1. To remove the salt deposits that form on clay pots, combine equal parts
white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle. Apply the mixture to
the pot and scrub with a plastic brush. Let the pot dry before you plant
anything in it.
2.
To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the
garden, draw your fingernails across a bar of soap and you'll effectively seal
the undersides of your nails so dirt can't collect beneath them. Then, after
you've finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails
will be clean.
3.
To prevent the line on your string trimmer from jamming or breaking, treat with
a spray vegetable oil before installing it in the trimmer.
4.
Turn a long-handled tool into a measuring stick! Lay a long-handled garden tool
on the ground, and next to it place a tape measure. Using a permanent marker,
write inch and foot marks on the handle. When you need to space plants a certain
distance apart (from just an inch to several feet) you'll already have a
measuring device in your hand.
5.
To have garden twine handy when you need it, just stick a ball of twine in a
small clay pot, pull the end of the twine through the drainage hole, and set the
pot upside down in the garden. Do that, and you'll never go looking for twine
again.
6.
Little clay pots make great cloches for protecting young plants from sudden,
overnight frosts and freezes.
7.
To turn a clay pot into a hose guide, just stab a roughly one-foot length of
steel reinforcing bar into the ground at the corner of a bed and slip two clay
pots over it: one facing down, the other facing up. The guides will prevent
damage to your plants as you drag the hose along the bed.
8.
To create perfectly natural markers, write the names of plants (using a
permanent marker) on the flat faces of stones of various sizes and place them at
or near the base of your plants.
9.
Got aphids? You can control them with a strong blast of water from the hose or
with insecticidal soap. But here's another suggestion, one that's a lot more
fun; get some tape! Wrap a wide strip of tape around your hand, sticky side out,
and pat the leaves of plants infested with aphids. Concentrate on the undersides
of leaves, because that's where the little buggers like to hide.
10.
The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don't pour the water down the drain,
use it to water potted patio plants, and you'll be amazed at how the plants
respond to the "vegetable soup."
11.
Use leftover tea and coffee grounds to acidify the soil of acid-loving plants
such as azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, gardenias and even blueberries. A
light sprinkling of about one-quarter of an inch applied once a month will keep
the pH of the soil on the acidic side.
12.
Use chamomile tea to control damping-off fungus, which often attacks young
seedlings quite suddenly. Just add a touch of tea to the soil around the base of
seedlings once a week or use it as a foliar spray.
13.
If you need an instant table for cocktails, look no farther than your collection
of clay pots and saucers. Just flip a good-sized pot over, and top it off with a
large saucer.
14.
The quickest way in the world to dry herbs: just lay a sheet of newspaper on the
seat of your car, arrange the herbs in a single layer, then roll up the windows
and close the doors. Crazy sounding, but it works!
Labels: container gardening, hydrangea, ILT Vignocchi, landscape, landscaping, seasonal color, shrubs, viburnum, winter gardening
As I sit at my desk looking out on a snowy wonderland, sun dancing off icicles still clutching to our gutter, I wonder what spring will bring.
