The Plants and Gardening Page --
Bigger Blooms!:-Exactly
why, I don't know but wood ash seems to
the best food
for flower development, Two sources have recommended this to me so I am
waiting to see if my Hydrangeqas are bigger this year. - Vanessa
Echols
Better
Compost Heap:
A layer of twigs with some pourous and non-rotting fibre placed over it
is a good base for a compost heap or bin, I have even heard of putting
a layer of cardboard instead of the fibre. My local garden centre has a
suitable fibre avaiable, it is described as a path patio and drive
stabiliser. Before I started using the fibre I had problems with weeds
and other plant's roots
growing upward into the compost bin ~~ DE
Green Gardening
Tip.
Take a bucket into the shower with you to use the water for the garden.
You can then feel no guilt whatsoever when you use it for watering your
plants -- JB
Turkey Baster.
To avoid spillage and messing up the arrangement in a hanging basket
use an oven baster. You can do this with indoor plants as well. ~~ John
Garden
Furniture:
If you have garden furniture on your lawn and you find it sinks in to
the ground then use a lid of a container or the container itself under
each leg ~~ John Devine, Ulster, UK
Seed
potatoes. Too late to buy seed potatoes for the
new allotment or vegetable plot (its always good to start by deep
digging or rotivating), just buy main crops like Desiree, King Edwards
from a supermarket or greengrocer. Carefully select smaller round ones
with good eyes. -- Sophie
Insecticides:-
Try this, it's worked for me. Boil a whole bulb of cut up garlic until
its soft. Put it into a gallon of water and add 1 tablespoon of
biodegradable Detergent. Let it sit for a day, then strain and spray.
Also, planting parsley around your roses will help keep aphids away. Anon
To prevent tulips from
drooping too quickly as soon as you purchase them put pin pricks in the
stem just below the flower head. Can someone tell me why my Anthurium
plant has dark brown spots developing on the leaves? (Nusrat
Khan)
Thread Algae:
My garden fish pond has thread
algae clogging it up very badly. I heard that rotating a
rough barked stick will get it out. It worked fine, however
it was was difficult to get it off the stick so I had my son cut a
lengthwise groove in it and I can now cut it off with scissors. I
recycle the algae in my herb garden-- Rosita V Cassie Dallas
Texas
Algae Prevention
- Howdy, I was reading yesterday and came across an article that says
to use "barley straw" in water gardens/ponds to prevent algae. The
article said it won't kill algae, but prevent it from growing and will
last six months. Also, mixing 2 parts distilled white vinegar and 1
part water in a spray bottle is an excellent natural weapon against
garden slugs. Spray slugs and they will fall right off your plants.
Most wither, slither and die, but I have witnessed some larger slugs
slime away...but they don't come back! I have not noticed any side
effects to the plants, except being slug free and healthy. -- Don
Seeds:
When sowing fine seeds bury them close to the surface, and mix with
sand for easier sowing. – Robert Edmunds
Coffee Grounds
or Tea Bags can be used to make compost,
however excessive use inhibits growth. Caffeine is a
naturally occurring herbicide. -- Scott Edmunds
Frost:
To protect sensitive seedlings from late frosts cover with miniature
greenhouses, made from plastic drink bottles with the bottoms cut off
and placed around each seedling. Large drinking water bottles are
particularly good for larger plants.– Anon.
Daffodils: Don’t
mix cut daffodils in with other cut flowers as the daffodils produce a
toxin that kills off the other flowers. – Anon.
Leaves:
The most likely cause of older plant leaves dropping is under-watering
whereas the most likely cause of younger plant leaves going yellow is
over-watering
Bird or squirrel
feeder for the deck. A post on the deck,
balcony wherever squirrels can get to you'll need a plastic juice
container, preferably a recycle code #1 a small tray, I used a suet
container wide tape knife, razor to cut squirrels will follow cut a
hole in the bottom of the jug, place the tray on a surface at base of
post tape the jug upside down just above the tray just less than the
trays edge height you will fill the feeder from the hole (in the bottom
now on top. the seed will spill into the tray. if the tray is small
enough, the shells/waste will drop outside the tray and the wind will
carry it away. only enough seed fills the tray as it is eaten. If the
area is in the rain, you may want to cover the fill hole.
-- Harold
House Plants If
you have an aquarium, save the water each time you change it and water
your house plants with it. You'll be amazed at the results.--
Andy P Smith Nuneaton England " Wolfie
Houseplants: To stop a
windowsill houseplant becoming lopsided keep turning and moving it
every couple of days. -- Anon.
Weeds
weeds. You can get
rid of weeds and grass growing in the cracks in your sidewalk,
driveway, flower bed or lawn by pouring boiling water on
them. I have success by doing it once a day for about three
days. -- Holland Family,
Garden
Tools and Furniture
Safety:
When using electrical equipment in the garden special care must be
taken. Make sure that cables run behind lawnmowers, you must never cut
towards a flex, or use it in wet conditions.
Safety:
Never clean or adjust electrical gardening equipment while they are
still plugged in, make sure they are switched off first. Never wash
electrical gardening equipment with water.
