Don’t have an indoor greenhouse to plant your seeds? Use an old fish tank. You can use a piece of plexi glass/clear plastic sheets cut to size at your nearest Home Depot or Lowes to cover the fish tank. Put it in a sunny spot to aid in germination. Or you can use the lighting kit that comes with the tank.
This spring, I decided to try planting my seeds using the small containers with the pellets already inside. I was curious to see if these were better than using plain old potting soil. The process is to add water to the tray and soak the pellets. The pellets absorb the water and become soft enough to plant the seeds inside. I found that I actually like using plain soil more than I do the pellets (maybe I’m just biased because I love dirt), but I can definitely agree that the pellets are very convenient, quick and a lot easier to clean up than soil. They usually run anywhere from $5 – $10. You can get them in very large trays or smaller trays at your local Lowes or Home Depot. To keep your seeds organized, tape the empty packet to the front of the tray to remember which rows have the corresponding seeds. To keep the seeds and rows organized and to save the unused pellets, pull unused pellets out and save for another set of seeds. Another way to organize your seeds is to designate entire rows for your seeds. For example, your zinnias would be on rows 1 and 2, sunflowers on rows 3 and 4 etc. Make sure you put your gardening tray in a sunny location with the top on and water often.
Snails and slugs can wreak havoc in your garden. They can completely devour your plants in a few days and kill young plants as quickly as overnight. After my hostas were demolished last year, I decided to look into ways that I could protect them without using harsh chemicals. My solution….Coffee.
First let’s take a look at other alternatives. The most common organic way to kill slugs is by using salt (ok its actually by chopping their heads off, but I am going to assume that most people do not want to go around hacking up snails). Salt causes desiccation or drying out. While salt is effective, who wants to keep sprinkling salt everywhere. It kills them on contact, but doesn’t prevent them from coming back after the rain has washed the salt away. In addition, salt causes soil to become toic. This kills other plants and animals that are not tolerant of salt in the soil.
Some people also use chemical bait in the form of pellets or meal. The problem with this type of bait is that most slug and snail bait contain a chemical called metaldehyde. Metaldehyde unfortunately can be fatal to animals, especially small animals such as birds. If you have an edible garden, this is definitely not a wise choice to repel snails and slugs. Metaldehyde attacks the nervous system and can cause panting, vomiting and seizures. Within hours your pet can die from digesting this substance or can end up with liver failure. And of course, what’s not good for your pets is certainly not good for your children. If you must use a chemical (maybe you don’t have enough coffee to go around), try using a bait that contains a natural mineral called iron phosphate. It is already a component of soil and it is safer for your garden and your family.
So now back to the organic solutions, slugs apparently HATE caffeine! A 1-2% caffeine solution is a great way to keep slugs from your plants and it is definitely a safe alternative to pesticides. While instant coffee works (it has a .05% caffeine concentration), brewed coffee has up to twice the caffeine than instant coffee (bring on the espressos). Sprinkle the coffee grounds If you brew your own coffee in the morning, then you just found another way to recycle and reuse! If you do not drink coffee, Starbucks gives their used coffee grounds to customers for free! Contact your local Starbucks and they will give you their old coffee.
Now before putting down the coffee, here are some other things you can do to deter slugs from eating your plants without killing them:
Some strange, but effective solutions that you can use in addition to coffee:
**Note: Picture copied from Wikipedia
Use an old one gallon plastic milk jug to store your own homemade insecticides/pesticides. Most milk jugs end up unused and in a landfill anyway. Make sure you label your jug as “Organic Insecticide – Do Not Drink” to keep others from mistaking it as water. At least with homemade insecticide, someone who drinks it will get at the most a really bad taste in his mouth or a stomach ache. Now for the homemade insecticide/pesticide, use this recipe:
(For variations of this recipe, click here for the full blog)
In addition to this recipe, you can also use onion, jalapeno and garlic scraps. If you are cooking and have these leftover veggies, chop them up after cooking dinner and let them sit in warm water overnight. Bugs hate garlic, spicy stuff and onions! Milk jugs can also be made into planting pots by cutting off the top half of the jug. Recycle, Reduce, Reuse!
