GARDENING TIPS AND TRIVIA

"To Plant A Garden Is to Believe In Tomorrow"

Bird songs fill the air, and the yearning to plant consumes you.
Spring is the time of year when a lot of us can't wait to get out there and get dirt under our fingernails. Some will plant vegetable gardens and and some will plant flower gardens. It does not matter which-it is a labor of love!! That love includes constant attention and hard work. This page is being put together to share some of the hints and tips I have accumulated over the years.

I will be constantly adding to this page, so come back often.

If you would like to help my hints and tips page grow, please e-mail me with your hints and tips. Gypsy

Super Growing Secrets There are four good neighbor flowers that can help your vegetables fight off insects. The fabulous four are old-fashioned marigolds, nasturtiums, geraniums, and poppies. Use all four as an outside border around your vegetable garden, or you can chop, squeeze, and mix them up to make organic insect repellents. Mix with 10 parts water in a 20 gallon sprayer.

The perfect blend of soil for potted flowers and container plants is 1/3 sharp sand, 1/3 clay loam, and 1/3 compost or professional potting mix. Add 1/4 cup of Epsom salts, 1/4 cup of coffee grounds, and 4 dried (and crushed) eggshells per peck of soil for a supercharged boost.

To keep your clay pots in the "pink" wash them (while empty) with this mixture:
1 tbsp liquid dish soap
1 tbsp liquid bleach, and
1 tbsp of antiseptic mouthwash
in a gallon of warm water.

DID YOU KNOW Azaleas love left-over tea and tea leaves. So do houseplants such as philodendron and rubber plants.
A chrysanthemum in the vegetable garden is like a canary in a coal mine. The mum wilts before other plants when water is needed, giving you early warning to start irrigating.

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GREAT Excuses for IGNORING the WEEDS!!
So Many Weeds, So Little Time!!!!
Dandelion leaves are tasty in early spring salads.
Clover stays green without much water-and smells good.
Buttercups and daisies add summer color.
Crabgrass in your lawn makes all the lawn fanatics in the neighborhood feel smug. (Consider this act a charitable contribution to the mental health of a lawn fanatic).

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

Use old nylons or knee highs cut in half length ways to tie up tomatoes or other plants in your garden.

Use old nylons or panty hose to cover sunflower heads to keep the birds out.

BULBS - To keep rodents, deer and birds away from your bulbs, try sprinkling red cayenne pepper around the garden or even mothballs sprinkled around the garden can keep them away (although I'd hesitate to use the mothballs if you have a dog or cat, wouldn't you?)

GARLIC SPRAY - Make your own safe, organic spray for your plants. If you have children, dogs or cats, this is recommended.
You'll need :
several garlic cloves, 32 fl.ounces water, a bucket, & spray bottle
Crush the garlic cloves and soak in water overnight. Remove the garlic pieces and pour the water into the spray bottle. Spray on plants to prevent caterpillars and leaf eating bugs from destroying your plants. Simple! (And inexpensive too)

TOMATOES - You should put the stakes or tomato rings around the tomato plants when you transplant them, adding the stakes later will hurt the roots.
You can place a juice can or a toilet paper roll around the bottom of the tomato plant to deter cutworm (they like the area around the soil level) and make sure the can or roll is stuck into the soil really well. You can bury your tomato plants up to the first leaves when you transplant them (some of 'em are crooked aren't they? And they don't straighten out for a bit) so the plant will grow up straight and it will make extra roots from it's stem up to the first set of leaves.

DID YOU KNOW THAT: You shouldn't water your plants every day, just when they need it.
Place broken egg shells all around your plants in the soil and they keep slugs and snails away - it would be just like crawling around on broken glass! Ouch!
Water your plants early in the morning or late in the afternoon/early evening when the temperature is cooler.
Water the ground AROUND the plant, rather than the actual leaves or plant itself.
Slugs can be deterred by spreading wood ash around your plants or sprinkling ginger around your plants? Or place hidden bottles of beer half filled on their sides in the garden and the slugs crawl right into them and drown - the bottles are on their sides so the rainwater doesn't get in and dilute the beer.
Keep maggots and carrot rust away from carrot plants by spreading coffee grounds around on top of the rows.
Put drops of turpentine on pieces of wood and place them around your flower or vegetable beds to keep cats from "*&&^%$##@#$$^&&" there.
Sprinkle bone meal or damp blood meal around your plants to discourage small animals.
Scatter dry sulphur around plants to deter raccoons, rabbits, groundhogs and moles.
Did you know you could put human hair in with your bulbs to ward off rodents? If you hang clumps of human hair (in pantyhose) around your plants, it will deter deer!
If you have dogs and cats getting into your garden. Try This! Spread this mix around the garden after every heavy rain to keep dogs and cats away ....
1 litre of water, one whole garlic bulb, one large onion, 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, all mixed in a blender. YUCK! That would keep anything away!!
COMPANION PLANTING TIPS:
Tomatoes love being planted amongst basil and parsley
Tomatoes and carrots grow well together but Tomatoes and broccoli HATE each other!
Lettuce Loves carrots, radishes and cucumbers - HEY! A perfect salad!
Don't put beans or peas near onions and garlic - yuck - they really don't like each other
Sweet corn and Pumpkins are good friends though
Zucchini does well next to beans or radishes but NOT potatoes or pumpkins !

ALWAYS HAVE A DREAM Forget about the days when it's been cloudy,
but don't forget your hours in the sun.
Forget about the times you've been defeated,
but don't forget the victories you've won.
Forget about the mistakes that you can't change now,
but don't forget the lessons.
Forget about the misfortunes you've encountered,
but don't forget the times your luck has turned.
Forget about the days when you've been lonely,
but don't forget the friendly smiles you've seen......
Forget about the plans that didn't seem to work out right,
but don't forget to always have a dream.
~Unknown~

For some really great tips on gardening check out books by Marianne Binetti

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