A genius gardening hack is making waves online as it involves using a cheap children’s paddling pool to make a lovely flower bed.

Simply inflate the sandbox, fill it with soil, and plant your favourites, adding your own personal touch – and all without spending a fortune.

After filling the kiddie pool with soil and nutrients, the woman plants her seedlings and watches them flourish.

Sharing this tip on a Reddit forum that asked for cheap gardening hacks, the woman explained: “Kiddie pools. Once fall sets in you can get them for free on just about every curb. They’re very versatile.”

She went on to praise their versatility, saying: “The sky is the limit. They work well as large-scale container gardens for either flowers or herbs.

“They also make great bird baths with some rocks and a solar fountain. They make good ponds for water plants.”

It’s a win-win for budget-conscious gardeners and a creative way to give kids’ old toys a new purpose, even if not used for planting flowers.

The woman continued: “Good as a squirrel and fat dove decoy for bird watching too. You just toss some seeds and corn in and put it on the other side of the feeders for the tiny birds.”

“You can also use them flipped over on stakes for shade. They also work well as a muddy boot and tool holder. You can even cut them up to make garden edging and fence decorations. It’s really endless.”

And if you’re struggling with cats repurposing your flower beds as their toilet, there is also a solution for that.

Gardeners in another forum have shared a humane deterrent which “won’t harm them at all”, instead it will just make them want to leave.

Fed up with her neighbour’s cats using his garden as their toilet, one man took to the Gardening Hints and Tips Facebook group to ask for help.

Julie Crawey responded: “I seem to have some new resident cats in my garden this year. Remove the cat poo and put orange peels around. They seem to hate it.”

Mary Vale echoed: “Citrus peel scattered around worked for me. They smell it and scurry away.”