As written in the Mirror, this method is particularly helpful for those prone to giving their plants too much water in one go.

Orchids, for instance, thrive with this technique.

These plants need a temperature shift between day and night to bloom properly, and the cold from the ice cubes mimics that effect, encouraging healthy growth.

Not only does this trick make watering plants easier, but it also helps keep things clean—no more messy spills from overwatering.

And the benefits don’t stop there.

From using natural remedies like salt and vinegar to combat weeds, to mixing soap and other household items for soil health, the experts are full of tips for low-maintenance gardening.

So, the next time your plants need a drink, reach for the ice cubes and let them melt their way to a healthier life.

“War in the age of AI demands new weaponry”, the opinion piece by Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google and founding partner of Innovation Endeavors, was certainly an eye-opener (Opinion, FT Weekend, September 21).

“The defence industry is having a moment,” is his opening sentence. Schmidt is clearly of the opinion that providing weaponry for war is a good thing. It definitely is profitable. He talks of “weapon systems that are affordable, attritable and abundant” and says that “many more opportunities are coming for start-ups and defence unicorns.”

Affordable for whom? And at what cost to human life in numerous parts of the world? I was reminded of the Bob Dylan song “Masters of War” from 1963:

You hide in your mansion

While the young people’s blood

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Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

Ciarán Folan
An Spidéal, County Galway, Ireland

Porto 3-3 Manchester United (Pepe 27′, Omorodion 34′, 50’| Rashford 7′, Hojlund 20′, Maguire 90+1)

ESTADIO DO DRAGAO — Time’s up, Erik. If Roy Keane had his way, he wouldn’t even be allowed on the plane home after this.

To throw away a two-goal lead and not win a match once can be forgiven, passed off as an aberration you won’t let happen again.

Astonishingly for England’s most successful club, since Erik ten Hag joined in 2022 no Premier League club have conceded three or more goals more times in all competitions than United.

Read that again – any current Premier League club. There is fundamentally something psychologically fragile about Manchester United. Only one man is to blame for that. 

With effectively two games to save his job, Ten Hag needed a convincing victory in Porto to win over the growing, increasingly vitriolic army of naysayers. It started so well, 2-0 up inside 20 minutes, before his vulnerable shirkers capitulated in a circus-like manner only they can.

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Harry Maguire’s stoppage time header did snatch a late point, but that is not enough, such is the pressure on the Dutchman.

Bruno Fernandes’ red card only added to the woe. A battling point is how Ten Hag will bill this, but even those who back him are not that naïve.

In thick mist on the banks of the River Douro, United fans were in fine voice pre-match, determined to forget the predicament their team find themselves in. Such is the desperation, several groups of supporters were overheard pining for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to return – things really are that bad.

What those bewildered supporters needed was an early goal, all the more sweeter given it came via the boot of a player in desperate need of a lift. 

When Marcus Rashford picked the ball up on the left flank he had very little on, so simply drove through a gaping hole between two Porto defenders before squeezing a low strike underneath stopper Diogo Costa.

Perhaps Ten Hag had sent the heavies round to rough Costa up in the night, as he was at fault again to put United further in command as Rasmus Hojlund, on his first start of the season made it two, again through Costa.

Home and dry? Comfortable victories are not really United’s thing under Ten Hag, especially in Europe. But they were, at this point, in total command.

To let it slip once more is inexcusable. Superstar footballers need to be given the belief by their bosses that they have the ability and knowhow to see out wins.

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Not this one. In the blink of an eye, Porto had two in two minutes to level proceedings as English football’s perennial bucklers did it again.

Pepe nudged home from close range after a sluggish Matthijs de Ligt was slow to react to Andre Onana’s save, before goal-machine Samu Omorodion, who almost became Chelsea’ eight-choice striker in the summer, headed a quick-fire second.

Rapid capitulation is a trend which has really brought the Ten Hag project to its knees. Just in Europe since the start of last season, United have conceded two goals in four minutes at Bayern Munich, two in 10 mins at home to Galatasaray, two in four minutes at Copenhagen, two in nine minutes at Galatasaray and now two in seven minutes versus Porto.

Omorodion sensed blood, and with De Ligt seeing stars, surprise starter Casemiro struggling to keep up and Lisandro Martinez all at sea, the Porto hitman stole the march on his marker and hammered home the third early in the second half.

There were wild celebrations as Maguire stepped off the bench to deny Porto victory, but in the cold light of day, another bin-fire at the circus not what Ten Hag needed. Aston Villa are primed to file that final nail in the coffin on Sunday.

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A strike that closed US east and Gulf coast ports will be suspended after the dockworkers’ union and the group representing ocean carriers reached an agreement on Thursday, averting for now a costly blow to the economy ahead of the presidential election.

The agreement extends the International Longshoremen’s Association’s employment contract, which had expired, until January 15. It will allow them to return to work for the first time in three days, the union and the shipping lines’ group said in a joint statement.

Negotiations, which had been at an “impasse” over wages and automation for months, would now continue, the statement said.

The work stoppage, which started on Tuesday, had threatened to upend the US economy by snarling global supply chains and halting imports of fresh foods, pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods. JPMorgan analysts estimated that it could cost the US economy as much as $4.5bn a day.

The three dozen affected ports span from Maine to Texas and together handle one-quarter of the country’s annual international trade, worth $3tn, per a Conference Board analysis.

US President Joe Biden congratulated the union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents the carriers, on the deal, saying in a statement that it “represents critical progress towards a strong contract”.

Frustration over the economic fallout of the strike, compounded by fears over how product shortages could delay relief efforts for states devastated by Hurricane Helene, had opened up a new line of attack on Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, ahead of the November 5 election.

Donald Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, claimed earlier this week the work stoppage “would never have happened” had he been in the White House.

Business leaders had also criticised Biden’s approach to the strike, repeatedly asking him to invoke a federal law that would temporarily force the longshoremen to resume loading and unloading container ships. Biden said he wanted the groups to come to an agreement on their own.

A coalition of 272 trade groups representing retailers, farmers, restaurants, meat processors, truckers and other industries had called the work stoppage a “dire situation” on Wednesday, with “massive negative ramifications for our industries and the economy”.

It threatened the import of consumer items from bananas to coffee to clothing. Some Americans even began panic buying and hoarding toilet paper, prompting a trade group that represents paper manufacturers to issue a statement saying it did not expect the strike to have an impact on supply. An estimated 85 per cent of such products are manufactured in the US, the American Forest and Paper Association says.

ILA leaders told picketing workers the deal that included a 62 per cent raise over the six-year term of the contract. ILA members earned between $20-$39 an hour under the old contract — with overtime pay that pushed a third of New York-based workers’ annual earnings above $200,000 during fiscal year 2019-2020.

They are also fighting the adoption of port robotics that they say could eliminate jobs. Ports in the Netherlands and Australia are already primarily operated by remote-controlled cranes, employing few human workers.