Happy Garden - September 17, 2009

Vol. 4, Num. 38, September 17, 2009 (Read It Online) We have a great how to article from Ellen for making plant markers out of soda cans. This would be a great project to work on over the winter so you are ready for spring planting. Be sure to give a "thumbs up" to any tips or photos that you like. We use this information to select this week's contest winners. Thanks for reading, The ThriftyFun Team Send to a Friend! Submit Your Gardening Tips Submit Photos of Your Garden Submit a Gardening Request Edit Your Subscriptions: To edit your ThriftyFun subscriptions, click the Update Profile/Email Address link at the bottom of this newsletter. Today's newsletter contains: Photos: Garden: Blue Morning Glories Salad Bar Garden Bed Woody Hibiscus (Rose Of Sharon) Garden: Shepherds Hooks With Lanterns Garden: Mushrooms Garden: Cornfield Tips and Articles: Soda Can Plant Labels Use Twist Tie to Clean Hummingbird Feeder Tips For Growing Eggplants Cover Garden At Night To Protect Against Early Frost Reuse Air Conditioning Water in the Garden New Requests: Pruning a Cherry Tree Getting Rid of Bermuda Grass Deterrent For Snakes Harvesting Walnuts Saving Vegetable Seeds for Next Season Brown Spots on Ripening Tomatoes Why Are Coffee Grounds Good For Plants? Getting Rid of Crab Grass Hydrangeas Not Blooming Homemade Weed Killers Growing Vegetables Indoors in Winter Annuals for Cool and Warm Seasons Preparing Vegetable Garden for Next Season Today's Sponsor: Crafting for Fun and Money! If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish. More Information: Click Here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_craft.ldml Photos: Garden: Blue Morning Glories I planted my Morning Glories in the ground right under my porch edge. Then I put a fan shaped trellis for them to climb over. Knowing from experience, they are going to go way over, I placed a an old chair there at the top for them to run over. I think it worked great. They were pretty from the ground over the trellis and pretty on the porch as they spilled over. By eveh from Gulf Coast Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf73878295.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Salad Bar Garden Bed My husband is in the construction business. One day he brought this old salad display home. It is the large kind you see at buffets. It has a sneeze guard on the top. I put it on my back porch and planted herbs in it. By Eveh from Gulf Coast Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf45276250.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Woody Hibiscus (Rose Of Sharon) I planted a woody hibiscus tree that my husband dug up on the side of the road; I didn't know if it would thrive or not. My husband calls it "swamp cotton" because of the beauty of the blossom that looks like a cotton blossom. It is an exquisite decoration to my yard. By WandaJo from Collierville, Tennessee Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf99605812.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Garden: Shepherds Hooks With Lanterns All the garden experts recommend adding height to the garden, and to that end I have almost 20 shepherds hooks collected through the years tucked in various gardens to draw the eye up. One glorious year, roundabout 2006. Walmart had big hanging baskets of ivy geraniums at $4.00 each and I scooped up a dozen or more. I hung these throughout the yard and they garnered unending compliments. Since then I've yet to see these hanging baskets under $12 each and have been exploring other options. One idea that has worked well is hanging small lanterns on these hooks. At night I put tea candles in these. Recently a garden club was touring my yard around dusk and I had about 10 of these little lighted lanterns as well as some white fairy lights and it created a lovely ambiance. I also have many birdhouses and have started hanging these here and there and many resident birds have moved into these hanging abodes. All of these birdhouses as well as the lanterns have been picked up at thrift stores, garage sales, and estates sales, and not one cost over $2.00. As they will remain decorative through the winter too, they offer an excellent return on investment. But I'm keeping my eyes open and pocketbook ready for the return of the greatest geranium sale on earth! Source: http://thefrugalmillionairess.blogspot.com/ By frugal millionairess from Wisconsin Source: http://thefrugalmillionairess.blogspot.com/ By frugal millionairess from Wisconsin Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf13392660.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Garden: Mushrooms This is a picture my husband took of a very large cluster of mushrooms growing near my hosta. We thought it was kind of unique. The top was about as big as a dinner plate. It was about eight inches tall. By Kflawson from Bolivar, TN Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf94232120.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Garden: Cornfield Now this is corn! By clutterfree from Charleston, SC Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf28068274.