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Volume 2, Number 25, June 21, 2007 (Read It Online) We have two new gardening Brainstorms this week. Please take a moment and share your advice. Managing Insect Pests in Vegetable Gardens What are your tips for managing insect pests in your vegetable garden? Please post your ideas below. How to Grow Bulbs What are your tips for growing and saving money on bulbs? Please post them below. Thanks for reading, Susan
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First, decide where you would like to grow your clubhouse. As I said earlier, you can grow this next to sod so your children can play on the grass. Dig a flower bed in a C shape (two semi circles) in the area you have chosen. You will want the inside circumference to be about 4 ft wide to be able to comfortably accommodate 3 children. You will want the outside circumference to be at least 2 feet wide. If growing this next to sod, you will want to use an edging material to keep the grass out of your flower bed. Next, turn over and prepare your soil for your plants. Next to the edging of what will be the back of your semi-circle flower bed, plant sunflower seeds or plants close together. I need to stress that you need to plant these as close together as you can. Remember, the stems will get to be about 3 inches in diameter so judge from there. In front of these, you can plant as many annuals as you would like. I would plant flowers that you won't have a problem with the kids picking as I am sure you will get lots of"I love you" bouquets from your flower garden. Water well. When the sunflowers reach about 5 feet tall, gently pull all of them together in the center and loosely tie with an old pair of panty house. Now your kids will have a natural teepee to play in and you will have the joy of something beautiful and unusual in your yard. If you decided to do this on a bare patch of ground, you can always but in some old carpet or a tarp for your kids to play on. This is also a seasonal clubhouse so at the end of the season you can pull it all out and compost it. A more permanent structure can be made with a few different components. For this club house, you will need four pieces of rebar about four feet long, eight pieces of three quarter inch PVC pipe and four PVC connectors for the corner pieces. These have 2 connections that go out at angles and one that goes down. Length of the PVC pipe depends on how tall and wide you want your structure. First dig a square band for a flowerbed, making sure that you leave room in the center for your children to play. With a shovel, dig small holes to bury the rebar two feet into the ground at the four corners of your structure. You will be building an upside down box with your PVC pipe. Slide each support pipe over the rebar and add a connection to the top, and then add your roof pipes to the connectors making a box shape. Next, you will cover this with garden netting that can be bought at your local garden center or Home Depot. Tie down your garden netting with wire or string. Plant perennials vines in your beds that will grow up and over your garden structure. As the vines grow, tie them up with string or yarn. Fast growing vines like honeysuckle or morning glory will have your garden clubhouse covered in no time. Also if you make your structure tall and skinny, this could be used to house a garden bench to provide a nice shady spot for reading or just enjoying your back yard.
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Rate It: The Aroma of a Fragrant Tea Rose This is a picture of my first rose blossom; it is an exquisite tea rose that has a fragrance that surpasses any perfume fragrance. After a rainfall, the fragrance of the rose permeates the air of our deck and is so pleasant to step out on the back porch and smell the sweet aroma of roses. I also have lemon mint in a pot and the fragrance of mint in the air after a rainfall is so refreshing and soothing.By WandaJo from Tennessee
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Rate It: This is my portable flower garden. Because of my husband's job, we used to transfer in the summers and I wouldn't get the chance to "take" my garden with me. Or sometimes we moved to a house without much for landscaping. In order to at least have something with a little flower power, I decided to use my childhood wagon as a garden container, just in case we move again. This last summer, I planted impatiens in them and they did really well. I also like being able to move my portable flower bed to different areas of my garden. By Denise from Nebraska
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Rate It: Penny pots look great inside or out. Take an old flower pot or bowling ball and use silicone to attach the pennies. By Julie Anne from Ontario
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Rate It: This birdhouse was made with a recycled porch post. You could purchase a new one at your local home improvement store or search garage sales, etc. for one. By Denise from Nebraska
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Rate It: Here's an easy bird feeder that can be made from a painted 2 litre pop bottle.