If your plastic garden
furniture gets stained, make a paste by mixing of baking soda and water
and apply it for a few minutes before wiping it off. --
Cameron Sutherland
To preserve aluminum garden
furniture, and metal tools over the winter apply oil (either cooking
oil, or motor oil. Wipe them off before using again though. --
DE
When I plant flowers I don't
like to wear gloves, so I take a bar of soap and scrape my fingernails
over the soap, that way my nails don't get stained and I can work the
soil around the tender plant roots -- " scully.
gene"
Salt for Weeds: Applying
a teaspoonful of salt can individually kill a weed such as dandelion in
your lawn. – Anne Gander Wembley
England
Cracks in the
Lawn: Where we live the soil is mainly clay and in
summer cracks appear in the lawn, they can be very unsightly.
The cracks can be filled with a fifty-fifty mixture of sand and
soilless compost or peat. You can re-seed at the same time.
It should not be necessary to repeat the exercise more than a couple of
times – Anne Gander
Lawn Patches.
These can be removed by using spare bits of turf (cut from any new
flower-beds, etc.) cut to size and fit into the gap. Add plenty of
compost into the cracks, and water well. - Comi
Pests.
Cabbage Moth. Hi
there, I live in Melbourne, Australia and nearly every plant in my
garden has been ruined this year by the cabbage moth larvae. They will
eat almost anything. I have tried natural methods, insecticides, all to
no avail. I see the white moth fluttering around, and am considering
buying a butterfly net to catch the little devils which seems to be the
only thing left to do. Any tips -- sumanaju,
Ants.
Try pouring a line of salt where you think ants are coming in to the
house, and a pile where they tend to congregate (pantries, around dog
food dishes). This won't get rid of the big nasty carpenter ants, but
your average ant will be gone after a few days of regular application
(and you won't kill your children or pets!) --
Viki (Viki Gonia)
Insects.
I like to use more natural methods to get rid of greenfly and other
pesky insects. Squashing them with rubber gloves works, but is a bit
time consuming. If you do have to spray plants, use something more
natural such as water infused with garlic, or even soapy water works. --
Mary Ashington
Pesky Cats:
Unwanted cats can be kept out the garden by sprinkling pepper in the
garden. Citrus fruit peel is supposed to work as well. – Anne
Johns.
Moles:
Stick open bottles into the middle of molehills to deter moles, as the
sound of wind blowing over the empty bottle tops will scare the moles
away. – Anne Johns.
Slugs and Snails:
To keep slugs away from sensitive plants sprinkle eggshells around
them. Ash and grit are also supposed to be effective. Sprinkle slugs
with salt to kill them. It is also possible to trap slugs using
containers in the ground that have some beer in the bottom. Empty
grapefruit halves work as well. Vaseline smeared around plant pots
stops slugs getting to the plants inside. – Robert Edmunds.
Pest Removal... Pour some
grits on the ant hill.... when the ants take the stuff and eat it, it
expands and kills them -- Psi Queue
Flowers.
Azaleas. My azaleas like a bit of white wine vinegar added to their
water every so often. They also like used teabags
as fertilizer. -- Anon.
Roses. My rose plants love old
banana skins placed around their bottoms as fertilizer. --
Anna Davis
Sweet Peas: Pinch off the
tendrils to improve the flowering capacity -- Vanessa Echols.
Fuchsias: Bury your fuchsia’s
in the winter to protect them from the frost. --Vanessa Echols.\
Vegetables.
Try Epson Salt (1tsp) around tomato plants to green up the foliage,
(peppers also) -- (Raymond Campbell)
Save some seeds from small red
peppers and plant two or three seeds at a time in yoghurt
pots. When they are a couple of inches high repot in a medium
sized plant pot. You will soon have an attractive indoor plant - and a
supply of chillies -- Simon Spicer
Leeks.
I find my leeks grow a better when you add a bit of soot to their soil.
I've also heard that they also like heavy beers like stout to drink as
well, but I'm a bit sceptical myself. -- D Jenkins, Cardiff
Cucumbers:
Avoid watering with cold or chlorinated water, leave it standing for a
few hours. Keep a container for water in your greenhouse -- V
E Webb
Keep cucumbers dry at the
point that they emerge from the ground to avoid "Collar Rot" -- V
E Webb
Potato Fruit: If you
find
something that looks like a tomato growing on a potato
plant do not
eat it, it is pretty poisonous. We found
what
looks very much like a tomato growing on a potato plant. We have
the two plants in
close proximity in our garden and initially we wondered if there had
been some cross
pollination going on. This should not be impossible as both plants are
from the Solanaceae family.
Further investigation ruled out the hybrid tomato explanation;
aparently the genetic link is close but not sufficiently close to allow
interbreeding. -- More
Useful
Links:
www.plantoasis.com Very
useful houseplant resource website.
www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/video.htm
Video on setting up a hydroponics system
www.1-hydroponics.co.uk/top-tips.htm
General hydroponics tips
~~~|H-n-T|~~~
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