Happy Garden - November 20, 2008

This week we have some more gardening photos, tips and an article about Thrifty Ways to Clean Up and Repair Your Patio Furniture.

Are you making any Christmas presents from items in your garden? Or giving plants for Christmas? We would love to hear your ideas. Next week is Thanksgiving so we will not have a Happy Garden newsletter. The next issue is in two weeks.

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Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Photos:

• Garden: Growing Melons In A Small Space
• Craft: Gourd-geous Wreath!
• Garden: Produce Year Round

Tips and Articles:

• Thrifty Ways to Clean Up and Repair Your Patio Furniture
• Use Plastic Floral Tubes for Cut Flowers
• Harvest Food From Mother Nature
• Use Leaves and Newspapers for Mulch
• Raking Leaves on Acreage
• Turn Lawn Into Garden With Plastic
• Save Egg Shells in Cartons for Planting Next Spring
• Broken Egg Shells to Deter Snails
• Share Expensive Gardening Tools With Neighbors
• Collect Fallen Leaves for Thanksgiving Decorations

New Requests:

• What is This Plant?
• What is This Plant?
• Pruning a Jasmine Plant

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

Garden: Growing Melons In A Small Space

By Melmar from Lincoln park, MI

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Craft: Gourd-geous Wreath!

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Garden: Produce Year Round

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Thrifty Ways to Clean Up and Repair Your Patio Furniture
By Ellen Brown

Before you stow away your patio furniture for the winter, take some time this fall to clean it up and make any necessary repairs. Check out how using these everyday household products can make this sometimes unpleasant task easier and more economical.

• Armor All: Use it to apply a shiny coat to resin patio furniture. Not only will it prevent dirt from settling on the furniture, it will make your next leaning a whole lot easier.
• Baking Soda: To clean plastic or metal patio furniture, sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge, wipe the area clean, and let dry.
• Cola (any brand): This is an easy way to strip paint off of metal patio furniture. Cover the paint you want to remove with a bath towel soaked in cola. Leave it on for one week. Add more cola every day to keep the towel wet. After one weeks time, the paint will strip off effortlessly. And people drink this stuff?
• Dishwasher Detergent: To clean patio furniture, dissolve a quarter cup of dishwashing detergent in one gallon of hot water. Scrub away the dirt, then wipe clean with a dry cloth.
• Powdered Milk: Painted wooden patio furniture can be touched up using old-fashioned milk paint. To make the paint, mix three cups of powdered milk and one cup water until the mixture is the consistency of paint. Add food coloring or colored pigment (available at craft stores) to achieve the desired color. Brush the paint on like you would regular paint, letting the first coat dry for at least 24 hours before adding a second coat. Paint on a second coat and allow it to dry for three days. Once milk paint dries, its durable and long lasting.
• Shaving Cream: Clean plastic patio furniture by spraying on shaving cream and scrubbing it with a brush. Rinse off with the garden hose and let dry.
• Shoe Polish: Use shoe polish to give wooden patio furniture a high polish. Repeat to achieve a deeper color. Shoe polish is less expensive than stain and easier to apply, and it leaves a high-gloss finish.
• Liquid Laundry Detergent and Non-Chlorine Bleach: To clean mildew from vinyl-coated polyester cushions on outdoor furniture, mix one cup of liquid laundry detergent and one cup of non-chlorine bleach in three gallons water. Submerge the cushions in the solution, and scrub with a soft-bristled brush to remove dirt and stains. Rinse well and let dry in the sun.
• Wax: Rejuvenate aluminum patio furniture by applying a coat of car wax to the metal.
• Vinegar: To get rid of mildew stains on patio furniture (especially on woven straps), spray on full-strength vinegar, then wipe clean. Rinse with water and wipe dry with a soft cloth. Vinegar cleans mold and mildew, but without the decaying affects of bleach.

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Use Plastic Floral Tubes for Cut Flowers

If your children are like mine, anytime I cut fresh flowers, they ask to take a pretty bloom to their teachers. Rather than trying to keep the stems moist by wrapping them, use a plastic floral tube. You can purchase several for a dollar at the floral counter in your grocery store. The small plastic tubes hold water and have a rubber tip the stem slips into, making them spillproof. I have also used these at recital time on bouquets that will be out of water for a few hours.

By Laurie from Tennessee

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Harvest Food From Mother Nature

As many here have gardens, or at least potted plants, I was wondering the other day; Why not take advantage of the biggest garden around? Mother nature abounds in pure, wholesome foods, and all we have to do is step outside and receive it. And not just berries or nuts either. From the humble blue violet crawling along your walk-way to the wild rice growing along the fence next to a field, nature is showering us with plenty of extra food stuffs.

And they are all for free, once you can identify what they are without risking your health. And while it may cost some to have guided tours of your area to teach you where and what plants you have nearby, there are plenty of books at public libraries that will tell you how and when to harvest for the best plant, how to cook and store your newfound bounty, and how to transplant wild foods into your own garden so you don't have to forage so for and long. And you don't have to go solo on the classes, bring the whole family along. Kids love to explore, and are very curious about the natural world. And once you are familiar with the plants of your area, it is free entertainment that will add to your money, not deplete it.

