now I’m older and wiser, I would do things very differently, and this £16 Dunelm Zipped Mattress Cover is the one thing I’m advising all my friends with children starting uni this September to snap up whilst it’s still in stock.

You’re no doubt already familiar with the importance of a good mattress protector, which can protect a mattress from spills, stains, and general dirt and grime. But a zipped mattress cover, also known as a mattress encasement, is a slightly different beast.

Unlike a mattress protector, which only covers the top surface of the mattress, an encasement covers all six sides and zips up to prevent dust mites or creepy crawlies from penetrating the mattress.

And should you be dealing with a worst-case scenario, it should also keep any nasties already *inside* the mattress contained within the encasement too.

Unpleasant as it may be to think about, dust mites, dead skin cells, sweat, grime, and other bodily fluids (yep… yuck) can all seep into a mattress over time, and a mattress encasement provides another layer of protection between your body, and them.

An encasement can be a little awkward to get onto the mattress, but once it’s on and zipped up, you can leave it on and simply wash your mattress protector and fitted sheet as normal.

Dunelm’s isn’t the only option on the market; Soak & Sleep’s £35 Anti Bed Bug Mattress Encasement is one of the best I’ve tested, and it’s also waterproof. But if you’re looking for an affordable option, Dunelm’s is one of the most budget-friendly I’ve tried. Amazon also has plenty of cheap mattress encasements, although reviews tend to be mixed.

And of course, an encasement isn’t the only thing you might want to consider to make a student mattress more comfortable.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t know a mattress topper was a ‘thing’ when I was tossing and turning on my lumpy student mattress, but now I’d definitely add one of the best mattress toppers to my uni checklist.

In fact, my student bedding wishlist would now include: that all-important mattress encasement. A good mattress topper, and a mattress protector to cover it. Two fitted sheets so you can wash one and use one, a duvet with two duvet covers, a pillow and two pillowcases.

Get the essentials sorted before the new term starts, and then you (or your young adult who is flying the nest) can focus on fun, new friends, and of course, learning.

I’ve recently moved home, and while the house itself is bigger, my clothes storage space is much smaller – and it’s very noticeable. But while I could simply ignore my overflowing wardrobe, I wouldn’t be a very good organising expert if I didn’t tackle the problem head-on. That’s why I couldn’t buy these 60 Pcs Hanger Connector Hooks (£6.99 at Amazon) quick enough.

Yes, I’ve gone from having a dedicated dressing room to organising a wardrobe that’s barely big enough for the two of us. And although we have big plans to improve our clothes storage setup eventually, we just don’t have the money right now. So when my Editor suggested I try these £7 hanger clips to make the most of the vertical space in my small wardrobe, I knew I had to add them to my basket.

These Amazon hooks work with your existing hangers so you can double-up (or even triple-up) on your hanging items without needing a wider wardrobe. And they’re the cheap-but-cheerful addition my cluttered, messy wardrobe has been crying out for.

I’m always on the hunt for the things people with tidy wardrobes should always have, and utilising vertical space is something all of these clutter-busting products have in common.

And these S-shaped Hanger Connector Hooks can be slipped onto a hanger’s top metal hook (often called the head) to hang another garment or two… or three. Then it will only take up vertical space rather than horizontal space on the wardrobe rail, meaning you can squeeze even more on there.

These can then help create order in your wardrobe, allowing you to hang T-shirts from T-shirts, jumpers from jumpers, and even trousers from trousers. This way, you know where everything is, and you won’t have to rifle through your entire wardrobe to find the specific T-shirt you’re after.

If you like to be as organised as possible, you could even use these hooks to create outfits for the week ahead. You could hook your trousers and jacket over a shirt that’s hooked on the rail, so you only have to grab one hanger when it’s time to get dressed.

Ideal Home’s Senior Digital Editor, Jenny, bought these connector hooks for her wardrobe a few months ago, and she can’t rave about them enough. However, she has offered me some valuable advice that goes against the listing images on Amazon – and it’s particularly important if you have a small wardrobe where you need to maximise every available inch of space.

‘The Amazon pictures show the connectors on wooden hangers, but they work so much better when you use slimline hangers with them,’ she told me. ‘Slimline hangers just make it even more effective, as the wooden hangers add so much more bulk.’

Jenny adds, ‘I’ve been able to fit so many more clothes in my wardrobe without it bursting at the seams thanks to this space-saving combo, and I think they’re worth every penny.’

Thankfully, slimline hangers don’t cost a fortune either. They can also be bought on Amazon, and you can buy a pack of 30 Amazon Basics Slim Velvet Non-Slip Hangers for just £12.79.

But if you don’t want to buy any new hangers, they are compatible with most standard hangers, no matter whether you have wooden, wire, plastic or velvet hangers.

Alternatives to shop

Thank goodness for clever little products like this!