Gardening hints and tips
Top tips for solving problem areas in the garden
Every gardener has to deal with a range of pests and irritants, from ants and molehills to neighbourhood pets. Help is now at hand with these ingenious tips for a problem free garden.
How to stop pests
Aphids
Attract hoverflies, they lay their eggs amongst aphid colonies, as well as eating some themselves. Hoverflies are attracted to yellow/orange flowers, such as sunflowers.
Ants
Tempt them with a sprinkling of sugar. When they start taking the sugar back to the nest mix one part sugar with one part Borax crystals. The queen ant will be fed this fatal ingredient.
Cats
Stop cats using your flower beds as a toilet - spray tea bags (either new or used) with Ralgex (Deep Heat). Bury the teabags just below the surface of the soil - when the cat disturbs them they will give off the scent of the spray - which cats can not stand. In time the tea bags will break down and nourish the soil.
Dogs
Dog pee kills grass - twice a day put one tablespoon of tomato juice in with your dogs food. The harmful acid in the pee is neutralised, which means that the grass is not killed. (This does not harm the dog!)
If you are trying to re-seed an area of grass, put the seeds in the freezer over night - the extreme temperature change sparks the seeds into action.
Moles
Mix ferret or badger dung with a little water, to form a paste. Paint this in the mole runs and they'll soon move on. (Ferrets and badgers are natural predators.)
Slugs & snails
Tempt them away from plants with the skins of oranges and grapefruits.
Spray WD-40 on pots - they don't like crawling through it!
Put mineral felt roofing material around plants, slugs and snails do not like crawling over it to get to the plant.
Place horse hair around plants - would you like to crawl through this !
Hostas often get eaten when they first start to grow in spring. Slugs and snails lay their eggs around such lush plants in the autumn - knowing that their offspring will have a good meal ready once hatched. As soon as hosta begin to grow remove the top soil from around it - it will be full of eggs. Replace with fresh soil.
Useful hints
Birds nests
Put Shredded Wheat out for the birds - they use it to build their nests.
Houseplants
Use beer to clean the leaves of house plants.
To help house plants look more healthy mix one teaspoon of Epsom Salts into a pint of their water. Soluble aspirin in the water promotes new growth.
Cut flowers
If tulips droop (due to bubbles inside the stem) prick the stem with a pin, just below the flower. They will straighten up within a few hours.
Put cut flowers into flat lemonade rather than water, they will last much longer.
Climbing plants
Rather than tying plants in, stick them to the wall/fence with a spot of clear Silicon Sealant.
Climbing roses
To get more/better blooms bend and tie-in the stems of new growth, this reduces the flow of sap and encourages the plant to put more energy into flower production.
Feeding roses
Use banana skins as mulch around roses - they feed on the potassium released.
Tomatoes
To feed tomatoes put a handful of hoover bag fluff, damped down, around the plants.
Many thanks to Steve Brookes, journalist, radio presenter and gardening expert for supplying these resourceful solutions
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