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Reuse Kiddie Pool Water For Plants My daughter purchased a kiddie pool large enough to hold an adult sized raft. She sunbathes in the privacy of our yard (I already lectured her about sun damage) and it's less expensive than joining a country club. But the reason I am writing about this pool is because sometimes the wind blows the cover off and it fills with leaves, dirt, twigs... I told her to let me know when it's time to change the water and I'd use it to water the veggie garden and plants. Need to figure out a pump system because dragging that bucket back and forth is for the birds. By Holly from Richardson, TX Editor's Note: For pumping out the water, you could try using an aquarium siphon. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf37524841.tip.html
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Rate It: Do you have a drip hose that sprays rather than drips? Rather than get rid of the hose, you can re-direct the water back down into the ground where it belongs. Simply take an empty soda or water bottle (clear plastic) and carefully cut off the neck and the bottom. Slit it down one side so it looks like a "C", and push the two cut sides down into the soil over the hole in your drip hose. You can use mulch to hide it and help hold it down. The water will spray into the plastic, then run back down it into the ground. If you have multiple drip hoses joined together that tend to spray at the connection, this is a good solution there as well. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf223939.tip.html
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Rate It: I buy steer manure blend at a discount store or home improvement store for less than a dollar to spread around by flower beds and lawn. I use those black weeping hoses for my watering system so the black manure compost makes my gardens look very neat and tidy. This compost is my fertilizer and mulch. It's good for the soil unlike chemical fertilizers. I also put about a cup of this steer manure in a large empty detergent bottle filled with water to water and feed my house plants. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf997833.tip.html
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Rate It: Free Gardening Products!
One of the pleasurable spin-offs in organic gardening is finding alternative ways of coming up with the same, if not better, end result... Household throwaways can be valuable to the alternate enthusiast. Here are ten recyclable ideas to make gardening a little less hard on the pocket! 1. Hedge Clippings:Instead of burning or direct composting, beg, borrow or even buy, if the quantity justifies the price, an electric garden muncher. Branches up to an inch in diameter are posted into a slot and the machine munches them up into small chips. Spread these chips thickly around shrubs or fruit trees to help keep moisture in, and control the temperature of the soil.2. Food Waste:All food waste must be composted. Composting is becoming quite an art form, and special composting bins can be bought, or very simply made. There are many different theories and each gardener will find his or her preferred way. Keeping the compost fairly warm is the overall key to a good result. Or, if you're in no hurry, simply keep adding to a heap, and dig out the bottom when required. Sieve before using and the compost will be ready for planting small plants and even seeds.3. Old Carpets, Large Damaged Cardboard Boxes;and similar materials can be laid over the vegetable plot in autumn to help prevent those early spring weeds appearing. Spread over a whole patch and weigh down with stones or logs. Lift off on a sunny day in early spring a few days before digging.4. Paint Trays:Keep old roller painting trays and similar containers for seed trays. Punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Add a little fine gravel before filling with seed compost. Seed trays shouldn't be deeper than 15cm.5. Yoghurt Pots:All plastic yoghurt or dessert pots can be washed and saved for re-potting seedlings. Make a hole in the bottom of each and add a little fine gravel before filling with compost or soil..6. Glass Jars:Glass jars with sealable lids are excellent for storing seeds, beans and peas for planting next year. (Safe from mice as well) After washing the jars, dry in the oven to remove all traces of moisture before storing your seeds. Collect dark glass jars, or wrap paper round clear jars to prevent seeds being damaged by light.Read More Ideas: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf483385.tip.html
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Rate It: Daylily, An Easy, Beautiful and Useful Plant
Daylilies are one of my favorite perennial plants. They are pretty, hardy and very easy to take care of. They have arching, sword shaped leaves and lily shaped flowers that come in all shades of yellow, orange, red and more. They grow to a height of about 18 inches usually and are best placed in the middle of the flower bed. Daylilies are called this because their large lily-like blooms only last one day, however, the next day there will be a new bloom right next to the old one on the same stem. Daylilies will grow in all zones and like full sun, but if your area is very hot, plant them in semi shade. They will usually adapt to any type of soil. They need quite a bit of water during bloom and should be fed with complete fertilizer during spring and summer. When your daylily plant starts looking crowded and the base is pretty large, it's probably time to divide it. This is a great time to share with your friends and family. Just dig