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Horse hair's a pain.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:07 pm

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Natural slug and snail deterrents are always the best and, yes, horsehair works a treat!!! Stables get rid of huge quantities every week so why not go and scrounge some from them?
Place it in a 4" diameter ring around slug/snail susceptible plants and weigh down with stones. Ensure that the stones don't form a 'brigde' though for those slimey pests.

Slugs and snails can't travel over horsehair because the hair is an irritant and the grease in it reacts with their slime and burns their bellies. Aaawww what a shame. (snigger)

Have you ever seen a horse covered in snails or slugs? No!!! Well there you are then. LOL

This blog entry has been viewed 1121 times

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Teasing weeds.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:00 pm

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Weeding in between delicate seedlings and around the base of fragile potted plants can be a bit tricky can't it? Well get a hold of an old pair of your OH's/daughter's eyebrow tweezers - they make the job a whole lot easier!!!!
Just make sure they are her old ones!!! LOL

This blog entry has been viewed 1013 times

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Plants love beer.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:57 pm

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How to keep those indoor, foliage plants healthy.

Cleaning the leaves with leaf shine may make your plants look lovely and glossy but it does nothing to kill bacteria.
In order to grow big, strong and healthy a plant's leaves must breathe through their pores and exchange gases.
Blocked pores means that your plants could, literally, choke to death.
Help is at hand though!!! The best anti-bacterial cleaner for plant leaves is BEER!!!!!! The weak acid in beer will successfully kill harmful bateria in the plants pores. A weekly clean of both sides of the leaves with cotton wool soaked in beer will do the trick.

Go on get your OH to leave a small amount in the bottom of his can/glass for you whenever he indulges in his favourite hobby. LOL



This blog entry has been viewed 1037 times

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Egg boxes.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:47 pm

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As you no doubt can tell I try to utalise most things and use them in my garden. Now this tip saves you throwing away those empty egg boxes.

Egg boxes make an ideal collecting container for the many sorts of free seeds that nature gives to the patient gardener. Forage for those dead flower stems and gently tap the seeds from the seed cases or flower heads into the box compartments - remembering to label each lot of seeds as you go along.

Back indoors, carefully cut out the compartments and trasfer each lot of seeds into individual envelopes (home-made of course) and mark with details of when collected etc. Store the envelopes until sowing time.

This blog entry has been viewed 850 times

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Cocktail sticks attack cats!!!!!

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:37 pm

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Cats can easily be persuaded to avoid your newly planted seed trays, containers and window boxes, instead of using them as convenient loo stops, by peppering the surface of the compost with cocktail sticks. Leave about 3/4 of an inch of each stick protruding from the compost.

Now make yourself a nice cuppa and sit down comfortably.

Listen.

Hear anything?

YES!!!!!!!

That's the last time that cat will try to poop in your garden pots believe me. LOL

This blog entry has been viewed 907 times

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Garden style!!!!

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:31 pm

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Next time you have a clear-out of your wardrobe, keep any woolly jumpers or fleeces you intend to throw out. They make great liners for hanging baskets!! You can easily cut out planting holes and they are big enough (at least mine are LOL) to fit any size of basket.

This blog entry has been viewed 862 times

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Homemade compost scoop.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:27 pm

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But a 2ltre bottle of coke or whatever (the ones with the 'built-in' handles.' Finish the drink and rinse bottle. Cut the bottle at an angle about 8" along from the cap end. Make sure that the handle is in line with the angled cut. This scoop will hold about three times more than the average trowel.

* Oh yes - nearly forgot - do remember to keep the cap on the bottle!!!!! LOL

This blog entry has been viewed 917 times

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Burger boxes.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:21 pm

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If you want to start geminating small quantities of seeds but don't want a windowsill cluttered up with large seed trays then use the polystyrene hinged burger boxes from those fast food joints. They are perfect!!

Make some holes in the base with a hot knitting needle (or similar) for drainage. The boxes give great insulation and germination is speeded up.

*Be sure to leave the lid open as soon as your seeedlings start appear.

** Drip trays can be made for your 'mini nurseries' by cutting another burger box in half.

This blog entry has been viewed 998 times

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Tea water.

Category: Gardening tips. | Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:14 pm

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Never throw away used tea bags. They can be used to make a terrific iron-rich feed for your plants - especially acid loving ones.

Keep a jug of water on the kitchen worktop and drop your spent tea bags into it. At the end of each week pour the liquid directly around your plants. Remember to put the bags themselves on to the compost heap where they'll rot down nicely. You can use the 'tea water' for your house plants too.
Alternatively you could tear the tea bags open and simply mulch the tea from them into the soil around your plants.



This blog entry has been viewed 914 times

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Waste pastry?

Category: Garden visitors. | Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:25 pm

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Never!!!!Well at least not in this house!! Don't throw away any off-cuts of pastry when baking instead mould them into different shapes (if you have kids they'll love doing this) and then press birdseed, raisins or whatever you fancy into the dough. Make a hole for hanging them up before baking them. Simply bake in the oven as for 'normal' pastry. The result is a selection of bird feeders to hang around the garden. The birds love them!!!

This blog entry has been viewed 1019 times

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