This year I decided to bring my herb garden indoors. I recently finished my window herb garden so that I can have easy access to three herbs in the kitchen. I chose cilantro, tarragon, and sage for my 3 herbs, but you can also use herbs such as: parsley, thyme, mint, dill and basil. Be careful of the type of basil you plant as these can sometimes grow a few feet tall (such as Genovese). Make sure you check the packaging to find out which herbs grow best in full sun versus partial shade. Most herbs grow best in full sun, but herbs such as mint can grow in partial shade. Try to group plants that have similar requirements. There are several things you will need to buy for your indoor herb garden:
For immediate results, you can buy the starter plants at your local garden center (I chose to watch my seeds grow). Pick a special window for your herb garden. Windows with full sun in the morning are the best windows to grow an herb garden. Plant your seeds according to the packaging. Make sure you don’t over crowd your seeds and spread them out evenly. Place your seeds in the window and watch them grow. Once you have an established herb garden, snip away to keep the herbs growing back faster and to keep the herbs under control.
Note: To keep water from evaporating quickly in a full sun window, add small pond rocks/gravel to the water tray. Adding rocks slows down evaporation and keeps the immediate area humid.
Use a zip loc bag to test old seeds. Seeds actually have an expiration date and usually the deadline is within the same year that you purchased them. Some seeds can be saved and are worth it in order to sow the following year.
Testing Old Seeds
Recycle, Reduce, Reuse!
I’ve been living in my home for the past 3-4 years. I have enjoyed watching my yard go from a mound of red clay dirt to something worthy of passing by. Of course, I’m still a summer or two away from getting the “Yard of the Month” award, but I’ve been making progress. I have added a few new plants to my garden this year, but it is becoming harder and harder to find space for new flowers and harder to decide the best location for them. I decided to do a landscape plan for my home. Having a landscape plan of your property can help you better landscape your home. It can also help you organize what you have planted and its location. Landscape plans can also help you to decide where new plants should be relocated based on which location of your house is sunniest. If you want to do one for your own home you will need a print out of your land/home dimensions, which are usually accessible on the internet. You can also use optional photo editing software to add color and other enhancements to your plan. Here are the steps:
1. Google It. Put your address into Google and see if you can find your public property record. If not, you can go to your local court house and get the information from your local property tax assessor.
2. Copy It. Copy the file in .jpg, .gif or .png format if you found it on the internet. If you received it from the courthouse, scan it in .jpg, .gif or .png format.
3. Redraw It. If you don’t have a graphic software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or Fireworks, you may have to print your land plot and draw your changes by hand. If you do have a photo editor, you can draw over the existing lines and resave it as a new picture.
Here’s mine:
The green areas represent my garden and the circles represent the existing trees on my property.
Found this recipe for homemade bug repellant. The spray is very effective, but has to be applied often.
Fill a spray bottle with witch hazel extract. Add one drop each of the citronella and peppermint essential oil for each fl oz of liquid.
If you have not already had problems with insects and pests in your garden, you will probably come across some form of disease or fungus on your plants during the spring and summer. I have personally dealt with black rot on my aucuba plant and other funguses on my soil. High temperatures, humidity and wet conditions can increase the chances of fungal disease in your garden. Here is a great way to rid your garden of fungus:
For outdoor plants:
1 Gallon of water
1 Tea bag
2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
(which also acts as an acidic liquid fertilizer)
For indoor plants:
1 Gallon of water
1 Tea bag
2 Tablespoons of peroxide or 1 Tablespoon of bleach
Another way you can help with fungus is to spread cornmeal as a top dressing over the soil or boil it into a liquid solution and spray directly onto plant leaves.
You can also avoid funguses by making sure your plant has proper drainage and that you water them properly based on their requirements and size.
To keep cats from using your mulched flower bed as a litter box, use peelings from citrus fruit. Spread orange, lemon or lime rinds around your garden to deter cats from using it as a public toilet. If you want to take it a step further, buy a citrus tree and plant it in your yard. You can save money by growing your own citrus fruit and use the rinds for compost and repellant.