Gardening tips

18 years ago

These tips came from a local newspaper. Have any on you ever tried any of these?

Flowers that thrive in alkaline soil (geraniums, begonias, hydrangeas) benefit from occasional watering with a weak solution of baking soda. It is said to produce magnificent blooms.

Use the water from boiling eggs to water houseplants.

Add chopped banana peels and torn open tea bags to potting soil for containers.

To perk up houseplants add two tablespoons of Epson salts to a gallon of water and use to water plants. Magnesium is a trace element essential for good growth. It is also good for roses, herbs, tomatoes and berries.

Feed your Japanese maples with a beer, it promotes redder bark and a healthier tree.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

kathi_mdgd
18 years ago
We always throw our banana peels around our roses or hide them in among the leaves of the staghorn fern.We also save eggshells and dry them out,crush them then use in the gardens,the snails and slugs hate them and they are good for the soil.The tea bags are added to the same container as the egg shella.
Kathi

We also use epsom salts in the garden
msmarion
18 years ago
I make a banana smoothie from the bananas that are too far gone to make anything with and some water. I feed it to my potted rose bush and my staghorn fern. My aunt kept egg shells in a jar of water (not sure how long) to water her houseplants.
Thanks for the baking soda tip I'm going to try it.
Related Discussions
your best (and worst!) cheap, thrify, and diy garden tips?
Q
Comments (72)
One good tip I learned (from trial & error, then much research) is to plant and harvest things at the proper time for your growing zone- even in places like california where people might tell you "oh you can grow anything there all year round"... not true! some plants are warm season, some are cool season, some like to overwinter, some are annual, some are perennial, some are biennial, etc. Research each plant, and also don't assume plants that seem similar will have the same needs, for example peas and beans both come in bush and vining varieties and grow in pods, but peas like cool weather while beans like it hot- except for a few certain beans that actually do prefer it cool... Also, potatoes can tolerate cool weather while sweet potatoes don't. Kale & lettuces grow best in cool weather while chard seems to do fine in hot or cool. You get the idea. If you plant things at the wrong time you'll be wasting your time and the seeds- I tried lettuce when it was too late to be planting it and in the heat of summer it went straight to bolt. I've planted zucchini and tomatoes when it was too cold for them and they grew poorly and didn't produce fruit. Harvest times are just as important as planting times- I planted radishes once and they didn't seem to get big enough by harvesting time so I thought I could just let them keep growing for a while longer- but found out that if you leave them in the ground too long they get tough and too spicy and shrivel up instead of getting bigger! Also it may be tempting to let a zucchini get huge, thinking it will just provide more food when you let a fruit get 2 feet long... No! Harvest them young & tender and about the size they sell them in the grocery store (or smaller), any larger and you get a hard shell, lots of seeds, and very little (and quite tasteless) flesh. Moral of these stories is to research each fruit or veggie you want to grow & follow the "directions", it will mean the difference between success & failure! Also- healthy soil is #1 important thing for plants - no chemical fertilizer! Compost is your best friend. Mulch is your other best friend- use what is available & free- leaves & pine needles are what I use. Good luck!!!
...See More
Rain Barrels & garden tips & lessons learned?
Q
Comments (19)
For a reddish rain barrel on Amazon, see link below. One of the reviewer described well on how to use a rain-barrel: http://www.amazon.com/Upcycle-Gallon-Terra-Cotta-Rain-Barrel/dp/B005U6EU1Y "Kenneth L. Willitts says: It has three outlets, two of them one at the top and the other at the bottom are for hose connection. The other outlet is at the bottom and is fitted with a spigot, which can be shut or open and also has the ability to be connected to a hose. I keep the very top outlet connected to a soaker hose that goes into my garden, so if there is an overflow, it will go into the garden. I have three of theses and they are very easy to connect to any gutter system. The other important thing to consider and it is a good and bad problem, it has a nice screen on the top to keep dirty and trash out of the tank, but if you have heavy foliage the trash can block the screen, so about one a month, I just brush off the top and that solve that problem. Hope this helps. PS by the way if you were to connect two or more, use the top outlet connected with a standard hose with two female adapters, if you need help let me know. Ken" See below link for a reddish rain-barrel different from Amazon, it's 50 gallon Terra Cotta Snap Lid Rain Barrel, sold for $79.95, free shipping. Here is a link that might be useful: 50 gallon Terra Cotta Snap Lid Rain Barrel This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Jun 2, 14 at 11:28
...See More
Gardening Tips For This October
Q
Comments (0)
Don't have what to do with your garden? Plant some Pumpkins and grow them and compete! like/share/comment http://www.4seasonsmagazine.com/index.php/2016/10/17/gardening-tips-october/
...See More
Gardening Tips on cut backing, dead heading, and trimming.
Q
Comments (6)
he easy answer for any newb.. is to let it naturally bud out.. and THEN remove all the dead stuff ... let the plant show you what to do ... what exactly is your hurry??? .. perhaps you need to be a bit more zen in the garden.. rather than compulsive??? jsut becasue there is a mild break in the weather.. doesnt mean you have to be out there.. too early ... if you plant on hanging around .. and i hope you d. go to your member's page .. and add location .. it can be very important ... e.g. in my z5 MI ... everything is still in very slo motion.. and its not really time to do or worry about things... as compared to floras Z8/9 .. stuffs been actively growing since march ... since you dont seem to be able to see new growth ... i am thinking you are tending toward my zone ... ken
...See More
Linda Wayman
18 years ago
I've heard of using banana peel for roses, but I haven't heard of most of the other things.

I am going to use a weak baking soda solution in the morning on geraniums. Thanks for the tip.

Linda
petaloid
18 years ago
We put banana peels, egg shells, tea leaves and coffee grounds in our compost pile, along with grass clippings. After things have decomposed, we use the compost for our plants.

Once each spring I water the roses well, then apply Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate), as was suggested. Plants need both magnesium and iron to make the leaves green. In some areas the soil contains plenty of both, but not where I live.
jannie
18 years ago
Epsom salts are good for tomatoes. I add some to the water when I water the tomatoes.
lynne_melb
18 years ago
I used to put Epsom salts on my roses in spring. Be very careful, though to not overdo the Epsom salts or baking soda.

They are salts, so can hurt the plants. So make sure you dilute them.
joyfulguy
18 years ago
Greetings again, Ron,

Thanks for the suggestions.

You being a rather fast runner as it is, I hope that you'll label that epsom salts water: be careful not to ingest some of it, yourself.

I don't know whether it might help you turn a bit green ... but I'm sure that drinking some of it would produce some results that would keep you running even faster, for a while.

Good wishes for a great week.

ole joyful
Marcia Thornley
18 years ago
I've never used banana peels but I have planted garlic beneath roses to keep pests away and the roses seem to love it! I am going to try the baking soda for geraniums and see if that works. Thanks.
alisande
18 years ago
I give my hydrangea an acid (rather than alkaline) soil because I want blue (rather than pink) flowers.

Epson salts are widely used by rose growers.

Haven't tried the others.

Gardening tips

Comments (9)

kathi_mdgd

msmarion

Related Discussions

Linda Wayman

petaloid

jannie

lynne_melb

joyfulguy

Marcia Thornley

alisande

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US