Cool little book I found

Hey everyone....I was treasure hunting yesterday...thats code for thrift store shopping... and I found the coolest little book. It is called Jerry Baker's Old-Time Gardening Wisdom : Lessons Learned from Grandma Putt's Kitchen Cupboard, Medicine Cabinet, and Garden Shed!

I paid 75 cents for it and just figured what do I have to lose? It is just a cool little book with a ton of gardening info based on this guys grandmother who was born sometime in the late 1800's, I would guess.

I was thinking of posting some of the little tidbits on this thread as I read them for everyone. For instance instead of a soil test you buy at HD, she would put a couple tablespoons of her soil and a couple tablespoons of vinegar in a jar, screw on the lid and shake it. Then she would take the lid off and listen. If she heard a little fizzing her soil was a little on the alkaline side and if she heard a lot of fizzing it was a lot on the alkaline side. If she heard no fizzing I guess it was on the acidic side of the spectrum.

There are several homemade tonics in the book for like bugs etc.

Anyway I just think it is a cool little find. Anyone else have this book?

I think you fond a gem to put on your gardening bookshelf! Congrats and thanks for sharing it with us.

I don't have it, but you sound like my kind of person. I love stuff like that.

Well tonight when I get home I will add a few more of the little tidbits from the book to this thread that I thought were interesting.

I went thrift store shopping to look for "pots" for my indoor plants. I like to find cool dishes, pitchers, bowls etc to pot my houseplants in...the trip was a bust for that...but I found the book. And a cute little dress for my 5 year old little girl. I found a little jewlery box for her I hope my hubby can strip the paint off of and refinish for a present for her for christmas. So all was not lost! Treasure hunting is fun...some days you score and some days you just don't. But when you do its SO worth all the days you didn't!

You're a woman after my own heart. My husband gets frustrated because every time I drop off donations at the local thrift store, I bring home more things I purchased.

The purchase that still haunts me was the time I found a huge bin of golf clubs for sale dirt cheap. I went through them and found nearly a complete set of nice-looking clubs to surprise my husband. He's always needing extra clubs when our sons-in-law are here, and I thought he'd be happy to have another set. I proudly brought in my purchase that day to show him my bargain. He looked at me with THAT look and said, "Uh, Honey, those are the same clubs I donated to them last year."

I took them back and donated them again the next week. He's never let me live that one down.

I can't wait to hear the wisdom of Jerry's grandma. (Does she say anything about restraining oneself when shopping at thrift stores?)

ander217 wrote:I proudly brought in my purchase that day to show him my bargain. He looked at me with THAT look and said, "Uh, Honey, those are the same clubs I donated to them last year."

Good One!!

ander217 wrote:I can't wait to hear the wisdom of Jerry's grandma. (Does she say anything about restraining oneself when shopping at thrift stores?)

I had to quit participating in auctions-I was running out of storage room!

Great story... and it's good to know I'm not the only thrift-store addict around here!

ander217 wrote:(Does she say anything about restraining oneself when shopping at thrift stores?)

... I think this is incurable...

So I thought I would post a couple of these tonics this guy has in this book..LOL. Brace yourself, they are a little funny.

ALL PURPOSE VARMINT REPELLENT
2 eggs, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tbs hot chili pepper, 2 tbs ammonia
in two cups hot water. Let it set for several days, then paint on tree trunks.


COMPOST STARTER TONIC
After adding grass clippings to compost spray it with this tonic.
1/4 bottle of beer, 1/4 cup ammonia, 1 gallon warm water.

ALL PURPOSE BUG REPELLENT TONIC
1 cup dishsoap, 1 cup anteseptic mouthwash, 1 cup chewing tobacco juice per 20 gallons of warm water. Apply to the point of run off.
(Tobacco juice: 1/2 cup of chewing tobacco wrapped up in cheesecloth in 1 gallon of hot water until water is dark brown, then remove cheesecloth and tobacco and save water in container until needed. )

ROOT REVIVAL TONIC
Before planting any bare root plant soak in a mix of : 1tbs of soap, 1/4 cup of tea, 1 tbs of epsom salts in 1 gallon of water for up to 24 hours.

WILD MUSTARD TEA
Made from wild mustard leaved to keep cabbage worms, loopers, and potato beetles out of her garden. Steep 1 handful of wild mustard leaves, 1 clove of garlic, and 4 whole cloves in 1 cup of boiling water. After it cools spray on garden plants.

NATURAL BUG JUICE
1/2 cup marigolds, 1/2 cup geraniums, 1/2 cup garlic, pureed and mixed with 10 gallons of water. Spray garden plants.

FALL GARDEN TONIC
To prep soil for coming spring at the end of fall apply this tonic:
1 bottle beer, 1 bottle soda pop, 1 cup ammonia per 20 gallons of water. Thoroughly apply until ground is saturated.

middlemamma, You got a deal.

The book is still available on Amazon. Prices range from $6.00 to $123.00 depending on the version you want - hard cover, used, etc. Enjoy!

$123??
Say what?
YIKES!

Yikes is right!. I've got one of his books called 'Terrific Garden Tonics' that was published in 2004. At the time he had over 30 published books about natural gardening and household products. Read more about him and his products on his website jerrybaker.net

That sounds like a great find. I have a book of his too, and I love it. There are several recipes in there that I use for my plants and they work!!!!

You all sound like my kind of people.....thrift store addicts. Love the golf club story. ROTFL. When I die I want to have my ashes sprinkled on the steps of our local thrift stores as a memorial to the amount of time I spent in them and to keep people from slipping on the ice in the winter.

GK

Sounds like a great book! Any advice on how to get the wild rodents from eating my tomatoes?

Shoda, my grandma would probably have solved your problem by eating the wild rodents - at least if they were ground hogs or squirrels.

The voles are back in our garden, so I think I'm going to make Jerry's grandma's varmint repellent and pour it down a few of their holes. I notice they didn't touch our onions this year, so I may sacrifice an onion to the mix, too.

Maybe you could try painting the repellent on your tomato trellises.

Thanks for sharing with us, Middlemama.

[quote="ander217"]Shoda, my grandma would probably have solved your problem by eating the wild rodents - at least if they were ground hogs or squirrels.


LOL! Great plan!

GK