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Blender compost (or Garden Smoothie) is simply making use of kitchen scrap, (no meat, grease or salt please). In the blender dump leftover fruit or vegetable peels, egg shells, coffee grounds with water and a cupful of ammonia or beer and blend. Pour the smoothie directly on the soil. This rich, robust treatment is just what your garden is waiting for. Blender compost doesn't have to break down so growing plants will begin to receive the direct benefits within a week. I keep a covered container right by the sink until I have enough for a hearty brew. I also use a lot of onion scrap, all research exalts onion's pest repelling power. Results however are not conclusive.
Pour cold coffee on acid loving plants.
Water all plants with stale beer water. Water from boiling eggs or dead club
soda is also nutritious. Help out acid lovers outside by spreading coffee grounds
at stem bases. All evergreen trees
and shrubs as well as magnolia, rhododendron and hydrangea benefit.
If grasshoppers are
chewing their way through your garden a solution of one part molasses to nine
parts water will attract the pesky 'hoppers, surround the bait with birdseed to
attract the birds. You will be serving up a fine main course appreciated by the
birds.
Head lice can bring you to the
precipice of insanity but before you go there, there are some safe and simple
remedies. Head lice can transmit typhus and relapsing fever. Wrapping the afflicted head in a
vinegar-soaked towel, cover the wet towel with a dry towel and leave on
overnight can kill Head lice. The vinegar dissolves the lice and their eggs.
Lice can also be killed by coconut oil. Wet hair and apply the oil leaving on
for 1/2 hour, wash and lather thoroughly. Repeat the entire process then use a
nit comb.
Another pest that can ruin your sunny disposition is a flea infestation. Fleas carry many diseases like bubonic plague and
typhoid fever. Pour non-iodized salt
into the cracks in floors and sprinkle on wall-to-wall carpeting; leave the
salt on for 24 hours, vacuum and wash the rug with a strong soap. To cure the
dog or cat Liquefy 3 or 4 orange or lemon skins in a blender with 3 cups
boiling water, let the mixture cool and sponge it on your pet. Warning, cats
and dogs hate the smell of citrus!
Heap
a mound of wood ash around tender plants
like ferns and bleeding heart to help them out through winter. Melting snow and
rain will leach nutrients from ash directly to the roots. Wood ash is the
direct source of potassium.
If
you are boiling eggs or potato's save the mineral rich water and use on houseplants. The same advice for when
you clean the fish tank.
For an oxygen boost mix one ounce of 3% hydrogen
peroxide to one quart of water and mist the leaves of houseplants.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
to one quart of water to help make nutrients more available to the plant. Cider
vinegar is loaded with up to 50 trace minerals.
If houseplants are displaying thin yellow leaves they may be suffering from a magnesium deficiency. Add 1/2-teaspoon Epsom salt to one-quart
water.
An
easy way to clean dirty, dusty houseplant leaves and add shine is to
wipe them off with milk. If they are overweight, use skim milk. ahahaha!
An
effective slug and snail deterrent
is copper. Shiny new pennies or a copper collar will work to give a slight
electrical charge to the slimy menaces. Cheaper than electrocution but perhaps
not as much fun is bird gravel or grit, it abrades the underside of the snail
and they won't cross.
Before planting tomatoes add a layer of compost or well-rotted manure mixed
with a handful of bone meal and 1 teaspoon Epsom salt. Then set in the plant so
that only the top 4" stuck up above the soil.
Green-up your lawn with a tonic made
from 1 can of beer, 1-cup ammonia, 1/2-cup liquid dish soap, 1/2-cup liquid
lawn food, and 1/2-cup molasses or clear corn syrup. Mix together in a
20-gallon sprayer and add warm water. Saturate your lawn to the point of
runoff.
Soak bulbs for an hour or 2 in
Jerry's beauty bath before planting. 2 tsp. of baby shampoo, 1 tsp. antiseptic
mouthwash and 1/4 tsp. instant tea granules in 2 gallons warm water. After your
bulbs are planted dribble leftover on the soil around evergreen shrubs and
trees.
Potted plants on the patio need
special care too. Mix 2 tbs. of brewed coffee, 2 tbs. whiskey, 1 tsp. fish
emulsion, 1/2 tsp. unflavored gelatin, 1/2 tsp. baby shampoo, 1/2 tsp. ammonia
and one gallon water. Use this brew weekly during blooming season.
Plantain is the broadleaf weed found in scrub, along
roadsides and in the garden. While invasive and hard to eliminate it can easily
be done with a shot of straight vinegar. Emergency bee sting relief can be
found in the plantain weed. Chew up a leaf and put it on the sting. Safe for little kids to use. Plantain is also a good drawing
agent for silver removal. It was also used as a home remedy for poison ivy and
insect bites using plantain leaves making a thick smoothie in the blender. Dab
it on affected areas.
Save leftover pickle juice for ailing rhododendrons,
azaleas, fern, spruces and yews. If you don't happen to be a big
pickle eater the combination of 1/4-cup vinegar to 1-cup water will have the
same effect. The vinegar helps plants through stress particularly after
blooming repeat every 3 months.
To
control the spread of creeping Charlie
use 5 teaspoons 20 Mule Team Borax to one quart of
water in your spray bottle.
To eliminate grass, plants or weeds
from growing between the cracks of
driveways or sidewalks pour on boiling salt water.
Give your roses a midseason
pick-me-up by placing any leftover tea bags in the soil underneath each bush.
The tannic acid in the tea will make the soil slightly acidic, which roses just
love.
Banana peels cut up and placed in the soil of your roses will give them a boost of potassium.
Chewing
tobacco juice is one of the best bug
killers around. Draw three fingers of tobacco and place in the toe of a
nylon or old sock, pour a quart of boiling water and let it steep until the
water is dark brown. Add only a teaspoon of the juice to a pint of water and
mist away.
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