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Tips and Articles: Soda Can Plant Labels By Ellen Brown One of my favorite garden crafts is making homemade plant labels from aluminum cans and wire clothes hangers. Not only are they inexpensive and durable, but these labels are actually attractive and fun to make. They are designed to dangle freely on their supports, so when the wind blows their movement makes a gentle clinking noise, turning your tiny reflective plant labels into a collective army of rabbit repellents. Materials: Assorted alumimum soda/beer cans Wire clothes hangers Gloves (to protect hands when cutting cans) Old steak knife Scissors Needle-nose pliers Paper punch Ball-point pen Embellishment tools used (from Michaels craft store): Scrapbooking scissors (Fiskars) 3 in 1 corner punch (Fiskars) Flower-shaped decorative brads (Provo Craft) Directions: Put on your gloves. Use the tip of your scissors to punch a small hole on the side of each end of the can. If your scissors isn't sharp enough, use a steak knife or screwdriver to get the hole started. Using your scissors, cut off the top and bottom of the can and discard the ends in your recycling bin. If you need to, trim off any excess sharp edges from the remaining piece of aluminum and finesse it a bit until it lays pretty flat. Cut individual labels from the remaining piece of aluminum according to the desired size. The shape and style of your labels is highly personal. Cut them into circles, triangles, rectangles, even flowers. To add some decorative flair, use fancy corner punches or try trimming the edges with scrapbooking scissors. I add color-coded brads to my labels (I found some in the shape of flowers). This helps me organize my plantings and remember what color flower is coming up where. You're only limited by your imagination so have fun with it! Just don't forget to leave room to punch a hole for hanging and space to write down the name of the plant. To write names of plants on your labels, lay them on top of a notebook or thick stack of newspaper and press down hard with a ball point pen. Make sure to press hard enough so that when the ink wears off, the name stays imprinted in the metal. Create a hole for hanging using a paper punch (or a hammer and nail). Finally, use a wire cutter or tin snips to cut 7-8 inch long support pieces from wire coat hangers. Make an "S" hook at one end using a needle-nose pliers, hang the label on the hook, and pinch the "S" shut to keep it from falling off. Voila! You've got durable, inexpensive plant labels! Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf39410479.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Use Twist Tie to Clean Hummingbird Feeder I found a simple and thrifty way to clean the feeding holes in the hummingbird feeder. When the holes get clogged up, run a twist tie through them a couple of times and then run hot water through them. It works every time. By Jabsgram from MA Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf91241494.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Tips For Growing Eggplants By Ellen Brown If you've ever tried and failed to grow eggplants, don't feel bad. You're not alone. Eggplants like to be pampered. These divas of the vegetable garden have a very low tolerance for stress, so unless your garden is in the perfect zone, growing them successfully is going to require a little bit more of your time and attention than usual. Give Them Plenty of Time If you're growing eggplants from seed, you'll want to give them a big headstart by starting them indoors (unless you live in a hot and humid zone with a long growing season). Sow seeds from 8 to 10 weeks before your last spring frost date. Most cultivars need at least 100 to 150 days of warm weather to produce, so gardeners in cooler zones (like zones 3 and 4) need to look for early producing varieties that mature in 60-70 days. Ichiban and Dusky are two good examples. Give Them Plenty of Heat Don't rush transplants (or bedding plants) into the garden. Make sure the air AND soil temperatures are consistently in the 70 degrees F (21 degrees C) range first. If necessary, use black plastic to prewarm the soil in cooler zones. Eggplants need temperatures of approximately 75-85 degrees F (25-30 degrees C) to produce. Growth is stalled below 68 degrees F (20 degrees C) and may permanently stop if exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) for any length of time. Placing dark colored rocks or bricks around the base of the plant can help retain the heat of the sun while plants are young. Pollination can only occur during warm nighttime temperatures. Watch the weather. If temperatures are predicted to dip below 60 degrees F, you may want to cover your plants to avoid flower drop. Eggplants are self-pollinating, so hoop houses and row covers can be used from planting until harvest. Just make sure if you use plastic to remove it during the day to avoid cooking the plants. Give Them Plenty of Food and Water Start with soil that is rich in organic matter, well-drained, and warm. Use a rich multipurpose potting soil for containers. Eggplants become stressed with too much or too little water. Try to keep the soil as evenly moist as possible through the season. They like small amounts of food all season long. Too much nitrogen will produce lots of foliage but not much in the way of fruits. Feed plants with a diluted liquid fish emulsion weekly until flowers appear. Container plants should be fed a high pot-ash organic liquid fertilizer once fruit starts to set. Offer Them Plenty of Protection Control insect infestations and diseases promptly. Eggplants appreciate a site that is warm, humid, and sheltered from the wind. Hoop houses, greenhouses, or row covers are good choices for keeping out cool temperatures, damaging winds and insects like flea beetles, while retaining the heat and humidity. If you use plastic row covers cut ample slits along the sides for ventilation and make sure to remove them during the heat of the day. Tall plants should be staked to support the weight of growing fruit. Enjoy The Fruits of Your Labor With a bit of luck and a lot of pampering, you should be able to harvest your eggplants when they reach the desired size. Keep in mind you'll get larger fruits by allowing only 4 to 6 to grow on a plant. Harvest the fruits while the skin is still glossy. Dull skin means the fruit has passed its prime. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf40697010.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Cover Garden At Night To Protect Against Early Frost When it's time for frost to hit and we still have veggies that are still producing, we drape sheets or blankets over the veggies before dark. Then when we get up in the morning before the sun is fully out, we take the sheets or blankets off, so as to not bruise the veggies or give them black spot, especially on the tomatoes. By Betsy from Hoagland, IN Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf95888498.