Our Environment Chair, Denise has been giving really excellent reports aimed at ferreting out various ways we can be more mindful about eco-gardening, including reusing common household items that might otherwise be tossed or adapting an item for gardening . Here is her list of “Garden Hacks” presented at our May meeting.
1. Mark the long handle of your gardening tool (for example, your hoe) in inches so as to use it for seed planting intervals in a row.
2. Rub sand paper on plastic marker strips to remove writing from the previous year. Use a permanent marker on the labels/markers.
3. Take a plastic cup, cut it into strips to make markers. Or write on a smooth stone.
4. To be rid of aphids- crush by hand, blast off with a stream of water, wrap fingers with a circlet of tape with the sticky side out paying especial attention to leaf undersides.
5. For thirsty plants: use an empty water bottle with a lid,cut the bottom cut out and punch/drill holes in the lid. Push the bottle end up into the soil and refill when necessary. Gives a slower water feed to the roots.
6. Recycle grey water from your kitchen but avoid water contaminated by dairy or meat.
7. For plantable pots, useful for veggies that don’t like roots disturbed, reuse empty toilet paper (or cut down paper towel rolls. Cut three slots that can be folded inward, fill the now closed tube with soil and seed.
8. Rotate your crop types in your beds or areas of rows to avoid soil borne diseases and pest. A three year rotation is the minimum recommended before the same family of crops occupies the bed.
9. Crushed egg shells, being sharp and pointy, discourage slugs from traveling across them to snack on your plant.
Thanks, Denise!
Ed.–Featured photo for those of us who have old straw bales–plant in them!
