Any good old fashioned gardening tips that really do work?
i love my flora and green space so what can i do to give it that extra bit of oomph this year.
fabulous answers from everyone.
Tabasco and water spray on the tomato plants for bugs(I use crab boil)
Plate of beer on the ground to catch slugs (just a little, drink the rest)
Coffee ground in the soil (nitrogen)
Banana peels in the rosebeds (potassium)
Egg shells in soil (calcium)
Epson salt and water sprayed to strengthen plants (magnesium)
Rusty nails in watering can (iron)
Keep garden tools handle up in a bucket of sand (prevents rust)
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Make sure you keep dead heading your flowers.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
a little garden not too fine
enclosed with painted pales
and woodbines round the cot to twine
pin to the wall with nails
let hazels grow and spindling sedge
bent bowering overhead
dig ‘old man’s beard’ from woodland hedge
to twine a summer shade
beside the threshold sods provide
and build a summer seat
plant sweet brier bushes by its side,
and flowers that blossom sweet
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lines by john clare
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I like to use Bloom Booster or Bloom Plus on blooming plants, they will keep blooming most of the summer as long as they are fertilized with that every couple of weeks.
I plant cucumbers around my deck on each side and tacked up a mesh net so they can climb up there.They don’t take much space that way and are easy to water and don’t mildew like when they are laying on the ground either. It’s fun to go out to the deck every day and pick them, they are very easy to see. I plant pickling cucumbers, they are smaller but extremely prolific and have an old-fashioned cucumber flavor.
Plant herbs in partly shady places, I learned this when I lived in an apartment and didn’t have a lot of sunlight that most plants required. Some herbs such as summer savory come back every year so I only had to plant them one time. Coleus can also be planted in similar light, the hummingbirds love those tiny flowers on coleus, it’s my favorite plant to attract them. Some herbs are favored by butterflies such as dill weed, I plant at least twice as much as I need so that they can eat all they want.
Keep the suckers pinched off tomato vines and they will keep growing, I’ve had huge cherry tomato plants that grew up 4 foot cages and back down them doing that. Plant marigolds around them to keep the bugs off them.
Water your plants in the morning to help reduce heat stress, they can drink all day long that way.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Mulch, and I aerate my soil and use fertilizer on my plants. I do not cut the grass too short, planted a lot of azaleas which bloom more than once a year, iris, wild flowers, burning bushes, day lilies, and have some beautiful large rosebushes which I fertilize early in the spring. I also fertilized my lawn in the fall last year, and it came out beautifully this spring. I am making a patio from square-foot blocks which look like brick, and have a bench which I stained battleship gray to match my picket fence. Keep your soil rather loose and keep mulch on your plants so they do not need as much water. Also, spraying them with Miracle-Gro is a good idea or sprinkling fertilizer around your plants. Pine needles make good mulch for azaleas, as they like the acid.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Tabasco and water spray on the tomato plants for bugs(I use crab boil)
Plate of beer on the ground to catch slugs (just a little, drink the rest)
Coffee ground in the soil (nitrogen)
Banana peels in the rosebeds (potassium)
Egg shells in soil (calcium)
Epson salt and water sprayed to strengthen plants (magnesium)
Rusty nails in watering can (iron)
Keep garden tools handle up in a bucket of sand (prevents rust)
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My daddy loved to garden and taught me these tricks
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Start growing comfrey in the garden and make it into liquid fertiliser. Just put a load into a bucket of water and leave for a couple of weeks.
Then use the liquid by watering the roots or as a spray feed on the leaves.
I will look up a web site for you.
http://organicgarden.org.uk/?page_id=2340
I also think companion planting is most helpful and much better than using chemicals in the garden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants
The above is a fantastic list to use.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 4:43 pm
A few things I have come to believe in:
The granulated fertilizers that are packaged in 4- or 5-pound boxes and include "beneficial microbes" or "active soil microbes" really do seem to make a difference (though they do cost more).
And I’ve noticed that my house plants are definitely much healthier when they are not subjected to chlorinated tap water. So I now go to the trouble of collecting rainwater for them whenever possible.
And I’m convinced that spreading a sack of Weed-and-Feed (any of several brands) on the grass according to directions in the fall and again in the spring noticeably improves the quality of the lawn in every way.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 5:30 pm
The only way I can have a good garden is to buy artificial plants!
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June 22nd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Use chicken manure pellets and a dedicated product for roses. The latter had an amazing effect on ours. Spray aphids with a teaspoon of washing up liquid to a pint of water. It is totally effective.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Am 71 and hold a full time job. Still spend three hors a day at least tending to the garden watering, dead heading, trimming, pruning, weeding, pest removal and fertilizing. Both and and the garden are in good health.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 7:22 pm
If you have plants which snails and slugs like, surround them with crushed egg shells.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Dig used coffee grounds into soil,good for nitrogen.If you don’t have enough from your own use be brave & go & ask coffee shops for some of theirs.A year or so ago Costa Coffee.worldwide,were encouraging people to come to them for free used grounds for their gardens.I had plenty that way & the garden smelled great while the coffee did good work.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 8:00 pm
A weed pulled up today saves having to pull up a 1 000 in a month.
grow veg with your flowers or flowers with your veg.As an example~if you have borders round your lawn~>try
a row of beetroot~dark red foliage
some mixed annuals~ sown among carrots~the ferny carrot tops are attractive and will help support your flowers.
sow runner beans with sweet peas
BUT most of all~stop all the work from time to time and just enjoy the garden
have a nice day
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June 22nd, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Get a gardener
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June 22nd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Never cast a clout ’til May is out.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 9:40 pm
keep dead heading, dont overwater, and feed as directed on the packet(no less, certainly no more) and you wont go far wrong. Look after tubers and bulbs out of season as you would a family of children, and they will surprise and please you for many many years ahead.
Enjoy your summer and all that goes with it.
Blessings.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Love a nice garden but hate gardening. My tip must be to sit back and let someone else do it. LOL!!!
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June 22nd, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Water, weed, fertilize.
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