8 Vintage Gardening Tips For The Organic Garden

Hi Friends,
In the little town where my Great Grandmother lived, she had a garden. It was off the kitchen and was filled with lots of vegetables, fruit trees, herbs and flowers. I remember sometimes when we'd visit, Great Grandma would have a big dinner at lunch time. The house was filled with flowers , the many foods were from the garden, and there were spices hanging on cupboard handles.

Great Grandma had some garden "secrets" she passed down with her "Victory Garden" and I'm sharing them with you today. I do all these things and they do improve my garden!

HAIR:
When brushing your hair, clean out the brush and put the hair into the garden. The nesting birds love this, and it helps keep the rabbits and deer from eating the garden. It can be added to the compost and then amended into the soil.

When I cut hair, either hubby's or the animals, I put that around the garden. I also read that it can help roses grow.
And there’s nothing stopping you from asking your local hairdresser for their weekly discards.

Pie Pans:
Aluminum pie plates/pans are great at keeping the birds away from the fruit trees. They don't like the shining sun flashing in their eyes. And this is a natural way of bird control. 

 Add a pie plate in with the squashes. Put 1 can of beer in it and it will kill the slugs and snails. These bugs are drawn to the beer and drown in it. Thus keeping your plants slug/snail free.

Also, fill some with water for the birds and butterflies. This way they won't go looking for the fruit nectar from the fruit trees.

Ants:
Ants hate cinnamon and won't cross it. Sprinkle the cinnamon where the ants have been seen. This is a natural pest control.
Cloves also work in the same way.

Black Pepper, Diatomaceous Earth, Cornmeal, Lemon Juice, Vinegar, Cayenne Pepper, Coffee Grounds & Borax have been effectively used on ants as a deterrent. 

I've planted several varieties of mint around the garden and yard to keep the ants at bay. But when that doesn't seem effective I grab one or more of the above options! Oh and the cornmeal is undigestible to the ants, so they just swell up and die. 

Cats:
Here are a few ways to stop cats from digging and pooping in the newly planted seedlings. Cut up citrus peels and sprinkle them through the area, or crushed lavender, rosemary and pennyroyal and spread it over the soil.

Try spraying a solution of rosemary and water around the perimeter of the garden. Cats seem to avoid the scent of both anise oil and eucalyptus oil, so you can soak cotton balls in these oils and place them throughout the garden. Reapply these repellents weekly or after a rainfall. My cat hates the smell of peppermint, so I take some that I've dried & crushed and put it around the boarder of the planting box. I've also done a garlic, onion & hot chili pepper spray and sprayed it on the box around the plants. This is also good for roses, beans, cucumbers, and any plant being attacked by cabbage moths or caterpillars, as it keeps away bugs and ants.

 Egg Shell:
Adding crushed eggshells to the garden not only helps in supplementing the soil with calcium, but it also helps keep out slugs/snails from the garden. The are great for the compost pile or just sprinkled onto the gardens throughout the seasons. I've done this in Winter and the shells breakdown nicely for Spring planting.

Coffee Grounds:
The grounds not only encourage blooming, but plant growth also. Sprinkle some around the roses, and blooming plants. Sprinkle around Ivy to encourage growth.

Aspirin:
Mix Aspirin and water in a spray bottle to combat the aphids and sucking bugs from plants and roses. This also promotes growth.

Weeds:
A mixture of dish soap, vinegar & salt will keep weeds at bay. This is great for walkways, between garden paths, in rock gardens and places where the weeds are invading. ***Don't spray any plants you want to keep*** This is a strong weed killer, I use it instead of poisons, and I repeat till the job is done, about every other day.

And I found even more ideas HERE at HubPages.101 gardening secrets. It has some like I have, but some with more uses. Like the hair thingy, they amend the soil with it. 

So there you go! Great cheap & solid advice for the garden!
Enjoy!
CJD.Sign

Vintage Gardening

Vintage Gardening