The Rainbow Nation blew its horn and the whole world heard it. Now our sore, swollen lips and sagging cheeks need a long break so, as plant fanatics, surely we can put our beloved vuvuzelas to good use in the garden? We had some fun replacing the vuvu with twelve alternatives.

1. Feedzela
Plant a tree (remembering the old adage about the value of the tree and the size of the hole) and plant two vuvuzelas, with their narrow openings facing down, on either side of it. The flared openings of your South African trumpets should be a few centimetres above the ground when the hole is filled. They will make it possible to water and feed the tree at root level for years to come. ACACIA xanthophloea, the fever tree, is the tree of the year for 2010, so what a good tree to plant between your feedzelas, in celebration of the Soccer World Cup.
Thanks to our gardening friend Lena, from Somerset-West, for this idea.

2. Seedzela
A vuvuzela is perfect for germinating a tree seed – its long slender shape will encourage the development of a strong tap root and the drainage will be good. Cover the narrow end with a piece of weed control fabric, fill the entire horn with quality potting soil or seedling mix and secure it in an upright position in deep pot. Place it in a protected and warm place in the garden and plant the seed of your favourite tree in it. This would be a fun way to teach your grandchildren how to sow tree seeds (and ensure some peace and tranquillity after all those noisy blasts).

3. Funnelzela
After so many hours in front of the TV watching the games, the lawn is probably begging to be mowed. Use your vuvuzela as a funnel to refuel the lawnmower and then get mowing! If you have a spare then use it in the kitchen – your funnelzela will come in especially handy when you have to pour cooking oil back into the bottle.

4. Vasezela
Use your vuvuzelas to make a funky flower arrangement. Cut a few of them into different lengths with sharp secateurs and simply stick the narrow ends into a shallow bowl containing a brick of floral foam. Hide the foam with moss, leaves or small flowers then insert floral foam in the mouths of the vasezelas and top them up with water. Now all that's left is to arrange some pretty flowers in them.

5. Boxzela
Plant up a double story commemorative window box for your patio: fill up the box with soil, stick ALL the household vuvuzelas, narrow end down, into the soil and plant up both the window box and the vuvus with fat echeveria rosettes. (Please remember to include the vuvuzela of the littlest member of the family, because it's likely that he's still blowing away and driving the neighbourhood mad!)

6. Toolzela
Fill a large bucket with river sand and stick the vuvuzelas narrow end down into it. Use the cavities as holders for small gardening tools, such as hand forks and trowels, secateurs, scissors and balls of twine; here they will be kept clean and dry, and easy to reach.

7. Molezela
There's a likelihood that the sounds and vibrations created by the August winds blowing over the wide mouth of a vuvusela may persuade the moles to move away. Plant a few molezelas in your mole-infested lawn and see what happens…

8. Chimezela
Make a wind chime with your vuvuzelas – the sound of the plastic trumpets bumping gently against each other will be a thousand times gentler and more melodious than the top decibels they produce when they're used as they were intended.

9. Snailzela
Perform some plastic surgery on your vuvuzelas, cutting off the long ends. You'll be left with the wide ends, which you can place over young bedding plants, such as petunias, to protect them from the snails. Defeated and frustrated, the hungry snails will hopefully slide away to the neighbour’s garden for supper.

1. Waterzela
Give in to your sense of the ridiculous and use a few vuvuzelas to make a portable water feature. You'll need a small pump and three or more vuvuzelas of different colours. Arrange the vuvuzelas upright between large river pebbles in a deep, flat bowl and make a plan to get the water flowing through them by using the pump. Finish off the feature by floating some large plastic dahlia flowers in the bowl (and watch your visitor's eyes when they next pop in to say hello).

11. Lightzela
Use your vuvuzelas as unusual garden candleholders – simply sink the narrow ends into flowerpots filled with river sand and place pretty garden candles in the wide ends.

12. Alarmzela – Mom's revenge!
This last tip is for moms only! Set your cell phone to wake you up, then blast off as many loud paaaaarps from the last remaining vuvuzela as it takes to get all those lazybones in the house flying out from under their duvets. This will be your sweet revenge for having to do all the feeding and dishwashing while they watched hours and hours of soccer.