Anymore, easier IS better. When good ideas come along, when they are too many to remember, I must write them down. These tips come from Sharon Lovejoy's Trowel and Error, published in 2003. This is a delightful book filled with tips.
- To clean plant pots and trays: mix 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/3 cup rubbing alcohol and 1/3 cup water. Scrub.
- Cut old wood venetian blinds into short lengths for plant labels.
- Enclose young apples in small brown paper bags for bug protection. Slit bottom of bag, staple top closed. Remove a ew days before harvest so apple will color.
- Poke small holes in a gallon milk jig and bury it, with neck exposed. It will water plants that need extra mositure (celery).
- Epsom salts provide a quick shot of magnesium and sulfur. Aspirin fights mildew, black spot (2 tablets in 1 qt water). Wood ash contains calcium, phosphorous and potassium.
- Booster for tomato, eggplant and peppers as they begin to bloom: 2 T Epsom salts with one gallon water. Pour into soil around plants.
- Comfrey tea, rich in potassium and nitrogen. A few handfuls in large can of water. Add blackstrap molasses (pound) and brew for 10 days. Water plants.
- Basil Tea, fights bugs (aphids, cabbage loopers, cuc beetles). Handful of leaves to 1/ 2 gallon water. Brew in sun a few days. Strain, add liquid soap (1/8 t) in spray bottle.
- Molasses bath - 12.5 oz molasses to gallon of water. steep a week or so. Pour into soil around plants or use as spray.
- Pepper spray for bugs: 1/2 cup apple vinegar, 1 t tobasco, 1/8 t soap. Shake and apply. OR: 2 T red pepper, 6 drops soap, 1 gallon water. Sit overnight. Spray plants weekly for brassicas!
- For asparagus: Early! 5 oz sugar, 1 T yeast, 1 qr water to feed soil and attract beneficial insects to attack asparagus beetle.
- Damping off disease: 16 Chamomile tea bags or 2 C dried flowers with 2 qt water. Simmer 20 minutes, then brew several hours. Spray foliage daily with tea until outdoors.
- Potato blight: 1 T mineral oil, 1 t baking soda, 1 gallon water. Shake and spray
- Aphids: shallow Yellow pan with soapy water
- Moles are insectivores
- Wormy corn: after silk turns brown, apply 20 drops mineral oil to tips of ear
- Wood ash in soil before plant carrots
- Carpenter ants: use diatomaceous earth or silica aerogels. Spray into hard to reach areas with squeeze bottle. Repowder after rain. ear eye and nose protection.
- Deer: Mylar. Chicken wire undulating on ground. Fishong line at 2 and 4 feet - or web pattern. Smelly soap hanging from bushes
- Colorado potato beetle: onion and garlic around potato.
- Foil on soil around tomato, peppers, basil, squash. Prevent viruses and flourish. Wrap tomato stems in foil to stop blight. On squash and cucs to stop borer.
- For bites and stings, use slice of garlic on onion on bite for 20 minutes.
- Interplant borage among vegetables to eliminate pests.
- Seed Saving:Clean jars, 2 T powdered milk wrapped in tissues, seeds in paper packet. Replace powdered milk every 6 months. Store in frig or cool dry place.