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Reuse Air Conditioning Water in the Garden I noticed water coming from a pipe from in the attic of the house and traced it back to the unit for an air conditioner, that is in the attic of a lot of Florida homes. The pipe came out at the bottom of the foundation. I was installing a patio and didn't want the water running on to the patio. I drilled a hole through the wall and moved the pipe coming out of the wall to where it was 7 feet off the ground, and made sure the pipe is at a slight angle so as the water runs free. I moved it outside of the patio area and put a fifty gallon garbage can under the pipe dripping and collect the water. I also installed a plastic valve at the bottom of the drum so I could hook up a hose to it and I water my garden with the water coming from the air condition unit. I have the plastic container off of the ground about a foot so as the water will drain out the hose. With the weather so hot it takes about 1-2 days to fill the 50 gallon plastic garbage barrel. Usually the drain pipe is 3/4 or smaller plastic pipe Source: None that I know of. I had an Air condition Rep. here to service it and he has been in business for over 10 year and never saw any thing like it before By Leonard from S. Daytona,Fl. Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf25987869.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Contest! Tip Contest Submit a Tip or Recipe! Photo Contest Submit a tip with photo! The above contests are weekly. We pick 2 tip winners, 2 photo winners (1 photo and 1 pet photo) and 1 recipe winner at the end of each week. Each winner will win $25! My Frugal Life Submit a My Frugal Life Essay! New Requests: Pruning a Cherry Tree How do you prune and cut back a very big, and at least 30 years old, cherry tree? Thanks to all responses, my chain saw awaits. Hardiness Zone: 10b By miked'allauch from south of France Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf67270288.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Getting Rid of Bermuda Grass I need a recipe for Bermuda grass control. Hardiness Zone: 9a By Jboggs2 from Hudson, FL Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf40527881.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Deterrent For Snakes Will salt get rid of snakes? By saddles Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf948038.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Harvesting Walnuts We have a lot of walnut trees. How do you harvest them and what is the easiest way to shell the nuts? By citygirlinthecountry from Wilmington, OH Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf14252303.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Saving Vegetable Seeds for Next Season I planted for first time in 20 years on soil that's located on top an artesian well. I had zucchini's the size of couches. How do I dry zucchini seeds? Would be interested in swapping some green beans (bumper crop there, also) for sweet corn or other. Name your offerings. Hardiness Zone: 5a By 7Kelley7 from Green Bay, WI Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf56643655.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Brown Spots on Ripening Tomatoes I can't figure out why my tomatoes are turning black. I already watered them with Epsom salt a month ago. Can anybody help. I don't think it is bottom rot. Hardiness Zone: 5a By Joyce Wis from Janesville, WI Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf70871758.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Why Are Coffee Grounds Good For Plants? What is in coffee grounds that helps house plants? Hardiness Zone: 7a By zuzugray from Dutton, AL Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf47047776.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Getting Rid of Crab Grass I need a recipe for crab grass control. Hardiness Zone: 9a By Jboggs2 from Hudson, FL Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf57039875.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Hydrangeas Not Blooming How do you make hydrangeas bloom? I have beautiful lush bushes with no blooms. I do not cut them down at the end of the season. Hardiness Zone: 7a By Lycetc from South Jersey Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf17028438.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Homemade Weed Killers I am looking for a cheap way to kill weeds. Hardiness Zone: 5a By 204563 from Cascade, WI Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf001029.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Growing Vegetables Indoors in Winter What vegetables can you grow in your house in the winter? By mkm1enonly from Whitesville, WV Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf15006945.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Annuals for Cool and Warm Seasons Is there a list of warm season and cool season annuals? Hardiness Zone: 9a By Jboggs2 from Hudson, FL Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf42222020.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Preparing Vegetable Garden for Next Season My vegetable garden is done for the season. How do I treat the soil over the winter to prepare for next year. We had lots of rain in June and the garden was not so good this year. My tomotaos were very bad. By dahs75 from West Islip, NY Post Feedback: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf95328876.tip.html Email to a Friend | Get Responses | Bookmark | Link | Print | Rate It: | Looking for a frugal solution to an everyday problem? Submit your request here: Click Here Today's Sponsor: Crafting for Fun and Money! If you are an avid crafter, capable writer and own a digital camera, you are eligible to participate. Submit your craft projects to ThriftyFun and we will pay $15 for any crafts that we publish. 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