it up and pull (or whack) it apart. It will take some forceful pulling (maybe even some wrestling) to get the roots apart. It's a tough plant, so don't worry too much about hurting it. The best time for this is in early spring or late fall. Daylilies look beautiful planted near Shasta Daisies or Poker plant. They do well on banks, near pools in the flower bed, and in containers. You can even try them in the vegetable garden planted near some salad ingredients. The petals are edible and are very tasty. They are crips and sweet like lettuce and go very well in tossed salads, not only for flavor and texture, but to make the salad pretty. Even though the blooms only last one day, they still make great cut flowers because the buds are in clusters on one stem. This means one stem with 5 or 6 buds will probably last a week in a vase provided the water is changed daily. If you don't have a daylily yet and are looking for easy and rewarding plants, I recommend you get one (or two, or three). Before you buy one, check to see if your family and friends have a plant that needs dividing. This way, when you look at the plant in the future, you'll have a pleasant memory of who gave it to you. By Monica Resinger
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Rate It: Peanut Shells for Weed Control I feed all of our wild life here in the yard . I have a feeder for peanuts for the squirrels, they make a mess with the peanut shells, so I got the bright idea of using them for weed controll. I put them around the flowers, and haveing started useing them around my vegetable plants. NO MORE weeds, and helps keeps soil warm, and takes less watering as they keep the soil from drying out! Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf871299.tip.html
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Rate It: Growing Fruits and Vegetables in Containers
If you thought containers were only for flowers, think again! You could be enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables grown on your porch or patio in containers and hanging baskets. Here are a few ideas to get you started: 1. StrawberriesStrawberries are easily grown in containers. Plant them in barrels, tubs, hanging baskets or strawberry jars. Plant in early spring and place them where they will get at least 6 hours of sun each day. When the season is over, don't toss them out. They can be overwintered by covering with straw or move the container into your garage or basement. The next year's harvest will be bigger and better.2. TomatoesWho doesn't love the taste of home-grown tomatoes? Plant tomatoes in a container that is a least 16" deep and 20" wide. Be sure to stake or cage the plants to encourage a high yield and to keep them from flopping over.3. CarrotsCarrots and other root vegetables will grow well in containers as long as the pot is deep enough. Be sure to choose a container that is twice as deep as the length of the carrot at maturity.4. Salad GreensArugula, endive, leaf lettuce, and mustard are great choices for containers. Imagine being able to open your door and harvest fresh salad greens! Keep soil moist and be sure to fertilize every two weeks with a liquid fertilizer at half strength. You should be able to get four or five cuttings from each plant. Replace mature plants with new ones to keep your salad supply growing.5. HerbsHerbs are easy to grow in almost any type of container. Suggested herbs are: basil, chives, cilantro, dill, margoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme. Harvest as soon as there are a fair amount of leaves on the young plants. Cut off leaves as you need them, but never cut more than a third of the foliage at any one time. Constant trimming of the leaves for use in your kitchen will help keep the plants bushy and productive. Many herbs are perennials and can be overwintered by moving the container into your garage or basement.Take good care of your container grown vegetables and fruits by providing plenty of water, sun, and fertilizer as needed. You'll enjoy the fruits of your labor all season long! Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf673855.tip.html
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Rate It: Free Coffee Grounds for Your Garden at Starbucks Starbucks gives away bags of used coffee grounds free for the asking. Dump some on the ground of roses and other acid-loving plants and water. The coffee breaks down and feeds the plants and my roses have never been more beautiful or prolific. By Linda For more information visit:
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Rate It: Edible Flowers
Have you ever been to a restaurant where they have served you a beautiful salad with flower petals scattered around the plate? Or maybe you have had a cake decorated with flowers on top? Perhaps you have visited a Tea Room and were served flower syrup. Edible flowers are the new rage in haute cuisine. The look is elegant; yet preparing flowers for eating is simple and fun to do. View This Article: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf813847.tip.html
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Rate It: Make Your Own Organic Plant Fertilizer Tea Bag For gardens to grow, they need to be fertilized. Unfortunately, commercially available fertilizers are an unregulated product that may contain toxic wastes. Happily, you can easily make your own organic plant fertilizer "tea bag" -- and save some money at the same time. To make the teabag, lay a double layer of cheesecloth on a bare patch of soil and place one or two cups of compost, aged manure, or slow-release organic fertilizer on it. If you want to make your own organic fertilizer combination, use the following ingredients (all of which you should be able to buy in bulk at a farm supply or feed store; they'll keep for years if kept dry):