However, a word of caution: field books and guides are good supplements to what you can learn, but always seek professional botanists from whom you can go into the field and study with, there are many poisonous look-a-likes out there, and one wrong plant (or one wrong part, or cooked wrong) is all it takes for very serious injury or death. Ask about tours at your library or city hall I believe. If anyone has more info on how to get tours, please comment and let me know.

Source: I was talking to one of my aunts about her garden, and I asked her where she got one of her plants and she told me she found it while taking a walk one day, and she remembered eating it when she was younger. My grandparents had about 14 mouths to feed, so they made use of very free source of food. I also checked out as many books about wild food as I could from my public library, and I am hoping to go on guided tours next year.

By Krystal from Newton, IA

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Use Leaves and Newspapers for Mulch

Use all the leaves and newspaper you can get your hands on. They are great mulch. I started by putting down newspaper in a new natural area I want to start. I have quite a few layers. Now that leaves have fallen, I have raked all into that area, along with all the ones my neighbors have bagged. By spring, the weather will have turned these into some great mulch.

By Wanda from Climax, NC

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Raking Leaves on Acreage

DON'T DO IT BY HAND! If you have large acreage and/or lots of deciduous trees, better to use a lawn vacuum. I bought a used one (it's all steel, so I recycled, in a sense: when is the last time you saw one of those tow-behind-your-garden tractor vacuums made of steel?) about 30 years old.

It has a 5 horsepower engine, and uses the mower discharge via a large hose. The 5 horse engine provides the vacuum and simultaneously chops up the leaves to make a finely cut mulch. We deposit this directly onto the garden, and the rest is deposited onto our tillable acreage. It saves soooo much time, and you don't get blisters. I've seen new versions of this that are collapsible and lightweight, and cost around $1,000.

If you have large acreage, you probably have a lawn or garden tractor that will tow this attachment easily. Get one if you don't currently own one! No, I do not have a farm equipment business!

By Scott and Sheri from Hebron, NY

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Turn Lawn Into Garden With Plastic

We made a 30x20 foot garden in our back yard with plastic and cement blocks. You do not have to remove grass. Put down plastic or a thick layer of news papers, and place cement blocks on top around the edge of the space. Then, fill it with compost or manure. You have a garden without weeds or grass for years. Add more compost as needed every year. I get manure from Lowe's in 40 pound bags, I have a garden all the year, I also make flower beds the same way.

By Kathleen from Dothan, AL

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Save Egg Shells in Cartons for Planting Next Spring

When using eggs in my cooking, I try to break the shells near one end. The smaller piece of broken shell goes into the compost bowl, the larger part of the shell I put back into the empty egg carton and save for spring when I fill the shells with soil and start my seedlings in them. They are lightweight and easy to move around. When the plants have developed roots and are ready to transplant into the ground you just lift them shell and all and plant them in the garden. The egg shell will fertilize and nourish the plant. It will be off to a good start!

By Deborah from Terre Hill, PA

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Broken Egg Shells to Deter Snails

Sprinkle broken eggshells around your strawberry plants to deter snails.

By Mrsburgo from Newcastle NSW

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Share Expensive Gardening Tools With Neighbors

My friend, who lives in another town, says she and her neighbors all share their lawn and gardening tools. This way no one has to be out the purchase price of expensive items, like lawn mowers, garden tillers, leaf blowers, etc., unless they just want to be. Clever idea!

By Terri H. from NV

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Collect Fallen Leaves for Thanksgiving Decorations

I like to take my children walking in our neighborhood. On our walks we find beautiful leaves and seed pods that have fallen from the trees. We collect them and take them home to use them as our Thanksgiving decorations. Bare twigs and seed pods are added in our fall bouquets or as part of our Thanksgiving centerpiece. We also tape large brightly colored leaves all over on our walls, which simulates the outdoor fall season. I also draw large leaves on water color paper and have had my children paint and decorate them for use as name place cards for our Thanksgiving Dinner.

By Shannon from Los Angeles, CA

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What is This Plant?

What is this plant? I found it in the woods by my house. Dose anyone have an idea?

Aliesha

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What is This Plant?

I have two plants I can not identify. Could you please share what you know about these plants? Thanks.

Hardiness Zone: 7a

blckqueen58 from Oklahoma City, OK

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Pruning a Jasmine Plant

I fertilized a star Jasmine plant this July in regular fertilizer. I just brought it indoor because its too cold and rainy here until May. Some leaves are bright green, and the dark green ones are turning red. Some leaves are completely dark red. How do I prune the plant? Does it matter what I prune it with? Do I just pull off the non green leafs? Or cut off some branches? Should I re-fertilize with something else and when and with what?

Hardiness Zone: 9a

Alicia from Federal Way, WA

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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:
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