Place the tea bag in the bucket, and fill with water and let it steep for a day or so. When the tea is ready, remove the bag, and fill the bucket the rest of the way with clear water to dilute the tea. You can treat each of your plants to a cup or two of tea. As a rule, underfeeding is better than overfeeding, and small regular feedings are better than occasional large ones. Source: The Sierra Club Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf734705.tip.html
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Rate It: Deer don't like eggs! This recipe is easy to make and fairly inexpensive, it calls for 18 eggs. You can also make small batches. Ingredients:
Directions: Beat eggs using an electric mixer or large whisk. Then put eggs into a large bucket. Add water to eggs slowly as you stir with a large stir stick. Mix thoroughly and then strain liquid. Spray solution on places that you want to discourage deer from eating plants. Reapply this solution after heavy rains. The drawback is that this solution will start to smell on your plants, especially in hot weather. You will want to clean our your sprayer throroughly. When the egg solution dries it may gum up your sprayer. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf296813.tip.html
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Rate It: A Remedy for Ants in the Hummingbird Feeder Since summer is here, I'm sure a lot of people have hummingbird feeders. Well here's an idea of how to keep ants out. If you have the feeder hanging from a small pole, go out and buy the sticky paper that catches flies and wrap it around the pole. It works great. You could also use contact paper, it is much prettier. Just put the paper on with the sticky side out. No more ants. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf548947.tip.html
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Rate It:
Magpies Eating Free Range Chicken Eggs How can I stop the magpies eating my free range chickens eggs? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf24635856.tip.html
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Rate It: What causes deformed cucumbers? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf43837147.tip.html
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Rate It: Any good ideas on how to help my garden and flower retain more moisture? I live in KY and we are in desperate need of rain. I am watering things as I can but I wondered if anyone had any more ideas. I've got mulch on everything that I can. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf93574064.tip.html
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Rate It: Can you tell me about bleach as a weed killer? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf81760161.tip.html
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Rate It: How long after grass seed has grown can i apply a weed and feed to kill the weeds without hurting the new grass? Hardiness Zone: 4a Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf82632541.tip.html
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Rate It: The bark of my two dogwoods were accidentally cut with a weed-whacker. Because these trees seem stressed already (small, stunted black-tipped leaves), I am concerned about their survival. Is there anything I can do to maximize their chances? Or do I have to cross my fingers and wait? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf44353594.tip.html
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Rate It: Rose of Sharon as a Teeth Whitener I just found an old almanac that said Rose of Sharon (also known as hibiscus or althea) will whiten your teeth "like a miracle". But it didn't say what part of the plant to use or how to use it. Has anyone ever heard of this? Does anyone know how it works? The whitening products you buy from the store don't work very well. I've got a yard full of these shrubs, I'd certainly like to try it. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf23931855.tip.html
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Rate It: Keep Raccoons Out of Your Pond I have a 2x1/2 ft deep pond in my backyard and am looking for some ideas to keep the raccoons from eating my fish. I would prefer not to put an electric wire surrounding the pond. Can anyone suggest another method? Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf94371285.tip.html
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Rate It: Managing Insect Pests in Vegetable Gardens What are your tips for managing insect pests in your vegetable garden? Please post your ideas below. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf865125.tip.html
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Rate It: What are your tips for growing and saving money on bulbs? Please post them below. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf251723.tip.html
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Rate It: This year, we are over-run with squirrels. They are even picking green apples off my tree, taking a bite out of them, then tossing them to the ground. A late freeze killed most fruits, so I'd like to keep the few apples I have left. If anyone has ideas on what to do to deter these pests, I'd appreciate all the help I can get. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf194846.tip.html
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Rate It: Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here
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